Hi all, I currently have two accounts with shop direct that have been passed on to Lowell for recovery. Very's balance currently stands at £242.01, and littlewoods is £1218.15. I'd like to know where to start, because i've read a few posts saying you can claim back penalty charges placed on your account? For instance Very's balance was £150, and the £90 placed on it is interest/ late pay ment fees/ debt recovery letters etc as I hadn't even used that account for over a year and was just gradually paying it off. Littlewoods would be the same, I'm just not sure on the amount that would be fees. Just wondering where I should start off? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Imogen.

Hi All, I'm a newbie to this forum in that I don't think I have posted anything before, although I have found the advice on here pretty useful in the past - so thank you. I have multiple payday loans and I am successfully clearing most of them in the next couple of months. I have been doing this by effectively only paying them what I can afford and getting them to stop applying additional interest. This is working / has already worked for three of these companies but I have a real problem with one of them who goes by the name of Mr Lender - they are part of PDL Finance. I was due to pay them either £100 in order to rollover the loan or £500 to repay the loan in full (£400 being the original loan amount)on 20th October. My intention was to pay them slightly more than just the interest charges but not the whole amount. Unfortunately, one of the other creditors took out more money from my account than I was expecting (my own fault - I had misread that creditor's correspondence) and so when Mr Lender tried to take the money from my account the payment failed. On the day the payment failed I had numerous telephone messages from Mr Lender, a couple of emails and numerous text messages. I didn't want to speak with them until I could see where the other payments had gone, and my online bank statement was not up to date as some of the other payments had gone out via debit card. On the day after the due date, they repeatedly phoned my work, my mobile and home phone. Getting my voicemail each time, they then started calling random extension numbers at my work, until they eventually got through to my boss who called me to her extension to take the call - this was extremely embarrassing - especially as the two or three people that informed me at work that these guys had spoken to them all said that the people they spoke to were incredibly rude. I spoke to Mr Lender and said I would write to them to suggest a payment plan in the next two days or so - their rep said that this was not acceptable and that I have to deal with them over the phone - she said she would put me through to someone who could help me . . . . when I spoke with the next representative, he started by saying that he would help in anyway possible; I said that I would pay on or before 19th November (i.e. 30 days after the original due date) in full - in other words the full £500. He said that I had to make a proper payment immediately and that this offer was not acceptable as, as he put it, "we are not a charity". He said if I didn't pay I would incur charges of at least £175 before 19th Nov. I said I thought that that was excessive and unfair, but that could he please put their position in writing. His response was that he would email me, and I said I wanted a letter, to which he said that they don't do that. I should add that whilst their Ts&Cs make some mention of charges for late payment they definitely do not equate to £175 in a month! I asked this representative repeatedly to put their position to me in a letter, and he kept saying that they would not do so. So I wrote to them stating my position, that I would happily pay a maximum of £512 (£12 being what I would perceive as being reasonable admin charges for the late payment), on 19th Nov. They stopped calling me last week, but I have not received a written response from them yet. However, the next thing I know is that I get a text message saying they are sending me a default sums in accordance with the consumer credit act 1974. I then got an email (not a letter) stating that in accordance with the CCA 1974 I owe them £570 - no OFT fact sheet was included, not even as a PDF. So, sorry about the very lengthy post - but can anyone tell me: a) Do I have a right to insist that they state their position and all correspondence in hardcopy form? b) Are they allowed to call my work and guess at extension numbers - as there is no way they would have spoken to my colleagues in other departments otherwise! c) Can they serve a default sums notice by email? d) Should they not take a commercial view as I've used their service for months, and a cost of at least £100/month - if they add all these charges, then they loose the business e) If I pay them the £512, can they actually chase for any additional sums that they think they can? f) Am I missing anything - is there anything else I should be doing in terms of my dealings with them? Thanks all for your help, and again sorry its such a lengthy post

i came to croydon once to see a house i wanted to rent with a friend. i had been to london before and had only been on the bus, train and tube but never on a tram. i had used trams before but that's in south yorkshire in Sheffield. there we can pay for the ticket inside the tram. when i came from london victoria i had topped up an oyster card i got from my friend with £5 and got on the southern rail. i came out at east croydon with my friend and as i saw the tram approach i ran for it and got it. i assumed i could pay for it inside as i saw, what i assumed to be the conductors. turned out to be the tfl police and they came and asked to see my oyster i showed him and then he beeped it and told me i was avoiding to pay and there was -£1 in my oyster. i informed him that i can pay right here as i have the cash and i had just topped up my oyster with £5 if he could check that. he told me to get off the tram with him as he will write me a penalty fine. i tried to explain to him that i don't live here and i don't know how the system is around here. i offered to pay on the spot or he could show me where to buy this ticket. he refused and asked for my details, i gave him my name and address. i was not employed at that time so i couldn't pay this fine, i tried to get the amount they asked for but i was too late, and it increased to £80. i used to live with my mother then i moved to swindon to live with my father assuming it would be easier to get jobs there and now that i have one i was prepared to pay my fine. i called my mother to ask for the details in the letter they'd written and she told me now its £340. i cant afford that. i have no idea what to do.