Hi, I had an account with Natwest, which was shut down about 6 years ago. At the time, I had my Overdraft of £1800 (all owed), a loan for £1000 (£897 remaining), and one for £5000 (£3976 remaining). Due to my financial issues due to illness, I'd had to live off what little credit I had, and after a few months of being unable to keep above the maximum 1800 Overdraft (frequently going to £2000 when bills hit) my account was closed Following this, I was taken to court and something (I forget the technical term now, sorry) was put on my house so that when sold, my outstanding debt to Natwest would be paid out of any monies I received. We have since sold the house to a housing agency (again, lost it due to ill health and financial issues) and NAtwest received nothing because the mortgage was not fully paid off. Following this, Natwest sent debt collectors. MY wife was had by Shoosmiths (for similar level of debt) I think mine were Cabot financial (They currently take £2 a month from me, but I'm sure they said it was passed on however I've received no new paperwork) the debt is now with a debt collector. This morning I got a letter from RBS, regarding my Natwest loan, to tell me that I'm due over £800 in refunds Which will be paid into my account if it is still active, otherwise I will receive a cheque. MY account was closed, I do still get statements every 6 months about what is still outstanding. Will my refund get paid to these account, despite being closed, or will I get it? As if I receive it, I'm quite happy with my current £2/month arrangement and don't wish to just send them nearly a grand, when I've got other bills that are slightly behind now (council tax, water, TV, gas) that I would like to clear off, and I could do that with the payout, and still have a little bit over to help at christmas. As I paid these bills at a time when I owed them nothing, and I was not given a real option of not paying (I was flat out told I had to have it or I'd be refused). To me, they took money they should not have had. it should definitely all be paid back to me, for me to do with as I please. I realise they won't see it that way though, but just wondered if anyone else in a similar situation has had this happen, and received the cheque? As they only send me updates every 6 months, I wont find out now until March, as I got my update 3 weeks ago. :\ So I'm hoping someone here can help me a little sooner.

Hi Has anyone known of HCEO's or Debt Collection Agencies using DHL or other Couriers to confirm address? (if you sign for it they know you are there). I have a had a card through the door, I am not expecting anything and I have been incredibly careful about not giving out my address or using credit ref agencies. I was homeless for a long time and only recently housed due to damage in RTA, I have mental health issues. I lost everything I had when I became homeless except a 20 year old car worth £500 if I am lucky. My home has items from freecycle and a computer lent by a friend. I would go bankrupt but do not have the money, most of my debt was insured and sold off. It is too much for a IVA and I am three years into it being beyond statute. I have been online and tracked the item, it came from a town in the North where there is a large firm of HCEO's which is why I thought it might be them. Has anyone seen them use DHL or other couriers in this way?

:-xHi Can you help? I have recieved a statement from Lowells, stating I owe money due to an old Natwest Account. This has arrived shortly after a letter arrived from NAtwest and a letter stating they sold my debt to Lowells on 30/12/2010. I got the letter 20/10/11. Silly me called Lowells stating I know nothing about this . They told me the account was opened in October 2002, and defaulted in dec 2005. I never got any letter from Natwest chasing me and I think this has been sparked cos I opened a joint account with the recently. However I did state that I had another natwest account which isnt in debt so why would I have this, and they gave me a loan which I never defaulted on and the details they provided me with is not even my sort code. I told them I will deal with them no further until they have produced a credit agreement and not one they will cobble together, with my signature on it, and until then they write only. but the 6 years is almost up so Im lost what to do?

Hi all, I have received a letter today from the company above and note with interest the thread posted in December last year by Jsmyth1975. My credit history is clear (I checked it only last month ) and although I've had CCJs in the past (1999), these are satisfied. In recent years I've had a few debt collection companies trying to get me to pay up for debts in the early 90's (lots of phone calls and letters etc). Obviously, I told them to take a running jump and sent letters referring to the Statute of Limitations, eventually they get round to replying that they're not going to do anything and I'll not hear from them again. These guys are obviously a cheap operation; their website is very simple. The domain name was registered on 30-Aug-2013: Domain Name: ABSOLUTELOCATE.COM Registrar: ENOM, INC. Whois Server: whois.enom.com Name Server: NS1.XSSL.NET Name Server: NS2.XSSL.NET Status: clientTransferProhibited Updated Date: 30-aug-2013 Creation Date: 30-aug-2013 Expiration Date: 30-aug-2014 Based on the ICO information about them, they seem to masquerade as a number of different companies. My guess is that this company has a long list of debtors that they've bought from some other company (or they already had the list and are trying to dupe people who've they've bothered in the past under a different company name) and are essentially trawling through the list in the hope that people will reply. Thankfully they don't have my phone number. I'm going to ignore them and I suspect I'll not hear from them again, but if I do I'll have to waste time sending them a Statute of Limitations letter. I'd be interested to hear other peoples' experiences of dealing with this company. Thanks.

I have received 2 letters from Robinson Way asking me to confirm that I used to live at an old address, I left this address around 15 years ago. I did not reply to either of these letters and (maybe foolishly) destroyed them. I had previously had letters from MacKenzie Hall and eventually sent them a statute barred letter as the debt they were referring to was not only one that I didn't recognise, but was over 6 years old. Today I have had a phone call from Robinson Way which has made me feel quite scared. I refused to go through their data protection as I recognised the name, but I am very worried about what their next move might be. I wish I had kept the letters now, but unfortunately on another forum I read that the best thing to do was to bin them. Any advice please?

I have an old debt (approx 6yrs) which was passed from 1st Direct to Met Collections. I've been paying a small sum for many years, every 3-6 months they write and request I call to arrange higher payments. Last time I spoke to them the call centre operator began demanding income/exp breakdown, and I asked for her to send me the original contract. That didn't happen, but they left the current direct debit instated. I'm preparing to tackle this one way or another now - the outstanding is roughly 7k, I paid a chunk off the original debt to first direct but they refused a reduced final settlement at the time. I wondered if anyone had any experience or successful outcomes with this company, I see from here they are inhouse of HSBC, and FDirect is a branch. I am considering asking for the OC to kick off with, ideally I would like this debt written off, I do not have the means to settle or keep paying indefinitely. I would like to get the black mark off the credit file and end relations with the DCA's, Thanks

Hello, after a bit of help & advice please. I've had a series of letters from Anglian Water relating to a property I moved out of 5 years ago. The amount is £190 (plus a £40 admin fee!). It looks to have been passed on to their DCA's, but I've been speaking to AW directly to try and get the details. I rang them at the beginning of August, and they agreed to send me a copy of the bill in question, and a record of payments made on the account, so I could then reconcile the sales to my bank records. They also confirmed they had the right forwarding address at the time (I never received a bill at that address), and they agreed to hold off chasing for the money until I'd received the above details and had a chance to review them. For the record, I have no issues paying this money if it turns out I do owe it, but don't feel prepared to pay out without being given the chance to verify it first. I've now chased AW myself 4 times asking to get these details. They've not returned phone calls when they've said they would and feels like it's me doing all the work on this. In the mean time, I've received 2 further letters from different agents /agencies despite being told I wouldn't. Given their incompetency to date, I'm beginning to worry about the impact on my credit profile. I can't see anything on there yet, but they do keep threatening to do so. What is the worst they can do at this stage? Can they apply a default to this? If so, would it be backdated to the original dates or current date? ie - am I going to spend the next 6 years with a possible default for a bill I may or may not actually owe? Could they try and take me to court over this? Where would I stand if it came to it, and still hadn't been given the details? Many thanks

Hi Everyone, Based on the advice given by this forum I was able to wipe out 80k of credit card debt across 4 credit cards! So when I heard of my Sister's problem, (who is very frail) I stepped in to say I could manage it for her, and wondered if I could get just a little more help for her situation. I'll call her Freda. Freda was married to Bill but divorced many years ago. About ten years ago they took out a loan for about 5k. There is about 1k remaining, Bill has NEVER paid anything towards repayments. Freda has kept up payments as best she can. She works and has late teens children and her outgoings exceed her income leaving a £400 per month shortfall currently. She gets by - I really have no idea how. Her loan is collected by Debt Collection Agency: Credit Security Limited The Old Courthouse Whitchurch Bucks They have never tried to get payments from Bill, but hound Freda, and currently collect a direct debit set at £40 per week. They have been excessively threatening and intimidating to my sister on the phone, including threatening Bailiffs. Here are my questions: 1. Do we have the right to demand that the debt collection agency deals with me and leaves her alone? 2. Are we within our rights to disclose Bill's address to the debt collection agency so that they can pursue him also or instead? 3. Does the requisite Consumer Credit Agreement apply for loans? For me, there was none, which is how I managed to wipe out the debts. 4. If we reduce the payments to £1 standing order, can I pay it from my bank account without incurring implied liability for the outstanding amount. 5. If it goes to court, can the judge make Freda pay more than she can afford? 6. Am I right in saying that the Bailiffs can only be called in if a court order is unpaid, and not just because she doesn't pay a debt collection agency? Many thanks in advance. My dream is that in a few years from now, I will not only be debt free, as I am now, but also be able to donate something to this amazing forum.

It has been a long time since I've posted on this forum and to be honest I thought it had served its purpose well and that I had no further use of the advice from others. Indeed my most recent post albeit a while back have been in response to others rather than to seek assistance. I'm writing today to compare notes. You see I've not been troubled by debt collectors in a while but recently activity has recommenced and when I think back it is clear that they come in waves. I wonder if others are seeing similar patterns. Following advice elsewhere in this forum I stopped paying my creditors and commenced a tactic along the lines of "I repudiate this debt, prove it!" and I suspect that as a result most would be time barred if action was taken. So, I'm somewhat surprised that there is a fresh flurry of activity. My current tactic is to do one of many things that are all designed to hold them on the phone for as long as possible without acknowledging or confirming who I am. I feel that they are intruding on my time. Are probably on commission for funds collected and that if they realise they are wasting time with me they might bypass next time around and if not well I can be just as annoying to them as they are to me. I live in Scotland where a creditor has 5 years to raise legal action after which the obligation of the debtor to settle with the creditor lapses. My most recent default was issued in July 2009 but this relates to a debt purchased by third parties who issued a fresh default after I disputed the matter. This in its own right was wrong as a default cannot be issued whilst the matter is in dispute. Most other default notices were issued a few years earlier. I have not acknowledged any of these alleged debts since 2007/8 and so most are time lapsed and others will lapse later this year. One of my creditors did raise legal action a few years back but withdrew when they saw my defence. I seriously doubt that the others will ever raise action and if they do I'm suitably prepared to lodge my opposition. I guess that even though the obligation to settle may have passed that this does not stop a creditor persisting in their efforts to collect and passing the account from one collection agent to another and this explains my waves of calls every six months or so. What about you? Do you see a pattern with my experience described above?

This is a bit complicated but I will try and keep it simple. For a period of time my parents were getting housing benefit, the application was done by & in dads name. Some time after they stopped getting the HB due to mum taking up F/T job, my dad became increasingly unwell and mum took over doing the financial side of the household. She started going through old paperworks and discovered that there was a potential problem on the housing benefit due to dad not declaring some income from mums p/t job at that time. This was an oversight not a deliberate thing, I believe down to his bad health and poor organisation; he is close to retirement age and until health problems in the last few years he has worked all his life, never having to claim a thing. Anyway, in trying to do the right thing at this point they went to the council, told them they believe an error had been made and the council said they would investigate, it was all very amicable. To cut a long story short it appears they were overpaid for quite a long time and an overpayment made of about £3000. Parents obviously did not have this money and made an arrangement to pay at about £100 per month, which has been stuck to for around 1 year with no issues. The problem is this week a very rude/threatening letter arrives from the council, saying they are reveiwing the agreement to pay, demanding all sorts of paperwork income & expenditure details and so on. Saying the debt will be passed to a debt collector if these details aren't provided in the next couple of weeks. They are now scared that they are going to have debt collectors kicking the door in. A lot of the paperwork requested by the council is not available to hand; things like bank statements and wage slip copies will need to be ordered from the bank/work. , With only mum working they are also very hard up at the moment and terrified the council are going to demand more than £100 a month (which even now they can barely manage and are overdrawn every month). There is no dispute that this debt is owed, the original HB application wasn't accurate and they got more than they were entitled......... but at the same time THEY alerted the council and agreed to pay. This letter is very aggressive in tone and very intimidating to a person in poor health like my dad. Do the council have a right to see detailed income and expenditure, what will happen if debt collectors get involved or court processes and so on?

Hello, I am new here, and this is the second time that I am writing this...because yes I did accidentally delete all my writing when trying to copy it . So, here is my story. - The Past - I took out an unsecured loan for £2000 with Welcome Finance in April 2008, with PPI. Worst mistake of my life. The contract said that I owed £3640 with payments of £164 per month for 37 months. In October 2008, I went to Welcome Finances office and asked to have the PPI cancelled. They gave me a new credit agreement contract to sign, I signed it. I now realise that the new contract stated exactly the same amount to be paid back (£3640), and over the same time frame as the first (37 months). Thus, it seems that they did mot deduct my initial 5 payments of £164 from the loan, an maybe they did not deduct the PPI? In June 2008, my second payment was a day late. I called them to let them know that I would be paying it the following day (I had no other arrears). On the day that my payment was due, after I had called them, two debt collectors came to my house. Unfortunately, I was out but my housemate answered the door . They gave him a letter that said that I owed Welcome Finance £3640. I now realise that Welcome broke two laws on this occasion: (1) they did not have an invitation or court order to come to my house and; (2) they broke the Data Protection act because the letter that they gave to my housemate was not in an envelope. I did not complain or do anything about this at the time, because I turned into a little mouse trying to avoid further harassment and embarrassment:violin:. Furthermore, I am a scientist not a lawyer or accountant - and evidently, I would not be very good at the latter two. Since October 2008, I have made monthly payments of £64 and when I could afford it £100. My payments have always been on time, and I have no arrears. - The Present - Now I am after Welcome Finance ! I am about to start a postgraduate course and I can barely afford tuition let alone unnecessary and extortionate payments to the corrupt ***holes at Welcome Finance. So, I recently asked for a statement from Welcome Finance. The statement that they sent me only shows payments from October 2008 - not the original account opening date with PPI from April 2008. I calculated that including the original 5 months payments, I have now paid £4000 to Welcome Finance, yes this was for a £2000 loan. And they say that I still owe £1200! What I have done so far: (1) Sent a recorded letter requesting both credit agreements to be sent in 12 days (with £1 postal order for each). (2) Sent a recorded letter stating that if they send anyone to my house again, I will call the police and take Welcome Finance to court. (3) Sent a recorded SAR. (4) Requested that a PPI refund form be sent to me. When I originally called to request a PPI refund form, they said that I could not get one until my account was paid off! I now realise that this was B***S***. So I called and quoted the FSC...then they listened and said that they would send a form. I have only just sent these letters, so am waiting for a reply. - The Future - I would like to: Claim back as much money as I can from Welcome Finance. Get them 100% out of my life ASAP. Dance with glee when I receive a cheque from Welcome Finance, and put that money where it belongs, with my university. Help other to do the same. I would be grateful for any comments or advice that you have on this matter. In particular, I have the following questions: (1) why did my original and second credit agreements say that I owed £3640, when my loan was for £2000; and why did the second contract not show any reduction taking my first 5 payments into account. Is there anything I can do about any wrong doings here. (2) Can I take any retrospective action against Welcome Finance for sending debt collectors to my house illegally and breaking the Data Protection Act, this was in 2008. (3) My credit agreement says that my loan should be paid over 37 months. But I have been paying for 42 months, and they say that I have 13 months left. Is this allowed? (4) Why and how can I be paying back £5500 on a £2000 loan! (5) How much PPI do you think I could get back? (6) Is there anything else that I can do them for. Thank you for reading my story. I look forward to your replies.

Hi, I have a friend (yes that old chestnut) who for various reasons fell into debt causing him to fall behind with his mortgage payments. He discussed a plan with the debt collection agency and started to make payments in-line with the agreements but do to poor employment prospects (he was self-employed in the building industry), was forced to move out and hand-back the keys. He know is almost homeless living in a caravan with few assets to his name. A debt agency has now traced his sister and sent her a letter to pass onto him that says he owes them money for solicitors fees, unpaid interest etc. amounting to over £30k which has come as a shock to him as it was not expected. Clearly he does not have the money to be able to pay any of this. What are his rights? Is he liable for any of this and how should he proceed?l

Hi I dont know if anyone can help but I dont know were to start on here. My daughter was able to attend private school as her grandparents paid most the fees after a month of being at the school I realised she wasnt happy and was being bullied by the other kids. I made the school aware that I was not happy and felf they did not put adequate measures in place to protect her ie none of the parents whose kids were involved were informed. She started the school in the september and I informed them she would be leaving at the end of the term December and not returning. The school through a debt collection agency are demanding a terms worth of fees, you normally have to give a terms notice before leaving, this could not be the case as for one she was not even there a term at the time i told them she was leaving and two i feel they did not stick to their end of the contract ie their duty of care. I no longer have contact with my daughters father or grandparents and so can not afford to just come up with £2400. Any help would be appreciated. Can I take this to cc myself? Can I get legal aid for this? thanks

Hi folks. I hope someone can offer some useful advice about a creditor that's chasing me. From 2003 to 2006 I ran my own business offering web design services. For some clients I provided web hosting for which I used a server from 1&1 Internet. In 2006 I went bust, but I was a sole trader and didn't declare myself bankrupt. To avoid letting hosting clients down, I continued to run the server to give clients time to move elsewhere. Some time in 2008, someone hacked into the server and used a large amount of bandwidth. This bandwidth would have cost perhaps £100 from a ADSL provider, but 1&1 said I owed them over £600. I denied responsibility for the bandwidth usage and refused to pay. I had a couple of letters from Wescot with reference to this, which I ignored and all went quiet. I moved house last year (2010). I've just received a phone call from Wescot on my new landline. I didn't discover what they were calling about, but I presume it's the 1&1 account. Where do I stand if they start chasing me for this debt? I'm now unemployed, have no savings, and at the moment have no income. My wife works on a modest wage, and we're waiting to hear back about an application for tax credits. Both of us have credit management plans through a fee-charging credit management company and are paying about £310 a month between us. Should we do something else with these debts too? Cheers, Jon.

hello all, This is a copy of a previous posting; I had posted it under another Buchanan Clark + Wells thread and was advised to start a new thread.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well I see BCW is a popular topic in these forums. So, I'll add my own little story to the mix and see what everyone can come up with. I've been contacted by them, have received two letters thus far - 1. Formal Demand 2. Final Notice. Also, of course, about 15 phone calls which I have duly ignored on the advice of numerous posters. Ranging from about 7am until 8pm I might add, quite a pain. I have been to their website and contacted them by email, got hold of a Hunter Milligan (probably not a real name, lifted straight from Mills & Boon to make them sound heroic, shame...). In the emails I have mentioned that the amount in question, due to O2, was approximately 2 years ago. Since the initial contact by O2, I spoke to debt advisers, who then wrote to O2. Being on benefits and unemployed, I was advised to offer them a token payment of £1 a month. I agreed with my adviser and the letters were sent off. All of this was more than a year ago; I have the emails and letters saved regarding my liaisons with the debt advisers. There was another debt at the time, which initially took a while to hear back about, but eventually I got Wescot Credit Services to accept the token payment I offered - this was another debt remember, but I am currently paying it back. Anyway, O2 didn't respond to my offer, which I took in good faith as legally acceptable seeing as my actions were advised by a debt professional. Now, 1.5-2 years or so later, O2's attack puppies Buchanan Clark + Wells have roused themselves and are nipping at my heels. I informed them, by email (after tracking that down, I emailed 'Hunter Milligan', as mentioned before). He ignored my detailed explanation of the steps I had taken and said 'call us now' (a real rock of a man...). I then mailed back reiterating my belief that I had acted in an acceptable manner and in good faith by following the advice of my adviser and offering payment to O2 many moons ago. (I also emailed O2 with the same details, as mentioned - they also contacted me and said to call them, with account details for the phone bill in question, which of course I don't have now). So, another email or 2 to BCW, along with their incessant nuisance phone calls, and 2 text messages... I have now finally received an email back from Hunter Milligan, saying that I should get the documents/info that my adviser sent to O2, and send it to them. I have duly contacted my adviser to ask for these documents, so that I can send them (should I?). However, since then I have been called even more vehemently, morning and night - and received the 'Final Notice' letter, and a text message telling me to call them with a reference number. Of course, I asked Rock Hudson or whatever the name was again to ensure that my phone number was removed from their system, and that we could correspond either via letter or by email - not done, suffice to say. So, here I am now. Am I right in holding out, seeing as I took steps to clear the debt over a year ago, and could very well now have cleared it if they had responded and agreed to my monthly payment offer? Of course I am not flush with cash and definitely can't afford to pay it now, I still have other debts too as mentioned. It seems that now that 'Hunter' has asked for this info, it's a kind of acceptance by them that they may be in the wrong and need to heed my actions...or am I being too hopeful? Well, let me know anyone...appreciate any and all advice you can give. I must also say that having heard about the threats and nonsense they use during their phone calls, and that they 'lose' recordings when you ask for the information, I thought it might be funny to record a phone call from them from my side - I could then see if they make silly threats and say things they can't substantiate, and then I would have it recorded my side in case they decided to 'lose' it... could be quite good, and I could upload it to Youtube or something for people to listen to - or at least have it as proof of their antics should I need it... Thanks, take care W

After being away from my flat for a few weeks (got very ill and had to be looked after by family - I live by myself and am disabled), I came back to a final demand from "Utility Debt Collectors Ltd." for what was originally a £14 gas bill (Utility Warehouse). Now it is apparently £44.17 and they are writing to inform me they have applied for a court warrant. The letter is dated 23 December. It all seems mightily ridiculous, over a bill I could have paid easily if they had telephoned and spoke to me. But they didn't. Now they are apparently "obliged" to inspect my premises before "the court date"... Am I really going to court? Over £14?! The letter is quite threatening (and very badly printed). I don't know what to expect. It seems to say that I should expect people to come at any time, install a prepayment meter and that if i am a "typical" dual fuel customer, I should expect to pay an extra £805 (I'm not, so that figure isn't helpful). I rang them on the phone number given the next day, but all I could get through to was a recorded message from a very angry sounding man (i think he was the same bloke off the video piracy advert!) saying they were having technical difficulties and to leave a message... Are they really allowed to up the charge from £14 to £44.17? I mean, though it wouldn't be easy, I could pay it... BUT alarm bells are ringing because I can't find any record of the company. Are they part of Utility Warehouse? Will they already have a court warrant? I feel like these people will just turn up on my doorstep, and make me pay all the extra charges (for obtaining the warrant, visiting, and installing a prepayment meter like they have said) if I can't even get through to speak to them. I've tried to read guidelines but I am having so many seizures, the text just gets really confusing. Feeling very young and naive. Also scared ( hence 3am post!). Does anyone have any advice please on if I will have to pay even more charges from the debt collectors? I feel I need to arm myself with information before I speak to them next as I don't want to be taken advantage of.

In 1994, three days before I went into Frenchay Hospital for neurosurgery, bailiffs acting on behalf of the Bradford & Bingley ( Leamington Spa Building Society), reposessed my home and evicted myself, wife and three young children. Our house was boarded up and the locks changed. It went for auction and was sold for just £105,000. A 4-bedroom farmhouse in half an acre, it was in good repair but had been left to deteriorate, by the B&B, for almost 2 years. The last valuation we had on the property was £320,000, and that was three months before we were reposessed. The demands for repayment of negative equity of £125,000 started almost immediately and have continued for 17 years, the latest being from Clarity. I have refused to pay anything, stating that the B&B failed in their 'duty of care' in securing a proper price for my home. Six different debt collectors have tried harrassment, threats etc, and one even masqueraded as a publisher, telling me he had an offer on a book he had heard I was writing! He pestered me with calls from an unoccupied office in London EC3. He was acting on behalf of a 'client' and I tracked the calls, via friend in the city. Over the years I received several 'settlement offers' - the first at £20,000 and the latest, this week, from Clarity, offering me a settlement at £94,000. I am 68, partially disabled but not claiming any benefits, living off my state pension and £297 per month private pension - the rest of my money having been 'lost' in the Equitable Life debacle. My modest capital has all gone, paying rent these last 17 years.

Hello everyone I could really do with some help/advice on this issue In September 2009 I went into a local jag communications store to take out a mobile phone contract with orange. I was given the phone (no paperwork was ever exchanged or a contract signed) I found that the sim card was faulty and tried to take the phone back(within an hour of leaving the store) they refused....I then found out that I had been put on a business contract (which I am not entitled to). I phoned orange and explained I was not a business customer, they told me it was JAGs job to cancel contracts. I went back to JAG and asked them to cancel the contract and was told 'we do not cancel contracts or accept returns'. After repeated communication with Orange I was told that I had been missold and it would be sorted...unfortunately it was not resolved and I ended up getting CAB and Trading standards involved to try and sort it. Both agreed that I was mis-sold and that it should be sorted. Unfortunately i have been recieving letters from debt collection agencys for the last year (2 different agencys) and JAG communications has been sold. On advice from tradin standards, I sent a letter to the company that now owns JAG to explain the situation and ask for a resolution. I sent this letter at the end of November 2010 and have not recieved a response. I have now had a letter from a debt collection agency threatening court action and I have no idea what to do now!

Hi there, I hope you can help; CCJ has been in place since 1997 and has been paid all the while. Original Claim form has Mr & Mrs names on as debt is joint All of a sudden, NatWest have passed Mr to Regal Collections (As I "am a homeowner" - haven't been for 12 years!) and Mrs to CapQuest. I'm concerned that if a CCJ is being paid monthly effectively in two 'installments' that everyone is going to get totally confused. Both collection companies are asking for the full amount (£19k) so how does that work?! Any help or advice massively appreciated. Cheers

Well, there's an interesting one, and when I say interesting... Water supplied by Thames Water, whose aggressive tactics I have commented on before (sending a "final warning" letter after paying late on ONE instalment for the 1st time in donkeys' years) Hands up, I messed up. I forgot to reinstate my standing order for the new billing year, then it went out of my head and of course by them I was playing catch-up. Fair enough. Anyway, I lost my "right" to pay by instalments and they wanted the whole balance. Yeah, cos if I can't pay by instalments, I'll be able to pay it all at once, right? Long story short, last month, I paid them £200, which didn't quite catch up with the arrears, and the idea was to pay them double bubble until I'm caught up, in time for when their payment scheme ends (it's done over 8 mths). Enters Countrywide debt collections, asking to speak to Mr Bookie. Chap with strong Asian accent, to the point I had to ask him the name of the company 5 times (couldn't work out if he was a DCA or an IVA cold caller to start with , lol). Since I was there, and not in too great a mood, and misery loves company, I thought now was a good time to ask a few questions. Well.... He ABSOLUTELY refused to tell me whether they were acting on behalf of TW or whether they'd bought the debt for pennies (which alone gives me my answer, lol). Repeatedly asked for Mr BW to call them back on an 0870 number (tsk tsk). etc, etc... So I'm a bit intrigued. Someone (Dave, in fact) said to me not long ago that having water being a basic human right means that they can't cut you off and so that they have little power in the way of collecting monies. I was a bit dubious, but the above behaviour does make me wonder. Why would TW flog a "live", as it were, debt? Why not pursue through a normal arrears dept like everybody else? Ideas, comments all welcome.

Hi there, This is my first post on here so please bear with me if it's in the wrong section! When I hit 18 I thought it would be a great idea to get a credit card for little emergencies. Of course at 18 it's never little emergencies, more like "oh that dress looked nice, yeah why not". I got a creditcard with Vanquis bank and after reaching the credit limit I realised I could no longer afford to pay it off... so I stopped. After 6 months or so the debt was passed to C.A.R.S, who I agreed to pay off £50 a month with. I did this for a while then could no longer afford this as I got myself into more debt with payday loans. I had a debt collector turn up at my house today from Vanquis. I wasn't there to speak with them, but my dad was home and they openly told them who they were, that they were looking for me because I owe them money, who they were collecting on behalf of and even told him how much I owe !! What I want to know is - are they allowed to disclose information like that to 3rd parties? As you can imagine my home life is now far from rosey!! Thanks Lexi

Hi All, I am in need of some help ASAP, basically I had a phone contract with o2 2 years ago which I terminated early and was charged for. I refused to pay based on the fact that the reason it was cancelled was due to the fact that they changed my tariff and would not change it back to the original one that I signed up for... anyways 2 years later I began to get letter after letter from the "lovely" people at lowell financial, this was also topped off with many calls to the point where I started to make payments even though told them that I did not have enough money coming in to make the payments that they requested. I have looked at my credit profile and have seen that they have put a defaulted notice on my profile and want to know if I an request for this to be moved considering I am paying the money and have never had a default notice from them, not only that I want to know if there are any options open to me in regards to dealing with lowell as im completely confused and I really dont think I owe them £900, I paid them a payment last month and they even took a extra payment out of my account which is now being investigated as it was classified as a card payment, thus my bank said that as it was not a direct debit they must have stored my card details on file. Please help me.

Hello all first post here but in a real pickle. On the 14th of June I received a Default notice for £49.07 from Argos Cards. On the 22nd of June I paid the default sums in full (£49.07) and was told no further action was required. After months of battling with the administrators of the company I used to work for they managed to get the money owed to me (roughly £4k) so on the 28th June again I called argos up and advised when I get the payment within the first 2 weeks of August I will pay the full balance, the advisor took an additional £5.99 payment from me and said that no payments would be due on the account until August. Anyhow today I rang up to pay the full balance to be told they cannot talk to me the account will be transferred to their debt collectors and any concerns should be made in writing as they have terminated my agreement, however they could take the payment. After 20 minutes of arguing with the dizzy woman she checked with her manager who advised they generated the letter of default on 04/06/2010 and even though it takes up to 14 days to be printed and delivered they start the 14 days from the date the collections advisor decides do issue the default notice. I advised this is contrary to the consumer credit act, and the default & subsequent termination of the arrangement are illegal the advisor checked with her manager who advised that their company policy superceeds the consumer credit act and this does not affect any of my rights. Now I have paid the balance in full, however checked on credit expert and sure enough my account shows 2 missed payments a green 0 and then default. Please help what do I do? Aaron x