I've had a look around the web to see what people thought about StepChange. In the past I would have begged and pleaded for such help (well for the help which they advertise). I was just wondering if they're all up to what they claim to be as I have a few friends and family members that could do with their help.. Personally I found that loads of coffee, nights in, lights out early, and hardcore debt payments sorts it out Evil yes, worth it yes. The fun I got with the various (poor souls) working for the DCA"s on the way, priceless Cheers, A

Hi, First of all, unlike a lot of people on this site, I did shoplift. I knew what I was doing, I made a stupid choice, and I don't really understand why I did it. Just was trying on a bunch of stuff, and then thought I could get way with it, and walking out of the shop was stopped. I knew I was doing something wrong, I felt guilty even before I left the shop but wanted to see if I hd done it (and whilst it was a one off, I had previously taken small things - to see if I could- I think 2 other situations both a while apart. A scarf once, and a hair product once. In this situation, I put stuff on and put stuff in my bag- about 50 pounds worth. Not that it's relevant to the wrong doing, I had had some pretty awful stuff going on - my brother's girlfriend comitted suicide not ages before this, and I was waiting on a hospital appointment for an MRI scan, as I was in pretty major pain at the time and on some pretty funky pain killers (I had an operation not long after that sorted that). I don't think it's relevant, but the security guards and the police kept saying who put you up to this, is something wrong, why do this etc (I suppose they didn't expect someone like me- at the time mid twenties, polite, and super regretful - there was a woman in there swearing and saying they couldn't do anything to her etc.) Anyway, I answered every question I could as best as I could, no one was rude to me (I emptied my bag out for them, and while they questioned a necklace I had, they accepted the receipt I had for it, even though it was from a pound store and those receipts just say 'item', (I did buy it.) The police gave me a caution, as it was a first offense etc, and I co operated. (Actually, it's Scotland, so they said they would recommend that I be given an adult warning but because I tried to take 50 pounds worth this may not be allowed, and it might be referred to the Procurator Fiscal, in which case it was likely that a fiscal warning or fine would be recommended. They said a police adult warning would be on police records for 2 years, but not on criminal records, and I have been struggling to find out about the fiscal warning, but a fiscal fine apparently stays on your records for 2 years as well and is meant to be worse. {I'm not allowed to post links, so I'm including in blue information to allow you to find the data yourselves, but I can post them once I've made 10 posts.) Adult warning info: ask the . scottish . police . uk Q562 Fiscal stuff info: victimsofcrimeonscotland - alternatives - to - prosecution I offered compensation at the time, and the store staff gave me a letter saying notice of intended civil recovery. Like others, I do feel I owe something as I did do wrong, and god I wish I hadn't been such an idiot. It makes me feel sick that I did it. I'm old enough to know better, and I don't even understand what was going through my own head. At least I can be relieved that I'm awful at breaking the law- in a weird way I'm glad I was caught, I'll certainly never be tempted again! Weirdly they didn't ban me from the store. (Not that I've been back, far too embarrassed by my own idiocy). They just said they'd be watching me carefully if I ever came back. (I wish they had banned me - might make me feel more like I was being punished.) Anyway, the letter received (a few weeks ago) includes the following paragraph at the bottom: "In principle the Data Protection Act 1998 does not prevent the use of data for civil recovery and employment screening purposes provided that the data protection principles are complied with. You are notified that the personal information held about you may be passed to the Police for criminal proceedings and to Retail Loss Prevention for civil recovery proceedings. Your personal data may be stored and used by prospective employers within client companies to make employment decisions and for the purposes of crime prevention and detection including verifying details on application forms and protection of the rights of this company and other companies as appropriate. We will pass this personal data to Retail Loss Prevention Limited and it will be shared in accordance with data protection law with appropriate commercial organisations and crime prevention bodies. The use of this data will at all times be in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998." Soooo, the crux of my questions relate to the fact I think I've stuffed my future up by being a complete moron. I am a (mature) uni student, and I had thought to either go into teaching, or a management role, or library work (which usually means spending time with vulnerable adults or children), or possibly social work or if I stuck on the finance ish side of things, becoming an accountant (some friends recently became accountants, they say you don't need a degree in accounting and that you get a great introduction to business.) All of the professions I was considering are probably ones that (understandably) don't want to employ someone who has shoplifted. I looked further and found that in Scotland they have a system called disclosure Scotland. ask the . scottish . police . uk q642 And that the disclosures for the jobs I was considering are all eligible for (I think) standard disclosure, which show spent and unspent convictions (hopefully not relevant) and cautions. (are these the warnings? Does that mean they don't go away, ever?) disclosurescotland information standarddisclosure If you click on the 'eligible positions legislation' the link comes to ssi 2013 /50 / schedule 4 This lists a load of professions who are excluded from the 'rehabilitation of offenders' legislation per the explanation at the start of the thing which says "5. There is excepted from the provisions of section 4(3)(b) of the Act— (a)any profession, office, employment or occupation specified in Schedule 4;" I found the act and section 4(3)(b) says: (3)Subject to the provisions of any order made under subsection (4) below,— (a)any obligation imposed on any person by any rule of law or by the provisions of any agreement or arrangement to disclose any matters to any other person shall not extend to requiring him to disclose a spent conviction or any circumstances ancillary to a spent conviction (whether the conviction is his own or another’s); and (b)a conviction which has become spent or any circumstances ancillary thereto, or any failure to disclose a spent conviction or any such circumstances, shall not be a proper ground for dismissing or excluding a person from any office, profession, occupation or employment, or for prejudicing him in any way in any occupation or employment. BUT:- I am confused. I understand that this means, that (if the above does not apply) failure to disclose a spent conviction or any other circumstances SHALL be ground for dismissing or excluding me from an office/profession/job etc, but is this the case as concerns an adult warning? I don't understand the difference between an adult warning and a caution per disclosure scotland. (I still haven't received anything from the police so don't even now if it will be an adult warning, a fiscal warning or worse.) I think I will ask disclosure Scotland this, but post it up here anyway. Also, this leads me back to the letter from the store RE RPL (the abbreviation I've seen around this site). I have highlighted the bits that ring bells for me. "Your personal data may be stored and used by prospective employers within client companies to make employment decisions and for the purposes of crime prevention and detection including verifying details on application forms and protection of the rights of this company and other companies as appropriate. We will pass this personal data to Retail Loss Prevention Limited and it will be shared in accordance with data protection law with appropriate commercial organisations and crime prevention bodies." Obviously, my concern is not with re-offending, so, whilst I'm unsure of the use of them passing my data to crime prevention bodies, I'm less concerned about that (though I don't understand what that means). As it says specifically "within client companies" does that mean just the retail companies that employ the firm, or anyone that might want to do pre employment screening? What do they mean by "appropriate commercial organisations?" A lot of the work I want to do is within the public sector, not commercial. I'm not to concerned about not being able to work in retail at the moment - I would be crazy to apply to the company this happened with, anyway, and I would hope if I end up in retail in a few years, that it didn't come up? I didn't know that only the police had the legal right to all my details, so they have my full name, address, date of birth, everything. I had to give it again to the police later. I'm basically wondering if I should write off ever getting one of the jobs I'd like, because of this stupid thing. I think the social work registry goes through disclosure scotland, teaching definitely does, and I don't know if accounting or more commercial things. And, as I'm nearing the end of my degree, I was looking at applying now, so everything would definiitley be within 2 years, so even if the warning goes away after 2, it would still be on my disclosure now if they do it, if it's a fiscal fine at least. And that's before even considering if they are letting anyone willynilly check their data which according to the website ( integrity screening uk) they do. (Though I don't know if any of the areas I'm working in would be checking whether I'm subject to civil recovery proceedings.) I also checked the company name (cireco) and it is not on the data protection public register, although rlp is. Interestingly, the 'purposes' for data processing are listed as "We process personal information to enable us to provide investigatory services, to trace debtors and purchase debts and to collect on behalf of creditors. We also process personal information to maintain our own accounts and records and to support and manage our employees." None of the above purposes relate to my situation, or this 'integrity database' being maintained to sell details of my integrity. What they say they will do with my data id not what they say they are doing with it per the register. Additionally, I understand from reading this site that I am not a debtor - that they cannot charge me a fixed fee for my wrongs. (I would be much happier paying the company directly an apology piece of compensation.) They also say they share the data in this way: We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with the individual themself and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary we are required to comply with all aspects of the Data Protection Act (DPA). What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share some of the personal information we process with for one or more reasons. "Where necessary or required we share information with: voluntary and charitable organisations ombudsmen and regulatory authorities business associates and other professional advisers associated companies suppliers financial organisations credit reference, debt collection and tracing agencies police forces private investigators courts and tribunals government traders in personal data family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing; current, past or prospective employers examining bodies" I think this is a misleading statement. They say "Where necessary or required" but I do not see any circumstances where it would be necessary or required for them to share the data with traders in personal data, and I think sharing it with anyone who might be a prospective employer is highly irregular, they're obviously making money off of a horrible situation, and why have a disclosure system if someone can not be found guilty of a crime and have their whole future wrecked anyway? I don't know what to do. I think I need to write to the information commissioner about this as well as disclosure Scotland. As concerns the credit statement issue, I know I'm going to need a credit card at least temporarily as I have an overdraft that will be reducing following graduation, and at least at the moment I have not got a job that pays enough to cover my rent. As you can tell this has been bothering me for ages! I still haven't decided how to respond to RLP, and I'm so worried about the possible implications. Some of the jobs I've applied for already are ones in the public sector etc, but no one has asked me for a disclosure, and I think you need to give permission for a disclosure to go ahead. I have kept applying for jobs in areas I'm interested in and I have kept volunteering for kids groups for which I have already got a PVG (this is a disclosure to work with kids and vulnerable people) but I think I should tell someone about this, or it might get worse. I don't think I'm a danger:- I mainly help tidy up and split up arguments and suggest games for the teens and kids to play. I certainly would never suggest anyone break the law. I'm wanting to wait to say anything to find out whether I get a warning or a fine... and to work out what the implication would be for all of this before I say I can't volunteer anymore! I also do office work - and I don't remember there being any disclosure for that job, but we do look at financial info sometimes (for paying for services and buy goods) but I don't do any processing of the payments or anything. I know that if I was convicted they would fire me as even if I don't deal with stuff, it would look bad on the company to have me there. But obviously I'm terrified that if I don't tell them and leave that retail loss prevention might contact them and I'll be fired, even if I do pay them the money. Please help with any advice. I would really appreciate it. I can't believe how stupid I've been.

To cut a long story short, a few years back my company had to close and in turn was sorting things out when through the whole process I discovered that there was an issue with a hire purchase agreement I was on with BMW Basically and not to bore you all, I disputed the credit agreement due to a very long winded defence regarding the validity of the agreement, basically BMW continued with their action, repossessed the car and started proceedings. However I put up a valid defence against them and we agree to settle out of court So my question is, as I was prepared to defend the action fully as I disputed the validity of the agreement, and as they agreed to discontinue action, do I have an argument in order to get them to remove the default from my credit file

Hi folks, Just wondering about all these "Have you overpaid PPI, had an accident" text messages that we all seem to get. Most seem to be sent from a mobile No so do they get the same messages as we do? Does one PPI company have to send the other one the harassment letter?