I had a £25k loan taken out almost 10 years ago, was paying almost £400/m regularly and had only apx £8k left to pay. Was suddenly not in the position to make the monthly payment and have instead been paying £40/m. I had discussed my circumstances with them and I guess - although they were not happy - they must have realised that with all the interest payments over the years I had pretty much paid off the original debt they seemed to have accepted the nominal monthly payment for the last year+. However, with Christmas, bad weather and sickness I completely forgot to make the November and December £40 payments. And now Westcot DCA has reared its head chasing me For the last few weeks I have been receiving texts and calls (unanswered by me) from Westcot. I did not know why they were trying to contact me so ignored them. today I received a red letter from Westcot : Important - Notice of Debt Collection - for the whole amount (8k) outstanding. I quickly went on line and made up the 2 months and this months payments so that I am back up to date with the normal nominal payments. But what should I do now ? Do I completely ignore Westcot ? And write to Halifax again - say circumstances have not changed, the payments were missed due to oversight, and I need to continue the nominal amounts ? Or should I try to negotiate with them to try to clear the debt with an offer (which I might have coming in within the next month or so) of apx £1k ? For what it is worth, Halifax has frozen the total - no added interest - so all the nominal amounts have been reducing the balance. I really do not want to get battling with dcas now.... Anyone's help is much appreciated.... Thank you.

Is a McKenzie friend allowed to assist for a motoring summary offence in a magistrate court? I need to write a letter to court to be allowed a McKenzie friend and need help in writing one, any template please?

Today the Judiciary released their long awaited Consultation on McKenzie Friends. Most importantly, the consultation proposes a ban on fee-charging McKenzie friends in order to protect ‘vulnerable litigants’ from unregulated, uninsured and unqualified individuals. The article from the Law Gazette website outlines the Consultation in detail (and the online comments make interesting reading !!!). http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/judiciary-proposes-ban-on-fee-charging-mckenzie-friends/5053851.article

Just 3 months ago I started a new thread on here to highlight the problems that debtors face when taking advice from the internet to issue court claims against bailiff companies or local authorities. In that thread (a copy of which is below) I highlighted the outcome of yet another court failure where the debtor once again lost his case in court and was ordered to pay the local authorities (London Borough of Southwark) legal costs of £4,399. In the above case it was revealed that the debtor was charged £2060 in fees by this highly unqualified McKenze Friend who has an appalling history of court failures behind him. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?452784-More-legal-cases-against-bailiff-companies-lost-in-court-after-taking-legal-advice-from-the-internet-!! It would seem that during December he has been involved in two further court failures. Interestingly in the very latest one, he claims to have represented the debtor at the Magistrates Court hearing in relation to a criminal complaint. It would seem that the Magistrate refused to allow him to either address the court or to 'cross examine the witnesses'!!! According to the written report from the McKenzie Friend the Magistrate was extremely critical of the defendant and considered that he was lying to the court and that consequently, the McKenzie friend: "executed the procedure to force the trial to be aborted and be re-listed for a new trial" and that: "Im due to Mackenzie again for him, but if I'm declined a second time, then I have a solicitor ready to be pulled from a hat there and then and execute the defence structured on a crown court appeal" What is particularly alarming about this is that with very limited exception, the use of a McKenzie Friend is restricted to County Court proceedings !!!

I am looking to find out more regarding the legalities and technicalities Of those referred to as McKenzie Friends (MF) Sorry for the long thread but with the legal aid being cut there is a serious danger of the use of the MF and the advice costing the person engaging the MF losing a serious amount of money and still losing their case at Court... The has been many a heated debate in the Bailiff section regarding the MF and what they can and cannot do. With this in mind I came across this article from here http://www.iclr.co.uk/mckenzie-friends-a-litigants-guide/ What McKenzie Friends may do 3) MFs may: i) provide moral support for litigants; ii) take notes; iii) help with case papers; iv) quietly give advice on any aspect of the conduct of the case. What McKenzie Friends may not do 4) MFs may not: i) act as the litigants’ agent in relation to the proceedings; ii) manage litigants’ cases outside court, for example by signing court documents; or iii) address the court, make oral submissions or examine witnesses. With this complicated issue and their use in Court seems to now be changing. What could the outcome of this new information coming to light have with Litigants In Person (LiP)? There was a guide issued in 2010 guidance in July 2010 (PDF) that now seems to have changed! As far as taking "bad" advice this was proven in the following case The risks are not just that you might lose your case. You might also lose a lot more money than whatever you may have paid for the advice of someone who was not fully qualified to give it. An example can be seen in the case of H v Dent [2015] EWHC 2090 (Fam) where a father was assisted by two MFs to make a hopeless application to commit to prison two Cafcass officers and a solicitor – and ended up with a costs order against him. Where does the name McKenzie friend come from that answer maybe be from this case *The case which established the name is McKenzie v McKenzie %20P%2033&nxtid=XP1971-1-33&t=caseview-frame.htm&log_ixcard=yes"][1971] P 33; %203%20WLR%20472&nxtid=XWLR1970-3-472&t=caseview-frame.htm&log_ixcard=yes"][1970] 3 WLR 472; [1970] 3 All ER 1034, CA. There is an in depth PDF from the Legal Consumers Panel (LCP) if you wish to read it you can find the link here >> http://www.legalservicesconsumerpanel.org.uk/publications/research_and_reports/documents/2014%2004%2017%20MKF_Final.pdf The above link is a seriously long read but it may be of use for the LiP to read it before consulting or engaging a MF. Before engaging a MF you may want to read up on the costs PDF from here issued 10/2015 https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/2015/crim-proc-rules-2015-part-45.pdf Note to Admin if you could find the correct forum that would be ideal for this thread if it is of any use to CAG ? Information gathered from here see below for links http://www.iclr.co.uk/mckenzie-friends-a-litigants-guide/ and here https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/2015/crim-proc-rules-2015-part-45.pdf Pdf's not added but can do if the links get broken for any reason... Although I have nothing against any MF's it is getting apparent that this area is now coming under scrutiny by the relevant departments that govern and set the guidelines and rules regarding the use of the MF...

The horrible truth, the whole horrible truth and nothing but the whole horrible truth:- http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/5049010.article?utm_source=dispatch&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GAZ260515

Hi guys, 1st post here, although i've been reading as a guest for what seems an age. Basically, around 2011, I got into the circle of using payday loan companies, mostly work related because of a reduction in hours....i'm free now though! My query however, is this...My final outstanding loan is with Wonga. They 'legally' sold this to MH. Wonga's default is still on my credit file, surely this should be in MH's name, should it not? Thanks in advance guys

So my phone has been ringing at all hours of the day (see my petition thread) It's PRA / Mckenzie Hall. ive been called as early as 7:30 am and as late as 23:15. I dont answer withheld numbers, but they have started using spoofed local numbers. When i am able to, i answer the call. They always Mumble who they are so it is barely audible and then ask "For security" personal detail which i do not give out over the telephone. I know what the call is regarding as I took one of those 12 month semi payday loans, and when i tried to contact them a couple of weeks ago to rexolve the issue they informed me that they had "sold" the debt to mckenzie hall and would not be able to discuss the issue. I tried telling them that i would not discuss anything with Mckenzie hall due to their reputation of being bullyish and unreasonable but got much the same answer again. Anyway back on point. They keep calling, and i keep giving them the same answer, to which they always say "we will take your refusal to pass security as refusal to co-operate and thus will carry on collection proceedings" digression number 2. given that they are not allowed to pass any information to anyone other than "the account holder" and demand this information to discuss it, does it not seem odd that they then tell "whoever" they could actually be speaking to, that there are collection proceedings against the intended recipient? So why wont these tools just do what they are supposed to and send me a freaking letter, telling me how much i owe? I'm not even trying to get out of paying it. I fully acknowledge that i owe money and am willing to pay. Im just not dumb enough to give out my personal details to any tom, dick or harry that happens to ask for it over the phone. not really sure where to go with it now as i'm still getting calls and voicemails etc etc. This close to christmas, with emploment contracts waiting to be renewed, im in no frame of mind to deal with some dodgy debt collector who cant even send a letter.

I have been looking through a £1646.75 debt i have with meritforce/mckenzie hall the original creditor being black horse, since signing up to Experian i have noticed the debt to be £400 lower on my credit file? i have spoken to Meritforce who said it was an error by Experian, Experian are saying the debt they have on file is correct.. ..Where do i go from here? any advice welcome.

I recieved a letter from Mckenzie hall a few weeks ago regarding a supposed debt with HSBC. I wrote back to them asking for proof the debt belonged to me (as I felt it wasn't mine). They have now written back with 2 years worth of bank statements. The first statement shows an amount of £5000 being credited to the account and the last statement is a little weird as to me it says that the account was closed with £0 owing (see attached). They are claiming I owe around £2000. What I do not get is why they have sent a load of bank statements insted of some kind of signed credit aggrement, surley that would be the proof I wanted rather then random bank statements. The credit on the statement doesn't even show where the money came from just says CR £5000. Whats the next step I should take? The debt is 5 years old and this is the first I have heard about it in this time.

Hi, i like many others in bother with PDLs. I took out a loan with PTP for £600, paid back £353.64 but then got into difficulty and couldn't pay. I contacted all of the PDLs by email and heard nothing but was then bombarded (and I do mean bombarded) by texts, mobile calls, landline calls and even at work calls, endless day after day after day, sometimes even 7 days a week but mostly 6! Recently Mckenzie Hall stated harassing me 4/5 times a day and recently at work. I work in a shared office and could not take the call so just said that she (me) wasn't in the office and stated 'would you like to leave a message'. To which the caller gave their number and the name of the company! Now that could have been anyone in my office taking that message, is this legal? Secondly, I have now received a letter from them stating: "We write to give you formal notice that Pounds to Pocket has legally assigned the rights to the above debt to mackenzie Hall Debt Purchase. This means that Mackenzie Hall Debt Purchase now legally own the debt." the rest is the usual taking you to court etc etc etc Plus they have registered a default with callcredit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am taking steps to contact all and offer some form of payment but these guys are aggressive. I have changed my mobile number to stop the texts etc. Thank you

Hi, I had a call from McKenzie Hall today. They are handling a debt i have with Welcome Finance. I borrrowed 1500 from them in 2006. I made the payments up until 2009. I heard nothing from them and wrote to them twice with no response. Today they said the balance is 4k. I've asked for all the documentation. I don't have a list of payments made but i assume i can get this through a SAR, which i will submit tomorrow. Does anyone have any advice on dealing with this sort of thing? I am in a DMP with Payplan, but i don't want to add them into it at 4k. I will pay what i owe, but this is not right. Katy