Hi, this is my first time using the site and I am slightly confused by information seen on here and on other forums. A few years ago while at Uni I had 1 current account and 1 student account both having overdrafts. After uni I went abroad to work for a NGO thinking I would only be there 6 months, but six month became 5 years. I have recently returned home to find that my accounts are default (my fault, forgot about them while living abroad) and both debts have been sold on to a debt collection agency (1st credit). Now i'm back home really want to start looking at buying a house with my brother but my credit file is messed up (his is perfect). I would like to clear off these debts so they are marked as fully settled but have limited funds with which to do so, the debts are as follows: 1st credit - £1572.86 - (originally with lloyds bank plc) - defaulted 23/11/2012 1st credit - £750.00 - (originally with halifax bank) - defaulted 06/04/2011 I have about £750 to service these debts, but not sure how to go about making the offer so that it will marked as fully settled. Any advice anyone could give would be very much appreciated.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice, my dad took finance out with a company called Motonovo finance in July 2015 he paid £500 pound deposit and paid a double payment the month after taking the finance out with Motonovo. All payments have been on time and are up to date the payments get payed 21st of every month. Last month December 2015 my dad was working and has his own van which he is fully comp on, I was in the middle of moving house so he said I could lend his car to help me out doing me a favour. I insured the car in my name on the Friday 10th December 10am. Two days later on Sunday night at midnight I got stopped by police for no insurance I advised the police I had insured the car on Friday and phoned my mum who confirmed to police I had took the insurance out on the day I had said. The car was filled with all my belongings as I was in the middle of moving house. I begged for them to let me go in the following morning with the proof but they dismissed what I had said and compounded the car As you can imagine I was really upset a week or so before Christmas an also as the car was filled with all my stuff and I had done nothing wrong . I was crying so my brother rang the police and made a complaint about the police as they was very intimating towards me when I was stopped it was pitch black and they had pressed the panick button all police came from no where there wasn't any female offices there just all male cracking joke and laughing whiles I was crying I got treated disguising a young female on my own. The following morning I rang my insurance and they confirmed I was insured and informed me that it was harsh what had happened as police know it can take up to 7 days to show on the police data base. My policy got sent to me by email and I had printed it out to take to the police to show them I was insured, I then rang the police and they said take it up with Motonovo we haven't got the car no more my dad then rang moto novo who said the police had the car and had been in touch with Motonovo to inform them I had been the police station and could not provide the documents I needed to so not to release the car to us we was confused with this as we had been told not to bother going the police station as they never had the car. I then sent the proof over to Motonovo showing the car was insured at the time it was taken from police. We got told to take it up with the police this went on for days and days police refused to release the car even though Motonovo didn't have a problem with the car being released at this time. Motonovo recovered the car we then spoke to the manger in the recoveries at Motonovo who said if we could get the police to confirm the car was insured they would release the car either though the proof had been sent to show it was he wanted the police to confirm. I then went on to get in touch with the police man who had took the car who confirmed to me he had looked it up and the car was insured and legal to be on the road at the time it was taken, he refused to put it in wrighting but said he was speak to Motonovo direct. I then rang moto novo who then said they want full settlement due to the terms and conditions being broke because my dad wasn't on the insurance policy they took another payment on the 21st of December all payments have been on time and they have had a payment whiles having the car. The car should never of been took in the first place also there are no missing psyments on the account but they are refusing to release the car I think this is completely unfair on my dad he's a honest hard working man who had provided for his family all his life , they are saying they will sell the car at auction then he will have to pay whatever remains so not only has the car been took unfairly and payments are up to date he will be in debt with them. if anyone has any information on what we can do thatvwould be grate thank you for reading this and I look forward to hearing back sorry if there is any spelling mistakes also in advance ha thanks again, Lois.

I have been on a DMP with the charity Step Change for a number of years, the original debts being a Lloyds Bank loan I was encouraged to take on as a "consolidation" during a bad patch back in 1999, and a credi card still with Lloyds going back the same period, totaling about 20.000 plus couple of "minor" cards and an overdraft, totaling around 25k. After few years of re-payments, I managed to bring back the balance which currently it's around 12.000, however I have recently separated from my wife and this has had a pretty devastating effect, on the financial aspect of things as well as everything else, I have 3 children and things just don't add-up. I currently have access to a relatively small amount of money which is the result of a share of the sale of an old property, about £6'000 and rather than seeing it disappear as they will I am thinking of trying to offer a settlement to the various creditors, who are Akinika Debt Recovery (5.500.00) Pira Group Barclays (1000.00), Npower 707.00), Lloyds PLC (397.00) plus Cabot Financial, who just took over from Allied International Credit and is not currently included in the DMP. As I haven't test spoken to them but they are writing about their acquired balance of £6'321, it seems a bit of a long shot to put an offer to each of them totaling £6000, but the truth is I will have to ty, failing that, due to my new circumstances I wouldn't be able to keep up the £357 monthly payments to Step Change and the only other option I can see would be filing for bankruptcy. With all the consequences of the case on my job etc, in any case I wouldn't know where to start with offering settlements, and above all without risking losing the sum, or how to make sure that they would actually agree for it to be a final settlement and not just an extra payment, and would it be better to approach them myself, as I suspect Step Change wouldn't enter any hard- negotiation of this sort on my behalf? Is there a template letter I could use to get me started? Have I got any real chance here? any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry to be so long

Hi I read the forum and could not find a similar post, therefore decided to post myself. A year ago I was caught using my friends Freedom Pass in the underground and was given a caution by the Inspector to remain quiet and give my personal details. Two weeks later I received a letter from TFL inviting me to attend a PACE interview under caution with TFL prosecutors, and due to exceptional circumstances the case was settled out of court and I had to pay a hefty fine. During the interview under PACE caution i admit using the freedom pass on more occasions and showed my remoteness and great regret as well as shame. Even though my case did not go as far as court, i am still concerned whether I will be on any records - PNC, DBS and CRB? This is my only concern which delays going ahead with the application for the naturalisation. I contacted a lawyer and I was told that I may still be on any records even though the case was settled out of the court. I contacted 2 lawyers and each of them said a different outcome, one said I will come up on records regardless of the out of court settlement and the other lawyer said as it was an out of court settlement I will not be on any records. I have made an effort contacting lawyers yet there is no clarity on this issue at all, therefore i am turning to this forum for any help and advice that may bring some clarity. 1. Can you please tell me if I may be on any records? 2. Is there a way how I could find this out myself if I am on any records? 3. I understand that the application for the naturalisation will be taken very seriously and any past caution may affect my application, does anyone have had a similar issue? 4. I suppose Home Office would see any type of caution and misuse of Freedom Pass as a bad character?

I have two unsecured credit agreements. Clydesdale Finance default Aug 2010 Current Bal £3904 Pra Group UK Ltd default October 2011 Current Bal £4369 This info is according to my Equifax Credit report Originally they were welcome finance and Barclays. I have had no contact with them for over 4 years. I want to get a mortgage in about a years time and so want to sort out my credit score. ANy advice on how to get a settlement figure.

General Motors has agreed to pay $900m (£580m) to end a criminal inquiry into its failure to recall vehicles with faulty ignitions. The car maker was being investigated for not checking millions of cars, despite staff knowing for more than a decade about the defect. The fault has been linked to more than 100 confirmed deaths. It could shut down engines, disable power-assisted steering and brakes and prevent airbags working. BBC Could this fault show up over here.

Hi i would be grateful for any clarification other caggers can provide. LTSB Gold Service Payment application form circa 1990's. across the top of the application 'Lloyds Bank Gold Service Payment/Photo Card Application Form' underneath Credit agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. this is very confusing as part of the document states under 'Security' 'the overdraft facility made available under this agreement is unsecured and shall not be secured or treated as secured by virtue of any mortgage, charge or other security which i/we may have already given (or may in future give) to you. does this then mean that if there is a dispute that LTSB cannot enforce to change the 'unsecured' to 'secured' via a CCJ ? then further down it states 'to be considered for a Lloyds Bank Gold Service Payment Card you must sign in the box below' this implies to me the A4 form is an application form and not an agreement, however in the signature box it refers to 'this is a Credit Agreement regulated by the CCA' has anyone else come across this? and what is the position. Thank You

I'm new here and I have a question in regard to the wording below "This agreement is in full and final settlement of all claims that the Claimant may have against the Defendants in relation to the claim and/or any other claims howsoever or whensoever arising as at the date of the withdrawal of the appeal, whether the Claimant is currently aware of any such claims or not." I'm just about to sign a settlement in regard to civil issue. Does the wording above prevent me as a claimant from taking any legal action against the defendants in the future even if it is something that is not related to the claim at all and that arise after the date of withdrawal? For example, if the Defendants decided to victimise the Claimant in the future will I be able to challenge that or am I barred from doing so by signing the above ? I really appreciate your help

Hi, I previously lived in the UK but have returned back to the US as I was made redundant. I owe approx. £10880 to Virgin/mbna and had a phone call with them earlier. I am able to borrow the monies from family and after going thru the series of questions of my incoming and outgoing expenses I gave an approximate figure £7000 to clear the above loan. they were going to check w a mgr and get back to me. It now seems I could have gone lower and think I am going to call,them Monday and say I only had £7000 total as I also have to use that to pay the £6800 to HSBC. I need to get this cleared as I now cannot afford the min bal as I am living back in the US. Do you think I can negotiate a lower amount? They also said they don't so full and final settlements anymore so I guess I just hope when I accept they don't sell, the remaining debt on!

I am appealing for advice in this case in which Barclays has failed over a 2 year period to put right errors on my mortgage account and now refuses to abide by the binding settlement terms. To confuse matters, the Ombudsman provided misleading information which led to me agreeing the terms and the complaint being closed while the issues are unresolved. Ombudsman has now washed its hands of the case and told me I need to sue Barclays. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) makes an Ombudsman’s decision legally enforceable in court, but I can find no solicitor to take on my case on a no-win-no-fee basis and I am not in a position to incur legal fees. It is an obvious winner with loads of political mileage for any law firm. I assume I need to sue once for the statement which they were supposed to provide under the settlement terms and then again later for my losses- which I can only work out once I see the statement. The complaint relates to Barclays’ failure to credit my account with several thousand pounds of overpayments, even claiming the balance had INCREASED after said overpayments. This was my 3rd consecutive complaint regarding Barclays’ mismanagement of the same account. Under the settlement terms finalised 2 June 15 by the Financial Services Ombudsman, Barclays was to provide “a full breakdown of my (mortgage) account from June 13, showing when each overpayment was applied and a clear and accurate explanation for any amendments made to the account”. Barclays has failed to provide the above documentation, but not before lying to the Ombudsman claiming it had! A misleading letter from the Ombudsman claimed the account was now in order (Dec 14) and I thus agreed the settlement terms, which included a nominal payment (which the bank has made). However, the documentation that Barclays was to provide is obviously central to the complaint, particularly since I now have documentary evidence proving the anomalies on the account have NOT been corrected by Barclays. This may be why the bank now refuses to provide the documentation. This documentation was only made available to me by the Ombudsman AFTER I had agreed the settlement terms, believing the account to be correct, and AFTER Barclays had failed to comply. The Ombudsman provided me with documentation the bank provided to it during the course of the investigation, including a calculation (not a statement) which states “this calculation has been provided to assist with the resolution of the complaint”. This documentation does not tally with an independent audit of the account I was obliged to fund. The document makes it clear NO remedial action has been taken, ie it contains a heading “steps required to rectify the account” as opposed to “steps taken to rectify the account”. Nevertheless the Ombudsman told me in writing the account had been corrected! The document is virtually impossible for a layperson to understand and abruptly ends March 14, giving no clues to the current balance and states “the balances shown on this calculator do not represent the actual balance on the account”, so the information is of little use, hence the instruction from the Ombudsman that Barclays provide me with “a full breakdown of the account from June 13, showing when each overpayment was applied and a clear and accurate explanation for any amendments made to the account”. So I have no idea how much interest I have been and continue to be overcharged by the bank on the incorrect balance I was a diligent overpayer until Barclays mismanaged the account. Based on my previous pattern of overpayments, I have been prevented from overpaying at least 10k to date. I have written to John McFarlane CEO asking him to ensure his staff provide the documentation as per the binding settlement terms, to clearly show how much interest I have been overcharged, what steps have been taken to correct the account, and what the correct current balance is, however, it is highly unlikely I will receive a response based on the bank’s attitude thus far. The FCA said they could not assist. I wrote my MP who says he has written to them but won’t show me a copy of the letter. I made a formal complaint about the Ombudsman, but that won’t rectify the account issues. I contacted BBC watchdog and various consumer columns and got no reply. I guess no one dares take on the establishment. I have posted on Barclays FB page and would now like to post the above letter online as widely as possible – any ideas as to where and how would be appreciated. Also any advice on where to find a law firm to represent me on a no win no fee basis would be appreciated.

Hi there, I am new to this and would kindly welcome some advice if anyone could help? I'll keep it brief and to the point. Work for global corporation, my head office based in UK. Employed by this company for nine years, no complaints at all. Had various directors, regional managers and line managers over these 9 years. Company was restructured late December 2014, I inherited a different regional manager and line manager in January (both who work in a different division and have no knowledge of the job I do, regional manger been there for at least 7 years, line manager only promoted to line manager in January 2015, previously same job spec as mine only different division). Was given a complete new territory in January unannounced (had been consultant for a different territory for over three years and built up good trust and sales with these customers). Regardless, went out and done my job, hit my sales target in January despite the whole territory being new. Two weeks into February had a conversation with my new line manager who was enquiring why the mood was so low in our team ( a team of ten consultants) and I had offered a suggestion that "maybe the constant negativity wasn't helping" . I said this as we had all received a barrage of negative emails and phonecalls from said line manager, and everyone was moaning about it, seen as we were a new team that had been put together in January, me being the longest serving employee out of the whole team said what I said. The day after, at 7.30pm I received a friendly txt from line manager asking if I could meet him the following day to have a chat about figures, I agreed as didn't think anything of it, went to the meeting location the next day, was invited into a room by line manager, next thing regional manager walks in (unannounced) asks me "do you know what youre here for" when I replied "it was my understanding I was here to have a chat about figures with line manager, he said "no, youre going to pick your way to leave this company". He said "you can either resign, or I will make your life hell and make you leave". You have until Tuesday the following week to decide. I told him after a barrage of abuse from him, I wasn't resigning. The next morning the abuse continued, wont go into detail just now but will if anyone wants to know the details, just want to get the main points out just now. The next day I met with HR as I was disgusted at what had happened and told HR everything that had been said and proposed etc. HR (after hearing my side of the story), two days later, they wrote back saying they had spoke to both concerned and that they had all agreed that they would all meet with me to have a discussion. I was horrified at this, I had been duped into a meeting were it was a 2 vs 1 scenario, no witnesses, was totally bullied and intimidated, no witnesses, and HR wanted me to meet with them again under the same set up, ( HR are supposed to be impartial but in our company they are not). Before this week came around I was that ill after the original meeting, had nearly crashed my car on a busy motorway after suffering a severe panic attack, more followed, that my GP signed me off work and prescribed anti anxiety medication. To cut a long story short, I raised a grievance, it was heard by same HR I had spoken to initially and another manager who offered me a "new position" when accompanying me down in the lift out of the meeting room once the grievance had been heard, I said nothing. It took them 5 months to conclude the grievance stating time out of office and work commitments. When the notes came out it was clear that both managers had colluded, also my notes were missing, when I asked about these, they then sent a diluted version of my notes, when I asked them that I wished them to be amended to what I actually said, they thanked me for the ammendum but stated it wouldn't change anything. They also added parts to my grievance which were not included, to absolve themselves I guess. My post was on a recruitment site straight after (I know this is not against the law but trying to give an insight). None of it was upheld. The two investigating, made the conclusion. In between the grievance conclusion and me stating I wished to appeal, the person I raised the grievance about was promoted. The Grievance appeal was heard by same HR person and finance director, was cut short as they had a flight to catch. I was then sent the notes of said meeting, it was so heavily diluted that anyone who didn't know about it would have a hard time working out what all of the fuss was about, my witness emailed their notes, after that, although a conclusion was promised by the end of last week, straight after my witness submitted their notes I received a "without prejudice" email asking me to accept a paltry amount of money. I would gratefully accept any advice on what to do next, if anyone has any questions please ask, I just tried to keep this post short (ish) and to the point. Thanking you all in advance.

Hi this is a bit complicated by here goes I took out a loan in 2006 with Creation finance one of those buy now pay later deals. Due to financial difficulties I was unable to continue with the repayments from August 2008, and I had assumed that the account had gone into default. In the middle of 2009 I contacted Creation finance and offered them a partial settlement and after some wrangling they agreed that they would accept what amounted to two thirds of the debt and not chase me for any more. I cant remember if they accepted my terms as full and final or partial settlement, but it was probabally the latter. I paid of other creditors in the same way, and never really looked for credit again. Then in 2013 I started getting letters from Cabot demanding payment of the outstanding balance, and of course I lost the correspondence between myself and creation re the partial settlement of the debt. I ignored all letters from Cabot and then went and checked my credit file. With regards to this loan, my payment status on my credit file was 6 from feb 2009 until August 09 (which means that I prob hadnt paid anything since at least Aug 2008) then in sept 2009 it shows a 1 status, this is where I had paid of 2/3 or the debt, then the non payments reset and ive been at a 6 status since February 2010 Creation Finance only issued a default against me in January 2013, when it should have been done around feb 09 six (ie 6 months of no payments) or because i reset the debt clock by making a partial settlement in sep 2009 a default should have been issued in march 2010? I did a SAR but of course there is absolutely no information from them regarding this Loan after 2009, no record of our correspondence re the partial settlement. I had a couple of other loans with them previous to this and the Payment protection insurance on three of them amounts to more than Is outstanding on this debt In reality what I really want is this default removed from my credit file, so what can i do, Cabot finace have resorted to phoning my neighbours to find out if I'm still living at my current address which I think is very poor form and very embarrasing for me

I'll try to keep this simple and to the point. A stat demand was served and a hearing set to have the application to set aside heard. I withdrew the application to set aside on the grounds that a settlement was reached. Fast forward and payments on the settlement agreement have stopped on my end as the deliverable from the petitioners can physically be no longer provided. Namely they are no longer authorised to sell stock as specified in the settlement agreement and the forms for transfer have been returned by the company. I don't see in which world it would be just for me to pay for something that I'm not going to receive. They have issued a bankruptcy petition for the breach of the settlement agreement and I have until Tuesday to file a 6.19. Does this form need to be accompanied by a witness statement and hand delivered to the court or can I fax/email? Is the 6.19 even the right thing to do here? Thanks in advance.

Hello, there I've been making token payments to a DCA for a while now and recently made a settlement offer to them, fully expecting them to either reject it or start negotiations. A few weeks later, to my shock, I received a letter in response from them confirming that my account was settled in full and my credit file would marked as satisfied. Note that I had paid nothing to them other than the regular token payment that was due while I waited for a response. I then received a second letter dated 3 days after the first one in which they refused my settlement offer. I stopped making the token payments but they are now threatening me with court action and say they have put the default on my credit file. What is my legal status here? Should I: a) send them a copy of their own letter confirming settlement and tell them to buzz off? b) send a letter disputing the account and make them prove I owe it? c) continue to ignore them and send the settlement letter to the credit agency when they post the default? d) something else? Many thanks in advance for your advice.

Hope someone can help with a 50% discount offer I got from Lowell last week on a credit card account they purchased from HFC some time ago. "Once payment or the final instalment is received, we will update your credit file to show the account as partially satisfied and we will close your account." The account was marked with a Default Notice back in 2010. At one point, in response to my request, HFC provided a copy of my signed application form which, reading other threads here, does contain all the prescribed terms, despite being from before 2007. I'm thinking that I can either settle for 50% now and let the DN drop off my credit report next year, or else take my chances and hope that they don't go for a CCJ for the full balance before the statute barred date. 1. Pay nothing (if I don't accept the offer, and they don't go to court before SB date - is this wishful thinking?) 2. Pay 50% (in response to this offer) 3. Pay 100% (when presumably that's what they win in court if their ducks are all in a row) Am I missing anything?

Hello there, I have a serious issue regarding my parcel shipment from UK to Nepal. I had sent 2 ounces of gold along with other 21 pages of documents via Dhl to Nepal on 4th June 2014. I was not sure if they ship gold. I went to the DHL service point and asked if they deliver gold. The agent said that the value has to be less than £5000. Since my gold was worth £1850 I was happy to proceed. Gold along with my 21 pages of other documents were packed and shipped for £51.95 in 1kg box. Declaration on the parcel cover was clearly made 1) Documents 21 copies 2) Gold Bar 2 pcs and the total value of the item was mentioned £1850. After few days the receiver of the Parcel in Nepal got a message from the DHL Nepal saying the parcel was with the custom department and some legal formalities to be done by the receiver. When they went to Customs, they were told that we were not allowed to ship gold on a parcel. Further, they said that DHL was not allowed to ship gold in that manner. They should have stopped us in Uk. They said us to speak to DHL instead. But when they went to DHL there, they said to speak to customs department. This went on for few months. Then I called customer services DHL UK. They took a month and half to find out what was happening and finally said that my Parcel was destroyed by the Customs in Nepal. I opened a claim file in DHL UK and after few arguments DHL sent a letter yesterday offering £51.95 for the full and final settlement of my claim. I have no idea at all what I should do next. I would be very thankful for any ideas and ways to come to a conclusion. Its really hard to give up since it is a big amount of money for me. Many Thanks, Devi

I've read on the Benefits Handbook that both ET awards and settlements for unfair dismissal are counted as 'earnings' rather than capital. Can anyone clarify what this means in practical terms if you are in receipt of JSA? Earnings refer to a specific period of time when you were being paid, however, this would be a lump sum, hopefully substantial, but paid all in one go, how would the DWP consider these 'earnings'? I always thought it would be regarded as capital and there would be deductions according to the amount, or no benefits paid if over £16k, at least not until balance went down. I'm confused seeing it's regarded as earnings.

Hello Friends, My employer (a large investment bank) made me redundant in just seven months and offered the settlement agreement as usual. I was handed the agreement at the end of day on 01-May and asked to sign and send it back to them by 07-May, after receiving advise from a qualified solicitor on the settlement agreement. The employer gave me three months redundancy. Is it okay for them to give so little time. FYI, 02,03 and 04 May were bank holiday. Thus I could start finding a solicitor only on 05-May and post the agreement on 06-May so that the it reaches the employer on 07-May. I was given so less time to fully appreciate the agreement and as I retro-inspect today, I realise that I had worked overtime everyday for an extra hour, several midnight support and weekend support. Please help me to understand what my legal position is? Can an employer give so less time to sign the agreement? Should my solicitor not have won more time for me from the employer? I believe my solicitor failed me as well. I am aware that ACAS recommends minimum ten calendar days should be given to the employee. The solicitor could have used this practice guideline to get more time from the employer. However he did not do any thing of this sort and rather advised to sign and send as soon as possible. He was paid 500.00 pounds for this as service fee. Does it not count as poor service by the solicitor?

Does anyone know if I have any recourse to a settlement I received from monarch airlines - I made the claim through a company called EU Delay- they never contacted me however their solicitor has confirmed that a settlement was awarded to me 3 months ago in the sum of £1745 . I have contacted EU Delay who said that after their fees I would receive £1100. However I'm being fobbed off as they keep coming up with excuses and delaying tactics or just blatantly not taking my calls. Is there any way I can get them to pay my share...?...

Hi all, I have come back to CAG as my financial situation has changed. Originally I had lots of debt including a secured loan etc. I followed some advice and also sold my house to release funds and set me on the 'right' track. A few years on, earning better, I am looking to tidy things up and get back into my own house eventually. Situation now is that I am able to save up some repayment cash and want to find out what my options are. I have an old loan - egg - now Cabot - £1/month token - £4740 outstanding (had 'partially settled' offer of £2600) I have an old credit card - barclaycard - now Capquest - £25/month - £10,000 outstanding (offered a limited time settlement offer - I never rang them up!) CCA etc all done, these debts are from 2007. What would you offer up as a lump payment? What advice would you give for initial interaction with debt companies? Is it worth fighting for a full and final to clear the credit score? Thanks in advance NCB

Hi, been in a DMP for circa 4yrs+ now so my original defaults I guess were registered at the time I started to default which is probably circa 5yrs ago. I have opportunity to clear one of my creditor debts (£800) and contacted them hoping for a good percentage but they would not go below 75% settlement (ie offered me 25% off) . I had hoped for 50% as they had offered me that much back in 2013 but now say my account rules have changed because I am in regular DMP payments. I have been offered the full amount by a family member but to be honest as my credit rating is shot anyway I am unsure what actual benefit paying the full amount now is. Would it be £200 down drain when I could either not take it off my family or put it towards another creditor amount. Will paying the full amount remove the default - can I make that a term of full settlement? I was told that a default is only on my file for 6yrs but is that from the time it was registered or from the time it is settled either regardless of in part full. Seems stupid to 'waste' £200 if indeed it has no affect on my default listing / ratings at all. A quick reply would be very much appreciated as I want to finalise this settlement this month, July, if possible. Many thanks

Hi Everyone, Newbie here who found this website whilst googling for information on F & F debt settlement offers. I'm looking for some advice please, on our next course of action. My husband and I jointly have 5 debtors, one of whom is our son. We used some of his inheritance money to try and pay off credit card debts when I was made redundant, something we are both deeply ashamed to admit. In 2010 we sought the help of the CAB who arranged a debt management plan with our debtors. We have been paying minimal amounts ever since as we have virtually no disposable income. This what we currently owe:- Tesco credit card debt 2994 Natwest credit card debt 11,811 M & S card 6099 Store card 900 (This account has been sold on to Moorcroft and was the smallest sum!!) Son 9000 We are paying them a total of £25 per month (between them all, excluding son) and as my husband and I are 56 and 57, I don't see our financial position improving substantially any time soon. We have substantial mortgage shortfall on various endowment policies and this needs to become a priority for us, if it's ever to get paid off!! (We re-mortgaged 3 times to pay off credit card debts over the years). due to the changes in the law I can now access a pension lump sum of about £10k and was going to try for a F & F settlement of our debts with this sum just so that we don't have this hanging over our heads right into retirement. I don't see that we will ever be able to pay off the full amounts owed to the credit card companies. Our son has agreed not to press us for any amount now, he knows we have no way of getting more money at present. We will eventually inherit a lump sum from our mother in law and will pay him then, but she's currently in rude health So, should I try and use my pension to pay off these debtors, and is it likely that they would accept such a small percentage of their total debt? We are not worried about what's on our credit record now as it must be totally trashed and we never want another credit card anyway. Also as we are homeowners is it likely that they will try and get money from us if we ever sell the house (which we don't want to do)? Many thanks for any advice.

Hi! (I have literally just joined this site so apologies if I do anything wrong!) I will try to keep this as concise as poss - I recently got into trouble on a bus when I accidentally used my boyfriend's 16+ zip Oyster instead of mine (I have an 18+ student one). Like most people, I got v worried about this after googling what could happen - I'm a medical student so prospect of a criminal record is v v v scary! Got the standard letter asking for an explanation - sought advice from head of my faculty, turns out this has happened to many students before, and she suggested going in to hand in my response letter in person, and try to speak to them in person and halt the investigation in its tracks. I did so today. Spoke to a lawyer at TFL HQ, he said he believed that it was an honest mistake (which it truly was!!) and he referred me on to the investigator in charge, who thankfully offered to settle for £300. Although this seems a bit steep, I am glad I am no longer facing a criminal record. However, in the email he sent me, he said this: 'Please be aware that a guilty plea in court could result in the fines and costs being lower than an out of court settlement as they would take into account the individuals mitigation and means.' I spoke to a friend who recently did the same thing as me, and he ended up pleading guilty via post and paying only £120 - and got no criminal record from it? This confused me, as I thought that going to court and pleading guilty = criminal record!? So, my question now is - obviously the prospect of a lower fine is desirable (I'm a student with no income other than student loan/grant!), however, won't I get a criminal record from going to court and pleading guilty?? If not, should I go to court, get the lower fine, and try to not get a criminal record (if that's possible can somebody please explain what I need to do?) or should I just pay up the £300 now? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

Hi, Received an offer from the coop bank to settle my PPI claim but their interest calculation seems way out from what I think it should be. They've offered a refund as follows:- PPI premiums paid = £2,098.70 Card Interest on premiums = £1,478 8% interest on notional credit balances = £1,068 Link to my calculation sheet (extract) is below; can someone check if the coop are being fair and my calculation is wrong, or is my calculation correct http://jmp.sh/v/fjUmMLllLhjN1syQzm9S

Hi, I've been dealing with debt collecting agency by letter, regarding monies I owe, and can't pay back in full. I made two offers to pay the debt as "Full and Final", they accepted my second offer, and I have now received a letter as shown below, please can you advise me on whether to accept this, kind regards. "We can confirm we are willing to accept your offer of xxxx in partial settlement of this debt. Once paid, you will not be pursued for the remaining balance by us or any other third party. Once the account is settled, our entry on your credit file (if there is an entry) will show as 'partially satisfied' defaulted account with a zero current balance."