Hi I have just found some old paperwork for a car loan i took out with Midland Bank in 1997 (now HSBC).. As you can see from the photo - They charged me £959.29 for this "credit protection insurance loan". Now seeing as the loan for the car was only £6000 - They charged me a sixth of the value of the loan for this insurance.. Credit protection insurance loan was £780 - and on top of that they charged £179.29 interest (total charge for credit). Can someone tell me if this is part of the PPI story - and am i entitled to claim this back? Should i goto HSBC direct - and save myself the fee PPI companies charge - or would i need to goto a PPI refund company to claim it back properly. Any assistance would be appreciated! Thanks Steve (p.s. I covered up my name and address in photo as advised by my friend - just in case!!)

Hello, A client bought 4 sessions, and paid a discounted price of 120GBP. (30 pounds each session) Single sessions would have been 40, but I offer a discount for 4 sessions bought upfront. I saw the client 2, and had to cancel last week twice due to illness, which he was not very happy about. Yesterday I asked if I can postpone the session by 1hour and he asked for a refund as he was not happy. I was a bit surprised but did not make a fuss about it. I informed the customer that I will refund 40pounds and not 60pounds, as the discount is only applicable for a set of 4 which did not take place here. I dont think I am unfair here but he demands the other 20pounds as well. Am I doing the right thing? Most of the PTsI know wouldnt even transfer the other 40pounds as he bought them upfront and did not finish them - I am aware I cancelled but I am human and sometimes unfortunately get ill as well, and usually did not have any such troubles. Please let me know if it is legally okay to stand my ground. Thank you, Kat

Hi all, Should hopefully be a quick answer to my question. I run a company which i had to recentely dissolve, the company owed some debt on credit cards and the debt collectors have been chasing for it. One especially made a trace enquiry on my credit file, when i noticed this i updated my score and it had dropped. The company was a LTD company and i signed no personal guarantee on any debt taken out under the company name. My question is are they allowed to carry out a trace enquiry under my name? Am i allowed to request this gets removed from my search history? Thanks.

I was involved in a non-fault car accident in May 2013. I sustained injuries to my lower back & left trapezius, Paramedics & Police attended. The other parties' insurance have admitted liability. I contacted my trade union (CWU), who put me in touch with a Solicitor, who has been handling the claim on a CFA basis. I had a Medico-legal report in March 2014, which supported my injuries, & the treatment sought. I have been unimpressed with the slow pace of my solicitor, all the way through the process. The solicitor who was dealing with the claim has recently gone on long-term sick leave. I have been juggled around 2 other solicitors, & Today I received an email from one of them, stating that the 2nd offer made by the insurer, is the best he feels they can get, however I have been through the MOJ Guidelines, in a consciously unbiased & reasonable manner, & I feel that the 2nd offer is low. There is also an issue with the insurer wanting to clarify treatment, which led to a letter from my solicitor to our medico-legal. The original report stated "all treatment sought is reasonable." The medico-legal has now reneged on this, stating that "the clinical massage aspect of treatment would not have been recommended..." Therefore the solicitor has now proposed that this aspect of special damages be removed, which halves this aspect of the claim, & leaves me out-of-pocket for the treatment. I have receipts for all sessions, & the lady who performs the treatments has provided her contact details, should clarity be needed. I am at my wits' end with this solicitor, can anybody let me know my options? They appear unwilling to reject the 2nd offer, & dealing with them is like pulling teeth. I'm prepared to deal directly with the insurer if this is possible, failing this is it possible to have the file transferred, or would I need to begin anew? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi all. I've just started up my own company and am gradually getting to grips with all the perks and pitfalls of running a business. I have a good accountant who advised me to use the company to pay for my mobile contract. (To be fair business does make up about 80% of its usage.) But do i go for an O2 or EE business contract or personal contract? The only real advantage i can see is shorter contracts. 12 months or so. I noticed O2 lease. Looked into it but am concerned about the chances of being penalised for returning a phone not in great shape. Anyone have experience of this and can put the pros and cons in layman's terms? Cheers.

I have come across an old loan agreement with HFC Bank in which I do recall the salesperson at my local branch stating that I had to take out insurance for the loan to be successful and because of my age. On the agreement it states a single premium amount of £80.89. The loan was for 36 months @ £32.10 = £1,155.60 APR 31.20% Loan amount £750.00 Total interest payable £374.71 Can someone kindly explain how I calculate monthly PPI & Interest amounts in order to add figures to the single premium calculator spreadsheet ? Thanks

Hi there I will try to keep this as brief as possible. I was off sick from work and visited the company Doctor. I was then emailed the report as was my employing manager. It stated the letter was private and confidential and at the bottom of the email it stated it was restricted. This email has now been used in a potential disciplinary investigation against myself. I received the disciplinary papers with this email included, yet some of it had been redacted although not very well as you could still see certain parts of the email, however the nature of my illness had not been redacted at all. I have also been told that the other person involved in the disciplinary has been given the exact same pack that I have which means that they have not only access to my medical papers but also my home address. I work for a well known large company. I believe there is potential for two issues here. Any advice is gratefully received.

Hi there, First time poster on here - i would really appreciate your advice on a nightmare situation Long story short - I went out with a girl for over 14 years with the intention that we would both get married together. During our time at uni we pooled our money to pay for stuff. In reality, i ended up paying for absolutely everything including holidays away, car repairs, meals, you name it. In order to pay our uni fees we both took out a loan from the bank - and she transferred a lump sum to my account so that I could pay two years fees. Initially the transfer was suggested as a loan but this was never formalised and, after we left uni, we decided that there was no point me paying her back the money as our finances were intermingled (although we had separate accounts) and that I had given her far more than she had given me. In other words, the money was a gift. More years went by and nothing further was said. Unfortunately our relationship then fell apart in 2012. I was taken aback by my (ex) partner's request to have that original loan paid back to her since we were no longer going to be together. As this "loan" had been converted to a gift you can understand that I was taken aback by this request and argued for quite some time that this was completely unreasonable. But, truth be known, i felt guilty about the relationship ending after so long and my ex wanted to save up to move away from her family who were ruining her life i agreed to pay back the money as a matter of goodwill and completely under my terms when I was financially able to afford it. I was lucky enough to start a new relationship with a new girl and things progressed so well that i ended up getting engaged to my new partner this year. The day AFTER we had told our mutual friends about the engagement, my ex (who had by now worked out the issues with her family) got in touch and enquired by email about the repayment. I replied that I hadn't forgotten about her plight and that i couldn't afford to repay her at the moment, having just gotten engaged and moving into a new house, but that I could start repaying her with a monthly standing order starting from January 2014. She emailed me back saying that this wasn't good enough and that she had recalculated a new amount that I should be paying with interest starting from the day we had broken up and a monthly payment schedule that i frankly couldn't afford. I wrote back an email pointing out in polite language that I did not accept that I owed her any money and that I had agreed to make her a payment out of my goodwill in order to help her escape her family circumstances and that we had never had a loan agreement or a repayment plan or that any interest was to be charged as the money was a gift. This morning I received a letter from her solicitor representing a formal demand for payment stating that they had seen our email exchange in which i "readily acknowledged the loan" and had made apologies for not making the payments back and that they had advised her that I could be pursued through the courts for the missing amount. I was invited to provide a written response within 21 days after which the new, recalculated amount with interest payments, would be withdrawn and I would be taken to court for a CCJ. I feel quite saddened that things have come to this and I am now in a situation where i need to find some good legal advice to examine my options. The transfer into my account was in 2003 and this email correspondence occurred this Summer, 2013. I guess my main questions would be: 1. How do I go about finding good legal advice? 2. What do I need to gather to fight this? and what sort of chance do I have? 3. Having received this letter from the solicitors unexpectedly I haven't got any leave booked from work over the next few weeks and will have to access services that are mainly available at the weekend if i'm to make the deadline - which resources should I be utilising? I'm in a state of worry as I have an upcoming wedding to pay for and it would obviously ruin my plans with my new partner. Really really appreciate any advice you can give me - many thanks in advance.

Hi, I stupidly walked away from a ticket inspector after being caught without tapping in on the London overground. I think in doing this I have made what was a £40 fixed penalty into a serious problem with the possibility of a criminal record, something I really can't have. I left the inspector with my Oyster card which is not registered but I have paid for with my debit card. Can tfl get this information and use it to prosecute? I am guessing they can, but wanted to check. In the case that they can what is the best course of action, to contact tfl and fess up and ask to pay the fine/costs and see if this willingness to right my wrong will prevent prosecution. Or should I wait for the inevitable letter of prosecution and try to settle out of court then? Many thanks for your help! RR

Hi, after some advice and investigation on the Which website, we discovered that there's been some issues around self-certified mortgages. We sent a letter to GE Money using the template letter - I'll attach this. We've now had a response that GE Money didn't sell the loan, The Personal Loan Express Limited did and they are no longer trading, so we should contact their administrators. They then go onto say that the issue is 'time barred' because the loan was taken out over six years ago. Then finally they say the complaint is closed and to refer to the Finance and Leasing Association if we're unsatisfied and not to contact the Financial Ombudsman because it is outside their jurisdiction. They also sent a copy of the original credit agreement, which I will also attach. Any advice of next steps to take would be hugely appreciated. The loan was taken out to consolidate debts but there was no checks done on my father's income which now due to ill health is non existant and no checks to ensure that it covered all the debts to be affordable.

This is my first post. I've had mental health problems for 40 years since I was 11. They have sabotaged my life. In May my GP finally accepted that I have a rare sleep disorder and prescribed additional medication. I've been back at work since June although I am still learning to cope with my condition and I've additional help to come this year in the form of psycotherapy. Lovely In 2007 I put a company I ran into voluntary liquidation. I had signed some personal guarantees with two companies. They went to court and have Restrictions on the jointly owned home. I ran up some credit card debts at the same time (in my now ex partners name). I am reasonably sure I can remove them this year with full and final settlements. The debts were Company 1 - £43K (interest now added) Company 2 - £36K (interest now added) I wasn't able to attend court to defend the charging orders. Far to ill. Only really understood how ill I have been in the last month. The family home is now going through contracts to sell. My solicitior asked for redemption statements from the two companies. I understand that his proactive approach may well have not been in my best interests. I have asked him to inform me how that can be mitigated. I want to understand what options I have to deal with these two debts please. My equity in the home is £25K so I will not be able to pay off either creditor in full and I have a seven year old daughter to think of. And before anyone berates me for running up credit card debts in my (ex) partners name I am ashamed of that and I am sorting that out from my own pocket. I've not been in the best place to make good decisions due to depression and sleep deprivation. Thank you in advance for any help / advice. Nuttymut

I had a provident door stop loan, which I fell behind with by approx £20/week.. After speaking with my agent, I was assured I could catch up gradually and it would be fine i.e. no damage to credit etc.. etc.. (stupidly, never got this in writing). I was offered another loan from my agent, which I took and used to pay off the existing one, which was in arears and was left with minimal cash, which i was grateful of at the time. I kept up to date (and this loan was cleared back in 2013). However, i have checked my file and the original loan, which was in arrears is showing as a deliquent account. I rang provodent and they say there is nothing they can do. Does anyone have any helpful tips or ways to suggest how I could get this information removed?? Thanks in advance

I was employed for 6 1/2 years by a company in the UK but was permanently based overseas. Recently I was dismissed (im taking this to the tribunal) and they brought me back to the UK. I could only bring one case with me and had to leave the rest of my belongings in Europe. I asked for them to please get the rest of my stuff back home to me and they have refused. What can I do about this? thanks

Hi everyone, good afternoon My boss owned a Ltd company which went into liquidation, a building supplier approached him last year with a claim for bunkruptcy if the debt could not be paid, so he entered into a payment arrangement with them to stop this from happening. Coming to the end of the agreement, the solicitor has wacked on the interest charges and is now requesting this be paid alongside the last instalment. So, i understand that if a judgement is over £5,000 or more, the claimant is entitled to charge interest. Fine, but the actual debt was £4,650.00 but then the claimants solicitor had put on their costs, which brought the debt up to £6,890.00 with the threats of bunkruptcy if no agreement could be made. My boss never actually got any judgement from court, but just threats from the solicitor this would happen, would the judgement class as the debt before the solcitors fees? or does the debt come as a whole amount therefore allowing them to charge interest as its over £5,000? It's been a really horrible situation for my boss because a customer (in the building trade) knocked us for £100k and he didnt reailse at the time of obtaining credit from the building suppliers that he signed a personal guarantee! Your feedback is much appreciated. Many thanks, Mehdi

Hi I wonder if anyone can help? I had a business that went sour in 2006 and debts that had a personal guarantee attached. The debts are made up of historic overdrafts and a business loan. I have been paying about £800 a month off the debt fo:|r several years and thought the figure was down to about 5k. The bank has been reluctant to send me regular statements and even said they are not obliged to do so. The bad debt that has now become personnel (because of the PG) has a 8% interest charge on it. When I eventually got my statement I was horrified to discover that 28k is still outstanding! A book keep friend has now offered to help me but has asked for all the original paperwork including the opening balances (via bank statements) showing true balances when the loans and overdrafts closed, plus the original loan agreement including all terms and conditions. The only paperwork the bank now has is the statement that has now been constructed by the recoveries department. They say they no longer have the original paperwork and even if they could locate it they would have to charge me. As I am disputing the amount I need to get to the bottom of this and I would also like to know if their was any PPI attached another question they cant answer! Anyone know where I may stand?? Thanks if you can help, Roger

I am part way through a claim for Psychological damage in the workplace, which is being funded via a CFA. I have seen one expert witness, whose report was very favourable to me, with regard to the cause of my mental health. The defendants have now requested that I see an expert witness appointed by themselves, which is due to take place shortly, and I am happy to do so. The mental health team, who have been working with me for the last 3 years, are confident that the 2nd expert witness will not find an alternative reason for my illness, either via my medical notes or discussion with myself. I was rather surprised to receive a letter from my solicitor, suggesting that he makes an offer to the defendants under Section 36. This offer would be for 60% of the lowest amount which I would be likely to be awarded if successful in Court. At this stage, I had not anticipated that we would be offering a low settlement figure, as my solicitor had indicated that we have a strong case, with paperwork and witness statements from colleagues to evidence what happened. My own thinking is that it is better to wait a couple of weeks for the 2nd expert witness report, as this is likely to strengthen our case. As this case is funded via CFA, do I have to agree with the action proposed by my solicitor, or risk losing the CFA funding? Thank you.

I've got a friend I owe a five figure sum to. We've not really spoken about it much because he knows my situation (ie poor) I don't think he's got any doubt I'd pay him back if I could (and I would) but he's got this other friend who's saying, 'You're being taken for a ride. Sell me half the debt and I'll put the screws on him. ' Can the guy I owe money to sell part of the debt and that would become legally enforceable debt? I have no agreement with the guy who lent me the money other than I have signed an IOU that simply states I owe him the money. I'm not bothered if the other guy buys the debt just so long as he can't bankrupt me which is the kind of person he is.

Afternoon All, I owe around £1k to HMRC I have written to them to explain that I am only earning a very small amount of money and in receipt of tax credits. At the moment my outgoings are higher than my income by quite some margin. I've paid a small amount towards the debt directly to HMRC (£25) on their website and offered to pay a regularly monthly amount in my letter directly to them, no response. I sent my letter by recorded delivery, so I know it was received but nothing back. Now I'm getting letters from their debt collecting solicitors Drysden Fairfax. They're obviously written to play on peoples ignorance of the law, insinuating they'll seize goods etc, but there is not CCJ summons, its just a threatening letter. My understanding is until this goes to CCJ they don't have any power to recover this beyond writing threatening letters. I assume if I engage with these solicitors I have to pay my debt plus their fees? My questions are, can I still deal directly with HMRC or do I have to deal with their debt collectors. Or do HMRC stop dealing with your account whilst its been given to this company? They've already threatened to take me to court three times and given three deadlines which they haven't kept. Would they take me to court for £1k? How long before they would actually take me to court? Can they do so when I have paid money and offered to pay money, the most I can afford.. Thank you. .

Hi Everyone, I used to be a director of a estate agency around 8 years ago, the company was dissolved quite soon after that. As far as I know there weren't any debts owed to anyone. I checked my credit report a few days ago and am shocked to see a CCJ for £192, after calling Norwich County Court its turns out that the money is allegedly owed to a a company called Agency Express which provide for sale signs to estate agents. Although we did use that company I am not aware of any debt owed to them, even if I did all business was done though the ltd company. The CCJ is under my name albeit, not my full name, Ric instead of Richard and the address on the CCJ is the wrong door number, I live at 150, the door number recorded is 153. The CCJ was granted in Aug 2009. What can I do about this, can I have this set aside as any paperwork would have gone to the wrong address, also I feel that I cannot held be liable for any debts relating to the ltd company. I hope someone can give me some advice

Hello, Before I jump in accusing the other solicitors I wonder if any of you had any advise on what act or code this would come under? I'll keep it brief. Ongoing personal injury claim, my own solicitor is excellent. Defendants solicitor has just taken 4 statements from managers at my ex employers. Which is fine however my concern is all 4 use very similar language but most worryingly they all include 3 facts about my personal life they were never told about, while you say this can't be proved. Several facts weren't know about till months after I parted company with these managers, never to have spoken to them again. A partner's redundancy didn't happen till 5 months after I left the company - so for all 4 do include the same personal info that simply couldn't be predicted when I knew them (they all claim I told them) I was unaware as these were future events. This to me shows that the defendants solicitors must've leaked several parts of my personal life personal data for their statements or have all 4 could've seen into the future at the time yeah right I left that job in the Feb of that year so was unaware of a future redundancy and relocation for my partner and I, they have a letter to prove this was later on in the year. I'm not happy at several parts of my personal life has been leaked - what can be done? Surely it's a breach under some act? The personal life info above and other personal stuff mentioned is not relevant to the ex-colleges.

I am not sure if anyone can give me any advice on how I can defend a personal guarantee claim from Natwest? In 2006 the ltd company for which I was a director took out a bridging loan from Natwest for 2 months whilst we waited for funds from a secured loan with a different asset management company. The loan came through within 2 months and the Natwest loan was fully repaid. The asset loan has also since been repaid. However, the guarantee said it exists for perpetuity until the director dies and the bank referred to it as security in a subsequent overdraft facility. It is only cancelled when notice is given. The company then went into difficulty in 2010 and the bank forced the directors to convert this to a repayment loan for the same amount with much higher interest. The bank said they would force the company into liquidation if the directors did not comply. Again they referred to the security of the old guarantee. The company finally went into liquidation in 2013 and the loan went unpaid. The bank is now pursuing me for full payment of the loan. The company assets (including those covered by the original loan) were sold off to pay liquidation fees so the company is well and truly gone. Would a letter to or from the bank stating that the funds had paid off the original loan in 2006 be strong enough to infer we were notifying them that the liability under the original guarantee was being repaid and therefore should be taken as notice of the guarantee? Can I argue that the intent of the original guarantee as delivered as a deed was only for the purpose of securing the original bridging loan even though the guarantee itself was open? Can I argue anything to do with surety? The guarantee was accompanied by papers signing that I was an empowered director to remove a claim that I am a consumer in order to go for unfair contract terms - could I still claim this as they are chasing me personally now and not as a director? The terms are definitively grossly unfair. It was also accompanied by papers saying I waived legal advice. This was the case for the original guarantee but we had no option for the subsequent facilities. Could the fact that the directors were forced into converting the overdraft to a loan somehow invalidate the guarantee? We even wrote to the bank complaining about the bullying at the time as we were disgusted by their behaviour. I am at risk of losing my property as it was mentioned in the subsequent loan that the guarantee was "supported" by the property. I want to defend this but not to run up unnecessary debts in the process. I also don't want to respond hastily and jeopardise any defence I may have had. Please help.

Hello My company was wound up last year and as director I am now being chased for a debt of roughly £20k from Travis Perkins, based on me having signed what they purport to be a personal guarantee. When they wrote to chase the debt initially I offered them £3500 settlement which they declined. They then issued a Statutory Demand which I had set aside based on the arguement that I did not agree I had signed a personal guarantee. Travis Perkins agreed to have the SD set aside as it had raised a trialable issue. They then wote saying they would take our offer of £3500 in full and final settlement. We said that we were no longer able to uphold this offer as 1. did not have the funds and 2. did not agree personal liability for the debt. All then went quiet for 6 months. Then we got a county court claim letter to which we responded by defending our case, saying 1. I was not aware I had signed a personal guarantee 2. Nowhere on the guarantee part of the form was the word 'personal' used. 3. I signed in capacity of director and underlined the word 'Director' to show this. I also contacted Travis perkins will a new settlement offer of £1200 to which I have not had a response. I then received a 'Notice of proposed allocation to the Multi-track' which includes a questionnaire to complete. It also states that proposed directions need to be filed but I am assuming this is by the claimant? I know there have been others who have been caught out by these Travis Perkins personal guarantees and wonder has anyone got to where we are or even challanged the personal guarantee in court? Any experiences or advise would be very much appreciated. Thank you for your time. I should have added that the following text is on the form, entitled 'Credit Guarantee': Credit Guarantee - To be signed by the owner / director / company secretary of the company applying for credit in consideration of your agreement to supply goods to the applicant company on credit, we the undersigned being owner / directors of the company jointly and severally guarantee payment of all financial obligations to ************ Company and its subsidiaries and successors including financial obligations arising from any increase in credit limit granted by ********** company or its subsidiaries and successors from time to time following review of the applicant company's account. I Signed and dated this and also underlined the word 'Director' in the title.

Hello Hoping someone could give me a little advise.. I have court this week and I have no idea what im doing or saying. Basically I signed a personal guarantee for equipment for a limited company that I was a director of that went into liquidation - they are chasing me for the money (2 years) I received court docs and defended with following statement that I compiled with the help of this forum The Defender denies that she is liable to the pursuer either as alleged in the particulars of the claim or at all. Save where otherwise admitted, each and every allegation in the particulars of claim is denied. It is admitted that XXXXXXXX Limited is dissolved. The defender denies that she has provided a personal guarantee for the aforementioned company debts. At no point during contractual negotiations between the pursuer and the former limited company did the pursuer explain to the defender that she was required to provide any form of guarantee over the aforementioned limited companies debts. At no point during contractual negotiations did the pursuer advise that the defender should seek independent legal advice in relation to any alleged personal guarantee that may be required. For the avoidance of doubt any documentation allegedly signed by the defender would have been in the capacity as an agent on behalf of XXXXXXXX Ltd and not as an individual. The defender seeks to challenge the validity and enforceability of any document in which the pursuer claims is a guarantee. The pursuers claim to be entitled to £XXXXX plus interest or any other sum is denied Im not sure what im doing or saying now, I have document that they claim is a personal guarantee which was attached to finance agreement. I had no idea at the time this would make me liable for the company debts. It had all sorts of blanks for me to fill in re personal details which I ignored and just signed at the bottom. Would this be enforceable on the basis they did not point out that it was a personal guarantee and that I didn’t fill in the details other than my name/signature and date? hoping someone can advise me am not sure what im doing at all

Grateful for advice: In short, I received a letter from Santander saying my application (made online) for a personal loan had been successful. The letter (dated 12/08/14, signed Pam Speed, Director of Santander Operations) said the money would be in my account within 2-4 working days if I followed "THREE EASY STEPS". 1. Read the Pre-Contract Credit Information and Pre-Contractual Explanation. 2. Sign and date the 'Signature to Agreement' section of Our Copy of the Agreement and, Step 3, Return in the envelope provided: Our Copy of the Agreement. These three things I did - 17/08/14. The 2-4 working days expired - no money in my account. I rang 26/08/14 and 27/08/14 to find out why (three times in two days). But Customer Service couldn't get through to the Applications dept. All they could tell me was my application was "pending". I persisted - but the applications dept. were unreachable by Customer Services. Then, a day later, when I called again, I was told my "application" had been cancelled - 27/08/14. I complained - Customer Services advised me to do so. But the Complaints department couldn't contact Applications either. They even said that when they did get through Applications would hang up because it was a call from the Complaints dept. Or were "rude". I am not making this up! Finally someone in Applications agreed to talk to Complaints and I was informed the reason my application had been cancelled was I hadn't responded to a letter requesting further information: proof of address, wage slips, 3 months bank statements (all of which I would have been perfectly happy to provide) if I'd received such a letter - which I didn't. When pressed, they said the letter had been sent out on 12/08/14 - the same day Pam Speed, Director of Santander Operations wrote to me saying: "I'm pleased to tell you that your application has been successful." I'm disinclined to believe any such letter was sent as 1. I didn't receive it and 2. why send two separate letters out on the same day . ..one, unequivocally, saying my application had been successful and another requesting further documentation? And 3. different members of Customer Services said the letter requested varying/different types of documentation. But, all moot in any case because I was not allowed to present the documentation due to my "application" having been irreversibly cancelled - even though I was unaware of the request, despite calling Santander three times to find out the reason for the delay in receiving the loan. My application was cancelled 27/08/14 - even though the letter I DID receive 12/08/14 said: "we can only reserve this loan for 28 days from the date your application was accepted". Even if the letter was sent, and I'd received it, was I given sufficient time to respond - 12/08/14 - date of alleged posting - and 27/08/14 - date of cancellation of "successful" application? I have now spent all this week trying to resolve matters - I simply want Santander to honour the agreement they entered into with me, and I entered into with them - in good faith. But dealing with the various Complaints depts. is a nightmare. They appear to have utter contempt for their customers, not to mention one another within the organisation! How on earth does this company stay in business, or function? And how do I get an answer from Santander about why they send at best misleading and at worst false letters to their customers? Why tell a customer in writing his loan application has been successful when this is untrue? Or are Santander sending out "holding" letters saying the loan has been approved, to buy time, when in actual fact it hasn't? Based on my experience, I would caution anyone entering into any legal contracts with Santander. To date I have not received written notice that my loan application has been cancelled, nor any letter requesting and detailing further documentation. Most grateful for advice on how I should proceed.

I started a company in 2006 with another director, who resigned earlier this year. The company stopped trading in March this year, I am unable to afford the liquidation process. When we started trading we signed a personal guarantee for a 30k overdraft, but later took out a loan to pay 23.5k of the overdraft off a nd then later paid back 5k, leaving a 1.5k overdraft. We are now left with around 8k left owing on the loan, HSBC is demanding prepayment of the full amount of 9.5k, made up of the 1.5k overdraft and the balance of the loan, saying we signed personal guarantees for this loan. We did not sign any guarantee for this loan, only when we first took out an overdraft, but they say the guarantees apply to the loan as well. We were not made aware of this and would not have taken out the loan if we had known. A few years ago they did ask us to sign guarantees again which they sent to us, but we never signed as we did not understand why they wanted them and we never returned them. I do not have the funds to pay this, and I do not want to lose my house, we were told at the time that it would never be used anyway, obviously this was all to get us to sign it. Does anyone know what my options are, now the other director has resigned, this leaves me liable for the whole balance.