I had been with Natwest for 22 years and had a black account with the Gold Advantage Charge card. I was advised to become a company as I would be delivering a service through several agencies. Unfortunately, due to exceptional circumstances and include a bad personal relationship left me in debt and I am about £8 -9k in mortgage arrears on a house I rent out and a personal overdraft that was £12k. In 6 months that OD was cleared and both business and personal accounts were in the black. The difficulty in meeting the mortgage department for an arrangement to be put in place was mainly because this period was over the summer, they would meet with me after 5pm and if I called at 4.45 they would not deal with me. I sent in 2 income/expenditure spreadsheets but they clearly didnt see them but I managed to set up a DD for the mortgage online and I met the deadline. That evening all three of my accounts were closed. I called the callcentre and they said they didnt have me on record. I tried to log a complaint and they were too busy on the Friday but promised they would be in touch the next day. They never did. As a prelude they stopped my access to online banking even though there was no way of spending money or transferring out into other accounts so it made knowing where I was financially and who had paid me and hadnt. The worst thing is that I couldnt operate, I need supplies, sundries and I was without any money to buy food or even some milk. I told Natwest this but they told me all my funds were transferred into the mortgage. It took a further 3 months to work out what had happened and the cause was not offered to me by the bank whose level of investigation was looking at the screen in front of them whilst on the phone. They hadnt cancelled the previous direct debit so every month the original arrangement would draw funds then the older previously arranged dd would be rejected. This was recorded as a default. I tried to make it clear to them there was an arrangement in place, it utilised a payment system set up and approved by the bank and it was their job to find out where the money was disappearing to every month for three months instead they left it to me. I complained about being oushed further into hardship by continued charges I had no way of keeping track of as the online facility had been taken away four months before they closed me down, failed to log 6 out of 8 attempts to complain and didnt care that I had not a penny for two weeks. They tried to issue a repossesion order and I wrote in to the lawyer to say that was illegal as the account was under dispute. In the meantime, I asked for SAR to get all the account information and after three months all I have is mortgage account copies. The lawyers are now calling me and I am sure its about instructing me to pay the arrears within the week or they would issue a repossession order on the house. They cancelled the direct debit that existed so I was conscious to keep puttting funds in every month but trying to function without a bank account lost me more money and irretrievably lost more clients. I am expecting a lump sum of money that will clear the arrears but the knock on effect meant that I was late paying my suppliers and one has taken a county court judgement out against me and bankruptcy is where I am at if I dont have some means of a reprieve. Yes, they said that if i didnt have an arrangement in place my account woud be closed and they talked about recovery. Sounded to me it was going to get better! The arrears werent as much as my overdraft which i cleared in less than 6 months and they had said the the charge card was a different legal entity and when I called the credit card company customer services before they closed my accounts they said that there wasnt any money owed and that it would be fully operational once the mortgage arrangement was in place. That wasn't true and I also lost my 36,000 reward points as I had no online access and frankly more serious things to worry about. i cant really afford a litigation lawyer at the moment and have little faith in the FSA from what I am reading. The banks replies to my complaints are to issues that weren't raised and they have not taken notice of my plea to allow me access to funds I had to eat and drink. I was not notified clearly that every account would be closed down and as far as I am concerned there was an arrangement in place that obviously isnt integrated into the RBS network as they couldn't see that the money had been taken from the holding account and HSBC provided a fast pay reference number. You cannot open another bank account if you have mortgage arrears is what every other bank told me but once I called the Business Debtline they advised me to walk into a bank and ask to open an account. Why didnt the other banks suggest this to me? A week after submitting an application form for a Cashminder account with the coop was i able to restart rebuiding what Natwest pulled down.

Hello, im after some advice if possible. CAG has been helpful to read but im now stuck. Following redundancy I got into a bit of credit card debt, im now in a position to try and resolve the debt but don't know where I stand. One of the credit card debts is now with Idem servicing. I sent the a CCA request and they replied stating they had no agreement, should one be found they would send it. Foolishly maybe, I offered a full and final settlement offer just to move on. They rejected the offer and sent a credit card agreement (13 days after they said they didn't have one). They say the agreement was signed in 2001, however the address on the agreement is the address I moved to in 2008, so a different address I was at in 2001, secondly the credit limit states 1500£, with an APR of 27.9%, I cant prove it but the original credit limit was 950£ and the APR 15.9%, it only went up to 27.9% when I closed my current account at the Halifax and moved to Barclays around 2005/6, I remember that because at the time as I was annoyed to put it mildly - Just to add the credit card was with the Halifax. Idems letter keeps referring to LLoyds Banking Group are they linked to Halifax? The agreement also says bank charges were 12£, again I remember paying 35£ when one of my first payments was a few days late. Some pages of the agreement are blue, some white and all different fonts. Idem claim they own the debt, but terms in the agreement only state they can transfer the debt, but another clause in the terms says only We or You (meaning Halifax or me I assume) can enforce any part of the agreement. The agreement also state that interest will not be charged on defaulted accounts, however Halifax continued to apply interest when in the debt management plan and the account had been defaulted. Where the signature is supposed to be for me is blank, and the agreement contains no dates. Can anyone advise where I stand with this agreement. I can scan in later if it helps? It all just seems dodgy to me, and incorrect for the terms I remember. The debt is also 5481£ which is significantly higher than I recall ( I did bury my head in the sand for a few years, I had no money and no way of dealing with the debts, contributions were made through a dmp, it has been defaulted but the 6 years has now passed) The agreement just isn't correct from what I can see, but if anyone could advise further, it would be greatly appreciated? Chris

Hi All, I was involved in an accident last week, where my car has been classed as a CAT D write off, im buying it back and fixing it. However the thing that is most confusing is my finance settlement figure. My finance started July 2013 for 47 months at 115.07 and 1 at 265.07. I borrowed 3200 at %35.53 (i know but bad credit) and 29 payments done out the 48. Insurance paying out 2830 for the car buy back at scrap £400, Finance advised to my insurance company that 1995.99 as a settlement figure. Ive negotiated with my finance company to take 1500 to leave me that extra 495 to get the car sorted, and they have agreed to continue my monthly payments until the 495 is paid off. However to me the settlement figure is off, seems a bit high for whats left. i would of put my settlement figure around 1500-1600. I mentioned it just to my finance co and they told me trading standards can provide me the info if i wish to look into it.! Maybe im confused on my numbers so can someone clarify. Thanks

This morning I had a visit from a Marston EA. I was at work and my partner didn't hear the bell so the EA left a card. The cards is for the attention of my stepson (Ben) who hasn't lived with us for over 10 years but as he moves around a lot often gives are address for post etc... He has no room or property of value in the house (just a few items of clothing etc..) The card states they called today to execute a warrant of control by Hertfordshire magistrates court. The debt is for £640 I rang the mobile number on the card to explain that Ben doesn't live with us and has no property of value in the house and the man said it doesn't matter and he will be back in an hour and a half with a locksmith and police and will take goods to cover the debt. Can he really do this? The house is mine and my partners as are all the possessions in it. I've left work to come home but am sitting here not at all sure what I can do if they do return. How do I prove someone doesn't live here? How do I prove any items in the house are not Ben's? I'm concerned that if I go back to work they will break in and I'll come back to the house with a bunch of stuff missing. I have contacted my stepson and he said he didn't know what this was about. I treid to talk to the court but they wont tell me anything (or do anything) because I'm not the debtor. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Many thanks Andy

I bought a treadmill from a company called MK Trading via Amazon in October 2013. In February 2014 the belt started slipping all the way to the side and rubbing against the motor. Following the instructions to adjust the belt only worked for a few moments of walking on it and the belt slipped again. I asked the company for a replacement but the refused and it got repaired instead. I tried it once when it returned and seemed to be ok but then I had an operation so it sat in my hallway doing nothing till this week. Again belt slipping so I contacted the company asking for a refund. I am sure I read somewhere but can't find it that if it is not a permanent repair you are entitled to a replacement or refund? Anyway the company refused to refund me and have implied that the treadmill belt is a maintenance thing I should do at home, despite the fact i would have to do it every 30 seconds! I wrote to Amaon who were no help, company now saying they will collect it for inspection and repair it again, only if this second repair does not work will they offer me a replacement. Do I have to accept this offer? I really think another repair is a waste of time as the same thing will happen again. Would be grateful for any advice, thanks in anticipation.

I have worked for a WP provider and am frankly disgusted at how its possible for the companies running these schemes to make money. WP providers have targets and refer to something as 'buying a job'. This is where the provider pays for a position for a client, usually just for a short term, say two weeks, so it triggers them being able to make a claim. So much for sustainable employment huh. I have seen people being targeted as they are close to leaving programme (end of the 2 years) so the client is forced into a position, told its good experience etc put it on your cv etc, and their advisor gets told that if the client doesnt proceed then they raise a failure to comply sanction against them, I have witnessed times when this threat is presented directly to client. How do they get away with this 'buying a job'? . Simple. The employment goes through an agency, so thats how the job is registered...the agency shows as the employer on the clients record, and the local WP provider managers/jobsbrokers/senior staff liase with the company that the client will work for...selling it to them in a similar way...but highlighting that it wont cost the end employer anything as the bill from the agency will be met by the WP provider. And yes that means WP provider, the agency and the end (temporary) employer are all party to whats going on, although I have seen some questions raised from employers when attempts have been made to get them on board with this....some have elected to not be involved again. I guess someone has sat down and worked out that its financially worthwhile to pay for someone to be employed through an agency (the client invariably gets National Minimum Wage....but I have heard of attempts being made to encourage 'free trails..if they like you theirs a job in it for you'...yes you can guess the usual outcomes on that one) for upto a couple of weeks as the income from claiming a job start on that client means its worthwhile. Whilst some employers have happily engaged I know of occasions when the end job the client goes in to...DOES NOT EXIST...the poor client is either used as a dogsbody for a week or two or sits around and does nothing BECAUSE THEIR IS NO JOB!!!! I have seen this used on a regular basis, its nothing to do with helping people who are looking for work its about generating a revenue scheme(another one of these is detailed below). And it hasnt just started happening, its been ongoing for sometime...not just happening to people about to leave programme but to folk who the WP provider thinks is likely to be in work when the next official check to employer is made to confirm continued employment, bit of a gamble but hey, it keeps the figures up and keeps the money coming in. The check to employers to confirm a client is working is made by the WP provider themselves. If you are attched to the WP you are assigned a PG rating. This stands for Payment Group, different groups attracted different payments and payments made at different stages. Some people are basically worth more than others, and decisions get made about spending time working with people based on this and how 'job ready' someone is deemed to be. Cherrypicking. Panaroma programme aired concerns about this taking place and its absolutely true, given how the WP payments are structured, how can it not come into place??? I think the public have the right to know what a waste this programme is and I know how the above looks to me....you join the dots and you see. There are some good people employed in the work programme who thought theyd be helping people...i put myself in this category...but there all coming to a realisation that company profitability is what comes first. This is what happens when private companies get involved in these things....there only going to be interested if they can make money out of it and given the state of the offices i have seen...that money aint going on pleasant, comfortable and safe environments for unemployed people to be made to attend. Just because you are out of work should you expect less from the places you are made to attend? I think that is wrong. Oh and the other revenue stream.....WP providers offering Employability Courses...well..offering..they will mandate clients to attend....no show? you lose your benefits. Complete the course and the provider claims for it....youll be asked to sign something that proves your elegibilty for the course they NEED this to claim the money. And we aint talking small amounts here. Now the course may be of use to some people and thats all well and good, but by forceing everyone onto it it can make attending the course a very uncomfortable experience even if it is something you feel happy to do. And then theres the standard of tutor that you get to consider too. Some good, some not so....they know why there really there so they just tick the boxes and smile. Oh and speaking of signing things to facilitate a claim......If your WP provider is REALLLLLY keen for you to have an appointment with a National Careers Service Advisor....yep. you guessed it....you signing the 'action plan' is what gets the payment and if they were very eager for you to see this person....then yes, that provider probably holds the contract for providing a National Careers Service Advisor. Kerrrrrching!!! I know im not the only one who things this is all wrong...feel free to prove im not incorrect!!!

Hi all. I purchased a coffee machine from Debenhams online for a birthday present. I have now given the gift to the intended person. A few days later I then discovered the description just doesn't match the item as sold. I have the page saved on my mobile as proof of what was being sold at the time. The image shown at the time does match, but what Debenhams have described just doesn't exist, they have completely messed up the description and more than 50% of the features are missing. I feel very deceived and misled. I did send an email to them asking them for a 50% refund however they have said they cant do that and have offered me to send the item back and have a 10% off future purchase. I find this unacceptable, I cant take it back off my friend and 10% off next purchase is disgusting considering it is not my fault. They are trying to wash their hands of it cheaply. What rights do I have as I'm not very happy. Thank you.

sorry if this is in the wrong place but my heads a bit all over the place i keep recieving letters for my ex partner who moved out nearly 12 months ago regarding a council tax debt from his previous address in a difference council area and town. well several times ive rung up the agency (including 2 days ago) saying he doesnt live here toget "not a problem we'll have your address taken off"etc etc well today theres a knock on the door from my neighbour saying they had had a letter from the agency to ask for information on my ex, apparently they've been sent to all my neighbours, im absoloutley devestated i rang them and the girl says they can do that and that im probably lying about him being there as "they oftern get lied to about this" and that i wouldnt of been told i can have my address taken off becuase they arent allowed to do that! yet other agencies ive rang up ragarding my ex have just taken my name off i have seen or spoken to him in nearly 12 months and theyjust keep dragging it up and contacting my neighbours, im so upset and im unwell anyway i cant deal with this stress, im trying to get on with my life and hes just refusing to sort his debt from before we were even together does anyone know anything i can do?? it just doesnt seem right