Just got a letter from the insurer of a car I had a small shunt with in July 2011. They say they've not had a payment they requested from my insurer at that time for repair costs and will start legal proceedings against me directly in 14 days. I've heard nothing from my insurer since Jan 2012 when they said they would be settling with the other insurer. I've forwarded the threatening letter to my insurer but I'm concerned at the way this is going. Is this a standard tactic when a settlement is involved? What happens if my insurer do nothing and I get the threatened action against me? I assume their claim will attempt to revisit the accident circumstances and some court decision made where I will become liable for some part of the costs they quoted. Would I then have to sue my insurer? *baffled* As an extra bit of comedy the 3rd party insurer issuing the threat is now my current insurer

Hello, I recently returned from a holiday in Poland to find a delayed letter from the FCC wanting to prosecute me for an unpaid fare. I was travelling from Hatfield towards Kings Cross and before the stop at Kings Cross the ticket inspector arrived in my carriage. I was in possession of a 16-25 Young Persons Rail Card but I lost it on earlier on that day which I told the inspector. The ticket Inspector wrote me a ticket, i provided all the necessary details and told him that I could prove my Young Persons card from the receipt i received when i was originally issued it. He said that he will still have to write a ticket and you can write a letter in appeal once i receive a copy of the penalty. However, a week later I was due to leave for Poland and the penalty still didn't come and when I returned it still did not arrive in my mail. Only today I found a letter with my name on it regarding the FCC prosecution written to the wrong address. I am clueless as to what i can do. I attempted to contact them but no response. I am an 18 year old student wanting to become a teacher and a criminal record is the last thing I would want especially before my career has even started. Any help to avoid getting a criminal record even if it means paying an extra fine i would gladly take. Many Thanks, Szymon

Hi everyone, My father got an invoice from UKPC for allegedly parking in a disabled space (in a free carpark), I read through some of the posts here and told him to ignore them, he has since died. My mother rang them and explained the situation, they told her to appeal and send them an original death certificate. My mother has now suggested that she send them the usual letter denying any liability and a photocopy of a certificate, is this a good idea? I'm not an expert but I would assume that trying to take a dead person to court would take a lot of effort. Thanks in advance.

Every year I always shop around for my car insurance, I never auto renew it, my car insurance was due in mid May. At the end of April I got a phonecall from Swinton's Stratford-upon-Avon branch and I told him I was NOT renewing my policy with them as was not happy with how my policy had been dealt with or the renewal price, I'd got the renewal info a day before, he said it was the best price I was getting, my response was to again say I am not renewing my policy with your company. I bought and paid in full for a new policy with another company, a week after the renewal date the 1st envelope from Swinton arrived with my 'thanks for renewing your policy' and the documents enclosed , I phoned up and asked what they were playing at as I'd already told them I was not renewing etc etc, get told I have to return the documents and provide proof of insurance. The 2nd letter with the 2nd certificate etc arrived within 3 days, so I made a round trip of 28 miles, gave them their certificates and bumf back, they refused to print out my certificate which was the only proof I had as my insurers are online (my printers broken) they refused to accept the cert number as proof (most other companies do this OK), so I got angry and told them to f off and they were getting no money out of me for something I didn't want or ask for, I also told them I had cancelled my direct debit and warned my bank (normally I pay in full). Since this I have had a few letters mentioning about my direct debit, then they're going to reapply for my direct debit and now they want £120 for fees for this product I never wanted to start with.............................the saga is ongoing

Hi I have received a letter from Red threatening that the next action they are going to take is to issue me with a statutory demand. The debt is a catalogue debt, and is around £378 in total. I have not been making payments to the debt as I am unemployed at the moment and I suspect a large portion of what they are claiming I owe is charges. I can't afford the monthly amount they are asking for. National Debtline advised me that based on my income I can only afford to make token payments of £1 per month but I can't see them accepting that. I hope to find employment in the New Year and be in a position to make higher payments. Are they likely to issue me with a SD or is it an empty threat? If they make me bankrupt they will get nothing as I do not own my house and I have no assets.

I am asking this question on behalf of a close friend. At the beginning of the year, my friend was stopped by the Police, driving without a licence. She heard nothing until 10 days ago when a letter from Marston Group Bailiffs demanding some £975 turned up. My friend ignored this and has had a bailiff call today demanding £1175, or they will remove goods on Monday at 07:15. They say they will be accompanied by the police. They also threaten to force entry. My friend genuinely heard nothing until 10 days ago, has absolutely no money and very little in the way of goods to be removed. Do we have any options? Can the bailiff force their way in? Can they threaten my friend with jail – they have done this The letter left by the bailiff says that it is a final notice, does not specify what the debt is for, and appears not to be a court warrant. My friend is extremely worried (as she should be), but she could do with some sound advice if anyone can be so kind Thanks Droopy

I would appreciate any advice on these people formerly MMF chasing a wage day loan about 5 years ago. I stopped paying them because they was continuing to add charges and I repaid this loan 5 times over. MMF have been chasing with threatening letters and now letter from Marshall Hoares threatening to visit. What should I do about these clowns? Please anybody Thanks Mashmallow

We had a limited Company and have had to stop trading as landlady didn't renew lease after 13 years. all our income stopped and the Company owes money to the dutch flower supplier. i thought we were safe as we were a limited company but in their extremely extremely small print it states that any debt is personally guaranteed for the limited company. they want to reposses my house - i have 2 small children and my husband has had a kidney transplant - help!! we are seeking legal advice but interested to see if this small print would stand up in court. we were bot served with a statutory demand last night. they said they had to serve it to both of us even though i've never even spent one penny with this flower supplier. any advice very gratefully received....... we have known the guy for 20 years and the bailiffs just keep telling us that they will force the sale of our house.

Hi, i've got a secured loan with welcome that is in arrears,and although i'm still bankrupt they say that should my main lender reposess my house ,then they can arrest my wages in the future when i do manage to find a job. Are they able to arrest my wages as they say? i was told by someone that if my main lender reposesses my house then any proceeds if any will go to them first and anything left will go to secured creditors.My house is worth less than the mortgage so unlikely anything will be left for welcome,then would the welcome secured loan not become a unsecured debt and is then carried into the bankruptcy pot? Thanks for any help. kps

hi i have just received this letter from mackenzie hall for a debt with quick quid. although i continually offered QQ a repayment offer of £40 per month (due to my work hours being cut this is all i could afford), they sold it on to MH, i have had no correspondance with these apart from this letter ive attatched. i know they are a bit dodgy after reading other threads on here and was wondering if anyone could advise me on the best way to deal with them as they have threatened to contact my work which i dont want to happen, by the way i received this letter on the 17th lol

Dear CAG Desperately need some urgent advice on current predicament. Have been threatened with repossession from GE Money on a loan that I have secured on my property. I'm in arrears with the loan and as I've been unemployed for quite some time now, have not been able to get back on track with them. (reconsolidation loan for £20k, taken out in 2006). The mortgage I have on the property is with A&L and although I'm in arrears with them (and have just had an eviction order stopped), touch wood, a repayment agreement has been made (set by them) and I am now repaying each month what they've asked (as well as a lump sum up front). Even though I'm out of work at the moment, I make up the shortfall I incurr on the interest only payments (DWP help me out with mortgage interest relief payments). I've never missed a payment but because I'd not contributed anything to the arrears as yet and I'd not responded to a recent letter from them, they went and sent me an eviction notice, which was nice. Whilst speaking with them to resolve this matter, they did state that GE Money had been in touch with them regarding any arrears I had with them (they said they have the authority to do this). I didn't go into any further discussion with them at the time as I wanted to get my eviction notice with them sorted and have an agreement put in place. Since then, I've now received a notice from GE Money a few days ago, stating that they too want payment of the arrears upfront otherwise they'll apply for an eviction notice (crap timing or coincidence?). There are a couple of things I wanted to seek advice on from yourselves, if anyone can help. I've read a few threads on here about GE Money (yes, they're a lovely bunch of people). Since being out of work, they've not given me any breathing space at all. I get the usual £40 fee applied to my loan each week (just for being in arrears) and they continue to send loan counsellors around for a cup of tea and a slice of cake, at £80 a visit. Every time they call, we have the same conversation, we do an income and expenditure list and they leave and I feel like s**t. Then I started to get really wound up as I've told GE Money that as soon as my situation changes (ie when I find another job) I'll tell them. Yet they still send the men in suits around. So it's costing me £80, just to tell them I'm still in the same situation. In regards to letters from them, I get around 30 a month (borderline harrasment?). I don't pay what I should each month, simply put, I can't afford to. I pay what I can, when I can and I pay over the counter now as I can't bear to phone them up. Last time I did, they said they'd happily accept the usual montly installment (£250) plus another £200 towards the arrears. In all, £450 a month from a currently unemployed single mother. Hilarious. A few times when I rang up to make debit card payments they actually refused to take anything from me as I wasn't offering the usual amount (I insisted they did, rather than it look like I'm not trying). I understand the situation is now precarious but I've had conflicting advice from two of their loan counsellors (on the quiet, must be the nice cake I provide). One has said that in order for a respossession to take place, they would have to force the A&L to sell the property from under me. Another has contradicted this, saying it isn't necessarily the case (but didn't go into further detail). The letter I've just received is worded different too. It states that if I pay all the arrears up front (can't do that) then all action cancelled. If not, they will seek an eviction order from the courts and once I've paid, they'll happily give me my house back. Does anyone know where I stand? If GE Money seek an eviction notice, is it the same as any normal procedure? I'm not trying to get out of paying what I owe, but at the moment, I can't pay them what they want. And the more I think about it, the more it's confusing as to what will happen. Can they enforce an eviction? Will they liaise with A&L? Technically, the A&L own the house, so I don't understand how all this would play out or where I stand. Before I got this notice I was gathering info on Time Orders as that was originally going to be my next step, as well as looking at any PPI claims I could make (and if successful, put funds towards any arrears I have). Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

I took a payday loan out with this company about a year ago and defaulted After some initial chasing I have heard nothing from them for months and today recived the e-mail below saying they will make me bankrupt if i dont pay them over £4k. The original loan was for a couple of hundred I am scared and worried - please help Attn xxx We issued you with advice in our last correspondence that should you fail to respond in regards your debt with us Bankruptcy proceedings would be initiated. We are now writing to inform you of the next step due to the fact you have failed to comply. Re Amount Outstanding £4968.00 With regard to your overdue account, we have decided to start bankruptcy proceedings against you. In the next few days you will receive a statutory demand requesting immediate payment. If you fail to respond to this we will make you bankrupt and you risk losing your home. This can be avoided if you contact us today and agree a payment structure. Yours sincerely Swift Money Legal Dept 0845 508 6408

Hi, New here. Worried I'm unemployed and don't have a way out. 1st Credit claim to be the legal owner of a Bank of Scotland debt (mine, allegedly ). It's 'years' old but under six years. They're making noises about taking me to court. I don't have the ability to pay them, so engaging with them seems a bit pointless. Do I respond to them and keep them talking (knowing that I can't pay), or do I ignore them and wait for them to bankrupt me? (Not all that keen on bankruptcy).

Hello I have been in quite bad financial trouble due to payday loans, and have a payment plan with Littlewoods which I have got behind on, and they have now threatened to pass my account to a DCA. If it goes to a DCA, will this mean the account shows as default on my credit file? I'd be happy to arrange a plan with the DCA but worried about constant phone calls to my home where I live with parents. Any advice is welcome, I owe less than £1k to littlewoods, which after september will be easier for me to clear. Thanks

I have started for thread for Cumbria A message from Cumbria on facebook Help please. Hamptons Legal.... been checking CAG files and getting lost in so much info ..... basic threat at the moment over debt with Lowells.. would prefer to deal with this off FB. Currently threatening Statutory demand although as usual, not happened as yet ... I'm looking for the reasons others have used for set aside (not just the list usually given out) just in case they come at me /or this could just be another of their threats... any help ... Cumbria will be along soon with more info Many thanks guys for any help you can give her....... Lex

hi i have just split up with my ex,i rent my own flat she was staying here most days a week and some at her mum.i am the only person on the tenecy agreement.we have had a bad break up i have dropped off all of her belonging at her mums.some furniture we went half's on.she is now saying because she has the receipts for some of the stuff we bought together she is going to phone the police with the receipts and have them removed.i have paid her half for these items.i have a basic bank account so she used her card.can she do this? what is the procedure? what are my rights? thank you in advance if anyone can give me some advice regards dan

My sons company bought a house through Paragons buy to let mortgage. The house was not in a good state and the idea was to do it up and then let it. Unfortunately my son ran into problems in his life and could not afford to do any work on the house. I moved in and pay the company rent. The house is in desperate need of rewiring, a new boiler, shower doesn't work, sink in bathroom can't be used....but I manage OK with how it is. My son has no money and is struggling to get by and I have no spare money either. Two weeks ago the bank did not pay the mortgage as I had changed the date my rent money went in. Paragon got in touch with my son and he could not pay them but I could....so I did.This is when they found out I was living at the house. They have now written to him saying he must pay mortgage in full or they will repossess as he can't rent to me as I'm his family. As it wasn't my sons property but belonged to his business we thought we were doing nothing wrong. They have given him 14 days to sort it or face repossession. 7 of these days have already passed as he was away from home and only picked up this letter yesterday. I suffer with depression and anxiety and panic attacks and since getting this news last night I can't rest, can't sleep and I'm in full on panic mode and can't think straight. I have nowhere I can stay and as I have a dog little chance of finding somewhere willing to take me and my dog. I am on benefits due to my health so that limits how much I could pay for somewhere The truth is I don't want to move. I'm happy here and feel safe. I have lovely neighbours and I'm near enough to my family but far enough away from my violent ex. I'm hoping that there is some way round this but is there? Any help would be very welcome Thanks for reading

I received a letter from Apex regarding an Abbey debt from 2000 threatening doorstep collectors etc. The debt had been passed to them by Westcot, although their letter claimed that they were acting on behalf of Santander. Following the excellent advice on this forum, I sent the CCA form to them enclosing the £1 postal order. Naturally within a couple of days they sent it back saying they couldn't comply with the deadline as they didn't have any of the documents and referred me to the Abbey. We have now received a phone call from Westcot who previously were the debt collection agency looking for the money. We refused to discuss anything with them and they said they would be writing to us. Do I follow the same procedure and send them the CCA form and postal order? I have really lost track of this debt and how much we have paid over the years to the various Debt Recovery firms it has been passed to so I genuinely haven't got a clue how much I owe.

Hi folks, Please be patient with me as i am new to all this, firstly i managed to get myself in a pickle when i lost my job, my debts went out of control etc etc and i just ignored the letters from debt collectors. They seemed to just pass them on to different agencies and i lost track of what was what and whose was whose. A couple of weeks ago somebody knocked on my door, didnt say where he was from and handed me a pile of paper, and told me that i knew all about it. It was a firm called BW Legal debt recovery solicitors. Issuing me with a statutory demand and that i should respond within 18 days, otherwise they would seek to make me bankrupt. I left it again as it is all getting on top of me, and seriously depressing me, however i got a letter today asking me to pay £980.00 immediately, then installments of £254.00 per month and if i did not, they would again apply to have me made bankrupt. The debt is just over £3000 in total not to one creditor but different ones, the full amount i owe is for various debts. I have been paying two other debts off and almost finshed paying them, as the creditor took me to court and i agreed a payment plan and have never missed, and like i said i just couldnt keep track of who was who with the rest. Why is this BW Legal simply not taking me to court, where i "Will" agree a payment plan as i cannot afford what they are asking. Is this normal what they are doing, or trying to scare me into paying this money quicker. Please help, as i am desperate. Many thanks.

Hi there, this is my first post on here. Last year, October, after moving into a new home I had my drains sorted out by Dynorod, through my insurance company, LV. The total cost was £1450, which LV paid us directly less the excess -£100. In January I cut a cheque to Dynorod for the full amount. I must say that at the time we were in a bit of financial madness and come April when they called chasing payment I did not know that the cheque was never cashed by them, I gave them the cheque number and thought nothing more about it after the accounts girl told me of their usless accounts department and they have just probably miss allocated the funds back in January!!.. Then 2 weeks ago I got a call from an horriable woman saying we have not paid, I didnt reply to her for a couple of days and then came the registered post with a copy of the original bill and demand for payment. I called them immediately and after thinking this woman was being ok, she laughed at me when I told her I have checked my bank and of course they never cashed the cheque, now not having the funds can we come to some kind of arrangement / payment plan, I offered £30 per month. After her insults I hung up and emailed the MD and the FD emailed me back demanding £650 within a week and the remaining balance in August, otherwise they will go for a CCJ against me. I emailed back and made a new offer of £30 per month raising to £80 in October, when I have a £50 per month payment finishing, and 2 days later he has not replied. Should I reiterate my offer??..can they refuse such a reasonable payment offer. I did have a little stab at them in my emails saying that I have had consiquent quotes for the same work which are all well under half of their charges and that their surveyor at the time aid if they did the work for me it would be a lot less than if they did it for my insurance company!.... Any advice would be appreciated, my credit rating has been over 900 for the last 3 years and I really do not want it trashing with a CCJ..... Kind regards, Jon / Northwich

My partner's house was recently sold by his landlady to a letting agency. The letting agent gave notcie that he was putting up the rent considerably, so my partner gave notice that he was leaving the property before that happens. Since then, the letting agent has sent letters claiming that my partner owes him upward of £400 in utility bills and council tax. The agreement with the previous landlady was that rent covered water and council tax, and gas and electric are paid through meters in the house. My partner has refused to pay, and the letting agent is now threatening bailiff action. We're confident that if the letting agent takes us to court, we have a viable defence; but at this stage we're not sure how this all works. From what we have seen on the bailiff's website, it looks like their solicitors can easily get a court order. Is that the case? Don't we have to have a chance to mount a defence? How does this work?

Hi, I am currently living in a flat with a company "Redpath Bruce" being the property factors. Within the flats, we share a drying room and apparently a complaint has been made about my items stored in it. They sent me a letter reading, "We shall be obliged if persons responsible for these items would remove them by Friday, 6th July 2012. The drying room will be inspected on this date and please note any items remaining in the drying room after expiry of the time limit given will be uplifted and disposed of". Are they within their rights to do this? I am living in Glasgow, UK. Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011: legislation.gov.uk/asp/2011/8/enacted Thanks.

Hi, i've just moved out of a rented property. To cut a long story shot we have had a very hard 2 years with both the estate agents and the landlord. I was without heating for 8 months and even when we did have it all the heat was gone by 3pm and so we were freezing in the evening (we had storage heaters and there was no gas in the property). The house was riddled with damp and we would have to clean the mould on a regular basis. We couldn't have a bath as the water tank in the loft didn't hold enough water, luckily we had a shower though!. There are a million other things that went wrong with the property and the the estate agent nor the landlord sorted things out, it used to take months to get anything done (including when the cooker hob went off and I couldn't cook on it, this took them around 2.5 months to sort it out). Upon giving our last months notice I knew the landlord would be awkward so I said they could take the bond as the last months rent. The landlord agreed to this and everything was fine. Nobody came out to the property to inspect it, not the landlord or the estate agents. We have never ever had a rent book and our tenancy ended on the 23rd of Jan 2012, we wanted to stop in the property as we were buying our own in over the next few months so we didn't see the point in moving twice. (I wish we had now!) I asked the landlord to get another month by month contract signed up but he didn't bother himself to do so. We handed the keys back a week gone wednesday and then I received an abusive phone call from the landlords wife on monday, then they went around to my parents house on the wednesday and harrassed them claiming its costing £600 to clean the house. After I found out that they had been around my parents house I rang the landlord up and told him not to go back there again. He then went on to tell me how he has already got the carpets cleaned, the garden sorted and other bits and bobs. I did forget to clean the oven which I then offered to do and remove some rubbish I forgot to take away. He agreed and said he would ring me back later on that day. He never rang me so I rang him around 5pm. The landlord then went on to tell me he has already got a company out to clean the oven so I couldn't do it. But he still wanted the rubbish removing, I went around that night and removed the rubbish (there wasn't much!). Nothing was said / heard from him until Thursday when he rang demanding the money for the cleaning of the house. Made threats down the phone stating he was going to send 'someone' round to my parents house to get my address from them, or he was going to follow my partner home from work etc. The landlord said the tenancy agreement runs onto a month by month contract after the tenancy end date. However this doesn't state that anywhere in the agreement and we never once had any rent book from either the estate agent or the landlord. I've had nothing but bother from day one with the Estate Agents, i've got letters and photographic evidence of the house we were staying in, nothing ever got done, the landlord took the property off the estate agents half way through the tenancy and then they were just as bad at getting things done. I had put a fence and a gate up (which I left), I also had got blinds up at the windows which I told him he could have when I said that they can take the bond as the last months rent. Which again he did agree to and as far as I'm aware he took it. Nobody came to inspect the property at all before we left, it wasn't until a few days later when the phone calls started. Now he claims hes going to take me to court if I don't pay up. Thanks in advance! Regards Scott

Hi After reading various articles on this site (thanks everybody), i sent a cca request to debt recovery company they didn't send a cca agreement and after a couple of phone calls of them i explained i very politely i wouldn't talk to them via the phone until they provided it. This was approx 3 months ago and up until the last week i didn't hear anything off them. This last week ive had 2 letters the latest threatening me with Data being passed to our internal investigation department Your account will be approved by way of judgement/decree securred in a local court The debt will be transferred to a Debt Collection Agent who may call at your home Then inviting me to contact them. Few questions really, is this just a scare tactic? What do i do next? It was my understanding (limited) after reading various posts that without the cca theres not a lot this company can do Thanks for any help

Hi, Looking for some help as I was shocked and dismayed to receive a rather threatening letter today. Apparently I'm being threatened with "legal proceedings." Over 18 months ago, I decided to take a a course in personal training. It's a gym based course where you are trained to be a professional personal trainer and the course is offered by a company called Lifetime. Within 3 months of signing up (and having only been to one 5 day module out of many on the course), a couple of things happened that made me leave the training: I was made unemployed (so I had zero disposable income) and I decided that I wasn't going to continue with the course. I immediately informed Lifetime of this and was told in email that this was fine. However, every 3-6 months, I received either a letter or a number of phone calls about an "outstanding balance." Obviously, I told them I was no longer a member of the course, I was no longer taking their training or using their facilities, etc etc etc. During the last correspondence, I politely asked them to double check that they've removed my name and details from their database, so that this mistake won't happen again. During this exchange, I also have written proof (through email) of them saying that it was a mistake and that they'd happily take me off their database. Fast forward to today, and apparently I'm being threatened with "legal proceedings" for an outstanding balance on my account! I can publish the letter here if it will help? It's short and sweet and sums up by saying that "we have no alternative other than to begin legal proceedings within 7 days of receipt of this letter." It sounds like a classic scare-tactic letter, but I want to know what my rights are and exactly what the best response to something like this is? Any help would be much appreciated. Kind regards,