Britain’s most advanced jets touch down on home soil READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britains-most-advanced-jets-touch-down-on-home-soil

I have a bit of an awkward situation that I can't see anywhere else. I had amassed some debt and in November 2015. I contacted a debt charity at 4am by email and they locked into action immediately and helped me. By 14 December 2015 an IVA had been agreed between the financial company and creditors and now paying that without having missed any payments. However, in the November, whilst my IVA was being set up, I was advised to move my bank account from Santander as they would likely lock my account upon receiving this email IVA request notice. I moved my account in November 2015 to First Direct. The account they provided me with was a Credit Account with a £500 overdraft and I applied online with no prompt to read any T&C's that I can remember and no paperwork received with the exception of my bank card and it's pin. In the first couple of months I had planned with my financial advisor handling my IVA what debts to include. To help reduce the IVA amount, I used most of the £500 overdraft on the First Direct account to clear one of the debts and then I would work the overdraft down over time. Out of the blue, and with therefore no notice, I received a letter from First Direct in March 2016 stating that they would close my account because I was in an IVA and this breached their current account rules and that they would close it in May 2016, giving me 2 months notice. I rang First Direct immediately upon receiving the letter and was essentially told to pay back the overdraft before the account closed and that was my only choice. In May 2016 I rang First Direct again and explained I was still in IVA as they know so couldn't pay off my overdraft in one go like that and had planned to work it down over time that had now been taken away from me at their choice. I was told that they would send me a form once my account closes to complete to set up a repayment plan that would be affordable to me and take into consideration my IVA. This is where my problems began to escalate. I never received any form from First Direct. I emailed them to ask for it in June and July 2016. received responses stating they couldn't discuss my account unless I rung them, which I was suspicious about as surely they must contact on the method I request? I managed to go out of my way and visit a HSBC some miles away and ring them. They agreed to send me the form that they hadn't sent previously. I then waited some weeks and received no form again. Instead, some weeks later I received a letter with a debt collection agency header on it asking for £512 that I now owed. I replied by email, copying in First Direct, explaining that I was still awaiting the repayment form and then never received a response from First Direct nor the Debt Collection Agency. Some weeks later I again got a letter from the Debt Collection Agency, again replied by email copying in First Direct and attaching my previous email and again never got a reply. A couple of months later I then received a letter with a different Debt Collection Agency header. Again I replied with the same email, attaching previous emails and copying in First Direct, and again I received no reply from anyone. I then sent an email to First Direct a few times over the next few months asking for the form and kept getting the same response as before, that they cannot discuss my account. In mid April 2018 I received a letter from Cabot Financial asking for repayment of the £512 for the HSBC debt and that they had bought the debt in August 2017 but weirdly apologised for taking until now to write to me about it?! A day later I received a letter with HSBC header dated BEFORE the Cabot letter chasing repayment for £512 debt. a couple of days later I received another letter dated AFTER the Cabot letter from HSBC saying they had now sold the debt to Cabot and to now deal with Cabot on it. This all seemed very odd to receive these 3 letter within a few days, seemingly contradicting each other and confusing, one claiming Cabot had purchased the debt in August 2017 and one with HSBC dated before the Cabot letter asking me to repay them (and not Cabot). I have replied by email to Cabot and asked for no email or telephone contact and no visits to my home and that I would only correspond in writing and that I would write to them in time on this. I'm now in a position where I am looking for above on what to next. Any help would be much appreciated!

Improved mail service ensures loved ones can stay in touch READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/improved-mail-service-ensures-loved-ones-can-stay-in-touch

Hi, I have an outstanding £6000 debt on a Halifax credit account which I've been paying £5 a month towards consistently for the last 5 years via standing order. Just before Christmas I received a letter from Hali stating that Lowell Financial are now the debt owners and that payments they receive from me for this debt will be forwarded to them (Lowell). I then received an introductory letter from Lowell saying pretty much the same and that they will continue to accept my current payment plan, unless I can afford more. They asked me to contact them via post, email or phone. I didn't feel the need to touch base with them as I've continued to make payments and I had nothing to say. I've recently received another letter asking me to get in touch, again saying they won't ask me to pay more but now asking me to pay them directly. On the back of the letter has their bank details so I could just amend my standing order to pay them instead of Hali (I've not done that yet). My questions are, should I write to them? Although I don't actually have anything to say, and should I pay them directly? Instead of waiting on Hali to forward my payments? Ultimately at some point in the future I would like to be in a position where I would be able to make them an offer in full settlement of the debt. At the moment that's not an option but something I plan on working towards. I hope I've covered all bases. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks x

Complaint against Scottish Power In February 2014 I and my partner moved into our new rented house, we are the legal tenants of the property. We agreed the start gas & electricity meter readings with the outgoing tenant. My partner contacted Scottish Power by phone & tried to arrange the taking over of the account. She is foreign & although her spoken & written English is very very good, she could not understand or make herself understood to Anthony the customer service operator because of his very broad accent. I took over the conversation, & I too struggled to comprehend what he was saying, so the conversation ended with me telling him her name, the address, & the meter readings, telling him she wanted the cheapest online dual fuel paperless tariff, and requested that standing order mandates be put in the post to her. After approximately six months she started to receive & continued to receive letters addressed to a “Mr Daz”. As these communications were not addressed to her & she was not legally able to open them, they were correctly put in the postbox for return to Scottish Power with the words “not known at this address”. To date some 25+ communications have been received & returned in this manner, making Scottish Power fully aware of their error. Our local sorting office assures us that any such return to sender mail is treated very seriously & is returned to the originating address. On Friday the 26th February 2016 she returned home to discover that a forced entry at the front door had been attempted, & that the 2 credit meters situated at the front of the building had been changed for prepayment versions. A day later a plastic key for the electricity meter arrived in the post. No plastic card was supplied, as promised, to activate the gas meter. 2 documents where put through the letterbox by their representatives Richburns on 26.02.2016. The first document addressed to a Mr Daz refers to a warrant of entry granted by the current resident’s local magistrate’s court, a demand for £1,028.49, some spurious reference about a dog plus the claim that the warrant permits the exchange of the electricity meter. The second document, again addressed to Mr Daz refers to pre-payment meter fitted & gas supply disabled, plus a demand for £826.56. It is my understanding that in order for Scottish Power to undertake these actions they would have needed some sort of court authority. I wrote to Scottish Power on her behalf to complain, & gave them my name just in order to communicate with them. They were expressly forbidden to return to the property, & their actions & demands disputed. Their response was to make me the account holder – which I am not, & presumably will make me responsible for their alleged & unsubstantiated arrears – which again I am not responsible for. At no point has she – the account holder & bill payer – ever received any communications, bills, correspondence, or court documents in her name, or served upon her. It would appear that Scottish Power has obtained court documents permitting their behaviour, but in someone else’s name, plus they could only have done so by duping the magistrate & misleading the court. This means that their actions were unlawful & they committed criminal damage & trespass. At this point the account holder had in fact paid £1000+ towards her ongoing dual fuel usage. Demands for money have been made by Scottish Power, but no exact figure has ever been substantiated or agreed, as I believe all of their bills to be estimations. In spite of being forbidden to, Scottish Power returned & trespassed once again on the property in order to reset one of the meters. For every £10 loaded onto the gas meter, £7 is deducted for their alleged debt. The installation of these prepayment meters means that the account holder cannot leave Scottish Power & is effectively trapped in their clutches. It has been over eight weeks from my original letter of complaint. All I have received from them thus far is a computer generated acknowledgement of my original complaint, plus 2 more computer generated letters stating they are investigating. We wish to make a formal complaint about Scottish Powers behaviour, which we believe to be unlawful, criminal, and an abuse of power. I am acting with the full knowledge & approval of the account holder, who wishes to remain anonymous, for now, because she is heavily pregnant & does not deserve any further stress & upset caused to her by Scottish Power’s actions. We ask that you look into this as a matter of urgency. Mr Dxxx xxx Ms Exxxx Sxxx.

Poor ol' Tesco, they just can't seem to get anything right these days. They proudly trumpeted a new app for Google Glass: http://www.bitterwallet.com/tesco-launch-app-for-google-glass/82686 The very next day Google announce they're withdrawing them from sale: http://www.bitterwallet.com/deathwatch-google-glass/82727 Doh!!

Just been on the phone to PCWorld as the Ipod Touch we ordered on the 28th November has not arrived and I was told that they are awaiting stock and it's unlikely to be back in stock before christmas I have just seen that it is in stock at my local store and online and I am wondering if they are trying to worm there way out of selling it to me at the offered £100 price tag... What should I do? I felt pressured into opting for a refund as it's a Christmas present

Hi, Pls help me me. I travel between Southall and Liverpool st station in London. Sometimes I take the train (FGW) from Southall and go via Paddington and sometimes I get off at Ealing Broadway depending on how the tube is running. Yesterday morning as I got off at Ealing Broadway, I saw the tube platform was packed so decided to get back on the train. Inspectors were also checking tickets here, but as I tried to return to the train I was pulled over a plain cloths police officer or a ticket inspector, he quickly waved his police looking badge but I really didn't see it so not sure who he was When he checked my Oyster card it hadn't been touched in at Southall. I told him I did touch it in but there was no record. I had enough money on my Oyster and I said you can see my regular journey history and the fact I regularly top it up. I gave him all my details and thought he would fine me but instead he read me my rights, filled out a long form which stated the reason why I tried going back on the train, which I signed and then he let me go without fining me or asking me to pay for the fare from Southall. He didn't explain the procedure or what would happen next or how long I should wait for a response. I've just registered with TfL and checked my history and it appears since 22nd April there have been about 6 other occasions when, unbeknown to me, I haven't been touching properly at Southall and this has me really worried now. Can you pls advise what may happen as I'm really worried and unable to sleep thinking I might get a criminal record. Is there anyone I should call or write to? Thanks.

Hastings Direct They might be cheap, but that counts for nothing if you have to endure the way they treat you if anything goes wrong. I added my housemate to the policy, which was a tortuous process. Then without permission, they kept her bank details and then took money out of her account, (not mine) just before Christmas last year, which left her financially knackered. This would have been bad enough. They then claimed that they'd informed us this would happen in a letter, and despite us reading the letter to them over the phone, would not admit they were in the wrong. They eventually gave us some nominal "hush money", but I didn't ask for or agree to this. Then, they messed up my renewal again (penance for causing a fuss?), and because they didn't act on it when I asked them to, they then tried to stiff me for an extra £500 quid "the next cheapest quote". Hmmm... Forgot to mention this earlier, but when they didn't act on the renewal, rather than telling me they hadn't done anything, they informed DVLA who wanted to take legal action. Of course HD didn't think this was worth mentioning to me. This prompt from DVLA meant I found out that HD had done nothing and that's when they said they wouldn't honour the original quote, even though it was their fault. They did in the end, after more 0844 calls and misery. On top of all this, they have now sent me a renewal quote for.... £500 more than last year. They are fully aware of the stress and financial injury they've put me and my housemate through, yet still try to fleece me at renewal. I've asked for them to comment on the legality of holding non policy holders bank details and taking monies with no authority - no response. They informed me in a letter that they'd deal with this complaint - no response. They told me that someone senior (above a gentleman called John McGrath) would call me - no response. A customer services member of staff wrote to me, informing me that if (!) I was unhappy, on top of the complaint, I could take this to the Financial Ombudsman, details enclosed - no enclosure. I've asked the Financial Ombudsman for advice. They ask that I exhaust my complaint with HD first. What do you do if they promise to call and deal with it? Learn from my and others experience. Run a mile from this lot.

Hello all. I was stopped this morning at Moorgate by the ticket inspectors and my details were taken as apparently I had not touched in at my originating station (I had). Essentially they had to report it and I had to sign a form. My question is, should I have been given a copy of that form? I requested a copy but he refused as it is not policy to do so...my argument of "but you could write anything on that after I had left" seemed to fall on deaf ears. I even asked if I could take a photo, but that was denied. I do not think that I will be given a penalty fare (famous last words!) judging by the circumstances, but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this and whether they have ever asked/been provided with a copy of the report? Cheers. pikeal

Today I was travelling on the DLR at Cyprus (going towards Canning Town) and had enough money for my journey. I had completely forgotten to touch in, and lo and behold, a ticket inspector comes round and assigns a £40 penalty! I asked if I could quickly go out and touch in at the next station (all the stations along this bit of the DLR have no barriers) - this would have been like maybe 10 metres away but he outright refused! Is there any chance of an appeal going through? When I was a child (I am a uni student now), something similar happened to me and I was simply allowed to just quickly run out and touch in. It would have been in the same zone so I would have been charged the exact same fare. I am a [very poor] student so £40 is a fortune! Any help would be much appreciated

Hey there, Just had a call from a relative from a previous home address telling me Allied International have a 'urgent personal message' for me. So I google'd who there were before calling and thank god I did because it led me to a long thread with years of history on these forums. First of all as of a few years I no longer live in the UK, I now reside in France everything written below has happened since I'm in France. I'm 99% sure its to do with an overdraft I have with Natwest, after a few conversations months ago where Natwest had setup a repayment plan with me then just before the first repayment date they wanted me to contact them again. Turns out they had no record of any repayment plan had been setup and there were no notes on my account. The conversation with Natwest was left at them getting back to me with a 'report' into what happened with the missing repayment plan. So here I am months later, went to check my balance online 2 days ago with Natwest and now it won't let me in giving me errors and today I'm told Allied International have an 'urgent personal message' for me. It seems like the first thing to do now is ring Natwest and ask what's going on right? It could be too late since Allied are now trying to contact me. They don't have my current address, telephone number or anything. So that's my wall of text, just asking for advice.

I want to upload a video to an iPod Touch. I have done this before without any problems. But something is not right. I have converted the video to iPod format, and have put it on iTunes successfully. When I plug the iPod in to sync it, it only puts the audio files on the iPod, not the video files. Any clues???

Hi, I have sent 3 letters out to various banks. All 3 came back with the cheques quoting no information on me. I have moved but gave previous addresses etc though. I also have an Ex husband and i have had loans with Lloyds which are connected to the joint account we had but he now has. We also had a car from Welcome car finance in Wales (the one that was advertised all the time but can't find the paperwork, I suspect he's got it all) I'd like to claim for the PPI on that because we were told in no uncertain terms we wouldn't get the car without it. I also had loans with Barclays many years ago all of which would have had PPI on them, but no one is giving me info on any accounts admittedly I can't remember bank account numbers or agreements but they should still have them on file but claim they don't. So how do I get started? thought i was doing ok till i got all the letters back. I am in a stupid place moneywise, my ex has just stopped child support again and EDf keep taking £95 randomly out of my bank. HELP!!! please. leonie