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  1. I'm about to buy a (relatively) low cost item from a small-time online manufacturer who usually sell in large quantities to tradesmen. They have applied a 'low order fee' to make my order up to £50. Are they allowed to do that? (I suspect yes). I noticed in the Shopping Basket breakdown that VAT then also got applied to this fee - are they allowed to do that? Thanks.
  2. Hello! I got a PCN for driving my van in London without paying the low emission zone fee. I already returned to Portugal. I wasn't informed about the need to pay this fee. I didn't do it on purpose but because I didn't know at all that my van was entitled to pay this charge. I don't have money to pay. Do you know if they can find you abroad and send the letters to your home country?
  3. Can somebody please advise me? MBNA have told me that I have had PPI on my credit card since 1998 and I assume it is still going as I have not been told it was cancelled at any time. I have received a letter today saying that they have upheld my complaint and are offering me a redress of £51 PPI and £405 total with interest. This credit card has been running at a 30%+ interest rate and from around 2006 to 2014 the total debt has run at least 5000 per month. Does a figure of £51 total PPI paid over 20 years at these figures seem realistic or should I go to the Ombudsman? As MBNA have said they will not enter into any correspondence I feel I have no choice
  4. Hi Can someone please advise whether my car is exempt from being seized by Bailiffs for a debt of £1700 when it's only worth about £400-£500. It's also vital as my role as carer for my two autistic children, it's not an official disability car but I'm their registered carer and need it to take them to appointments and to and from school as public transport is a no go due to their condition. As I understand vehicles with a value less that £1350 that are needed for work are exempt, does my role as a carer put me in this category? Thanks Lisa
  5. Hi all I'm in a bit of a dispute with Virgin media at the moment... I pay for landline & broadband with them since April. I was supposed to be getting 100mbps, and I am only about 20-30ft away from their cabinet. They even laid new cable to my house, fitted new connection boxes and phone socket. To begin with speeds were ok. But for the last couple of months they've been dreadful. They haven't fixed anything, I'm paying for a 100mbps service that is on average giving me just 14mbps... For the last week I've been taking screenshots of those speeds and saving them on my computer, tests have been run each day at various times from afternoon to evening... But even at 2am this morning it was still just as bad. I stream a lot via netflix and amzon video. My tests via speedtest and netflix's one speed checker (fast.com) have shown that on average my speed is 8-9 times slower than advertised. My tests indicate that my speeds are not even fast enough to stream 4k conten... which is the main reason I signed up for it in the first place. I'm getting a degraded service. I feel like I'm being ripped off, but am locked into a contract until April 2018. What can I do to get out of it early, is the fact that they're providing such a poor service enough to claim breach of contract?
  6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40338220 Barclays facing possible fraud charges in relation to Qatar 2008 deal. Given that there may now be a court process that follows, we have to be careful what we say, as public comment can be seen as prejudicial. The only observations i would make is that these allegations follow on from a long list of British Banking issues that have really made London look like a centre for dodgy practices and underhand dealing. The other issue is whether it is possible to put these cases in front of a jury, as i suspect that jurors might have a negative view of Bankers. In the US, they would deal with such cases relatively quickly and have expert Judges sitting to hear evidence. Recently it was revealed by Noel Edmunds that he attempted suicide following problems he had with HBOS concerning business accounts he had with them. If you search online there were large numbers of people affected by the illegal actions of HBOS Bankers. HSBC had problems in recent years, with allegations of accepting money from dodgy sources and also allegations about helping people avoid paying taxes due. If you searched online, i am sure you will find many issues affecting most large British Banks. The question is, does British Banking still have a better reputation than other major finance centres ? Personally, i think that the reputation has sunk to a low and only very tough regulation will help it recover.
  7. Thank you for reading. I have a problem with my electric meter. I will try to keep this brief, I have a low reading and a normal reading and it appears that I have only been billed for the low reading (I'm worried it may be since I have been in the property 8 years). The low reading is registering units during the DAY and NIGHT!. So I am assuming I am being charged for my day time usage at the lower price. I have notified British Gas, but only after there was a problem with them excepting my latest meter reading. They are going to fit a new meter and bill me based on my last true reading, but how can they do this if this has been happening since I have been in the property (worse case scenario) and I have been paying but at the lower rate. They are ringing me this afternoon to discuss billing so am still in the dark. I'm so worried about this, any advice would be appreciated:!.
  8. Hi, I've been trying to despute my water bill with Welsh Water as I feel I'm being over charged. In a recent conversation with a representative I was told that my property was on the lowest tariff I am still paying more than my neighbors & friends in much bigger properties. I pay £32.00 per month but my neighbors are paying between £18.00 & £22.00 per month. Is there a higher complaints procedure I can go through to get myself heard as so far I've been met by unsatisfactory excuses as to why I pay more. Thank you for your time.
  9. Low earners risk tax shock on workplace pensions There is apparently an anomaly on some of the auto enrolment schemes. You can read more in the article linked below. https://www.ft.com/content/40af7052-0361-11e7-aa5b-6bb07f5c8e12
  10. I met a couple a few months ago,got chatting about this and that. Got talking about mortgages being self-employed things like that. Told me that after they have paid out for their home,food,gas electric and the rest they were left with next to nothing. Had a dog that they had had for ages but now needed a trip to the vet which seems to cost plenty. They told me that if they had been renting a property,private or council their low income would have given them housing benefit and they would then be entitled to get a little help with their pets fees.Think they meant the PDSA. Now way back in 2007 I was writing about people being in poverty in Detroit and the housing crises etc. People being repossessed or in arrears. At the same time there was a massive increase in people unable to afford to take their pets to a vet. What help is there available for people who cannot afford a vet because their income is low but their animals need help. And are not on housing benefit etc. Are there any groups anything out there that could help people and their animals. that are in these circumstances. I do not like to think that some animals maybe needing help and could be sad because they are ill or in pain. Thanks Tawnyowl.
  11. My son has a personal injury claim originally valued at £20k. The solicitor was working on a 25% no win no fee basis. however, a few months ago he found out that the solicitor had failed to advise at the outset that he could have had union backing, so it was agreed they would discount the 25% fee etc. The matter should be going to trial in circa six months, but the soilicitor has now written advising that he wishes to offer the defendent the opportunity to settle for £8k pursuant to CPR 36. This is a 60% reduction on the claim value which doesn't seem right to me. Any advice on this would be appreciated. Regards
  12. Hello, I bought a Volkswagen Golf (63 plate) in January for £14,500 cash, since buying it, it has suffered five misfires, three of which have occurred in the past three weeks, the first two of those three I was told it had been "fixed" and it's currently in the garage again being "looked at". The trouble is, this has left the car incredibly untrustworthy and it's reliability questionable at best. The last two misfires occurred in the first 9 miles of a journey to work, not exactly a lengthy journey. Volkswagen are prepared to offer me a new car "at cost", but will only give me part exchange value for this car that has the misfires and is clearly defective to be suffering misfires on two cylinders. It has spent around 10 days in the garage now in the past six weeks. Although they say they'll "definitely fix it" before I get it back, they said this twice before, so I have lost trust and confidence that the car can actually be fixed. Unfortunately, the part exchange value leaves me around £4,000 short of what I need to settle the loan I took out for it, they're prepared to give me this extra if I agree to add £4,000 on to the finance of a new car, which isn't ideal. Do I have no way of getting a full refund or a better price? The car is unsafe to drive and at this rate I'll have no choice but to take my car back and quite literally risk my life on the roads - the misfires leave me with no power and as I travel on single and dual national speed limit carriageways, this makes overtaking and anything else you may reasonably expect to be able to do in a vehicle rather difficult. Forgot to mention the car has only done 12,300 miles, nowhere near what I would consider engine-breaking mileage.
  13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36345768 It seems that the advice to eat low fat was wrong and could make your health worse. I have for awhile now, moved to eating standard fat products and not the low/reduced fat items. I have noticed that i have lost weight, when consuming about the same volume of food. The French are apparently much healthier and they have never been convinced of the low fat diet some have been recommending.
  14. I am currently on ESA SG and in the middle of being reassessed. I am as always worried about losing my ESA. I am also due to be moving in with my partner in a few months and as they earn over the threshold I will lose all money anyway but at least if I am on ESA my stamp will get paid so I will still qualify for my pension in future. If I lose my ESA it won't change the fact that I am currently unable to work but I won't get my NIC paid. I s there anything I can do to get round this issue? Could I for example become self employed and just pay my stamp myself it it wouldn't be too much money each month. My plan is to become self employed anyway but I think it will be sometime before I can make an income. My partners salary also takes us over the threshold for anything like tax credits so I won't be applying for anything like that. My partner knows the situation and is happy to support me financially, the main issue for me is to still keep my national insurance contributions up without being hassled by the job center or work programme.
  15. Friends have been raving about Lidl for ages, but I've yet to bite the bullet. What is the quality of the meat and fish like? I know it's cheap, but is it cheap for a reason? Not sure where they source stuff from. Any thoughts anyone?
  16. Good Afternoon. I have access to all 3 of the credit reference agency's i notice there is a default registered for £65 by Vodafone. I have never received any notices for this account and as far i was concerned this account was closed. If i knew about the outstanding balance i would of paid it to avoid a default especially as the value is very low. A bit of a long shot but would it be feasible to pay the outstanding balance of £65.00 and have the default removed? Thanks
  17. Hi all, I have been trawling this site for a while hoping to find an answer to my issue, but nothing with the exact specifics and was looking for some advice. Over 6 years ago now, I was forced to leave my job (long story that is out of the scope of this query!), meaning I was no longer able to afford the lifestyle that I had bought into. Hence, credits cards, loan and car were the victims, and I unfortunately defaulted on all (5 debts in total, to the tune of approx. £20k). The job market being the way it was, I found no further work, and decided to try and enhance my future by returning to education. I informed all creditors that my income had vastly reduced to that of a student, and hence came to the agreement that I could make token payments of £1 to each individual one, and that was that. Since, I have not even attempted to apply for a single bit of credit, and lived with a basic bank account, which has served me well - one thing I have certainly learnt how to do is not to live up to the limit of my means!! since the defaults, I have moved house twice, and have lost track of the debt collection agencies that were involved (I believe the debts were sold on), although I have maintained the token payments as they were simply standing orders set to go out automatically. Hence, I have no idea of any communication that may have been made. This week, I checked my Equifax and Experian history out of interest to see if the old defaults had fallen off, and all looks good, the last two due to go by March. However, I have come to realise that despite this, the creditors may still decide to take enforcement action against me at any point, which is rather disconcerting; I have just begun my PhD, which is due to last for another 4 years, hence a total of 10ish years on a poor income!!! Of course, I have the full intention of settling this money when I finally graduate and get employment (prospects look quite good for future salaries in my field), so don't want/need advice on how to dodge, however, what I want is to break the hold of them being able to take action against me on their terms, as this hanging over my head is a bit worrying. What advice would you give? I have thought of two things, but not sure of there true implications: Cancel the token payments and hope that enough time passes for the limitations act to apply and then repay when I can? Or, make contact and offer lower full and final settlements (family may be able to help with lump sums)? Any other thoughts? Regards AM
  18. wondering if anyone has the answer to this - live in Housing Association property and have received Housing and Council Tax Benefit since 2009. Basically I am autistic (and theregore legally a 'vulnerable' person but I only got my formal NHS diagnosis last month at the age of 56) both my autism and my caring duties for some disabled family members mean that it is impossible/impractical for me to get regular full time work and my only option is self employment working from home making craft items. For reasons that are not relevant here I currently receive neither disability benefits for myself nor Carers Allowance.(this may change in the future) My work is essentially upcycling discarded fabrics (I make fancy versions of the old style rag rugs) there are little or no expenses. My autism causes me problems with organisatoin and prioritising and the up shot is that I could sit all day into the small hours cutting fabric and making rugs but forget about marketing the items! the upshot is that although I do intend to make a profit in time at the moment although I am putting in a lot of hours there is little to show in respect of income or expenditure. I have just received a letter from my council saying that I am not entitled to HB or CTB as I am not in 'Gainful Employment" which is a term used under the definition of self employment in the Act that governs Housing Benefit as they term 'gainful employment' as one that pays an income. I will of course appeal ths decision as I think their interpretation is wrong on a number of reasons but I have a question that I would like to thow out to everybody. Essentially the council are disputing that I am 'self employed' under the HB rules. HOWEVER I am not sure that this is relevant because all the websites I have found and all the legislation I have looked at refer to entitlement to Housing Benefit arising if a claimant is in receipt of certain qualifying benefits OR ON A LOW INCOME!!! IN respect of those not on the trigger benefits I do not see anywhere a requirement that the claimant actually has to be in employment/self employment - simply it seems to look at the claimants income and capital. As someone with and autistic spectrum disorder I can get anxious to the point of meltdown - do I really need to risk a complicated fight about their definition of 'Gainful Employment" or is the whole thing irrelevant as I wonder if HB/CTB entitlement arises simply by virtue of being poor (to use a crude but effective term) Have the council overlooked the big picture or have I overlooked something?
  19. Hi I placed an order for an EPC with a company called Low Cost ECP but didn't have to pay anything up front. By the time they rang back the next day, I had decided to use somebody else, so cancelled the order on the phone. A few minutes later they sent me an email: Our records indicate that you ordered an Energy Performance Certificate from us on 21/09/2015 and then subsequently cancelled your order. We are writing to advise you that you are required to pay for the service received up until the time of cancellation. The amount of £9.95 is now due as per the terms and conditions of the order. Please be advised that if payment is not received within 24 hours, a late payment administration charge of £14.95 will be added to the order as per the terms and conditions of the order. The above mentioned charge covers our reasonable costs associated with collecting outstanding monies. The amount charged is not proportionate to the amount outstanding. I replied & told them that £9.95 for a 38 second phone conversation was an unreasonable charge & that I wouldn't be paying it. I got no response until 24 hours later, when I got another email: You were given 24 hours with which to make this payment but payment has so far not been received. We advised that in the event payment was not received with 24 hours of the order being cancelled, a late payment charge of £14.95 would be added to the order. Unfortunately, as at the time of sending this email, this payment has not been received. We have therefore been left with no alternative but to apply a late payment charge of £14.95 to the order. This brings the total amount outstanding to £24.90. If payment remains outstanding by 29/09/2015 and in the event we need to write to you then a further administration charge of £50.00 will be added to cover our costs. So far I haven't paid this, but I'm wondering what rights, if any, I have here. It seems that they are charging me £9.95 for a phone call, as if I'd cancelled the 'order' before they rang, there would have been no charge. Part of me is tempted to just pay it & forget about it, but part of me wants to fight them until they give up. I assume what they are doing is legal? Presumably somewhere in the process there was a link to their T&Cs which stated the cancellation policy, but how far can they push this? If I just continue to ignore them, could they end up taking me to the small claims court, sending debt collectors around, affecting my credit rating etc.? Would appreciate any comments cheers, Rob
  20. Some advice needed. I have received an offer of redress from RBS regarding PPI on an old Natwest credit card. I used the FOS Running sheet to calculate the amount due. I have all the statements for the card (1989 - 2006). I sent copies of the statements to them along with what I have calculated to be the amount due - just under £14000 in 2006 plus stat. interest since then of approx £10000. A total of £24000. They seem to have ignored what I sent them and made an offer of under £3000. From the small amount of information they provided, it appears they haven't even been able to add up the PPI premiums correctly or calculate the compound interest that they charged me. They say that it's their final offer. I asked them (over the phone) to send a breakdown of their calculations and they refused to provide any more detail. I have spoken to the Ombudsman and I have to say that I'm not filled with confidence in their abilities. She seemed confused about compound interest being re-funded, which is the biggest part of the claim. I've also heard of 9 - 12 month processing times. Any advice on what to do next would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
  21. Channel 4 and Channel 5 have been obsessed with Benefits Porn for a while now, Benefits Street, my 40 benefit children and all the other rubbish. But I have just seen an advert for a new low - Benefits pets!! They have actually gone to the effort of making a programme purely dedicated to showing people on benefits who have the audacity to have a dog, Cat or Snakes etc. They really are scraping the barrel now. I don't understand why people actually willingly go on these shows - OK Channel 4 treats them fairly well, but the narration on just about every channel 5 is so downright nasty, and sneering, I just cant believe people continue to go on them, unless they were all filmed before any have been broadcast. It is almost literally stuff like "Jane is off for a haircut today, paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of hardworking taxpayers, but Jane is OK, she can sit on her fat ass all day on benefits" And they have to point out the most obscure parts of their lifestyle and ram down our throats that benefits are paying for it, in case we didn't realise from the title of the programme, and the 88 other mentions of the word Benefits to that point. I would like to see Channel 4 (from the evidence so far, C5 is incapable of seeing beyond "scroungers") do a couple of shows on the working poor, on the people working minimum wage who also have to rely on benefits to top up, as their employers arent prepared to pay a decent wage. But then, I would like to see HMRC or whomever pubish a yearly list of all the companies, at least the national/franchised ones who only pay minimum wage, and thus the corporate coffers are shored up by taxpayers benefits - stuff like working tax credit is not a benefit to the individual, it is very much a benefit for already wealthy shareholders and CEO's.
  22. Hey, A bit of background: After I hit 80 kg (176 lbs) [btw I'm 1.78cm] I decided to start exercising. I found a nice dumbbell + PU + crunches plan and will try to stick to it. Before that I was on keto (when loosing weight) or on a low carb diet (loosing slower/ maintaining). Now my question: Are there any reasons to stay on low carb when trying go build muscles? Are there any downsides on a low carb diet? From what I understand It probably doesn't matter as long as I get enough protein, but I want to make sure I didn't miss anything. Thanks for helping out
  23. Hello folks Dont know much about this subject . I live on a private pansion of approx £3000/year plus carers allowance of approx £2400 as a full time carer to my retired wife. I am 62 years old, & have no other income. Can anyone tell me if i could be eligible for any further monetary help. Thankyou in anticipation. HOWLER:violin:
  24. This website has been a lifeline for me over the last few months. I've read avidly and learnt so much from other people's experiences and from the advice posted. I'm currently managing my "relationship" with Rossendales and have managed to survive this far without too many hiccups. Empowered by knowledge gained here, I've stood my ground, kept my doors and windows locked, parked my car miles away , have sent out the requisite standard letters (found on here) and, finally, have sent my first payment directly to the Council via online payment completely bypassing Rossendales. I'm sure Rossendales will discover this fact soon if, indeed, they haven't already. The computer-generated letters from Rossendales were becoming more and more "assertive" and despite my advising them in writing that hell would freeze over before they crossed my threshold and paying them what I thought was a "reasonable and sustainable" amount each month to cover outstanding Council Tax from 2006, they still insist on demanding "full payment" in contravention of the OFT guidelines. However, thanks to everyone here, I feel as if I'm back in control of the situation and can sleep nights. Bailiffs are indeed paperless, powerless tigers - but, unfortunately, like mosquitos they do need to be controlled cos they're pesky!! Thanks again!
  25. Some people who applied to the NHS low income scheme may have paid too much towards their health costs, due to an error in the scheme’s calculations. The error affects a small number of claims. The NHS is working to identify people who were affected and to make a payment to them. You may be entitled to a payment if you applied to the NHS low income scheme between October 2003 and September 2008, and all of the following apply to you: you or your partner were aged over 60, and you or your partner were registered blind, were ‘signed off’ by your doctor as incapable of work for at least 28 weeks, or were receiving Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance or Attendance Allowance, and you were issued with a partial help certificate, called HC3, which set out how much you had to pay towards NHS dental, optical, travel to receive treatment, wigs and fabric support costs, and you then paid NHS charges or costs for any of the above while the HC3 certificate was in force. You’re not affected by this and can’t claim a payment if any of the following apply to you: you were issued with a HC2 certificate for full help with health costs you applied to the low income scheme before October 2003 or after September 2008 you met the eligibility criteria and received a HC3 certificate but didn’t pay any NHS charges or costs while it was in force. If you think you’re affected, you can apply for a payment by calling 0300 330 1344. You’ll need to confirm that you applied to the NHS low income scheme during the affected period and that you paid NHS healthcare costs at that time. You’ll be sent an application form which you need to return by 31 March 2015. You can find more information on the NHS Business Services Authority website. FAQs on the redress scheme. The NHS low income scheme provides help with health costs for people who are on low incomes but don’t qualify for any other help. More about the NHS low income scheme. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/news/whats_new_dec14_nhs_low_income_scheme_redress.htm
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