Hi everyone, After graduating uni I have applied to a Master scholarship and I have been given one. The university agreed to pay for my full master course and I was to cover 350 hrs of internship during the whole year course. A few months into my degree I had to defer due to health issues. At the time they were encouraging and advised me to freeze the course for a few months and then decide if I want to come back depending on how I feel. When the time came I decided to not continue it and as they heard this they told me I have to pay for the first semester as I did not do enough internship hours to cover that (£1130). Initially I said I am willing to pay but I would like to see the terms and conditions of the scholarship in the case of a referral and our contract signed. There was no contract and no terms and conditions. the only thing they have provided me with was a time sheet where it shows how many hours I've worked as an intern and threats that if I do not pay they will send my details to their debt collectors agency. Please note I never said I will not pay, I just said I will but I need to see the contract and conditions first and make sure that is the case. Next email came from Controlaccount PLC asking me to pay them £1330 on behalf of University College Birmingham. I have ignored their emails and calls until now, yesterday I received a letter for the first time. threatening me that if I do not pay in 14 days they will apply for a CCJ and I will have to pay for court charges plus other fees too. My question is, can they really apply for a CCJ, and if they do will this immediately affect my credit score or only in the case that I do not pay in 30 days after the court decision. I am planning to apply for a mortgage in the future and this worries me. Thank you very much in advance. Alex

I would be grateful for some advice. I occasionally buy childrens clothes online from the US. I always spend less than £100 including shipping and all clothes are for under 14 year olds so should be VAT exempt. From time to time Fed Ex demand payment of VAT + a handling fee after delivery of the shipment but so far they have always backed off when I point out the commercial invoice identifies the shipment contained only VAT exempt children's clothes. Last month I got a demand for payment of import taxes on Fed Ex's behalf from Controlaccount plc. The 'charges' relate to 3 shipments of childrens clothes for a 3 and 4 year old child. I went back to Fed Ex immediately to query the nature of the charge and didn't receive any response. Today I received a phone all from Controlaccount telling me that although the commercial invoices declare the items are childrens clothes, they refer to clothing sizes, not ages (size 3 for a 3 year old etc). Therefore the charges stand and I must either pay or jump through some bureaucratic hoops to try and convince Fed Ex they have given incorrect info to HMRC (get a reissued commercial invoice, statement from the retailer explaining why incorrect invoices were issued). This seems a bit OTT. I spoke to HMRC and they confirmed that all is required is for Fed ex to be satisfied the goods were for under 14 year olds and update the customs declaration made. For me, the invoices are correct as they stand and it is really beyond reasonable to claim they do not provide the information needed to identify the goods as VAT exempt goods. A quick look on the retailers website would demonstrate that they only sell clothes for kids up to 12 years old so their goods clearly meet the HMRC criteria for childrens clothes. I feel controlaccount are being very threatening and trying to scare me into paying a charge that is not due. What should I do next? Many thanks in advance.