I am taking ex-employer to an Employment Tribunal for age and disability discrimination. Up until 2 weeks ago they were adamant that I was not going to get a penny from them and they have engaged a very expensive lawyer. They had denied all allegations of the existence of documents that contained discriminatory and offensive remarks, documents which I had seen and knew existed. However, at the Preliminary Hearing in December their lawyer was put under pressure by the judge and eventually conceded that the respondent did not deny the existence or contents of such documents. The judge subsequently issued the Case Orders and Case Management Summary document. Within that he has put on record that the respondent, via their lawyer, does not deny the existence of the offending documents. Which obviously means they'd have to disclose them as they can't now say they don't exist. I have applied for the respondent's defence to be struck out on the grounds that it is vexatious and completely contrary to what they have subsequently conceded at the Preliminary Hearing. I have not yet had a response to this request from the tribunal. Following the tribunal issuing the Case Management Orders and Summary the respondent's lawyer has suddenly made approaches to settle the case. However, even after negotiation the amount offered is probably only 50% of what a tribunal would award (they started at around 15% of claim value). Therefore, should I settle now or should I wait to see if the Tribunal strikes out their defence ? It is difficult to see how they can defend their case anyhow even if it is not struck out. If they disclose the documents then they are bound to lose, if they don't disclose then how can they justify that to the tribunal having already admitted they exist ?

Hi I bought a car from Approved Car Finance in 2008 for around 6k, Back then I couldnt afford it and it got repossessed (illegally according to Stephensons Solicitors). The Funding Corporation took me to court, Back in those days there was no websites like this to help so I hid my head in sand and lost.... I had the odd letter from them, a year or so later a solicitor sent a nasty letter which I wrote back with a load of complaints, I trying to rebuild my life, as my wife passed away a few years back I met a lovely lady and we started a family together, but we need to move on, I decided to sort all my debts out and look to move... today this is in tatters as Funding Corporation want £27k to settle this debt, which I truely believe is all miss selling. PPI, Warranty on Car which was not fit for purpose, GAP Insurance, I was without the car for the first month as it was faulty, illegally repossesd... Where can I go from here, the CCJ was recorded in 2010, and they put a charge on my house.

In para 69 of the Supreme Court ruling in R (on the application of UNISON) v Lord Chancellor [2017] IRLR 911 SC the Judge stated "The case also illustrates the fact that it is not always desirable that claims should be settled" Would it ever be possible to argue that a particular case shouldn't be settled because it holds Public Interest? I noticed he didn't state it as a ruling but in passing Please, if there is a Case Law, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

I have a joint account overdraft debt (First Direct) from 2005 which has been on my Payplan DMP since 2011. The current DCA (Arrow Global) appointed Restons Solicitors who sent Claim Forms to both me and the other party, my ex. Payplan sorted my reply offering £1 per month. I didn't realise that my ex needed to send Acknowledgement of Service and I told him, wrongly,that I had it sorted with my DMP. The claimant rejected my offer and the court issued me a judgement by determination for £20 per month. My ex was sent a judgement by default. (The amounts on the two judgements were different, and on his default judgement it stated he'd paid £1, which he hadn't - it was my £1 from my DMP). I subsequently applied for a redetermination as I thought we would each submit budgets and he would start his own DMP and we could get the monthly payments reduced. The redetermination hearing is next Wednesday and states both me and my ex as defendants. My ex is long term unemployed, on jobseekers allowance and housing benefit. I am 58, self employed, on a low income and in receipt of working tax credit. Neither of us has any property, savings, assets, insurances, or anything of value. The debt is the second smallest on my DMP (total debts £24.8k). My ex is furious that he now has a CCJ and refuses to attend the hearing and refuses to do a budget. I feel responsible for sorting out the mess. My girlfriend has now offered to pay the claimant in full & final short settlement if the claimant will agree that no further liability is due from either party. Total being claimed is £461.80 plus £107 costs, so £568.80. After a couple of offers and counter offers, Restons said on 22nd Nov they would accept £422.85. I offered £400. Restons say they are waiting for Arrow to decide whether to accept my £400 offer. They're both dragging their feet unnecessarily I feel. Since it's less than 5 days before the hearing it's too late to apply to "vacate the hearing" so I must attend the hearing, alone. I need to email the court to tell them of this new development and also include authorisation from my ex. I want to email the court today or tomorrow latest to tell them about my offer, also including email from my ex authorising me to do that, also that the delay is down to the claimant. How should I word my email, how should my ex word his email, and since its a redetermination hearing that I applied for, how will the offer of short settlement affect the hearing especially since my ex won't be there. I know I ought to have sorted this out sooner but I have ADHD and also long-term depression, which makes life difficult sometimes. When I originally got into debt, before my DMP, things got so bad that I had a breakdown I'm better now. I've spent hours and hours looking up civil court procedures, protocols, practice directions, legal processes, advice websites, CAB signposted me to RCJ free advice session and they suggested I attend the hearing with my budget, which I will do. I just need to know how to handle communicating with the court about the changes, and at this late stage I can't afford to make any more mistakes. Any relevant advice much appreciated. Many thanks

Hi Caggers I have spent a long time reading through old posts and have a headache! My situation is thus. I have approximately 80k of old CC and OD debt mainly on accounts started 2000 to 2006. some possibly a bit later. I fell into arrears etc in 2010 as a victim of the 2008 crash! ( I held on as long as I could) all of these debts are now off my credit rating file except for one which is with cabot from a Barclaycard that was taken out in 2000 and should have defaulted in 2010 along with the others which barclaycard have sold and closed and cabot is still marking my file as up to date with a £1 payment I have been paying various credit card companies direct and some through DCA's (Cabot CDUK Moorcroft PRA etc.) between £1 and £5 a month for the last 7 years. They don't hound me and seem to renew my arrangements automatically every 6 months, (they send me a letter which i ignore and then another saying they will continue the arrangement) The issue is I would like to remove this debt from my neck as although it is not strangling me it is weighing me down and I am not in a position to pay it off. I could possibly offer about 10 -12% as a F&F settlement with the help of some family members, but wanted advice on whether I would be better of CCAing anyone first and using that as a bargaining tool? about 25k of the debt is a Barclays overdraft, there is one santander loan and the rest are CC's My mortgage (Current and up to date) is also with santander - would this harm that. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me

My son has a personal injury claim originally valued at £20k. The solicitor was working on a 25% no win no fee basis. however, a few months ago he found out that the solicitor had failed to advise at the outset that he could have had union backing, so it was agreed they would discount the 25% fee etc. The matter should be going to trial in circa six months, but the soilicitor has now written advising that he wishes to offer the defendent the opportunity to settle for £8k pursuant to CPR 36. This is a 60% reduction on the claim value which doesn't seem right to me. Any advice on this would be appreciated. Regards

In January of this year, I was hit by another car that drove between two lanes of traffic to overtake me from the left. The car pulled out in from to me, lifting my car off the ground and damaging the front side panel and bumper. In doing so they damaged all of the side of their car. Their damage to their car starts at the top higher up and then drops down. There were no witnesses to the accident , but there are photographs of the damage, which I believe support my case. The other driver has claimed that I overtook them from the right, in doing so that I mounted a raised diver between separating me from traffic coming from the opposite direction. I do not think that the evidence supports this. However Aviva are now saying that the want to settle this as a no fault claim, unless I can provide a witness of CCTV evidence, which I can't. Worse still, the are implying that may settle the claim in favour of the other driver, unless I accept this. I have indicated that I am not willing to and would be happy to go to court on the matter. Any advice please ?

Hi. I took a loan out with Avantcredit August 2015.. stupid idea! I pay 125 a month and the balance has only gone down by £300! The interest is so bloody high.. my own fault I know, but I had an urgent need for it and my credit wasn't the best so I was unable to get any better deals.. my credit union have agreed to clear this loan for me (I will pay my credit union monthly which MUCH less interest) however they will only make payments on my behalf via BACS/Bank transfer. Advantcredit are being difficult saying they won't give me their account number or sort code to pay with. . is there anything I can do to get around this? Would a complaint to the ombudsman do anything? I spoke to a lady from Advantcredit last week who said she didn't think it would be a problem. Then this week everything has changed and apparently they won't be giving the details to me? I feel as though they are placing barriers deliberately to inhibit me from paying this off early (and saving myself thousands in interest) Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there. I was involved in an accident that wasn't my fault last night. They reversed their car into their drive and didn't see me as I was driving past and swung out into my car. There was a witness who saw it all. I haven't informed my insurer yet but have already received a text message from the other party's insurer: 'Admiral ref.******* - We are sorry to hear you have been involved in an accident with our insured. We would like to help with any damage caused to save you claiming with your insurers, paying an excess and we will also supply a free replacement vehicle to suit your needs - Please call 03303335531 ext 25256. Please note SMS responses are unmonitored' Does this mean he has already admitted liability to his insurer? Is it safe to settle with his insurer and not inform mine so that I don't get stung with increased premiums? I have protected NCD. Do I HAVE to inform my insurer? Any help greatly apreciated

I was a customer of scottish Power for a very short time and they failed to send a final bill upon leaving them. they did, however send the debt collectors round to an address some 300 miles away that had no association with mine and failed miserably in getting the address removed from my data and couldn't be bothered to send me a bill at my correct address. When I got the Ombudsman involved they still dragged their heels for 6 months and still did not produce a proper bill, just a letter demanding payment for nearly 3100 more than the actual amount that would be due. they didnt tell the ombudsman the truth when it came to remedy and changed their version of events 4 times and the Ombudsman decided that they were not able to produce a proper bill so an estimate would be OK. As I had the correct meter readings to hand and proof that SP also had the correct meter reading but couldnt be bothered to actually enter them onto their system I Told the Ombudsman that I would be requiring transcripts of their conversations with SP as they exist and do the same to SP regarding all of the conversations relating to myself. The Ombudsman also fialed to inform the Energy Regulator that the dispute had gone on beyond the time that it should be reported and had failed to go to a Stage 2 dispute when they were obliged to by law. Today I received a letter from SP writing off the bill in its entirety as a gesture of goodwill but again tha amount they claim to be writing off is an imaginary amount. This has the advantage to them that they claim back a sum for VAT that they haven't paid the exchequer so they save even more money. Scottish Power are incompetent, lazy and less than honest, Ombudsman Services limited are not up to the tasks they are employed to do and lazy in their methodology and procedures are flawed or ignored so the lesson is do not give up when they tell you that you have reached the end of the line as they have a lot to hide.

I'm posting this regarding one of my friends situation I'm trying to see the possibilities. If I understand correctly, an EU national have to live in UK for 5 years to be settle (without studying, just working or self-sufficient) in this case UK needs to stay in EU for another 5 years (5 year qualifying period). And if the referendum in 2017 will decide "out", then my friend will stop having right to reside in UK and thus will not be able to meet the conditions above?

Hi guys, This may sound like a silly question, but, I have come into a small amount of money, and wish to pay off some of my smaller outstanding debt balances, £120 here, £210 there etc. Having several creditors, and therefore several DCA representing them, I would prefer to make payment direct to the original creditor as opposed to the DCA. Does anyone have any idea of the best way of doing this? I don't want to phone them, and then make payment over the phone. I'd prefer to do this in writing. So could I just write to the original creditor and say, I want to settle the debt, provide me with a giro slip? :/ Or should I go about this differently? I want to make sure the debt is firmly settled, and that my credit file is marked as satisfied etc. Appreciate your thoughts!

Hoping someone can offer some guidance. Am in the processing of a claim for constructive unfair dismissal, and having finally received the respondents response, it is evident that they may falsify documents, i.e. produce letters that have never been sent! If I am right, and they do this, is there any way of proving they've been falsely produced, and were never sent?

Hi Hope someone can help me with this problem with RSA. I own three English Bulldogs and have done for 4 years, the first two were bought as a security measure after many years of being told by Family and even the police to get a big dog as they are the best security. Last year for the first time I bred the two girls - prior to this I had not - some puppies went to family & friends and the rest were sold, I have not bred them again and have no plans to. I was burgled in November 2014, someone came in the back door and stole valuables from the kitchen & adjoining room, they also took my safe which contained jewellery/cash and many treasured photos. I put a claim in with my insurance (More Than) and had two visits from them, the second visit was a Senior Claims Investigator who was employed by Rsa, he took a witness statement which lasted some three hours and everything he could ask was asked - criminal convictions, ccjs, non-disclosure it seemed to go on forever. Today I have received (7 months later) their letter stating that they will not pay the claim because they have termed my home as a business because of the puppies and as such there is an exclusion being attached that a business is not covered if a "sneak-in" theft occurs, which is what it was. I am going to complain to RSA and of course if they don't budge then I will go to the financial ombudsman but I wanted advice first. I have looked for clarification online about this and can only find that to determine a dog breeding business there has to be 5 litters or more born in a 12 month period and when this number is reached a Breeders Licence must be applied for - this is covered in the "Breeding of Dogs Act 1973" which was amended in the 1999 Act and states that hobby breeders & licensed breeders are not to be classed together and one is only termed as a "Dog Breeding Business" when one reaches the 5 litter or more rule or where a Local Council has had cause to visit the premises because of complaints - none of the above applies to me, my dogs are pets and I only have two females but they have told me that because people came to my house and bought puppies that I am a business. There were no puppies in the house when the incident occurred and the monies in the safe were not from the sale of any puppies but they are telling me that I effectively have operated a business from home because of the two litters and not told them, this is why they are not going to pay - they have gone through my life with a fine tooth comb and looked for reasons as to why they cannot pay and this is the only reason that they can find. Does this mean that every household that has sold puppies, kittens, rabbits and so on is a business? I have recently sold collection only items on Ebay & Gumtree which included a Jukebox and other electrical items, the buyers came to my home and paid me money for them - does that make me a electrical business? - last year my partner and I each sold a car from our home (upgrading) and received cash, are we now car dealers? Please advise as I am angry that they have gone over everything again and again and seemed pretty desperate to find a reason and the one they have chosen seems "flimsy" to me, this is my first dealing with any insurance company and my first claim but wanted to know what rules the ombudsman is likely to follow when he determines if my home is a business or not as this seems to be the sticking point.

Hi Everyone, I'm in a bit if a sticky situation. I was on my way to work from a fairly busy railway station to a central London train station. The station I was traveling from has Oyster Card barriers, however, on that day they happened to be open. I have a pay as you go Oyster Card and tapped on the barrier. Now, as far as I'm aware the barrier didn't give the usual message of "Seek Assistance" - in fact I don't remember it giving a message at all. If it had done, i would have turned back around and topped up my card. Thinking everything was ok I traveled to the central london station where i was caught by the ticket inspectors. I was adamant that i wouldn't pay the fine and long story short - i have now received a summons. This is a the tricky part and incredibly stupid part and i don't know what to do. The address details i provided to the ticket inspector were details of my parent's house where i was living a couple of years ago. The inspector wanted a verifiable address and I haven't updated my driving licence yet so i showed him the driving licence and he spoke to someone on the phone and it all checked out ok. Just to clarify, i honestly wasn't trying to deceive them, it just that i get some of my mail at my parent's house anyway and every time i've tried to update my driving licence address details on the DVLA site there always seems to be a problem...not sure why, but needless to say, I am very disorganised and haven't got around to updating my details yet. Now the summons only refers Bye-Law 18(1) of the Transport Act 2005. No mention of false address charges. Do I need to tell them? Should i just plead guilty and get it over with? If they find out that i gave an address isn't my current address can they prosecute me for that also? I would like to settle out of court, but that would mean having to write a letter with my address. Will they able to charge me with giving false details now? Obviously i don't want a criminal record. Wish i'd just paid the penalty fare now!! Please advise

Hi there, helping out my father in law. He has 10 creditors and an arrangement to pay set up for 9 of them. During the course of paying the creditors my father in law has received early settlement vouchers. Do I need to contact the debt management company to negotiate early settlement or can I contact each of them individually? Finally does anyone know what a typical settlement % a debt collection agency is likely to take? Thanks Sam

I've had a text and email from Cash Choice today regarding my balance with them. I've already agreed to payment agreement in Feb that started this month at £20 a month but the email states no payment has been made despite their best (HA!) efforts to ensure this happened: I've clear evidence my payment left my account on the 5th of March using FPS to them with the details provided in a text message from their company. As it's been 15 days since the payment has been made I'm surprised they've not added this to my account. Should I go ahead and ignore this email, they are only reporting on my Noddle CRA that I owe £330 not the higher amount above. Would appreciate any advice you folks could render. StripedTiger

I am wondering if anyone is knowledgeable in the making a full and final offer or accepting a p art 36 offer which was made a few months ago and the time has passed to accept, so it will now be withdrawn(?) Could you please advise the best way forward? I am now in a position to be able to settle, but I don't know how to start the process, because the OC had made a p36 offer. I am unsure if the offer still stands because it stated it would be withdrawn if I didn't accept in the stated period. I was not in a position to accept at that time and because of illness and other issues, I did nothing. The OC have since applied for a summary judgement which is due to be heard in November. I am unsure if the court case will go in my favor, but either way, I would just like to settle now. There have been other hearings that have been adjourned etc and I am trying to cut down costs as much as possible and reduce the stress of going back to court. I would appreciate any help or advice. Thank you

Hi Guys, need some guidance here, I'm looking to settle a silly CCJ with a value of 235 pounds. it from 2009. It was posted against me via the Northampton court. I have no paper work relating to this, well maybe I had back then but I don't have it any longer. I don't remember when was this posted or by whom. I really want to turn this around quickly, also how does it work do I pay the court? and what if the company that filed the CCJ is no longer in business, after all we are talking about 235 pounds, I thought that CCJ would be issued by debts over 350 pounds. cheers Red

Hi- Its my first time here and would really appreciate some advice. Last year I took out a 12 month gym contract at my local gym. When I signed up I explained to the membership person that I was potentially going through a break up and would not be able to afford to continue the membership if this happened. They agreed to relook at the membership should that happen and that they could possibly help with me not being tied up for 12 months. This break up then happened and I cancelled my membership as I couldn't afford it on my own whilst trying to keep a house over mine and my sons head. Since then they have applied to the county court for the rest of the contract plus fee's making a total of £850. I printed off a copy of the emails and sent it back to the court to defend my claim. I am now waiting for a hearing date. Where I need the advice is that I have today received a phone call from their debt recovery agents saying that they would settle with no CCJ at £600 but it would need to be paid within 4 weeks. I am not in a position to afford this. They then said that a CCJ will already be in place and the courts will have to decide whether to remove it or not. Is this true? And how can I have a CCJ in place when it hasn't actually gone to court yet? They also said that even if I win the case then I will have to pay the court charges and their solicitors costs?!?! They said that this would amount to at least £600 anyway. I am so confused about all of this and I don't know whether it is better for me to just try and find the £600 to prevent the CCJ on my records. They seemed to think that even though I have on email that I could get out of my contract that I probably wont win and that I will have the CCJ anyway. Any advice would be truly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Guys , i really hope you can help. What can i do next in terms of the debts below? is it still possible to send off letters asking for credit agreements or is that not longer effective? can i settle? ive tried before but they all want 50-80%. i can just about afford 20 tops Credit Cards Arrow global ltd default since feb2012 Owe 4,610 Currently paying 30 pm hfc bank HSBC credit card - took card out jan 2007 Default since june 2008. OWE 6120 pay 20pm 1st credit - default since oct 2008 owe: 10,400 paid nothing since oct 2008 Apex credit management default jun 2009 owe:11,380 pay 30pm LOANS: MBNA owe: 6,270 not made payments since oct 2009 defaulted oct 2009 HSBC owe 11,800 defaulted august 2008 pay 30pm I had 7 more debts but all have been settled or satisfied 2 years ago. ps not sure what card debts belong to what debt collection agency : Please help me

Hi Folks.... Briefly - I'm in debt to the tune of around 40k on credit cards - after a long illness, including heart bypass depression etc etc - I've received a settlement from my company and have around 20K to spend settling the above 40k. The debts haven't been serviced now for over 2 years - strangely now I have some cash in my account at long last - I am receiving letters from DCAs including but not limited to; capquest; raven; arrow; drydensfairfax... Spectacularly - I have had 3 letters drop through my door today; is that to put me off any last minute shopping? What I would like to do is get them all off my back obviously..... If I offered 50% of what they were asking for to settle - would that be a goer do we think? - if so - what is the best way for me to go about offering it without accepting liability ? Kind regards - hopefully - Andy P.S. There is a high probability that I have been miss sold PPI in this lot which I'm not bothered about so long as they will just go away and not come back.... I will never have another credit card as long as I live; once this is over - I plan on keeping it all in a bag under my bed and living pon porridge.

ok ive comen into some money and i have some outstanding debts with hsbc and halifax (credit cards and student debts) whiich all defaulted. im currently claiming ppi charges however after i've completed this claim i was curious. should i settle the balance or leave it to drop off. the default has currently been on my creditfile for 4 years. if i settle the balance will it restart the 6 year period or will it still drop off at the time? thanks.

Would like some help for a friend regarding a draft settlement agreement regarding wages owing, is there a standard wording that should be used for a small amount of money. My friend does not want to employer a solicitor as this would mean less amount of money that will be received by him.

Hi there everyone I have only recently found this forum (today) of which i have read a lot of posts, some have been insightful, others confusing (probably my lack of understanding all the acronyms). Let me introduce why i'm writing on this forum, i recently joined Experian to check my credit file as my future wife and i are planning to buy a house in the next few months. I entered some trouble 3-4 years ago with credit (not a lot) but suffice to say i have two default accounts on my report. I have not really used credit since really, I have an overdraft which i dont use and good savings so havent really seen the need for it, until now... the mortgage. I want to be able to get the best rate i possible can. The two defaults i have are Communications Supplier from Capquest Investments Limited 2 - Originally Orange Communications Start Date : Nov 2002 Default Date: August 2009 Balance £379 Bank Default from Aktiv Kapital - A Credit Card but cant remember who Start Date: May 2007 Default Date: August 2009 Balance £533 I did receive multiple letters in the past but ignored them all, I have moved since (2+ Years ago) and haven't received anything. I am more than happy to pay the balances as it is money i owe, however i really would like to get these removed of my record, i have seen conflicting messages and experiences from people, so really asking for some specific guidance for my situation. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, any help will be much appreciated. Kindest Regards B