Does anybody here get direst payments and how did you go about getting them? I already get a support package from social services totalling 25 hours a week but I'm unhappy with the staff the care company provide so if I went with direst payments I could choose my own staff. Do you find it more beneficial getting them? I suffer from bipolar so one of the things is I'm reckless with money, do you think they;ll let me have DP? Thanks.

I was recently made redundant and my employer has paid my 10% salary contribution but also taken 5% from my payment in lieu of notice. I was told that my payment(5%) would not be taken by an advisor - was this incorrect advice?

Not sure if I am in the correct forum as this is not an issue or a complaint but I trying to find an answer. How can you tell when you pay a company it has gone to the correct destination using Natwest online banking. I know I could ring them up to confirm but is there any information I can go on that is displayed in my transaction logs? Got kind of freaked out when I heard on the radio the bank does not take into consideration the person/company name but just the account and sort code. I am pritty sure they are correct but it's just the back of my mind.

Hello Everyone! I have decided to try and Reclaim my PPI on various Loans , In fact I decided this some time ago. I sent my bank a the 10.00 Fee and SAR I have Received a mountain of Paperwork back , which I do keep looking at, Getting a headache, and then Just putting it back in the Draws to look at another day! Now today is that other day, I keep scrolling and reading posts and threads and confusing myself even more:confused: So I am asking for a bit of help if possible, Here goes; Lloyds tsb Loan - Fill in the Questionaire - I can do that. Calculate your claim - Not a chance , and there are so many different Calculators, I'm Lost! Lloyds Tsb sent me a Copy of my agreement of a personal loan. Amount Of Credit £8900.00 Monthly Repayment £206.72 Loan Protection Insurance Loan £2086.99 Monthly Repayment £48.47 Total loan £10986.99 Monthly Repayment £255.19 It then Says :- you will be charged a fixed rate of interest on the total loan of 1.16% per Month ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE 14.8%. So I think this is a single Premium PPI ? I have the agreement so do i just ask for £2086.99 for the PPI + 8% ? Ill be the first to agree I have no Idea when it comes to maths , interest rates and really did not understand The loan details - just the amount they were giving! please help. Thanks in advance.

Hi, Just need some advise. Long story short, my previous employer took me to court in January 2011 for £3k and won and 10 months later has dissolved the company. ive been paying £100 per month for 2 years now to a dissolved company. Is this right and do i have to carry on paying or should it be stopped and if so, can i claim any of it back? Cheers

Hi, I'm in need of a bit of advice, I first moved in May 2009. In 2011 I received a letter from Marston Group regarding an Over payment made on my previous employer The Home Office. I knew the debt was mine and wanted to pay it off, so I made a Payment arrangement with the High Court Enforcement Office, I was to pay £10 a week, as I was unemployed at the time but still willing to pay it off. Its my debt and I know that Anyway sitting today working out finances and stuff as I have recently become self-employed, not making much money so wanted to see what cut backs I can make. I worked out I have paid £562 to date, so I phoned the office to see how much I had left to pay. I was left Reeling when the lady on the phone told me I had £950+ left to pay on a debt that wasn't that much to begin with. She said something about interest accrued, Surely this cannot be right or Legal. I need to go through my paperwork so I know how much the original debt is for. Any Help would be gratefully received Mark

Hi folks CSA has been in touch and have been given the figures etc on what to pay In regards to amounts, If the Ex who is now engaged (proof in paper) is living with the guy and he has a very successful buildings company Should my payments stay the same even knowing this information ? or would they lower knowing that she is with a new guy earning loads ? Thanks all

Hi all, Does anyone know if payments made by debit card are protected by any regulations in any way? Long story short I joined an online gambling site which has turned out to be a con. Its based in costa rica, so I have no way of forcing them to return my money. I made a payment to them by debit card, played on the site and now have a balance above what I deposited but have found out its a fraudulent site that does not answer emails or make withdrawls once they are requested. Im not alone in this there are others too. I have written to my bank who have not replied. I went into my bank and the woman at the help desk was not very helpful and basically said I should not gamble! Are debit card payments suppose to be protected by banks or anything? Iv heard credit cards are, but sadly I used my debit card. Thanks in advance

Hi all Not sure if this can be dealt with here, if not please delete! Thanks My wife claims Carers Allowance for my father. He receives Pension Credit and State Pension (if that's how it is broken down). Since my wife has claimed Carer's Allowance I have had my money reduced by the same amount from my ESA, which is what we expected to happen - in other words we are not financially gaining as far as I can tell. Today my father had a letter from the Pension Service advising him that his pension Credit will be reduced by the same amount as the Carer's Allowance my wife claims for him. So they are taking the amount of Carer's Allowance from my income (full amount) and from his. Surely they can't take the same money of both of us? Any help if possible will be appreciated. Many Thanks.

Does anyone know what happens if I am unable to make car lease payments? I have about 16 months left of a 3 year lease. Husband has left, financially struggling (to put it mildly). I cannot transfer the lease and the cost for early redemtion is about 3.5k. Any advice on any options much appreciated.

Hi I went into debt management over 3yrs ago. I have been paying Barclays monthly through debt management however they have been logging 6 payments overdue continously all this time. I now have my life back on track and applied for a new mortgage but this Barclays 6 overdue payments for years is killing my credit. The original card was with morgan stanley and barclays have stated they dont have the full agreement but i should keep paying anyway. To be honest I am not trying to get out of paying I need to know can they register 6late payments or more every month even though I am paying and would i be better off just not paying. I need to do what is best for my credit asap. Please help if you can

hi there. i am writing to ask if anyone can help with this question. my old bank (halifax) are showing 3 payments late untill April 2010 but underneath 1st credit ltd have defaulted the account in the feb 2010. Is this possible or should i be chasing this up as it should not be put on my credit file. Many thanks for any help

Morning, I don't know if this has been answerd but just wondering has the goverment axed cold weather payments? I am on Jobseekers and just wondering if they haven't will I get 1? as I live alone in my flat and I am 26 and if I get 1 I can put more on my gas

Hi there I am a 23 year old student with around £10,500 debt, not including student loans. I spoke to a Stepchange debt advisor who said that I am eligible for a DRO but that she wouldn't recommend it due to my age, as getting credit for the next 6 years would be impossible and as I graduate in a few months and may then get a job, it could end up revoked. I saw her point and I agreed. She suggested instead to make token payment of £1 a month until my circumstances change, t hen set up a debt relief plan with them once I am earning. Over the course of the phone call I thought this all sounded good, and I left happy. Now I'm not so sure. It's so tempting having my debts wiped, and my credit will surely be a mess if I go this route too? But at the same time if it is revoked that'd be frustrating. I'm thinking maybe I could work part time or a lower paid job for the 7 months following graduation, get the year over with and then start life debt free...? will my credit be just as affected down this route? Writing all this down a DRO seems a big responsibility after all - and if I do end up earning more I might be even more of a mess. I'm not sure what to do... thoughts appreciated! Sorry for the umming and arring post! Thanks

Hi. I have 2 accounts, isme and littlewoods. Most threads you will read that pay them £1, non prioity debt etc and that is true but I want to pay them off as quick as poss so have done the following: I wrote and emailed payment proposals that were flatly refused, I then sent emails to the CEO and got them to agree to MY offers and freeze all interest and charges for 12 months (so far ) Details are the same as the following thread as it worked so i passed it on: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?340272-Very-and-isme So now i have the payments i can afford in place with no interest, today i have sent a SAR so i can then reclaim any charges or late payment charges etc. 40 days tick tick tick

Hi, I am new here although have searched this web site many times and helped me to make huge strides into my debts. Firstly my position is as follows. I own a property but is rented out and have moved back home in order to ensure the mortgage is paid, i also have a secured loan. both my mortgage and my secured loan are fully up to date. I basically got into debt around 4 years ago and buried my head in the sand for a long time, last year i started to deal with things as the constant harassmentand letters were getting too much, and i was concerned about the security of myproperty. The equity in my flat is negligible, if not negative. Anyway this is where i am and am looking for advice on how i move forward in the coming year to try and settle some of, and eventually all of what i owe. American Express £1093.95 Dealing With Moorecrfot £10.00 PCM Agreed Default Registered November 2011 Santander Credit Cards £5902.74 Dealing With Fredrickson International Ltd £12.50 PCM Agreed Default Registered May 2010 Lloyds TSB Credit Cards £3409.50 Dealing With SCM Solicitors £12.50 PCM Agreed Default Registered Dec 2010 Vanquis Bank Ltd £691 Dealing With C.A.R.S £5 PCM Agreed Default Registered Nov 2011 Capital One Europe £381 Not Assigned To DCA Wont Accept Payment Plan £2.50 Token Payments Made Last 8 Months Default Registered Dec 2009 Barclays Bank PLC £1204 Dealing With Lowell Financial £6.50 Agreed Default Registered July 2012 Nat West PLC £1000 Approx Dealing With Moorecroft £10 PCM Agreed Cant Locate On Credit File Lloyds TSB Current Account £2162.65 Dealing With Credit Security Limited £10 PCM Agreed Default Registered Jun2010 Barclaycard £5009 Dealing With barclaycard £12.50 PCM Agreed No Default Registered 6 Months Behind There are also a couple of phone bills, and yes you guessed it pay day loanswhich are also on agreed payment plans, after a great deal of persistence. I really need advice on how best to move forward, do i continue to stickwith the plans until the 6 years passes and the defaults come off my creditfile? Do i attempt settlement offers on the older debts now or wait until they area bit older? is there any advice on which ones i should focus on first? I want to deal with my debts, there are a lot of reasons how i got here, butthe bottom line is i have a full time job now, and am getting back on my feet,but until i have dealt with everything there is no chance im moving back to myflat. Any advice welcome. I have full audit trail since decemebr last year with ever letter written and received and never discuss on the phone.

I took a loan out back in 2004 via Welcome which I believed was paid off by 2006 and have moved several times since, including out of the country for a period of time due to work. For the last week I have been plagued by calls at work by MKRR trying to tell me I have a £4000 odd debt to be paid which I am of course not in a position to do. As I live in Scotland, debts are extinguished after five years, so even if I have, and I still dispute this, as unsettled Welcome debt, it should no longer be able to be pursued. I am loathe to entertain any discourse with this shower of yahoos but in order to find out what was going on I spoke to them to gain the salient facts which included them stating that there was a payment made in 2008, which is definitely not the case. Is there a history of this type of thing happening in that fake payments are made to keep an account active?

Hi, my first post here! I have accounts with Very, Isme, Littlewoods and KandCo. The Very account is the highest overall debt and I have fallen behind over the last 3 months due to changes in circumstances. When I first started using the accounts, I had my budget planned out 12 months in advance, and was easily able to make the payments once the end of the BNPL arrived but due to circumstances way beyond my control I can no longer afford such payments. I have continued to make partial payments, but the latest Very statement calls for an amount which is way more than I can afford and this will be the 3rd month that I have made a smaller than required payment. The Isme, Littlewoods and KandCo are all up to date and I am able to meet the payments on those accounts, and have not made any purchases in the last 3 months on any of them and do not intend to make any further purchases on any of them. My main question is, if I write to Very offering to make reduced payments, will this have an effect on the other 3 accounts? If anyone has any advice on how I should proceed - wording for a letter etc I would be most grateful. Also I opened all the accounts online and don't recall signing anything and sending it back? Thanks in advance

i need assistance with employment law, and personal injury claims. i would appreciate any advice that fellow CAG's can provided Work Related Breakdown i suffered a work related breakdown a year ago approx, however despite the problems at work i loved the actually job itself and always intended to return to work when i was well enough to do so, however i was pre empted financially and returned October last year and at that point formally started my grievance. like most people i had not idea of how a grievance procedure would work, so it was a massive learning curve. it is so unbelievably stressful and im still not fully well. all of the stresses remain as nothing had changed within the team on my return and my health has again deteriorated. Occ Health have recommended in writing that my place of work is toxic to my full recovery and i should leave. my p/trist is saying the same, as is my counsellor. they have all made clear that outside of that environment my health should improve enough for me to get another job doing the same type of work but with a different organisation! my question is this. is it possible for me to take civil action over and above tribunal action against my employer for the pysiatric injury they have caused me, in addition to which i had lost all my body hair. my head remains bald and i have to wear a wig, my eyebrow are going again, my arm and leg hair have gone, however my pubic hair did grow back a little. i am very grateful that my eyelashes have grown back - but for how long. i have been tested medically, the is no physical reason for the universal hair loss. constructive dismissal i am aware that the issue of constructive dismissal and discrimination can only be held in a Tribunal. but i would want to know how p/injury would work in a civil court, and could this take place more quickly than a Tribunal, and although not the right venue, will the issues of the discrimination, harrassment, bullying and victimisation come out at a civil hearing? i have an outstanding grievance appeal taking place by the end of March, it is likely to be negative, a little more detail first 'last straw' - manager held PPP (nearly 2 years since the previous one) tells me basically im c.... and that my colleagues have all complained about me, and gives examples of complaint. Fair enough. however all of this has come out of nowhere. manager provides no discussion or plan on how to resolve the situation between me and the rest of team, and goes off on 2 weeks holiday. naturally this has a devasting affect on my feeling toward the manager and the rest of the team, i have believed what he is saying. i make complaint to manager on his return and challenge all his accusation and complain that if the situation were true how is it he didnt try to help resolve the situation? i copy in HR. manager writes back taking no responsibility claiming i have misinterpreted and didnt say some of the things. my complaint was comprehensive and i gave back to him all the examples that he had used! a meeting was held. HR had lead me to believe that the meeting was a grievance as laid out in their policy, but it was a mediation meeting whereby the manager states again that i have mis interpreted and that in fact no one had complained about me - he failed to give any further information. he actually stated that i was made for the job. on hearing this however instead of making me feel better it devasted me further. i couldnt understand how he had done this to me in the first place. i had worked so hard and was so proud of the work. i went into freefall. from the time of the meeting with manager to what i thought was a grievance meeting was just over 2 months during which time there was a complete and utter breakdown between me and the rest of the team. i was signed off sick with work sky high blood pressure and related stress which i had desperately been trying to ward off. emloyer contact during sick leave during sick leave, the manager above my manager demanded to to see me, didnt advise that i could be accompanied and during the meeting told me basically that the best thing for me was to get my arse back on my chair and that in their experience involving the medical profession would mean that i would be off work longer! remember this talk at me is whilst i am unwell and vulnerable. end result even more freefall. during my sick leave there were a bombardment of letters from work, which stressed me out further than you can believe i felt hounded. i thought that it would be better to return to work even thougth my GP didnt think i was ready. i thought that it would be best to stop the hounding and make sure their were no more meetings with my managers manager. phased return meeting GP formally recommended this. unfortunately he did not specify a time. managers manager didnt want to follow GP's advice and tried to insist instead that if i felt tied i went home. luckily an HR officer was present and had to remind manager that it was normal in such circumstance and length of time away that a phased return take place. manager reluctantly agreed to 1 week! there was mention of a review, but no details of when the review would take place or who with. naturally 1 week was not enough. situation with team not resolved. i approach HR for help and am basically told to go away. i return to my GP who tries not to give the 'i told you so' and signs me off again. long term sick which brings me back to my return last year. Discrimination bullying and harrassment prior to the first last straw i had been suffering discrimination harrassment and bullying from another member of the team for a couple of year which i didnt handle very well. i absorbed it - but this just caused me to lose my body hair. i genuinely believe that this new member of staff would get used to me being there, also i had hoped that other members of the team would come to my defence when i was under attack from this 'colleague' - but no one did, some of them even joined in. this colleague was good at getting others to express their prejudices and the others knew better. i felt so isolated, ashamed and scared to say anything just in case they thought i was the one with the problem the one with the 'chip' so i said nothing. there was no one or manager that i had any trust or confidence in that i could take this matter to, so i suffered in silence, until the breakdown came. Employers investigate the complainant on making the complaint my employers carried out an investigation - a shock to me, a bigger shock was later learning that they had carried out an investigation on me too. thank God i was good at my job, good things were said about me. so they cant get me on that angle. grievance 1 outcome it transpired that others had complained also about my 'colleague' and my manager showed up themselves good and proper at the hearing. recommendations. words would be had with colleague and manager, but no grounds for discrimination - however.... appeal 'colleague' had actually admitted to what they thought would be a lesser complaint that they thought they could get away with, but this put employers in difficulty and they had to make a statement at the appeal confirming that at least one act of discrimination had taken place. it was agreed (and is on tape) that i was the brunt of this 'colleagues' abusive behaviour promotion of the main perp it was always the intention of my 'colleague' to get me out of the team and take over my Officer status and effect they way up from what they considered to be a lowly administrative position. they have now achieved this. even with the outcome of the grievance they still hold this position. what does this say? Victimisation (final 'last straw') managers manager has not taken too kindly to my complaint and raised awareness of what's going on in one of their departments and has targeted the 'trouble maker' me. a serious incident of victimisation has recently taken place. but i am covered by a 'protected act' and acted immediately. i put in a grievance about the harrassment and bullying by this particular manager. naturally management have stuck together. so i am just about to put in an appeal. Back to the start again this brings me round to where i started. based on the medical recommendation i think i will have to leave my job immediately i am notified of the appeal decision otherwise i will lose any rights i may have to claim constructive dismissal. i am not sure i want to claim this anyway as i would prefer the matter to go to civil court, where i can completely sue the a... off these people for what has happened to me over the past 18 months. my medical state the complete and utter indignity of having to constantly wear a wig and a cheap one at that as i dont have the money to buy a decent one. how further freakish i look without eyebrows. the constant eye infections because of no eyelashes, or where they were just coming loose and falling into my eye - the constant rubbing. im not so distressed about the rest of the body hair - no on sees any of it. im on medication up to my eyeballs. i have a diagnosed prolapsed disc and whilst of sick couldnt even put my knickers on or use the WC without putting a bucket on it first as i couldnt sit. thankfully my mobility is such that i can get around better, but i walk with a limp now, and still prefer to use the disable WC as they are a little higher. the constant pain in my back, shooting pains and numbness in my left leg is sometimes unbearable. also since being back at work apart from the deterioaration again of my mental state i have the additional indignity of repeated boils on my arse - what the hell is that about? i do hope that there is someone prepared and/or managed to read through this and provide advice or answer my query. Thanks

Hi I've been unemployed since February and am on JSA. i applied for help with my mortgage and a consolidated loan on the house. After months of going backwards and forwards, I finally have the decision that they will help with my mortgage but not the loan. I have been paying minimum amounts on the loan each month, but now they're getting grumpy as I owe over 1k. I had hoped that the DWP would be willing to help me out on both counts. However they've said that they won't pay towards this as it's debt consolidation and not considered essential under their rules. I can't afford to pay the loan company, so want to/need to urgently appeal against their decision, I have the form, but I really don't know what to put in for my appeal? Can anyone give me any suggestions? I could end up losing my house over it all and it's really getting to me as I fought hard with my ex over keeping the house and now I could lose it. Please can someone give me some idea/help with what I can use to appeal? thanks Mary

Hi, I took out a loan £2500 with Welcome Finance in 2007 and due to various issues fell behind on payments. So instead of having payed off the loan in 2009, I'm still paying off the loan at £250/month. However the balance is still close to £4500, and of the £250 only around £25 goes to paying off the loan. Which means that it will take me another 3 - 4 years to pay off the loan at this rate. Unfortunately I can't increase the payments in order to pay it off faster. The strange thing is that they keep telling me that I should have paid them off in 2009 and that they are doing me a favour and no, since the account is in arrears they won't entertain any final payment offer unless it's in full. So far I have paid over £7000:x I actually told them during a heated conversation to stop "doing me a favour" and take me to court. The response was: "No, we will not take you to court. You just have to come up with the money!" Does anyone know if there's something that I can do about this situation?

My partner a number of months ago got a couple of items from the cataglogue company isme. Everything was fine the first month. But every month since the statements are getting sent out and keep getting a £12 late charge each time. She is always paying a couple\few days before the statement says they want the money yet the next statement indicates they receive the payment late yet she is paying it within the date stated on the statement. She is paying it via the statement in the bank in person on a working day, always on a morning so the payment, like every other bill we have ever payed this way gets payed straight away on the same day\date. But each next months statements is trying to suggest she has payed it late and always tends to be the day after they are claiming the payment is due. So in each case they are saying she is paying as much as 2-4 days later than she is. Last month her statement never arrived so she called them, and got a late bill and asked to pay double the next month or something. But after she received the last bill but before she payed it she had a call saying a payment was due and they pretty much demanded it was payed by card over the phone. She refused this stating she has an in date bill that she will be paying on time. It was payed on time but yet again they are claiming to receive the payment a number of days after the payment was made. Last months, all payment they asked for was payed on the morning of the 29th yet the current statement is claiming payment was received on the 31st and the actual payment was apparently due by the 2nd of this month, so on time. But there is now another £12 payment on her statement for this month that they have detailed on a second sheet as a Debt Collection Telephone Call Fee!!!. This seems to be for the phone call made after the last statement was sent & received yet before payed (payed on time as per above) made reguarding the payment reguested in that same statement last month which was payed on time. They are seriously taking the (edit) trying to charge for a call asking for a payment but requested in a statement before the statement states it was due yet the call has been charged £12 on her statement simply because they made the call asking for the payment outside of the statement. By now they must have received near double the cost of the items in so called late fees alone while the account balance remains the same. Any advice as my partner and me are highly annoyed and are feeling we should refuse to make any futher payments untill they sort out what keeps happening and why they are now charging £12 for calls asking for payments before the statements state they are due.

Hi everyone am new to CAG so please bear with me, I recently submitted a claim to Lloyds TSB for miss selling of PPI insurance when I took out my credit card. I have received a response that states that I signed the form in branch in Bedrminster Summerset when in fact the application form was completed in Billingham Cleveland. This immediately made me wonder if the investigation that had taken place was accurate and hence the result and consequent decision was accurate. So where now? Policy was taken put in 2001 My points for complaint are: Do not remember signing for the PPI Did not know what PPI was Did not know how much the PPI was for LLoyds Response: They considered My Complaint Consumer Credit Agreement Internal Sales notes Their knowledge of sales processes at the time Sales documentation Internal systems databases having considered all of the above they basically say that everything to do with ppi would have been explained at point of sale and within their literature. They also refer to the tick box on the back of the application form that was ticked saying I wanted this cover. I have no recollection of completing the form myself and suspect it was filled in by a member of the sales team. Any help comments will be appreciated

Can anyone assist with a concern that I have regarding my monthly mortgage payments with NatWest? I have recently remortgaged with NatWest and took out a tracker mortgage of the base rate plus 2.69 %. Over the years I have had further loans which means that my mortgage is recorded as three sections. That is the total loan outstanding split into loans a, b and c. On receiving my notification of the monthly payments the three sections where noted as follows; A - base rate plus 2.69 % equals 4% B - base rate plus 2.69 % equals 4% and C - base rate plus 2.69 % equals 3.19% with each section showing the monthly amount to be paid. I have written to NatWest pointing out that they should all be 3.19% to which I have received a reply that the percentage figures quoted are wrong and they will all be 3.19% although NatWest will not send a further statement confirming the monthly payments, they have removed the section showing the percentages and just left the same monthly payments. Does anyone know where I can find a system or other means of checking that the amount outstanding, the period of loan left and percentage rate mean that the monthly payments are correct ? I am concerned that I am still paying 4% on two parts of the mortgage. With thanks Dave

Hi DCA's Lowells in particular seem to be buying up debts,most below the bankruptcy threshold. Then lumping them all together for what seems like a class action and issuing statutary demand. So if Mr A owes 300/500/400 for different loans,Lowells issue stat demand for £1200. Rang insolvency agency,they said "can't do that,oh hang on they can.....no not sure",great help. Can you guys shine a light on this please?