I will try to be brief with this question/problem. In 2008 my friend who had a Monument Credit Card suffered a heart attack and could not work. There is a vague recollection of Monument accepting the situation and providing a payment break or suchlike. Friend continued with regular payments until July 2011 when he got a letter out of the blue from C.A.R.S He telephoned Monument who said they no longer would be dealing with it and in future he would have to deal with C.A.R.S After a telephone convo with C.A.R.S (July 2011) he agreed to pay a set amount on the same date each month and he continues to get monthly statements from Monument. This month after checking his bank statements he noticed (since last November 2012) C.A.R.S have been erractic in taking their payments. They are ignoring the agreed date and two payments were taken out in the same month. This led to some checking and I discovered the only communication he has ever had from C.A.R.S was the initial letter (kept for ref) and a telephone call in July 2011. At that time he believed he was agreeing to a direct debit but now learns they got their payments via a credit debit on his card. Having read scary stories on recurring debit card payments, my friend would ideally like to stop C.A.R.S from using his debit card in this way. Now the obvious thing is to contact C.A.R.S but wanted some advice on how to proceed. Thanks in advance of any replies.

Hi Today i received a letter from a DCA called C.A.R.S (Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions), they state that they will be attempting to visit me at home within the next week to 'Establish Reasons For Non-Payment' to an old Monument Credit Card (balance of £620.21) which must date back to at least 4 years ago. I have responded by sending them a letter back requesting all communication to be made via letter and no doorstep callers and will immediately follow up with a CCA request. However i've just looked at my Credit Report which lists everything but for some reason this debt is nowhere to be seen on it, what does this mean and is it to my advantage ? many thanks

Hi, i'm new to this but i'm in desperate need of help and i hope theres someone here that can. about a year ago, i cancelled my membership at fitness first. i sent them an email (via the website as they have no contact email address) and a letter informing them that i will cancel my membership. i did not receive any correspondence. I let another month come out of my account and then cancelled my direct debit. about a month later i get a phone call from fitness first telling me that i did not let them know about my cancellation and i still owed them a month of fees. which i obviously disputed. with them not willing to admit that i gave them fair warning, and me taking blame for something that i hadn't done wrong, we could not reach an agreement. they passed on my debt to a third party debt recovery company (C.A.R.S). after speaking to them, i told them that i did not owe that money but they persisted to hound my via telephone and mail, calling me at whilst at work and even early in the morning. on average, i was getting a call a day from them, as well as text messages, for the last year. I stumbled on this article bbc.co.uk/news/business-12622318 which gave me hope. however they have now issued me with a formal debt notice and have given me 7 days to pay the full balance (£68.25). I know its nowhere near the amount in the article, and i can afford to pay the debt, but out of principal, i feel i am being bullied into paying a debt i do not owe. Is there anything i can do? Please help.

hi guys! ok so my initial hello doesn't quite show how annoyed i am, but i've been having problems with FF and C.A.R.S... After around 3 or 4 months of joining(although, being a great fitness freak i didnt actually go ONCE!) Fitness First, i decided i would cancel my account with them! before i go on i would like to add some background info; -when first signing up with them, the salesman, who is no longer there(although i know who he is) was a really good help...at first. I stressed many times with him AND his manager that i could not pay via direct debit and couldnt be charged monthly on it due to lack of funds. So after alot of his and my own time we managed to sort out me being able to pay CASH each month. Now he told me he NEEDED a debit account to put on there for security purposes but not to worry as i would be paying cash anyway. YEAH RIGHT. after i gave im my direct debit account number (stressing once more the fact of it not being involved) they agreed to let me pay by cash each month, to no avail. on the day i was due to pay i was charged an extra £20 on my direct debit(putting me into overdraft on a non-overdraft allowing account. GREAT. i made a little complaint to the receptionist who i paid in cash, but didnt take it further, im not that confrontational, farrrr too laid back. Moving on, this continued for the months after and so i cancelled my account with them. Now i am recieving the INFAMOUS C.A.R.S letters and though reading upon other posts (i dont understand anything about debt collections and the set laws and "acts" around collection...) i am still confused as to what my options are. I am pretty angry and want to refuse to pay them legally (The payment is £241.65) as i feel they have been taking advantage of me. That applies for both FF and CARS. I also spoke to a lady on the phone from Cars and se said it was not FF business anymore it is theirs and they want their money! I would appreciate any help available, Thank you for your time peopleeee