My former business partners and I obtained an over-draught facility from Lloyds TSB in 2006. Each business partner acted as guarantors on a joint and several basis. I left the partnership in 2007 and have since discovered that the remaining partners did not inform the bank of the indemnity that they'd signed relieving me from all guarantees relating to the business. In the intervening years they have fallen into arrears with the bank and now I have received a letter from Rockwell demanding the full and immediate payment of £22K. At no point since I left in 2007 have Lloyds TSB ever written to me to express concern over payments or to discuss any options that may have been available. In addition Lloyds TSB have never informed me that the debt had been passed to a debt collection agency. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Is using bankruptcy as a device for debt collection grounds for anulment of a bankruptcy order. I was made bankrupt in my absence & as yet have not been given the opportunity to examine the court case papers. I did not recieve ANY papers concerning the case, but susequent papers recieved , concerning another related case indicate that at the time I was made bankrupt I was solvent, & had I recieved the SD the I would have been in a position to pay the demand, & at the time of the bankruptcy the lawyers representing the claimant,(debt was council tax) knew I had assets far in excess of their claimed amount ,an amount I was unable to verify, as I was unaware of the action against me.

Hello,was needing some advice please. I have previously been in debt up to my eyeballs and managed to get a DMP in place,and gradually it is all going down. However,my wife has a CC with vanquis and she is not included on the DMP. Now she only has a small limit of £300 and up until a couple of months ago she was working and making payments. Some months the full amount was paid others only minimum payments. Now she has lost her income and we cannot afford to pay the card off. We were inundated with calls from vanquis and now we have received a letter from Impact Collection Services asking for a payment in full. Obviously we cannot afford to make the payment (otherwise i wouldn't be on here ) but i have tried to reason with them over the phone to stop interest and charges and let me make an affordable payment of £30 per month to clear the debt, i should also point out here that my wife will not talk to them as she feels harassed by them and is not fully conversant in english. However they refuse to deal with me and keep demanding that she talks to them. I want to clear the debt,we are not trying to run from it, but i just want the constant calls to my mobile??? to end and also cant see the point in them keep adding £12 charges and interest when we cannot afford to make the payments. Can anyone offer some advice please on what my next move should be? Many thanks

Hi there, I have received two letters today from Lowell addressed to my maiden name (married/name change 2004). Both letters say the following (both are for different credit card providers): - We're contacting you about an account that we have purchased from (credit card) which was opened on (date). (Credit card) have sold the account to us as there is an outstanding balance which they have not been able to recover. This may be because (credit card) did not have your up to date address details and therefore you were not in a position to discuss the account with them. We have used the services of a Credit Reference Agency and the have provided your address to us. Therefore we would like to confirm the information we hold is correct and up to date. Please call us straight away where one of our account managers will be more than happy to help you. Etc. I know that both of these accounts passed the six year cut off at the beginning of 2012. There had been no payments made or contact with them, by letter or telephone etc during the six years since the accounts went into default. What should I do? Ignore it, since it is out of date or send them a letter? Really appreciate any assistance you can give me with this Many thanks

As close friend of mine asked me to seek advice on this forum for him here goes. He recently took a payday loan with a lender called quickquid. He failed to pay the debt back and the interest heaped up. After several attempt of trying to get the money of him quickquid sold the debt onto a debt collection agency. Im not 100% of their name but can find out if its important. I imagine there the same as the rest. They've been harassing him everyday now for the last couple of weeks and he isn't sure what legal right this company has. Are they allowed to keep pestering him and can they turn up at his property?. I'm pretty sure they need to go to court to be able to enter his property but arent 100% sure. Looking for some good advice here (PS he knows hes and idot, i've told him enough times!)

HI Sorry not sure exactly where to post this I currently have outstanding credit card debt 7k, buried my head in the sand long story short , it is 4.5 years since i acknowledged the debt with the bank. Said debt was passed to DCA who i think have now passes it to another DCA. Problem here is letters are coming to parents address, which i dont want. I have never had and recourse with any of the DCA , my question : if i write to dca and tell them send any further letters to my current address , would that effect the time already passed towards statute barred { last time i wrote to bank regarding debt} . Also would the bank still have this letter almost 5 years later do you think ? The letters which have reappeared after a fairly lenghty quite spell are not really threatening and with 2 years to go to statute barred i dont really want to awaken the sleeping beast so to speak. What would my best course of action bei Thanks in advance for any advise you can offer

Hi Guys, I recently defaulted on car insurance payments when my car broke down and I could afford to repair it and pay for my insurance, the insurance was subsequently cancelled and I requested proof of my no claims as it was my 2nd year with this insurer and I had earned it the year previous. I was advised that they could not supply proof until I had settled the outstanding balance of £175.00. I received a letter shortly afterward from Incasso LLP a debt collection solicitor, using their online payment system as suggested in their letter I made a payment of around £60 to them, about a week later I telephoned them asking them to confirm the balance so I could pay the remainder and then request my proof of no claims again. They said they did not recognise the reference I gave them or any of my details and did not have an account associated with me... I asked them why they had taken a payment and where it had gone and they couldn't answer me and told me to phone back in a week and they might have found my paperwork. I contacted my insurer and they agreed to take the payment in full and send out my documents, now I would like my money back from Incasso. I contacted the financial ombudsman and they advised me that as this company is a solicitor it is out of their jurisdiction and I should contact the legal ombudsman, I did and they said they can only investigate if I was the client that instructed the solicitor to act so they couldn't help me. It's only £60 I know but on principle I dont want Incasso to legally be allowed to steal from me, what can I do? Thanks

I came across this website when I was researching a debt collection dispute that my wife has with her former employer. Hopefully someone can help us. Here is our story: My wife was employed with a major insurance and pensions provider up until October 2012. She was given a company car as part of her work, which entailed lots of driving around the country to provide face-to-face assistance to clients. The car was leased through a third party leasing agency. They collected the car from our home on the final day of her tenure, upon which two agents carried out a thorough inspection of the vehicle. They did not find any dents or scratches and my wife is adamant that she had never inflicted any such damage on the vehicle. So she was happy with their findings and signed off the report. The leasing agents then drove the vehicle from our home in Edinburgh to the depot in Glasgow (that's a trip of around 50 miles). Upon further inspection at the depot the Leasing Company said they found a major scratch and a dent on the vehicle and that my wife had to pay £500 to repair the damage! She was emailed photos; the marks are totally innocuous and not consistent with a charge of £500. My wife vehemently denies that she caused this damage. Her former employer has upheld the findings of the leasing agent and is demanding that she pay £500 to them or they will pass the matter onto a debt collection agency and have threatened that it could adversely affect her credit score etc. I am outraged at the treatment of my wife by this powerful company, a household name. We cannot afford to pay such a sum of money, especially for something which we are not responsible for. Her former employer states that it is irrelevant she signed for the car at the time of collection as it states in her contract that the car will be subject to a further check at the depot - our argument is that the depot was 50 miles away. How can anyone state that the alleged damage did not occur during this journey?! We are in two minds about this. We don't want to pay but threats to her credit score may mean that she will have problems getting other jobs in the financial sector in future. Any advice on what our legal standpoint on this is would be much appreciated.

hi guys, Just went up to my mum's to collect some post and found two letters. One from a company called Mercers dated the 14th February demanding that I pay them a sum of money to cover apparent outstanding payments on my Barclaycard account. Now, I've had issues paying my balance, and they've been reducing my credit as I've been paying, but I have been paying. I can't see anything on my account on their website to suggest I'm in more arrears than I should be. I also received a letter from a company called Resolvecall with a different amount in arrears. I don't know what to do about this as I'm not aware that I'm needing to pay anyone other than Barclaycard any money. As far as I'm aware I'm up to date on my minimum payments. Can someone give me some advice on what I should do here? Thanks Guy

I joined Fit4Less gym in Jan 2012. I signed up for the 'no contract' membership - although this was intended to mean 'not a 12 month contract'. They still wanted a contract signed - I scanned through the contract to find it still included a 12 month minimum period - perhaps they only have one form of contract. I deleted this section (put a line through it) before signing. The contract then, in effect, said I was able to give one month's notice at any time (once an initial 3 month period ended). All fine so far - although somewhat sneaky not to have a different version of the contract for those taking a monthly deal... In October I decided to move to a different club. On my way out of the club at the beginning of the month I told the guy at reception I would be leaving and to take this as my 1 month notice. He reminded me that it had to be in writing. Somewhat irritated by the stupidity of this, I asked for his pen and scrap of paper and I wrote something to the effect of 'I am leaving the gym. This is your 1 month written notice'. I also wrote my name. This, i should think, still constitutes written notice. Again, so far so good, I thought. In January I got a call from a woman at the club saying that I had cancelled my direct debit in October. I confirmed that this is the case. She explained that i couldn't just cancel because I had signed the contract. I explained the story above. She told me they had no record of notice. I explained the story again. She asked me who the person on reception was - quite honestly, I didn't really notice and certainly don't remember -they have a number of different people who work reception. She continued to say she doesn't have notice from me and I need to pay £120 or so - 3 months worth of gym fees. I refused, explaining that i had adhered to the contract. She told me she would be referring me to a debt collector. A month later, ARC Europe debt collectors started calling. I explained the story to them. Initially they said I owed the money because I had a 12 month contract and I couldn't give notice. I explained this is not the case and asked them to send me a copy of the contract. Sure enough, when I received it it showed the section stating 12 month's notice with a line through it as described above. I called them back to explain that he had just proved my point. He told me he didn't have the contract and hadn't read it but assured me his client only do 12 month contracts. I told him to either get the contract and read it or go back to his client. He called me back a few days later and told me that after speaking to his client, they agreed I was on a monthly notice contract. So now he explained that I hadn't given notice. I explained the story about the guy on reception and the note. He said his client doesn't have that notice so I have to pay. I refused. I then asked him to explain, as a matter of interest, why the club were now claiming almost £150.. . he explained 3 months membership and £30 debt collection. I asked him why he thought I owed 3 months - even if they hadn't got a record of my notice - surely the most they could ask for on a one month contract was one month. He conceded that he didn't understand that - but would speak to his client again. He told me again he hadn't actually read the contract. Today, he called back - generally more of the same back and forward. He explained I owed £150 because of the time between my last direct debit in October and the date when I went into the club on 2nd January. I explained i hadn't been in the club since October - and suggested that perhaps he meant 2nd January is when the club called me. He assured me that his client had told him I'd visited the club. I reconfirmed the whole story and reiterated my refusal to pay and he told me he would speak to Fit4Less again and come back to me... My question is, can anyone tell me what my rights are here? I run a buy to let property business and really cannot afford, under any circumstances, to get a default marked on my credit score. That said, I really do not want to succumb to what appears to me to be, effectively blackmail. I've already spent a lot of time chatting on phones and writing this message - and I'm going to cut and paste a few bad reviews about them - but what can I actually do about this? To be quite honest, I can afford the £150 and i'm tempted to pay to make it go away - but on the otherhand, I feel this is entirely wrong and unfair and surely any form of blackmail in this country is illegal? Isn't the burden of proof on the accuser? How can I be expected to prove that I wrote two sentences on a piece of paper in October!?

hi i took out a loan with quid24 for 100, with a repayment of £110 , unfortunatly wasnt able to pay it on time, and within 6 days of missed due date £190 of charges had been added, they claim the charges are for letters they have sent but i have only ever recieved emails which they claim to be the letters. anyway here it a converstion log i have had with them so far. please let me know what you think , i have tried throwing a few legal quotes here and there (although i have probably got them wrong lol ) i have paid them £110.38 thet still persistant that i owe them £189.62 and dont seem to be budging no matter what i do or say, only thing they have done is offered to clear the remaining for £89.62 ( - £100 of the debt) but i still think this is unfair. i have contacted the financial ombudsman who advised me they can charge whatever they want if thats what i signed in the contract, but they have told me they have written to quid24 telling them i have lodged a compaint and they have 8 weeks to sort it... anyways enough of me going on, heres the contact between me and quid24 so far. [email protected] |2011-10-24 20:13:05 I would like to cancel mu agreement with yourselves under the terms and conditions i have 14 days to cancel my agreement with yourselves so i would like to excercise this right, please accept this as my written confirmation as cancelment of my agreement . please contact me asap by phone on 07413610113 in regards to the matter and for full payment of the original amount borrowed , the transfer fee , and 14 days interest at 8%apr . I would like to thank you in advance for your help in regards to this matter. Regards, anthony smith [email protected]@quid24.com |2011-10-25 13:28:04 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. Please see Cancellation Rights in our Credit Agreement: You will have a right to cancel this Agreement for 14 days, beginning with the day after this Agreement is signed by us ("the Cancellation Period"). If you do not exercise your right to cancel within the Cancellation Period, you will not be able to cancel this agreement. You may exercise this right to cancel by giving notice in writing by sending a letter to us at Quid24 Limited, 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom or by e-mail to [email protected]. As the Credit Agreement was signed on 07/10/2011 at 01:21, the Cancellation Period ended on 21st October. You sent us the notification on 24th October, so you are no longer able to cancel this Agreement under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004. Please make sure that you have sufficient funds available and let us know when can we collect the repayment of £300. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-10-25 16:11:19 Give me an account number and sortcode to pay onto i do not have a debit card to payvwith, also i.borrowed on the 10/10/11 not 07/10/[email protected] |2011-10-25 16:29:21 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. The Credit Agreement was signed when you registered with us on the 7th October. And the Cancellation Period is for 14 days, beginning with the day after the Credit Agreement was signed by us. So the Cancellation Period was 14 days starting from 8th October. We can offer an alternative payment method only once. Please make us a bank transfer to cover your debt using the following details: Account name: Quid24 Limited; Account number: 23497062; Sort code: 20-30-89; Amount: £300; Ref: Smith 1804 Please do not forget to add the reference. Please note that if we have not received the payment by the time we have agreed, additional charges will be added. When you have made the payment, please notify us and send us a copy of the payment. Please let us know as soon as you have received a new card to update your details. Thank you. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-10-25 17:25:39 I have made a payment of 110.38 the paymeny breakdown is as follows: £100 original loan £5.50 transfer fee ( altough all uk banks transfer instantly for free) £4.50 original interest fee £0.38 good will gesture 1months interest on £100 @ 8% apr as for my debit card number you will not need this as as far as i am concered my debt to yourselves has been paid However if you still believe i owe any outstanding balance i advise you to pursue the matter via court, as the rest of the balance you claim to be owed is clearly laid out on the online statement as charges for reminder letters that you have not sent, and if you had i would expect them to be printed in gold on 24c gold leaf paper as £70 for a standard piece of paper printed in black toner ink certainly would not be a justifiable cost which would then bring us to the unfair terms and conditions act of 1997. I thank you for your help in this matter anthony smith. [email protected] |2011-10-26 11:08:21 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. We have received your payment of £110.38, as your loan had increased up to £300, so £189.62 is currently outstanding. Please Make us another transfer of £189.62 as soon as possible, as otherwise your debt will be soon handed over to our debt collection partner and further debt collection fees will apply. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-10-26 15:21:16 Get the message you aint getting another penny stop playing stupid . [email protected] |2011-10-26 15:41:53 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. Please note that your loan has increased up to £300. The outstanding balance currently is £189.62, as you have only repaid £110.38 to us. Please make us another transfer of £189.62 as soon as possible, as otherwise your debt will be soon handed over to our debt collection partner and further debt collection fees will apply. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-10-27 18:01:47 May i remind you that under the unfair terms and conditions act 1997 that your terms and conditions for charging £190 for letters you have not sent is deemed an unfair charge and would also be deemed an unfair condition in a court of law. however if you wish to continue this matter and pass the accused debt to a debt collecter then i would also like to remove your right to ring me on any contact number and further contact is to be via email and post only , this right also moves with the debt so you are to inform any 3rd party you pass the matter on to that they also no longer have any right to contact me other than the methods stated. if anyone contacts me by any method other that post and email in regards to this matter they will be liable for damages in court under the communications act 2003. I would like to thank you for your yet more unhelpfulness, and hope not to hear from you in regards to this matter [email protected] |2011-10-31 12:45:02 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. You have agreed all the charges as these are stated in our credit agreement that you have read, agreed and electronically signed. Please note that these letters were sent via email. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-11-04 14:43:11 its nice to see how it took you 4 days to reply, anyway i have just been in contact with with the financial ombudsman who are going to write to yourselves in regards to the matter. firstly letters were not sent emails were, there is a difference, a letter you print and post and email you type and click a send button. and secondly the dates the emails were sent do not match the dates they should have as stated in the terms and conditions. terms and conditions states LETTERS (not emails) would be sent after the account becomes 1, 2, 4, and 7 days over due EMAILS (not letters) were sent on 1st reminder 17th oct - the DUE DATE (not 1 day after) 2nd reminder 18th oct - 1 day over (not 2 like stated) 3rd reminder 20th oct - 3 days over (not 4 like stated) 4th reminder 23rd oct - 6 days over ( not 7 like stated) also it has been noted to the financial ombudsman that when i contacted you in regards to a repayment plan you refused to help until the 24th oct conveniently after you had finished charging the account with unfair and unjustified charges. [email protected] |2011-11-04 15:10:22 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. Please note that it did not take 4 office opening days to reply to you as our office opening hours are Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm. You sent us the email on Thursday evening after the office was closed and we replied to you on Monday morning. So we replied to you on the second day. We have checked and the emails were sent out on the following dates: 1st reminder - 18th October, 2nd reminder - 19th October, 3rd reminder - 21st October and 4th reminder - 24th October. Please note that these were sent out straight after midnight when the charge was added. Reminder letters are sent out via email, not via post as emails will reach you straight away. We can only offer repayment plans to clients whose loan has gone seriously overdue and who are seriously in debt. Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-11-04 15:42:12 do you not think £300 for a £100 is not seriously overdue enough ? and why would you not think i was in serious debt, if i wasnt in debt i would of been able to obtain and overdraft from my bank or a cheaper method of borrowing? anyway heres my solution , i can offer £10 a month on starting thursday the 10th, and can offer this every 4 weeks, providing you stop adding interest and charges, however if you find this unacceptable and still want to challenge it, then i will have no option but to let the matter continue , and once 8 weeks has passed without any resolution from yourselves, the matter will be pursued with the financial ombudsman. [email protected] |2011-11-04 16:10:21 Dear Anthony, Thank you for the email. We are willing to freeze the loan and set up a repayment plan for up to 12 months. As currently the outstanding balance is £300 and if this would be divided into 12 equal payments then every month you would have to repay £25. Alternatively as a gesture of goodwill we can make you a settlement offer to repay £200 in one go before 23rd November 2011 (so we would waive more then half of the charges). Please let us know which of the above two offers suits you the best and let us know of the exact date(s) when we can collect the payment(s). Kind regards, Quid24 Support http://[email protected] |2011-11-04 16:18:18 Dear Anthony, Please ignore the above email. As you have already repaid £110.38, the outstanding balance is £189.62 not £300. Please accept our apologies for the mistake. We are willing to freeze the loan and set up a repayment plan for up to 12 months. As currently the outstanding balance is £189.62 and if this would be divided into 12 payments then you would have to make 11x £16 and 1x £13.62 payments. Alternatively as a gesture of goodwill we can make you a settlement offer to repay £89.62 in one go before 23rd November 2011 (so we would waive more then half of the charges). Kind regards, Quid24 Support www.quid24.com as you can see i have not responded to them as i have come back to my senses and have decided i shouldnt have to pay them anything , and i retract my last email to them that i offered £10 a month , until i fully understant where i stand ! any help wil be much appreciated.

I had a catalogue account and in 2007 one of my customers partner was sent to prison and she asked if she could pay a reduced payment, i asked the catalogue and they said yes but would charge her a late payment charge each month so she refused this and said the catalogue could take her to court and she would pay an agreed amount without any charges set by the court. Instead the catalogue passed it on to a debt collection company who came after me for the money I told them there was no way I was paying someone else's debt, this went on through different debt company's until 2008 when again another company asked me to get the customer to write a signed addressed letter saying that the debt was hers, i did this and sent it and her payment cards to them by recorded delivery then I phoned them a week later asking if they had what they needed and they said yes and heard no more from them. I then moved to my present home in March 2009 and now well over 4 years later I have had a letter drop through my door from another debt collection company about this. I should make it clear that all the items where delivered to the customers home address not my address and signed for by the customer and at no stage have i signed anything saying the debt is my debt and not one single payment has been made to any company by me. I have composed the following letter to send to this company is it correct ? my address Date Dear Sir/Madam Re:− Account/Reference Number 4563210025897412 This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide I also require a full financial breakdown of the debt. I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77(6) will apply. If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties. Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR). I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee for the documents requested. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose. If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee. If you fail to comply within the statutory time limit I will report you to the financial ombudsman's office, my local trading standards office, your local trading standards office, consumer direct, the information commissioner's office and the office of fair trading. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully my name

My sister was wrongly advised to change her Orange call plan when an advisor called her last year (advisor reduced it to 100 mins - saying this was best suited to her use), her normal average usage of 300 mins meant she went way over her allowance for a few months. Also we found a number of charges to calls with no number. Foolishly she never checked her account or the advice she was given and only became aware of the situation when Orange blocked access to her online account and started sending letters demanding £300-ish. After approx. 15 calls to Orange their stance was 'an advisor would never do that', several times they hung up, one person told her to f-off. They wouldn't explain the calls either, their stance was 'that is normal'. Phone calls promising to look back into the account have never materialised. I decided to put things in writing and we wrote and sent a letter recorded delivery asking (yet again) them to investigate the problem and provide details of dispute resolution. True to form no reply was received, they say they never received the letter (they did). Now a threatening letter from Moorecroft has arrived, we called Orange and they say it's nothing to do with them now, but they will investigate and call me back, they refused to give a time frame. Anyone offer any advice on how I can break through their stone wall? The communication feels 1-way, they promise to investigate but just keep escalating it. Thanks

Hi folks, need a bit of advice here if that's ok. I joined a gym over the internet about 4 weeks ago - I was informed that if I signed up online then I could have the rest of the month for free so I have had no payments to make until the 1st of February. Long story short I've had some very disastrous things happen to my bank account (bad planning, I'll be honest) and I told the gym that I needed to cancel my membership. I signed up online and have physically signed nothing. I cancelled the direct debit on the 28th (just after payday) after informing them that I wish to cancel. I received a letter on the 5th from a debt collection agency saying I owed a months membership (£25) and an admin fee of £10. Apparently if I don't pay it before the 12th they will add another £10 to my bill. What are my rights here? I have not been to the gym since I contacted them in order to cancel and as far as I'm concerned, I haven't actually been an official member because it was word of mouth that said I could go in January for free. Just for info, here is the gym website. their terms and conditions can be found in the 'join us' section: w w w . urbfitgroup . co . uk looking forward to some help on this one. thanks everyone, Dave

Hi everyone, im a newbie to this site so hope im posting in right section. Need some help. About 12 years ago had a repossession on my house with the woolwich this building society no longer excists. I got a ccj for this and cause its such a long time ago i remember filling in a form either to pay a lump sum of 2500 or pay installments of 30 pound per month and pay 7500 i agreed to pay the 30 per month. Cant remember whether this was to woolwich or credit collection agency ive been through hillsden securities then dlc im now paying 44 per month direct debit never missed a payment maybe paying this for 12 years could be longer. dlc are always threatning me which i no they cant do about taking me to court and that ive missed payments and that i owe roughly about 12,000pound were are they getting these figures from , my calculations i should be nearly paid up by now, i have asked and asked for them to explain this with no outcome, i have now emailed them asking for a notice of assignment and all details of transactions what ive paid and the signed document i agreed to paying of 7500 i have given them 30 days notice if they dont respond i will start legal proceedings against them, are they allowed to do this and what will happen if they dont respond or send me the information ive asked for, any help would be grateful many thanks lisa

Hello, First post here so not sure if it is in the right forum! I just recieved a letter from a debt collection agency for the first time ever. They say I owe a loan company 250 pounds from a time I took out a loan in 2006. The address that they have is one that I was once living in but moved out some 7 years ago. The loan is for 250 pounds and I can easily pay it but I have never once taken out a loan in my life. The house I was living in was rented and I think that the other tennant may have taken out a cash loan in my name. I am awaiting paperwork to get to the bottom of it but I fear this could happen again as I have not spoken to the other tennant since way back then. Do debt agencies usually take 7 years to start tracking things like this down? Any advice would be appreciated!

Just looking for some advice as I haven't been online for a while so I'm a bit rusty on these matters. A friends son owed the court some money for a fine, that was passed to Marstons who visited my friend today. Her son lived with her when the court fine was issued. Her son was unfortunately at the house when they called. The Bailiffs tricked their way in by saying they were from the court (which I guess they kinda are), but she thought they meant the Youth team etc. Once inside they threatened to remove property straight away unless she paid the amount now due. I thought they had to do a list and come back? They also wouldn't listen to her when she said that the property wasn't his, all of the items in the house were hers. They just said they would call a guy with a van to take it away now before they leave, and threatened her that by wasting their time it would cost her more and therefore they would take more. Could they do this? She basically gave in, due to the list of stuff they were doing included stuff she doesn't even own (on HP etc), and basically being most of her household for a £400 debt and paid them via Visa Debit. I've told her to contact her bank about the chargeback, and they will do one but she has to wait for 15 days. Would it do her any good if she rang them up to complain and ask for her money back? She can prove the items they were threatening to take were hers, and that he doesn't live with her anymore. Should they have been asking her to pay for her adult son (who the police arrested and took away*) so they were basically forcing her to pay for his debt. * The police were called after they refused to leave the house and he told them he would harm them if they didn't. He has not been charged with anything other than breach of the peace. Any help you can give would be great. Thanks in advance

Hi there, I am posting my situation here in the hope that someone will be able to provide advice ad guidance. Here goes: In June this year, my car was written off by the insurance company. I called my finance company (Mini finance) and explained the situation. They seemed happy with this, and requested that I keep them updated on the progress of the insurance claim. The insurers have been dragging their heels since the claim was raised. It took 3 attempts to raise the claim in the first place. My insurers are Hastings Direct. Despite numerous letters and telephone calls between myself and the insurers, the claim is still not finally settled. Their initial payment cheques was issued unsigned, and as mentioned, they have been dragging their heels in settling, by issuing cheques for the wrong amounts or not issuing cheques at all. Each telephone call to the insurers is followed by a call to the finance company updating them. Due to the length of time it is taking to resolve this claim, a debt collection agency has become involved. They are called Bluestone Credit Management. Despite Mini finance informing me via telephone that this may happen, I have yet to receive a letter from them, that Bluestone have bought over the debt (which they have done as confirmed in a call today to Mini finance), and that Mini re no longer administrating the account. Mini are however happy to still receive cheques from the insurance company to reduce the amount outstanding, and then pass this information along to Bluestone. Despite asking for confirmatory letters from the insurers as to when cheques have been sent out, and from Mini as to receipt, I am still waiting. I have had a call today from Bluestone looking for payment in full. I have informed them that the claim is still in dispute and that I am unwilling to make any payments until this situation is resolved. I don’t think this to be an unreasonable stance to take as it is my money after all. However, the representative started to become quite pushy and insistant that I make payment today. I had to talk over her, and I informed her that as the conversation was going nowhere, and that my situation was not being taken into account, that I was terminating the phone call. Which I did. Today, I received a letter from Bluestone to the effect that they are acting on behalf on Mini finance, and that they want payment of the full amount BY RETURN. Cheques are to be made out to Mini finance but sent to Bluestone. I have lodged a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service over the insurer’s valuation of my vehicle, and as this is currently ongoing, this is my reasoning for not making payment. Now the figures! At the time my car was written off, there was just over £16000 to pay on the finance. At the time of buying the car, I did not take out gap insurance as Mini were looking for a further £500 on top of a £500 cash deposit. There was no opportunity to spread this payment over a period of time. To date, the insurers have paid out a total of £15,271. £12,480 (after the excess was deducted (that was £345)). £962 after they identified that they had valued the vehicle incorrectly (wrong model despite my insurance details being correct foe the model). £601 after I complained about the value of the vehicle. £883 for accessories which would enhance the desirability of the vehicle (and £345 excess deducted). And a final cheque for £345 to cover the second excess amount that was deducted. This leaves an outstanding amount of £1271.76, however Bluestone are looking for £2499.76, as they have not factored in the final 2 amounts paid by the insurers. They have been told this, but they don’t seem to be interested in knowing the details. The insurers have said that they have paid out 81% of the vehicle value. My car was bought for £17,643.20 excl VAT (£20701.02 incl VAT). 81% of either amount is not £15,271. I have been paying insurance premiums based on the car’s value being £16,000. I do not know if I have answered my own question in this post, but is there anything further I can do?

Hey there, I'm having problems with Philips at the minute. went to court for something stupid, didn't get found guilty but they still made me pay court costs (£80). I was paying £20 p/month to the courts. It got down to about £40. I receive a letter off Philips saying I owe a £110!! I didn't default any payments with the courts has this happened to anyone else? I defaulted Philips as they were asking for £50 p/month I'm only getting enough money to live on and now they're trying to charge me a £325 they said over the phone I could go to jail etc.... if someone could give me some advice I would be grateful

I give you..... Battlestar Collectica....

My son's friend has received a formal warning that a debt has been referred to a debt collector. This is the first time she has been notified of any debt owing and upon investigation has found that her sister has taken out a credit agreement for a catalogue in her name (using her own bank details) but has never made any payment. Apparently she started it in her sister's name because she already had a bad credit history herself. She is understandably very upset as not only does it look as if she is liable for the debt but this could obviously affect her future. She lives at home with her parents and her sister and her parents seem completely unconcerned about the matter. She is not sure whether to approach the debt collectors or the police although either way she is terrified of the repercussions as she has been badly beaten in the past. Any comments would be welcome.

My account with Vodafone is currently in arrears due to non-payment. A few months ago it appeared I was going to be made redundant. I paid half of my monthly bill and contacted Vodafone to explain the situation, to which I was given a discount of £5 off for 2 months..... bearing in mind I had been a customer with Vodafone for over 6 years paying a high tariff in full and on time every month since first joining. Anyway i called to explain that I wasn't going to be made redundant after all but my hours had been reduced meaning I couldn't afford to continue paying such a high amount every month on a phone which you can understand isn't really a high priority outgoing. Today (17th November) I received a letter dated 9th November from CapQuest Debt Recovery who say they are acting on behalf of Vodafone, and also state they have sent me previous communication, something I know nothing about! I have received one letter from Vodafone to which i responded with a letter offering a monthly payment I can afford until I sort of my financial situation. This letter from CapQuest stated my case will processed and passed to the next stage on or around 22nd November, which i can stop if i pay the whole amount to vodafone by this date. The amount stated on the letter is £97.44 however after speaking to an adviser from vodafone today, the amount i need to pay is in excess of £500, with a payment plan of £95 over 6 months being offered, something which i doubt anyone can afford in this current climate. Can anyone advise on what I can do to work with vodafone to resolve the arrears? I no longer need my monthly line rental as I have a pay as you go phone, although i understand that the remaining line rental must be paid before the contract can be cancelled. Regards, Thomas Fairley

A few years ago I had an issue with an O2 contract, cancelling the contract over the phone I was told I would have no other payments to be made and clerified with them before ending the call. Behold a few months, after I am receiving a charge of £40, money I could have paid instantly but refused to for the only reason being I was immature and didn't want to pay after cancelling when they told me I wouldn't have to pay anything else. The debt was passed on to lowell and for roughly 8 months they continued to send me absurd mail, at times even offering me the option of halving the debt after claims of turning up at my house. I knew this was a load of nonsense but it adventually paid off as I got so bored of receiving mail from them I just paid the full 40 to end frustration. A resulting cost is my credit rating has suffered drastically resulting to a silly £40 as I have an account now listed as defaulted? I am awful at sorting stuff like this and just want to know what I can do to sort this issue. Ideally I could have paid the £40 straight away as it is such a small amount and not worth years of bad credit, but it was principal I refused to part with the money..

Hello everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me sort what seems like a strange problem i've been having with debt collection agencies. In 2006 i lost my job and made a claim on my credit card PPI to cover the payments. This all eventually went through and a year later, still unemployed (still am today!) I received a letter saying under the terms of the insurance as I was still not working, the debt was repaid and the balance was zero. Hurrah I thought, but once or twice a year since then i'd get debt collector letters demanding the balance, as it was before I took out the insurance claim. Anyway I simply wrote back with a copy of the insurance letter and they seemed to go away. That was until about a year and a half ago, i was suddenly getting letters from LloydsTSB who I banked with and had the credit card with, demanding payments and adding charges for my credit card to my current account, this took me over my overdraft and sent my charges sky high, I was suddenly locked out of my internet banking and when I went into branch, to try and put some money in to prevent my unauthorised overdraft spiralling out of control, was told my account had been closed and I would just have to go home and phone customer services - I was fuming to say the least. This was followed by a mad flurry of debt collection calls and letters, so I made a complaint to the Financial Obmbudsman. The findings were that Lloyds had failed to write off the debt on my card when it was settled and that any charges relating to my current account were unfair and my account was to be reinstated immediately. (I haven't tried using it - moved to another bank and I haven't even tried using my credit card since I lost my job) All fine and quiet for about a year, which brings us to this summer when it all started again and currently I have eight or nine different debt collection agencies after payments for both my credit card and my current account debt via letter and what seems like every five minutes telephone calls either on my landline or mobile. It's driving me insane, I've tried writing, sent copies of the insurance and ombudsman reports and yet they keep on. I've supplied a copy of my credit report where it says 'settled' in 2007. I've told them they are mistaken, I've asked them to supply me with proof of a debt. They're just not interested. What can I do to put an end to it all once and for all? Any advice anyone can give me would be most appreciated. At first it was quite laughable at how they could make such a huge error, but now its feeling like a huge weight, as I don't know whats going on behind the scenes I'm worried i'm going to have to deal with doorstep agents or CCJ's (a friend told me they can CCJ you without you even knowing!). I just need it all to stop now. Sorry for rambling on, but it's a fairly odd predicament don't you think?

Hi, As the title says I am still getting letters regarding the old tenants 18 months after moving in. I have sent them back to sender 'no longer at this address' etc but they still come. I was thinking of sending them with a strong letter saying they don't live etc and want confirmation that they have taken my address off any links with previous tenants. Any other advice would be helpful. JJ