Between us my wife and I have racked up over £80,000 in unsecured, non priority debts. I am disabled for the foreseeable future unfit to work and my wife works full time. With the help of National Debt Helpline we have completed a budget and worked out that we have about £80 per month of disposable income. The advise we were given is that our options are either a DMP or bankruptcy. With regards to having to find another bank account which will be a problem for us as it appears Barclays are the only bank that will allow us to have a simple bank account as non discharged bankrupts, but this is not an option for us as barclays group is one of our creditors. A friend has offered to open a bank account in their name and allow us to have my wives salary paid into it, as well as moving any direct debits we have. So my question is, is there any reason my friend cannot allow us to use their bank account, at least until we are discharged from bankruptcy? This is a very dear friend whom I trust completely, but do not want to get them into any kind of trouble for helping us out. DJ

Hi, Just received a letter from a court stating that they have issued a "notice of issue of warrant of control" stating that they will collect goods if payment is not made. It is for a debt i had starting in 2008 i took out hp on a car which was repossesed in jan 2009 as i lost my job and was not able to make payments. this is the first letter i have had from anyone relating to lowel portfolio and as the debt is over £6k and im not working and not able to pay the full requested amount of £6227.16 the court is asking. does anyone have any advice on where to go as i dont want anyone turning up trying to take stuff. Thanks

Has anyone else noticed the MOJ link to the 'new' National Standards cannot be found on the MOJ site anymore: http://aka.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/enforcement-officers/taking-control-of-goods-national-standards.pdf They can be found here (third link down): https://www.gov.uk/search?q=bailiffs Is there a reason for this, or is it just a technical blip?

One of the most common enquiries that we receive relates to the subject of Magistrate Court fines and whether or not the bailiff/enforcement agent is required to have in his possession a copy of the distress warrant/warrant of control. In almost all cases; the confusion arises from incorrect (and misleading) information on a small number of websites heavily connected to the Freeman on the Land or other such movements. These websites frequently ‘claim’ that companies enforcing magistrate court fines create ‘doctored or counterfeit’ warrants and debtors are encouraged by the websites to pay a fee to download a template letter which they are told to send to various Magistrates Courts around the country. In November a debtor wrote to HMCTS regarding this subject. He received a lengthly response from them which he posted on a forum in November. The following is taken from the HMCTS reply. For ease of reference, in post number two I have broken down their response into separate headings. In this post I have extracted from HMCTS's response the relevant case law: "It is not necessary to generate a distress warrant at the time of its issue; the relevant details can be produced (and provided to the debtor) subsequent to its issue (or indeed subsequent to its execution) but such relevant details should be recorded at the time of issue" "Pursuant to section 125A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 where a warrant (whether a warrant of arrest, commitment, detention or distress) is executed by a civilian enforcement officer, a written statement indicating the name of the officer, the authority by which he is employed and that he is authorised in the prescribed manner to execute warrants, must, on demand of the person arrested, committed or detained or against whom distress is levied, be shown to him as soon as practicable. Section 125B applies to approved enforcement agencies and makes similar provision". "Part 52 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2010, rules 52.7 and 52.8, set out the procedure for the execution of magistrates’ court distress warrants. The distress warrant must identify the person to whom it is directed, the person against whom it was issued, the sum for which it was issued and the reason that sum is owed, the court or fines officer who issued it and the court office for the court or fines officer who issued it (rule 52.7(1)". "A person to whom a warrant is directed must record on it the date and time at which it is received (rule 52.7(2)). Pursuant to rule 52.8(2), the person executing the warrant must explain to the debtor the order or decision that the warrant was issued to enforce, the sum for which the warrant was issued and any extra sum payable in connection with the execution of the warrant. In addition, if he has the warrant with him, he must show it to the debtor or if the debtor asks, arrange for the debtor to see the warrant, if that person does not have it and show the debtor the written statement of that person’s authority required by section 125A or 125B of the 1980 Act"

hello everyone ive recieved 2 letters from a company called control account claiming to be looking to recover import fees from federal express ive read a few things about control account but non of the threads ever seem to say what finally happened i would like to know where i stand with these letters ive never recieved any claim lettter from federal express just these letters from control account its only 35 quid but im not going to be bullied for any amount by these parasites ive added the letters as an attachment....hopefully you can all see them [ATTACH=CONFIG]54682[/ATTACH]

my cousin whom i had staying at my address for a few weeks while i was away and as since moved back to Scotland , ordered a monitor from ebay on his laptop. from korea. which was delivered to my address in west Yorkshire. he told me delivery was included in the price he showed me the invoice which read item $200 plus $100 shipping. he signed for the parcel from FedEx. i received a letter addressed to him from fedex . i opened it and it said he owed £52 for custom and tax fees, the others i posted back unopened writing on not at this address, return to sender, now i have just had a letter from Control Account PLC.which i have posted back to them unopened , can they get any debt from me, as i wont grass on my cousin.

Hey guys I got a letter ages ago from fedex asking me to pay some charges for something I purchased from america. Amount was £18.51 to pay, I ignored it and got a letter from PLC telling me to pay them instead of Fedex. What I'd like to know, is it safe to continue to ignore them ? No court hearing or any of that stuff as I can't really be dealing with that stuff as I am a Uni student. Can I just ignore them ?

Hi all, I have got myself in a mess and probably do not deserve help as its my own fault but here goes. Today i received a Notice of issue of warrant of control from my local county court. The letter states that I have seven days to make a payment of £172 including fees with a remaining balance of £500. If i do not pay this fee then bailiffs will attend in 7 days. Now I think I recall receiving a claim form several months ago from the Northhampton bulk centre court and I ignored it (I am regretting this now). I have several old debts from the early 2000's when i was a student and have moved several times and some remain unpaid. I am unsure what this debt is for. I also received a letter from Bryan Carter today explaining the warrant of control and saying they may take a payment. I know that this means I have a ccj against me but I have a feeling that the debt was statue barred when the ccj was taken out. My questions are: What do I do next? contact Bryan Carter and do a payment plan? What if the debt was statute barred when the ccj was taken out? by ignoring the claim form is it too late to set aside the ccj? I am currently unemployed (living with husband) so cannot offer a substantial amount per month, how do i negotiate with Bryan Carter? I would be really grateful for any help Thank you

I'll be brief.. 6th December 2013, I pulled up in the Albert Street Car Park for 10 mins, while I waited for my son to be collected. The car was not left unattended during that time. I was sent a PCN for £80 if I paid within 2 weeks (something like that). They have been writing to me but I've ignored them until recently they sent me a letter from a debt collector. I wrote back saying that usual...i.e not obliged to give them the details of the driver, this is an invoice as oppose to a PCN, legally that the land owner has the authority to pursue me for the debt and if they did take it the matter to court, they would only be awarded whatever the losses would have been which would be punitive. This was their reply. (Apologies, I'm not at work today so I can't PDF the letter, but here is what they said) "Under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, if payment of the above Parking Charges Notice (PCN) has not been made by the driver, or we have not been provided with a full name and serviceable address for the driver/hirer within 28 days from the date of the PCN issue date: we are able to contact the Registered keeper so as the request the driver details. You as as the registered keeper failed to provide us with this information requested - as such you have becomes liable for the amount due. Our claim is for liquidated damages in respect of a breach of the parking contract. We have calculated this sum as a genuine pre-estimate of our losses as we incur significant costs in managing the parking location to ensure compliance to the stated Terms and Conditions and to follow up on any breaches of these identified. A full breakdown of loss with be provided at the request of a judge. Whilst we appreciate what you have stated in your correspondence, we must advise you that we are contracted by landowner to enforce the agreed Terms and Conditions on the land stipulated in the contract between ourselves. Unfortunately, due to our contract being commercially sensitive, we are unable to provide you with copy of the contract. However, should the matter proceed to court, we will be happy to provide said information on request of the Court. We have noted your comments that we should refrain from sending you any further correspondence. As such, we state that any further correspondence regarding the Notice will be made through the issuing of court proceedings whereby further costs will incurred on the Notice." What should I do next? Can they take me to court?

Hi all, Sorry to bother you but I'm after a bit of advice regarding an old Barclays account. Heres the story... My partner and I had a joint account with Barclays many years ago (2004) of which we ended up having an overdraft of £2170. Due to various reasons we ended up pushing it to its limit every month and eventually came into a bit of financial hardship but we struggled on as you do. Then in 2008 I was sadly made redundant. This is where things went terribly wrong. We struggled on for another year incurring fees left, right and center but we just got by until it all got too much and we went to the CAB for help. They kindly went through a financial statement with us and contacted all our creditors with repayment offers of which some have been paid off and some are still running. We also put in a claim for bank charges on our Barclays account, asked them to freeze the account as we were in financial hardship, destroyed out bank cards and sent them back with our cheque books as advised by the nice lass at the CAB and opened a new basic account with another bank. Barclays sent us a letter shortly after (28th August 2009) saying that they were sorry to hear of our financial hardship but they considered their charges to be "lawful, fair and transparent" so were throwing out our complaint on that front. They also refused our offer of £10 a month repayment towards our outstanding debt. Then a month later we received another letter RE: our financial difficulty claim stating that they have accepted our claim and will be paying us £585 as a "goodwill gesture" and closing our claim. This is where things get really messy. At that time my wife was sadly diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I have an anxiety disorder which is getting better now but back then meant my wife dealt with all the paperwork, bills etc. To cut a long story short (too late, I know lol) this account has ended up being forgotten about until now. I decided to get a copy of my credit report and was stunned to see that Barclays had been putting an entry on there every month for years. I'm guessing they have done the same with my wifes credit score too. Is there anything I can do about this? Also, what was originally a debt of £2170 because of the interest and PPI they have been adding every single month has now reached a total of £5162 and is still going up by over £50 a month (£17.36 a month PPI + interest) despite us requesting them to freeze everything and not using the account for years. I am still out of work due to my anxiety but also because my wife is needing more and more help around the house as her MS progresses so I've pretty much become a house husband/father. She has always worked part time in Tesco but I'm unsure as to how long she can continue working. As of right now she has been off work for the last 2 weeks with a relapse that has left her numb down one side of her body and very wobbly on her feet. Any help on which direction I should go would be great. My anxiety is getting better now and I desperately want to step up and start providing for my family again, being a decent father/husband and taking everything off my wifes weary shoulders but first I need to get our current situation under control and hopefully repair some of the damage this has done to our credit reports. Many thanks.

I have just been issued a writ of control on a £43k CCJ that was put in my Bankruptcy in 2010, however the Natwest whom issued the CCJ put a charge on my property before the Bankruptcy petition was finalised and apparently there was nothing I could do as I wanted to keep the property, which was and still is in negative equity. The writ runs out in a weeks time and they can come and take goods even though I've been bankrupt, is there anything I can do.......

Just been served court papers (via Northampton's court bulk centre) for an outstanding debt to Anglian Water. AW have added £50 solicitor's/£15 court fee. The court fee I can understand, but the £50 sol fee is a bit much. Can I contest the sol fee?

Hi, Help needed pls. I popped out the other day and my kids were home, and when i got back my kids are all upset, scared and distraught. The kids told me that someone was banging on the door , window and garage doors very loud and hard for about 20 mins. Obviously i was upset too, and not very happy that my kids felt terrorised in their own home. A enforcement agent from marstons had clamped my car which was on the drive, and also posted a letter. This is the first time they have called regarding this matter or sent any letters about this pcn. I was not the driver of the vehicle at the time when the parking ticket was issued , and neither was i aware of it! I have not received any letters from them regarding this matter previously, until they came the other day banging down the door. They are saying i need to pay in full 392.00, which consists of debt of 82, compliance stage fee of 75 and then an enforcement stage fee of 235.00. I did call the agent and he says i need to pay it all before he takes of the clamp. He want take any instalments. I told him that the car is on hp, and he is using it as leverage for me to pay it all, but he says i just need to pay it all before they take the clamp off. I spoke to the office to tell them i know nothing about it , they would not listen, and told me i need to pay it all . I told her that why have they clamped the car because they can't take it as it on hp, she told me that she has spoken to the hp company, and they are happy for then to take the car. Which is so untrue, as firstly she does not even know who the hp is with. She was very rude , and then hung up saying she is going to terminate this call. Are they allowed to clamp my car on my drive, and then leave a letter saying taking control of goods on a highway? Are they not supposed to give me any notice they are going to come, or the fine has been passed to them, and why are they adding compliance fee and enforcement stage fee at the same time. I was not the driver, i knew nothing about this ticket until last week. I have never had a parking ticket, and if i did know i would have paid it whilst you pay only half the amount. Please help, and advise greatly appreciated.

I received a penalty charge notice ticket on the 07/02/2014 from NATIONAL PARKING CONTROL to pay £100 within 28 days for parking in an unauthorized location dated LAST YEAR 27/082013 for approximately 4min 1sec. I have written to them about this PCN on 2 occasions, challenging the parking charge notice due to not receivingtheir parking fine within 28 days (WHICH I BELIEVE IS THE LAW FROM THE ONLINE RESEARCH I DID) period starting from the day after the parking incident took place. First letter i sent to them was on 07/02/2014 which they ignored after singing and receiving it. Then on 07/03/2014 they sent me another parking fine letter ignoring my first letter of dispute i sent them. After receiving their second parking ticket fine I sent another another letter this time with a copy of my postage receipt to prove i recently sent a dispute letter, which i believe they have intentionally ignored. Now i have received a 3rd parking fine notice letter, this time it has increased by £40 now making it £140 which must be paid 09/04/2014. I have also kept all records of postage delivery receipts....PLEASE HELP!! THANKS IN ADVANCE

I have just received an email from the Ministry of Justice to confirm that the long awaited Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2014 have been laid in Parliament this morning. This is the second set of Regulations which will underpin the Government's package of reforms to bailiff laws. The first set of Regulations, The Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 sets out the procedure that enforcement agents must follow when taking control of goods and were laid in Parliament on 30th July last year. The third and final set of Regulations will follow shortly and will focus on the requirements an individual must meet before they are granted a certificate to work as an enforcement agent. All three sets of Regulations will be implemented on the 6th April 2014. The link to the news Regulations can be read here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1/made

Hi i wonder if someone could help. My parents bought a house last year, it has a nearly new garage conversion, they only bought the house because it had all the paper work and completion cerificate from local building control saying it meets building regs. However 6 months in and there conversion which is a bedroom is seriously leaking water. They have had 3 builders around and all say dont know how this was signed off!! The floor sits lower than outside, no membrane on floor just existing garage floor with underlay carpet underneath floorboards. My question is can they sue the council for this? The local building control manager did go around there and have a look and all he kept saying was this is poor. But wouldnt say they would put it right. Its not going to be cheap but why should they have to pay. Thankyou for reading and hopefully helping.

Hello Last year I was paid a bursary of £500 from university. 3 weeks later they asked for it back and said they had paid it in error. I am a student with a wife! who has a job. They told me as they had learnt my wifes salary (40000) I wasn't eligible. however this was my last year at university and I had recived bursarys every year without any problems. I explained the money was already gone and I was unable to pay. Anyway to cut a long story short via control account, who I ignored (consumer action reading and advice), And also some threatening emails from university, I have now received a claim form for the full amount. Due to still being at university (teacher training), and being threatened by them they will in effect ban me from carrying out my studies I am keen to pay the money back. However, I still cannot afford the whole amount at once.... What can I do? is it wise to visit the university and speak to someone? or is it too legal now?? Thanks in advance....

Hi, First of all i would like to thank everybody for their continued support on this site and the help offered to many has been great, I have spent the late night/morning reading through the forums and getting ideas and seeing how much of a general ball ache all this is going to be! So i have been in this spiral for a few months now but today is the day i miss my first payment I have been rolling over alot of loans and paying some off however now im stuck I have no more money this month due to having to fix my car and now i cant pay back one of my lenders.. My debt portfolio looks like this: Payday Express - £630 (due today) been rolled over twice and took a further loan out this month WageDayAdnavce - £160 due next month only taken out 10 days ago PiggyBankLoans £250 due next month rolled over last two months next payment due next month MiniCredit - £700 however have agreed a payment plan of £69 per month started that 8 weeks back. they where very easy to deal with i thought contrary to what i have read in other threads. Quid - £299 just been paying minimum payment for months now next payment due next month Lending Stream - £174 with two payment left of £107 (30th oct) and £87.10(nov) I also have a £1600 overdraft and two credit cards totalling £400 I always make my minimum payments on my overdraft and cards. and dont see them as a long term problem as i am slowly paying the three off and don't use or even have the cards any more as I cut them up months ago. This month i also paid back toothfairyfinance over £500 for a £400 loan. I made over £1000 in payments to these accounts this month and still fall short and now i need to regain control. I tried setting up a payment plan with express last month however they said as i had only recently taken out the 2nd loan (the two total £490) they would not even discuss it with me and they rolled it over i made a partial payment and and had a reduced amount. This month I then took out the second loan again for a total of £490 with £630 after fees. They will not even consider a payment plan when i phoned them this morning the loan is due today i only rolled it over but I don't have the £160 and i was about to borrow off tooth fairy to pay it and after reading through all this it is the last thing i should do and i need to stop. I have about £500 spare each month to pay off these loans. I now have moved back home to live with my parents, my mum is aware im in financial bother but is in no position to help i have lied regarding the escalation of my debts and she has helped in the past. If a bailiff or somebody knocks at the door i fear i will become homeless. I am in full time work. I have already been on payment plans with quickquid and wonga and paid them both off respectfully. in the past 6 months. Im now at my wits end and this whole situation is becoming terribly depressing. I have looked at a debt management scheme with payplan and step change, however if they don't agree to work with them what else can i do? Thanks One very stupid man PDL Total debt - 1584.48 Card/overdraft - £2000

hi can anyone help me with doing a payment plan with wonga my debt is up to 1372 and is due out tomorrow but i cant afford to keep paying the debt and then borrowing more just to clear my bill please somebody HELP!!!!!!!!

I have just been informed that the first of three statutory instruments....The Taking of Control of Goods Regulations 2013......which will underpin the Government's package of reforms to bailiff law will be laid in Parliament today. I will post a link later and I will also post further information that I received today. PS: The Taking Control of Goods Regulations will be implemented in April 2014.

Hello all, I have received a "PARKING CHARGE NOTICE" from VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEMS. It shows two pictures of the rear of my car, stopped to pick up passengers. I was not driving at the time it was someone else. The picture does not show how long the car was stopped. It states that "liability for this parking charge notice lies with the driver of the vehicle". Do I have to tell them who was driving, and pay £60 charge? Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks. J.Mc

Hi Can someone please advise me on how to handle this debt? When I was at university I borrowed some money to pay my rent as my student loan had not been paid. My loan didn't arrive until the end of the academic year so after the late fees added on the amount owed came to £295, which I could not afford to pay. I moved house after finishing uni, about two years ago, but they have managed to track me down. I have ignored several letters from the university threatening legal action, and this morning I got a letter from control account plc threatening serious legal consequences if I do not pay within 5 days. What would you advise me to do? Thanks for any advise in advance!

Housing charity discovers almost a third of agencies were charging renters more than £400 to set up a tenancy, in addition to the deposit and rent upfront Shelter is calling for a ban on "out of control" letting agent fees that are forcing millions of tenants into debt The housing and homelessness charity says letting agents frequently demand hefty upfront sums to set up a tenancy, on top of the deposit and rent, with the average amount being £350 According to the mystery shopping exercise carried out by the charity among 58 letting agencies across England, almost a third were charging tenants more than £400 to set up a tenancy, with seven charging in excess of £700. This is in addition to the separate sum charged to the landlord by agents to find tenants and set up agreements on their behalf. Alongside the rising cost of rent, upfront fees are putting additional pressure on tenants' finances with a quarter having to borrow money to pay them in the past three years, while one in six had to cut down on food or heating to meet the costs, Shelter found. The charity wants agencies to be barred from charging "administration" and "holding" fees, "check-in" fees, or for credit checks. In some cases, these fees are non-refundable, even if the agreement falls through and the tenant is unable to move into the property. The Office of Fair Trading recently found that of 4,000 complaints made by tenants and landlords to Consumer Direct about lettings agents, a third related to fees and additional charges. It found that landlords and tenants are being "drip-fed" extra charges after signing a contract. Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Letting agency fees have become truly out of control. When renters have to find hundreds of pounds in fees each time they move – on top of deposits and rent in advance – it's not surprising that fees are causing real financial hardship and, in some cases, preventing people from moving at all. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jun/12/lettings-agent-fees-out-of-control-shelter

Hi there, I recently received a PCN whilst pulled over at Liverpool Airport, I have done some research and the general opinion seems to be ignore them however I wonder if these apply more strictly at airports? Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Hi Just wondered if there was anything I could do about my husbands debt. About 5 years ago he had a current account with Lloyds TSB - I don't know the reason why but he went overdrawn by £90.00 We have just received a letter from Wescot stating he owes £3115 for this debt. Is there anything we can do to reduce this amount or just pay it off bit by bit. Thanks