Hi Bank Fodder, Its a longish story but in essence: Whilst married I was a BT customer Upon divorcing and leaving the marital home, my ex-wife and I tried to move the account to her name but were unsuccessful so the original account stayed in my name. A couple of years later after the original contract terms had expired my ex-wife noticed that she was now on an expensive rolling monthly tariff so contacted BT and agreed another 18 months contract in my name One month later she 'successfully moved the contract into her name'. However, what really happened was that BT cancelled 'my' contract and gave her a new one. As such BT are enforcing payment on me for 17 months of an 18 month contract. I understand that a contract was taken out but where I feel hard done by is: On several occasions upon divorcing we tried to move the account into my ex-wife's name, unsuccessfully I didn't take out the 18 month contract in 2014. Nor had I been living at the property for 2 years prior I didn't cancel the aforementioned contract. BT didn't lose the customer. The same person (my ex-wife) remains at the property and is a BT customer, paying her monthly charges faithfully From a common sense point of view, no-one in their right mind would take out an 18 month contract and then cancel it within 1 month to take out another deal if they understood the implications. BT's position is that they intend to enforce the contract. I fully understand their position but clearly don't agree with it. If arbitration decided against me I'd pay up but don't believe BT have shown any propensity to view the situation in terms any other than a defaulted contract.

Hi, I have a contractual dispute with BT regarding a cancellation. I've gone through the normal internal complaint processes with the company and understand their position but vehemently disagree with it. I've requested on numerous occasions to take the matter to ADR but all that happens is that I get a written response a few days later re-iterating BTs position and stating that they hope this resolves the matter. Is there any way I can force the matter? BT clearly have internal procedures to deter people from getting to ADR but I wont get a balanced view from within the company. In the mean time my debt has been passed to a debt collection agency and my credit rating is being affected by a debt that I dispute. Thanks

I recently read that new legislation allows the consumer to reject any rate increases on existing CC debts. I doubt this covers me, but you never know! Approximately 5 years ago I took out a H2X CC at a rate of 7.9%. Then approximately 2 years ago Halifax put the rate upto 17.9% when I had an outstanding balance of about £8k. This obviously severly affected my ability to clear the debt. Ive actually got myself back on my feet now and am about to make a lump sum payment to clear the card. However, before I do, I just want to make sure that I am liable for the full amount. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

My wife emigrated last year and left behind a bank overdraft and a store card debt unbeknown to me. Now both debts have reached the stage where solicitors letters have arrived. My wife has no way to pay the debts. As Im still in the UK am I liable for the debts? (We do own a house together)

About a year ago I went into a debt management program with guidance from Debtline. I have 5 major creditors - of which one is the Co-op. The other 4 creditors agreed to freeze intesrest accuring on my account whilst I made reduced payments. The co-op refused to do this but did reduce interest to 6.5% (from approximately 12% I believe). Every 3 months they reviewed my case and asked for higher payments - which I struggled to meet but did pay every month. Anyway, last week I phoned them for a statement and found out I owed them quite a lot more than expected. When I enquired, they told me that every time I had increased my payments, they had increased my interest rate as I was now in a position to pay more. (So effectively any extra I was paying was being swallowed in interest). This was never explained to me during any of the phonecalls requesting extra payments. I now have a situation where I have 4 creditors with zero interest and one charging me almost 13%. Under the terms of my agreement, I am not allowed to favour any creditor, but it is natural to want to get rid of the debt that is still accruing first. As an aside (but still relevant), my financial situation has improved somewhat, so I should be in a position to return to normal payments shortly. However, I feel aggrieved that Co-op have not really helped me through this downswing. Are they being unfair? Or should I ultimately just accept that I got myself into this mess and they are a business? Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks for your reply Bookworm. I should be able to follow a it a little more easily now.

I've been working abroad for about 6 months now so am completely out of touch with how things are going. I had a case pending against Abbey using the ombudsman (Abbey didnt send my statements after 6 months of requesting them). However, the ombudsman suspended the claim pending the outcome of the case brought by the OFT. Ive searched the net though and the only info I can find is very outdated. Can anyone advise me of where I can find a current update? Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

Thanks for your response. I expected them to close the account the 1st time anyway so Im already living on borrowed time

Hopefully a simple question...... I've already been paid by halifax but have since picked up about 5 more £30 charges. To claim these back, do I go through the full process again or can I, for example, skip straight to the LBA?

I claimed the standard overdraft interest rate (13.9%). The havent paid me that (or offered me the 8%)

As an update, I have received a letter from the Halifax stating 'The Halifax does not consider that you are entitled to the further £301.17 that you are claiming (this if for interest on penalties and interest on interest on penalties). Unless you can provide evidence of this further loss the Halifax will file a defence in respect of this part of the claim' Is this a final roll of the dice by the Halifax? What concerns me is that if they defend only this part of the claim, they wouldnt have the fear of having to reveal the actual cost to the bank of the charges. Furthermore, the judge might look favourably on the fact that theyve paid about 80% of the claim without too much fuss. Should I still continue to press for the final £301? Just as a humerous aside (well to me anyway!). Halifax state in their letter that the reason theyre paying the original £1500 is because it would cost too much to defend in legal terms, yet later theyre telling me they will defend over £300! I hope whoever scripted the letter isnt getting paid too much

Thanks Lively. Will do so.

Actually, I notice now that they've refunded the court fee in a seperate deposit into my bank, so theyve just ignored the interest.

Rather bizarrely, 2 days after receiving a letter from Halifax saying they were going to contest my small claim through the courts, Ive received a payment into my bank account (I thought they'd at least wait nearly all of the 28 days before coughing up). However, they've only paid the 'Total penalties and bank interest on penalties'. They've ignored the total interest and the court fee - which means its almost £400 less than my total claim. Has this happened to anyone else? How do I proceed from here?

Thanks for your reply Chezt. Unfortunately it didnt solve the problem for me (Id be interested to see if it worked for BFGB). I tried putting today's date in Columns A & F but it only rectified 2 rows - the rest remained with the error in column J.

Im actually having exactly the same problem with my Abbey spreadsheet. Its exactly as described by BFGB. I have 19 rows of charges and 29 rows of interest. If the charge date for any given row (column A) is later then the interest date for the same row (column F) then I get the '#N/A Did not find value 02/28/2000' message in column J. I had no problems when I did my Halifax spreadsheet. The only 'solution' I can see at the moment is to leave blank rows in between the charges so that the dates correspond.

Thanks for the response. It seems utter stupidity on their part but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth

When I requested my 6 years statements from Abbey, all I got was a list of transactions, with no balance history. Is this standard for Abbey? My problem is how to work out how much of my overdraft interest is caused by charges. I have just spoken to a member of Abbey's complaints dept, who has advised me that they do not provide balance information and I should just claim the interest debited figure each month! (she didnt seem to grasp the concept that some of the interest debited would be legitimate charges for the agreed use of my overdraft) Is this what you are all doing with Abbey?

Thanks for the template and the information Jeff - It was just what I needed.

Sorry about regurgitating old questions, but I have searched the forum and couldnt find what Im looking for. I have received a partial offer for my claim. Is there a letter template for saying 'I accept but Im still suing for the rest'? (which I believe should be the response). Also, this partial offer has come 1 week after my LBA. Do I need to give them another 14 days after my new letter or can I proceed to Mcol within the original timeframe? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Well I hope not to receive any more charges! Thanks for your prompt reply.

Hi, just want to clarify before proceeding. Since sending in my prelim letter, I have picked up another charge. Am I within my rights to add this charge to the spreadsheet and change the interest date at the top before I send off my LBA?

Thanks for your amazingly quick response! I expected it would be but the CS rep told me otherwise (surprise surprise!)

I have just found out that Ive incurred a £35 late payment charge on my mortgage account. Do mortgage accounts fall under the same oft ruling as normal bank accounts? I'll try and search in the meantime for the answer but someone from the bank is going to phone me back shortly (alledgedly!)