Hi all, first time poster but long time lurker and admirer! I am a former Bank worker (not Halifax) so know a little about complaints procedures but now need your help. For background - My partner was formerly in an abusive marriage. Her ex was emotionally, financially and physically controlling. All of this is documented in court papers and he is not allowed to see my partner's child and has no parental rights. During the course of the relationship, the two of them opened a joint bank account with Halifax (before he became completely abusive). My partner's debit card was at some point confiscated from her by him so she had no access to the account. During this time he attended a branch, obtained a form and forged my partner's signature in order to obtain a £2750 overdraft limit on the account without her knowledge. She had no knowledge of this overdraft (which he maxed out in really short order) until after the divorce proceedings had begun and he had had a restraining order placed on him. Halifax began sending chasers for payment to my partner. She put in a formal complaint which was rejected by Halifax and followed it up to the FOS which was also rejected. Naturally she wasn't best pleased attended the local Halifax branch where the Branch Manager managed to bring a copy of the document she had allegedly signed up on his screen and showed it to her. She then showed him several other documents with her signature on and he confirmed that it was clearly not the same signature or even close. He promised he would look into it and get back to her. Unfortunately he never did. After she chased him twice by email, he just stopped responding. My partner suffers from severe anxiety and depression as a result of the marriage so naturally thought this would be the end of it and simply put it to the back of her mind. This all happened before I met her. The current - Fast forward nearly two years with no correspondence from Halifax to March of this year. My partner received a letter from Halifax confirming that the account had gone past its OD limit and they were now expecting payment of the £86.54 arrears from her. We wrote a formal complaint email to the CEO and requested a DSAR so that we could have a copy of the signature. This was picked up by someone in the executive complaints team and we've been going back and forth with them requesting confirmation that my partner is not liable for the debt (as it was taken out fraudulently by her abusive ex) for the last 4-6 weeks until yesterday when we received what appears to be their final decision. they've completely ignored our request for a copy of the signature (although we are still due to receive the DSAR within the next 4 weeks), completely ignored any points we've made regarding the financial abuse, completely ignored everything - and now the account is being passed to collections, a default is to be registered against my partner and she has been issued with a formal demand for repayment as the account is "jointly and severally liable". As a former bank worker myself, I understand this point but surely this is invalid if we can prove that she did not sign for the OD? WHAT DO WE DO NOW?! I feel like we did the right thing by only corresponding via email/letter and emailing the CEO direct but I just feel like Halifax are completely steamrolling us and insisting she pay this debt. We've tried the local paper (and told Halifax we are contacting them) but so far nothing. Any advice you guys can give would be really appreciated

Hi All I'm hoping I can get some advice as I am trying to tidy up my credit file. I opened a student account with Lloyds in 2009 with an overdraft limit of £300 I believe it was. According to my Experian credit report my account defaulted on 13/07/2009. Lowell are now chasing me for a debt of £1459 which is all made up of charges as I wasn't able to continue spending on the account. Ideally I would like to see if I can get this cancelled and taken off my credit report or maybe get a refund of the charges? Any advice would be much appreciated!! Thank you

This is quite a long story. Back in July 2003 I was a customer of Woolwich and went in the branch one day. I am disabled with many health problems and at that time was very unwell. I went in to draw some cash and the clerk asked if i would like a Barclaycard. Having lost my business some years before, ill and living on benefitsI immediately said yes. I was given an immediate limit of £3000 which each quarter was increased and after two years it was £7000. As we were on a very low income I used this to help feed my still young family. Need less to say by 2006 I was very much in debt to Barclaycard and had difficulty paying. We came to an arrangement and I began by paying £5 per month. All interest was frozen and was reviewed each year together with help from the CAB to £20 per month. Fast forward to 2011 and I began getting calls from Cabot. Did not even know them. I bascially told them I was disabled and put everything in wrting. I contacted tthe CAB and I told them my agreement was with Barclaycard. The CAB said it was common practice and that if I refused to pay Cabot could take me to court. So I bit the bullet . I had an explanitory letter back in January 2011" Welcome to Cabot" they expalined they had bought the debt and were happy to agree to conitiue the repayment plan I had with Barclaycard with payments of £20 per month, with interest frozen. Fast forward to today and I receive a letter from Cabot asking me to contact them as they are "reviewing" my account. In other words they will want me to pay more. I have just looked at my credit report and Cabot is listed and the account is marked satisfactory and my credit score is fair at 790. However being short of cash as I always am I have never seen my Barclays Credit Agreement or had one from Cabot. We face huge bills increases this year rent is going up £90 per month alone so I cant afford to pay these people any more money each month. How would things stand if I just refused to pay these wretched people??? It seems I will soon loose my mobilty car and was thinknig of applying for a loan to finance a small car.. Would I be delcined ???

Hi there, Back in 2005 I got myself into a situation where I was gambling out of control and ended up taking money from my job to fund the habit. At this time I also took a considerable bank loan, which I was offered with no problems at all. About 3 months later I was arrested for taking the money and subsequently went to prison. I stopped the repayments on the loan at the time I was arrested as I had no income coming in. This account got defaulted in March 2006. In October 2006 a debt collection agency wrote to me asking for payment, at which time I explained the situation of being in prison and having no money. I heard nothing more from anyone on the matter until last week. I had a call on Thursday from 1st Credit, saying they were acting on behalf of the bank. They asked me to confirm my identity which I refused to on the grounds that I had no idea who they were and if they are calling me they should know my details, and I'm not about to divulge such information over the phone to a stranger. At which point they said fine, they would put the details in the post to me. This hasn't arrived yet, but I've still had calls every day since, which I've not answered as I recognise the number. Now I'm assuming when this letter turns up, it's going to be asking for some or all of the money I owed at the time, around £15k. As the default was listed in March 2006, this has now dropped completely off my credit file. My question is this: Because I to whichever company wrote to me in October 2006 (not 1st credit), and acknowledged the debt by saying I couldn't pay anything, am I still within the 6 years for the debt being statute barred? If this is the case, what options do I have? Whilst I'm not for one second suggesting my actions as described above justify what happened, I have spent the last 6 years rebuilding my life and not gambling, and having this come and bite me now is the last thing I need. Any advice is welcome.