hi I have received a court summons today to appear in court at the end of this month. I need advice on wether or not it is worth seeing a solicitor or not.as I am going to plead guilty. this is my story..I attended an IUC in march 2011 for benefit/council tax fraud ,as I had not informed them that I had savings in excess of the allowed ammount ,I had come into an inheritence which took my savings over the ammount and foolishly I did not inform them as I knew I would be spending the money on house improvements and replacing my old car, well the money was in the bank for about 2 years while I got things sorted but by the time I attended the interview I had spent most of it and I was under the allowed limit. anyway to cut a long story I was told I had committed fraud and I owed the council tax £1600 and income support £7300,I had no means of repaying this other than to sell my house and buy a smaller house which I did and I have now repaid all the money in full.I was fully aware that I would still have to face court proceedings as I have committed an offence. this court summons is for the council tax and I still expect to be summoned for the income support overpayment. any advice on wether or not to use a solicitor would be appreciated..thanks in advance

Hi I hope someone can advise. My daughter has been living with me for past 3 years and in that time she has signed up to a catalogue in my name without my permission online. I have had no knowledge of this until she has now moved out. She has intercepted any post from the catalogue and seems to have been paying it. I found out after she left on bad terms, questioned her as to whether she is going to continue paying it and she is refusing. I have no permanent address for her. Where do I stand with getting this debt out of my name? Thanks

Hello Everybody, This Forum is Great and I couldn't believe,Real Good people out there who take real time out and gives honest advice to another human being to get his life sort out..... "Its really a best Gift from from a mankind to another mankind." OK! My story is, I am having a problem with my local Council. The problem is kind of created by myself. I was claiming housing benefit and i am self employed person. I did not disclosed my accounts properly. I know... i know... Its all my fault.... but i have learn my lessons means now council is doing investigation about me and they stopped my H.B. few months back ago. And arrears were building up and now arrears are too high and they are taking me to County court for Arrears.. As i said above i have learned my lessons and want to fix the mess i created but don't know where to start. i am bit afraid they might go heavy hand on me as i have wife and kids, i don't want them to suffer with me all because of my mistakes.... Council hasn't accused me for Fraud or anything yet but i know deep down i made it mistake... Now i want to fix it....Don't know what to do...... Any help or advice i will really appreciate.... Many Thanks.

For the last month and a half I have been receiving letters in my house for somebody I don't know. They are from the DWP, HMRC, council, etc. I have crossed out the name and written, not known at this address, but they keep coming. I phoned the DWP and they say they need to speak to the person involved. They aren't doing anything. I think it's a fraud. It must be. What I don't understand is why, when something like this is notified to them (dwp, hmrc, etc.) they don't carry out an investigation to find out whether there is a genuine claim or it's a fraud. They should check the claimant bank account, etc. to see what the person is doing and from where the money is withdrawn or used. It would be faster that way to find out what's going on but they don't seem to do it.

Hi everyone, I found out on the Thursday 17th of October that Wonga had taken £260 out of my account. Whilst I had a loan off them it isn't due until 1st of November. I phoned Wonga and found out my debit card had been used fraudulently. The case has been passed along to Wonga's fraud department. I then phoned my bank (Halifax) and cancelled my card and requested a charge back, however I was told the chargeback could not be done due to my already having an account with Wonga. Then rung Wonga again in order to talk to their fraud department, but they are un-contactable. The person on the phone told me I would have to wait for the fraud team to contact me, but did say he would flag the case as urgent. However I've yet to hear back from Wonga and after researching the issue on the net I am getting increasingly worried about the length of time it might take them. The money they have taken is my rent money (due on the 28th) and in addition I found out too late too stop my wages from getting paid into the same account and thus swallowed up by the overdraft. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next as I cannot get enough money to cover my rent unless I have this money refunded. Thanks in advance,

Can anyone offer me advice on what I might expect from an interview under caution? Got the letter today and very worried. Is it true they rarely prosecute if you admit and offer to pay back?

Hi all, just joined long story short i have been a perfect home customer for just over a year had no issues with them until they started collecting card payments from a business account i had used one time, WITHOUT MY CONSENT. This happened 6 times week after week, and every week after complaining to the store manager i would have the reply of "well how were you going to pay your account this week?'' which would then send me into blind rage for the cheek of the remark, resulting in the manager apologising and stating it wouldnt happen again. I have since cancelled my cards and received new ones but i am now refusing to pay them anymore. Im now receiving what i can only describe as their bully boy tactics (laughable at best) seen scarier teenagers in bootle Since no credit check was completed by perfect homes im not bothered about becoming a bad debtor with them i just want to know my rights can someone please advise PS I do not want any advice how to bring the account upto date or resolve the issue about the fraud all telephone calls were recorded. Thanks in advance

Hi, I was horrified and slightly confused recently to receive a letter from the council informing me that they had suspended my housing benefit in order to look at it in more detail. The reason I was horrified and confused was because I wrote to them on 18th June 2012 to inform them that I was moving out of the property I was in on 25th June 2012. However, on speaking to them, it appears they never received this letter. Having moved out I started a two month working contract during which I was immensely busy often working evenings as well as all day. I didn't check my bank account too closely, but knew I had money in there when I started and was paid periodically (every 4 weeks) by my employer. I never had any problems with paying for things, though I did think once or twice that I had been paid more than I should have been. However, I didn't have access to my payslips, as they were delivered to my mother's address while I was staying onsite at work (I was working in Bath and my mother lives in London). Anyway, I received this letter recently which confused me because I thought the benefit had been cancelled at my request, and I checked my bank account in detail. This revealed to me that I had been paid HB for the last 3 months or so and that I owed the council around £1650. I immediately wrote to the council apologising profusely explaining my position (and enclosing a copy of the letter I sent in June, though this, admittedly, doesn't really prove anything, as I didn't send it recorded delivery or anything like that, so have no proof of posting) and offering to pay back the money as soon as possible, and they have invited me to an Interview under Caution on 23rd October. As I say, they are saying they never received my letter cancelling my benefit, so as far as I can see it is my word against there's - therefore, my question is how do I stand? I am very worried here (I have never committed a crime in my life and am scared stiff of a criminal record, fines, possible imprisonment etc...)that I could be prosecuted for benefit fraud given the fact that I can't prove that I sent the letter (am kicking myself for not sending recorded delivery). Do I have any legal standing at all and am I right to think that the consequence could be as bad as I think it could be? Hope to hear from someone soon and thanks in advance, Matt

Is there anywhere online I can search to find a date when a benefit fraud case was tried (2007-2008)? I don't know if it was tried in the local County Court or Magistrates Court. The person concerned was convicted. It was also reported in the local paper at the time, but the paper doesn't seem to have archives. I have moved the other side of the country so it wouldn't be easy to visit the court .., but I would if I have to.

Sorry if this is not the right place for this thread (admin please feel free to move). Both my ex-partner and me have sold our house at a considerably less value than I would have hoped to achieve. I put this down to a slow economy and poor house prices. Information has since come to light that would strongly suggest that the buyer is a family friend of my ex-partner who has purchased the house in a scheme to depriving me of a several thousand and obviously secure a better price. Despite this being underhand and me having little evidence, I was wondering whether any wrong doing has been attempted and if so what I could do, if anything? Although difficult to prove, is this criminal fraud? If so I have certainly been a victim in this transaction. Any advice? Thanks

I received, at the end of last week, a letter from my local council requesting that I attend an 'Interview under Caution' tomorrow (tuesday). After phoning the CAB for advice I managed to contact a solicitor who has agreed to represent me. He has also changed the date of the interview so I have more time to prepare and see him first. I am absolutely terrified! I have spent all weekend on the internet and looking at the various forums and I realise now that the chances are very high that I am not entitled to any of the money I have received. Its around 3500 over a 12 month period. I can't quite believe how naive I have been and why on earth I didn't check my facts before I started to claim - I'm so ashamed of myself. Can anyone please advise me what will happen - will I definitely be prosecuted and have a criminal record? Will it be published in the local papers? Will I have to go to court? Do you think I should just hold my hands up and say I'm very sorry I mis-understood the regulations and offer straight away to pay all the money back. I could ask my parents to loan me and then pay them back over time (if they could ever bring themselves to speak to me again). Or is it worth trying to explain and trying to convince the officials that circumstances and stress and a whole other load of horrible stuff going on in my life contributed to me making a mistake. Any advice would be very much appreciated. I'm going to see my solicitor at the end of this week. Thank you

Take a look at The Guardian Money page online of 3rd August "Mobile phone fraudsters leave victims paying for multiple contracts" . Throughout July and August Tesco Mobile have been harrassing me to settle a mobile phone account I've never heard of. Nor have I ever had one with Tesco Mobile. The article explains that fraudsters have been going into shops and giving other people's names and addresses . When asked for their bank account they give one they've opened the day before specially for the purpose. It has nothing in it, but Tesco's staff (and the other service providers) open a credit account for them and give them a high value handset quite happily without making any effort to verify the information given. When the account isn't paid they pursue the name, and unfortunately I'm one of the names and addresses. By the time of this article (3rd Aug) it was well known in the business that this fraud was widespread but nevertheless Tesco staff persisted in demanding money from me which they knew very well I did not owe. Which is Dishonest. If you're in the same boat there's a lot you can do. You will find Tesco Mobile complaints dept is useless and will keep demanding personal details about you. DON'T TELL THEM - they want to fill in the information they should have checked at the time they gave the money away. But you have to write to them first explaining why the debt isn't yours. Having done that, the Ombudsman Service:Communications will consider individual cases after an 8 week period (to allow the company and you to sort it out). Since Tesco won't make any effort to investigate your complaint you just have to make your submission to the Ombudsman and wait. Tesco Mobile are licensed to offer credit to the public by the Office of Fair Trading and as such have to follow their code of practice. This includes being honest and also dealing with complaints promptly and in a reasonable manner. The OFT won't consider individual cases, but you can ask them whether Tesco Mobile have broken the rules and whether they are an appropriate organisation to offer credit, and if not to consider suspending their license. Let's make life as difficult for them as they are making it for us !!

I have had an incident recently where my post has been intercepted and my credit card and PIN stolen (that's another story). To my disbelief the Orange Shop in Beckton sold a Blackberry 9790 on my stolen credit card without taking any customer details. I am so angry that a so called reputable company could sell an expensive phone without actually collecting customer details. How is this possible? I then go to my bank to query this and they are now insisting as it was authorised by Chip and PIN that they will not refund the money. Orange have CCTV footage but claim I was in the shop when the transaction took place. Now it seems impossible to actually get sense from Orange! They will no query this transaction or provide the bank with any details regarding it. I think I am about to drive to Hertfordshire and sit outside the head office until I get an answer because this is ridiculous. According to the Data Protection Act I am entitled to a copy of the CCTV footage if they same I am in the shop, however when requested they refuse to give me the footage as I wasn't. They won't even block the IMEI of the phone purchased with my stolen credit card! Does this count as 'aiding and abetting fraudulent activity'? To top things off the international call centre managed to connect me to another person rather than the payments department so now I have other numbers calling me. Is this a new level of incompetence?

Hello I was wondering if you could provide me with a bit of advice with a mortgage matter that I am working on. I recently became concerned about the terms of my mortgage, and the way that it has bene setup. I want to get some clarity on a few things regarding my mortgage, so I looked through all the documenst that I have relating to the mortgage, but couldn't find a copy of the mortgage contract. I decided to use the data protection act to do a few requests from my mortgage lending bank. I asked for the original signed contract which says what I have to pay back, and I also asked for the accounting for the mortgage from the beginnning of the mortgage up until the present (around a years worth). they replied back within a reasonable amount of time, and sent me quite a few bits of information (I sent the letter to the Director of Mortgages, and she replied back herself). Within the information they sent back was a letter saying how much they had lent me, and the terms of repayment etc, and it was signed by someone working with the mortgage bank, however there was no agreement signed by myself contained within all of the information they sent back. In fact, there was nothing that had been signed by myself contained within all of the information they sent. They also sent me the accounting information that I requested. The accounting was in a format that was legible, but it was far below the standard that I would expect from a reputable bank, but that however isn't the main point. The accounting showed that at the inception of the my mortgage account there was a deficit to the amount that the bank claimed to have lent me. For the sake of explanation I'll put a round figure on it and say that the balance of the account at the inception was -£100k pounds. Now, this seemed odd to me as what I would have expected to see was either the balance being zero at the start of the account (as I presume all account balances begin as) then the next entry would show £100,000 being credited to the account (from the bank's main funds), or at the very least the account would start with £100,000 in it, which would then have gone out of the account in the next entry. Having received the information I sent two letters back to the bank. the first asked for the signed contract. I reminded them that this was requested in the original data protection act request, and they still had up to until a certain date to send me the information requested, or inform me that they didn't have it. Up until now I still haven't heard anything back from them regarding this letter (they currently have eight days left to reply to this one). The second letter I sent was just a query, not under the data protection act, querying the accounting information that they sent me, and putting over my concerns that I outlined above. They replied back to this letter (again from the Director of Mortgages), and in the letter it says that -£100,000 is record of the 'mortgage advance', and it re-iterates/confirms that the account opened with a balance of zero (or 'nil' to use the exact terminology of the letter). This has led me to ask the question...if the account started with no money in it (zero balance) how could they lend me any 'money' from it? If I have a box where I usually keep some money, and that box is empty then I cannot lend my friend £100 from it. (I understand accounts can have overdrafts, but that is essentially a loan from the bank). This all seems very fishy to me, and after thinking long and hard about the situation I do not think it is right for me to be paying hundreds of pounds every month to a company who cannot even provide me signed terms of the mortgage agreement, and cannot even prove that they have lent me any money in the first place. I think the best thing for me to do would be to get the mortgage voided. I know that there are two issues with this - number one, the mortgaging bank wanting me to continue paying them (I am happy to if they can provide the full information that I have requested, and I will write them a letter outlining this, but I will also tell them that they cannot expect payments, and I will not pay, if they can't produce such simple information that I am lawfully entitled to seeing). Number two, even if I stop paying they have a Charge on the title to my property, put in in-case of default in payment. If it turns out that they cannot provide me with the full information, What do you think would be the best way of removing the charge on my property title?

Hi, a while ago (February) I cancelled my orange phone account. A few days later I noticed a large payment had been taken out of my account (~£250) called orange about it. my account had been used fraudulently and I was told to go to my bank and reverse the direct debit, which I did. I thought that would be the end of it. Since then orange have continued to send me bills demanding payment of this fraudulent amount. I have called them countless times to try and resolve it but I can never get through to anyone who is of any help what so ever, often people tell me they will investigate and call me back but of course they never do. There has even been police involvement and I have given a statement regarding the fraud. A few days ago I got a letter saying that they had passed the amount over to a debt collection agency. I've just had a conversion with someone from orange and again they were going to get back to me but never did. I'm at a loss of what to do know to be honest. I assume I'm already going to have a bad credit rating over this. Does anyone have any advice about how I could go about resolving this. I can't begin to describe how angry I am at orange. Is my best bet to contact Ofcom? Thanks in advance, Thomas

Hi, I am worried sick about my housing and council tax benefit. I had to pop into the council to tell them I had started a new job and provide evidence of that and my tax credits. While I was there I saw that the council had my partners wages as being £40 a week down from what they are. We took in her wages slips when she started and told them that she worked 20 hours but the wage slip did not reflect this as it was a first one. They assessed our housing benefit based on the smaller amount and never asked for any other pay slips. We thought they knew the correct amount, we have always taken in the tax credit forms and assumed they knew our correct income. They have asked us to provide new payslips which is fine but it is going to show that she earns more and I am afraid they will think we have been fraudulently claiming extra. I have calculated that they think she has earned 4700 less than she has over the two years. I am terrified at how much we will have to pay back and if they will prosecute us. Do you think we will owe more than £2000, I have been looking and this seems to be the amount over which they prosecute. Why did they not ask for more payslips? I feel so angry at myself that I did not take any in anyway. I am so worried about this. Please can anyone offer any advice.

Hi. I'm in a panic. I was unemployed from April to Mid July I claimed JSA and HB and CB. On the day I started work I phoned the JSA In and Out of work team to end my claim. They asked me if I was claiming anything else and I told them. I also posted a letter (non recorded and 2nd class) on the same day, to the council, just to tell them I had started work and I wanted my benefit to cease from x date. I didn't go into any details figuring they'd get that from the jobcentre. My JSA stopped correctly and I believed they shared the info with the council? I've just fetched my bank statement from my old address and have noticed that they've paid me another full 4 week payment since I've started work and I'm stressed now. I don't qualify for the Housing Benefit run on so it can't be that. I plan on writing to them tomorrow and sending it recorded asking them to confirm what this payment was for and stating what I earned in July and my new salary. I will tell them that if it is an overpayment I don't dispute it in any way but I will request that I be allowed to pay it back over a couple of months (the payment was for just over £200 and I'm going to offer £100 a month) as the money is spent from my account. I'm a bit worried about what they are going to do though. I'm hoping the fact I am going to report the overpayment will go in my favour? Should I get into any trouble?

Hope someone can help with a problem my good friend has, she suffers from anxiety and worries about a lot of things, she has been watching "Saints and Scroungers" on TV and i think thats set her off! Her situation is that 20 years ago she had a relationship with someone and they have a 15 year old son together,they split up when the son was small and she has not had much contact with him (her ex) for the last 9 years. She was claiming IS HB and CTB from 1991 until 2003. Her ex had lived with his Dad until his Dad died in 1997 then he became depressed and began drinking heavily and was more or less homeless, staying with friends and relatives so didnt have a fixed address, my friend let him stay with her on and off for a few weeks at a time but they would fallout and he would dissappear for months at a time. Despite his drinking he still held down a job. She took no money from him and there were no linked finances. He paid her child support through the CSA, using his Aunts address where he stayed some of the time. She didnt tell the benefits people he was sometimes living with her as she didnt know how long he was staying for as he took off when he felt like it. He finally got his act together and got his own house in 2004 where he still lives now. He then overpaid his council tax and wanted them to refund it so when asking about that the Council Tax advisor asked him to provide the last 10 years of addresses where he had lived,so here is the problem, he told them he lived with my friend from 1993-2003!!!!When asked about this by my friend he said he "couldnt be bothered" to remember all dates and addresses he'd lived at and thought if he used her address he'd get the refund quicker.This was in 2006. Hope you can follow this, complicated i know! In 2006 my friend recieved a letter from Housing Benefit asking if Mr ****had been living with her from 1993-2003 so she went to the HB office and explained the situation to an advisor and filled in a statement telling them everything, they said they wouldnt be taking it any further. That was over 6 years ago and she has heard nothing from them since, no IUC or investigation as far as she is aware. She was so upset about that and didnt speak to him for about 3 years after. Any time she hears about benefit fraud cases she starts to worry in case shes going to get a letter telling her they're investigating what happened years ago, she cant get any peace of mind and has never forgiven her ex for what he did. Im trying to help her by saying if the HB office said it was going no further and you've not heard anything in 6 years AND your ex has had his own place for 9 years it would be hard for HB to prove he lived with you! So could anyone tell me if this is correct? I think she may have to go to the doctor soon as shes really stressing about this, hope someone can mabye help her, thank you.

i'd love any advice if anyone can help, I'm fed up now as it seems this wont ever get sorted- companies arent interested in helping and Experian wont remove it without authorisation from creditors.... In 2007 I had several credit accounts opened in my name. I was unaware of this until 2011 when I began getting persistent calls and letters from a debt collection agency (lowell portfolio, Arrow Global). I contacted the credit reference agencies and found about £5000 worth of debt falsly taken out in my names- my personal details were all wrong so it was very easy to spot the fraud ones a mile off- that and my own credit has always been very well kept- I have no 'genuine' debts. On the advice of experian I contacted the agencies involved to let them know, forwarded proof of tenancy at the time credit was taken out, filled in forms that were sent and provided proof of ID. Some companies were helpful and removed the false info but still, over a year later I am struggling with Vodafone, Lowell and Arrow Global. I've sent documents back to arrow and Vodafone as requested but I have not had any correspondence from Lowell at all and despite numerous telephone calls nothing still looks to be getting sorted. After sending back the info to Arrow and vodafone, i have then heard nothing back again months later- but still nothing is changed on my credit file. Apparently it is with their 'investigations' team. Is there any more I can do? I've always had extremely good credit aside from this, I dont take on credit often- which seems to have been my downfall as they got credit in my name with no difficulty despite info being very wrong. I am hoping to get a mortgage in the near future and also expand my business, but none of this can be a possibility with my credit file in this state- its beginning to cause difficulty in my life now, but I dont know what more to do?? Thanks K

Hi,, Hope I am doing this correctly... I have had previous PayDay loans all of which I have cleared except one. I had lost my job etc, wrote to them, explained the situation, heard nothing back from them with regards to my repayment offer, buried my head in the sand, so on and so forth. I again applied for a PayDay loan last week as in a dire situation. I know it isn't the correct thing to do but desperate times bring desperate measures. I entered all my details, plus bank details and card number. This was all with a company called MoneyMajesty. They sent a text message back asking for me to reply at a charge of £5. This I did and never heard from them again. Saturday morning I woke to find my bank account empty. Amounts of £25, £25, £175, £68.75, £68.75 had been taken one after the other. I called my bank to be told a finance company had taken the amounts and I would have to call the fraud dept on Monday morning. All I can assume is the old debt company, PayDay loans are linked to this other company and have re-claimed the old debt. Could some-one please advise if they are allowed to do this? Is there any way I can claim fraud? Should I tell my bank I applied and gave my details but did not receive a service etc? I gave these new details to repay any future loan with a different company?! Also my money which is paid into my Natwest account doesn't officially go into my account until Monday but Natwest credit on a Saturday instead of Monday. Therefore these payment show as being taken on the 28th but my money they have withdrawn from isn't showing until the 30th on my statement.... I hope someone can make sense of my thread and help a little? Kind regards

Sorry if this is a repeat thread but this is an ongoing problem which i'm looking for an answer to. I received a call last week from a number which, at the time, I believed to be a hoax call asking me if i would confirm an additional line to my vodafone account. I dismissed the caller and hung up after a few minutes. A week later i receive a text to my vodafone number advising me that my order had been processed and that it would be delivered to a following address. I immediately called vodafone due to the obvious security breach in my account, whilst also checking my bank account at the same time which happily doesn't appear to be comprimised. The vodafone adviser was friendly enough but advised me that the only thing he could do about this order ( an iphone 4 on a 24 month contract) was for me to call back in the morning so they could stop the courier delivering the item. I feel this is a ridiculous response for quite a high security breach. I have copies of all text messages received should this go any further as the first sign of any charges to my bank account regarding this item vodafone will be removed from my direct debit list. Any help or advice on this matter would be great. I have done some research to find many a vodafone customer with the same problem and no real endings.

Hi I need advice as I have just brought a used car from a private seller, discription on advert seemed good with a slight (he repeats a slight rad leak). Got home car broke down took into garage and engine no good at all. The man mentioned nothing about any other faults. Also noticed that he brought the car about 6 months ago from a lady which he never sent off his part of the log book. Also he has used TipEx to try to erase his name/date and address on the log book???? So by law the previous lady still owned the car when he was selling it. Is it against the law for him to sell a car without him being on the log book, also how do I get my money back off him as he is saying sold as seen. The reciept he gave us was like a dealers reciept saying no warrenty gurantee on car ext. I just want to no if I can get my money back for missleading descriptions on adverts and him not sending the log book off for 6 months. regards. ps can someone please give advice as we dont no what to do???

My mother died and her second husband was named as the sole Executor of her estate (that is another issue not covered here). Her second husband received Probate and was given the legal position of Executor and Trustee, as well as being one of several beneficiaries. The Probate Document which he has signed as being 'a true and accurate representation' of her assets is in fact not true or accurate. I have evidence to show she had more assets at the time of her death than he has declared. He has withheld assets from the Probate document. This is ‘fraud’. I contacted Santander and Bank of Scotland and sent them certified copies of the Probate Document and certified evidence and asked them to confirm to me, and my lawyer, that the Executor had indeed missed assets from the Probate document and to therefore report him to the relevant authorities. Both banks, Santander and The Bank of Scotland, have refused to do this. First they said they 'had lost all of the documents' I sent them. They then stated 'client confidentiality'. Although they have evidence of a crime being committed and their first 'Duty of Care' is to their customer, my mother, not the Executor who is committing the crime in her name. I have asked. My lawyer has asked. The Police are unable to ask as the law does not give them the authority to investigate without going to court. In refusing to give the information requested or report him to the relevant authorities, they are helping the Executor to continue with his crime. They say to do so I would need to take it to court. At a cost of thousands. I have been to the Police and although this is a criminal offence being committed by the Executor, the current laws to not give the Police the ability to get the information from the Banks and for them to press charges against the Executor. If I want him held accountable for his crimes I must fund a costly court case to make them give the information. This man is 'getting away with daylight robbery'. I feel my family are being failed by the law. I want to know how we can make Banks stop 'helping Executors' to hide such crimes. I want more power to Beneficiaries to be able to have fraudulent Executors held accountable and Banks to be more transparent without having to resort to costly court cases. Please note I do have a lawyer involved. However, the lawyer can only follow the laws as they currently stand. To get the information from the banks requires a costly court case. Then there will be another court case to hold the Executor accountable. Banks should be able to state whether an Executor has not declared all assets on the Probate document as they still have a 'Duty of Care' to the deceased, before any 'Duty of Care' to an Executor. Can we get consumer action to make changes ? Can we get more transparency from Banks ? Can we get justice ? Do you think Banks should give this information to beneficiaries, and their lawyers, the Police and the Tax Office without a court case ? Please help.

Hi All, I have been in so much trouble from last 4-5 days as soon as found out that Virgin Media reported to Equifax that i am defaulted by not paying the balance. here is the whole situation I was a Virgin Media Customer for 1 year from 04/10/2011 to 18/10/2011. I called them on 18 Oct 2011 to cancel my services as my contract was already ended and i was going to India on the same date. I went to India and after 3 days i got another bill of £28 for the month of October .. i was surprised as i already called them and told them to cancel my services. I cam to london in DEC and found out that someone called them on my name and renewed my services for again one year. I called Virgin Media again in DEC and told them that it was not me and cancel my services with the immediate effect. they did the same and after one moth or so they again send me an email with the £148 bill for early disconnection charges.. I called them again and they did not say anything to me. 1 week before i was checking my credit file and found out that they have reported me default as the payment was not cleared to them. i was in india in that period and why would i call them to renew my services again here in london. they are not worried about my Identity Fraud and only keep on saying that you have to pay £148 balance. Please help what should i do in this case. How can i correct that information in my credit file. I am not hoping that virgin media would help in this case. please advice.

Hi Guys, I could really use some advice with a situation I have, so any advice would be appreciated. Last November I was asked to attend an interview under caution for overpayment of Jobseekers allowence, Housing Benifit and Council tax benifit. The total amount claimed amounted to £2290, of which the whole amount was considered an overpayment as I had savings of £15000 - 16000. I attended the interview and told them that I had failed to declare savings, but also I had not declared a £10000 bank loan I was paying back for my masters degree, basically making the point that although it appeared I had a lot I had a lot of bills and loans to pay off and absolutley no income and had no idea when I would be employed. Last March and April the JSA, CTB, and HB requested the money back, I payed back all of the money in full as soon as they requested it, now at the begining of this month I have received a court letter saying I must attend court at the end of this month. The other thing to add is that I had no intention of signing on for more than 12 weeks, I had just finished university and only intended to sign on briefly, then on the 12th week they said they had frozen my benifit and were investigating my claim. I presumed frozen meant canceled but when I spoke to a free solicitor she said to call the JSA and officially cancel. I did this then at the end of the month the paid me in two lumps JSA CTB and HB for the 4-5 weeks they had frozen my account! This amounted to £500 to £600 I had not intended to claim. I am very worried, I have just finished studying 5 years of architecture and I fear my career may be ruined if I have a criminal record. I made a mistake payed back the money in full and have dealt with the stress of this for almost a year and I fear this is going to hit me in the only positive area of my life. Not sure what to do if I had a prison sentence, If anybody could please help I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time.