Hi situation here I despratly need help. As I am going for an interview under caution tomorrow. Having worked and never claimed benifits I was made redundent so was looking for a job. Date May 2006. In October 2004 my sister and I were given money to set up a wee shop but both continued working - this was ment to be a side line. The business has staff covering hours monday to saturday so we never needed to work in it only emergenceys. The business has always made losses of 5-10k. My sister still works with her employer. I am ill at the moment and awaiting an operation for trigeminal neualgia. So unable to work. When working I earned 45k per year and never considered going in to the shop as couldn't afford to pay myself more than 10k per year. In addition to that I suffer from a medical condition that prevents me from lifting heavy things or standing for long periods of time. (womans thing!) I will have this operated on but NHS will only do this once family compleat! So feel this is strong evidence why I could not go in the shop - they are telling me that it was wrong I was on JSA when I had a business and employed staff. I know it sounds bad but I would never want to work in the shop Full time I was experence Customer service manager managing 100 staff thats what I wanted to do. When I called to call centre I explain that I had my own business (partner). And that it had never made any money and I did not receive and financial benifits from it. They sent me out the forms and I lost them. (I have now found them and it states on there form that I have own business etc) When I called back I told them situation again and girl said situation complicated so would send manual forms (I have a copy of these). I went to jobcenter and got them to help me complete them and the guy (I know his name and they can track him) he told me that due to my situation I was to put down self employed bookeeper. I did this. Now JSA are saying that it is fraud. I went on to JSA and Council tax relief and got this for 6 months I still have evidence of interviews and provided these at my work focused interviews. The form also asks about investments and it never entered my head the shop was one because it was not making money I put down no to the question. I see somewhere else an investment is not classed an investment unless it is 16k or more? My accountant will confirm that the business was making a loss of more than 5k. It also asked me if I use my home for business I put down no as I was not trading from home or receive tax releif for having my business. I am not sure what else they are going to hit me with next. Can anyone give me advice on this? A very stressed lady!!

Hi I lost my job last year and struggling due to morgage protection not being paid out. I have already settled with RBOS on my charges but getting some charges and my only form of income is benifits (currently incapasity having a baby!). I was sure that somewhere I had heard that they couldn't charge you if your only form of income was benifits. Any advice?

Just spoke to RBOS myself and explained I was conserned to sign letter as I have other claims. They told me that a letter stating that I was only settling for this account only would be fine and they would pay out. Regards

Hi there thanks for this I will send it off. The thing I am worried about is that if the 20 year limit really starts to build up I will have missed out on a lot of money - can't think like that I know!

Hi is she claiming interest? I sent off my prelim letter 2 weeks ago and within 7 working days got a letter settling the whole amount 7K. However I didn't claim interest. I didn't have any hassle with the size of my claim however I was given the advice from the branch to send my statements to speed thing up. With these size of claims they need to request them and it adds to the delay. Feel free to PM me if you wish

Hi I won my claim with RBOS they sent me a letter saying that they will pay out but I have about 4 other accounts that I am looking to claim on. Any advice - I am sure I read somewhere that some people sat tight and just got the money paid in? I have posted about this before and to advice came forward HELP PLEASE!

Hi I called they up and said my claim was coming in what be the things that would hold it up. I was advised that for my size of claim 7K to send my statments as this does delay the process. They also told me that if you are NOT claiming interest it is quicker. See my first post for what I did. Feel free to PM if you want With regards to the claim still outstanding maybe someone else who has gone through this might be better to advise. Can I assume you went for interest? Go on the RBOS thread and get their tel number for customer service and check with them whats going on?? Might be worth a go. Biggranty

Hi Biggranty here I claimed 7k with RBOS and got 6 years money. I am in scotland - they told me if you are not claiming interest they are paying out 6 years no hassle. (Things may have changed but I got my offer yesterday for the full amount I claimed for - no half baked offer - just the full amount!) This came through in 7 working days from my first letter requesting payment. I now fancy going for the years previous to this but I think that would have held my claim up so will wait till I have reserched more and the moneys through. Good luck out there with your claims!

Hi scott thanks for that. Any advice on the letter to accept - I don't want to sign it. I might go back further at a later date once this all has been sorted out. Cheers

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/scotland/68139-scottish-claim-7k-rbos.html Have a look at my thread. I just received a settlement for 7k today and claimed 6 years in scotland hassle free. But I didn't go for interest!

Do you or anyone else have any advice on the form they send to settle full and final. I can't find a letter to send off. I don't want to send a letter to agree to anything. Just want my money!

Hi thanks for that. When I worked out the difference in going for 6 years versus 5 years (I know I could get a english address etc - lot of hassle for me) and what my interest was I went for no interest and the extra year instead. Reading through the threads it is taking sometimes a few months to go through the process. I am now looking about for advice on my reply don't want to agree to full and final letter cause once I get the money if I can I may try and get the interest - Need the money not working at the moment. Good luck with yours. Not sure if your claim is off yet but if not send your statements to spead it up. I also sent all my letters recorded - thought that it may help it to get to the top of the pile quicker!

Just got 6 years money no hassle and got my claim of more than 7,000 just by asking!!! Here is some advice if anyone wants to take it. And for those of you who are dithering like I was read on. I joined the forum in November got my statements soon after that and spent almost 8 WEEKS reserching - should I go for 20 years - interest how much what rate etc. Someone kindly posted and offered me some advice and I acted on it and found out a few other things. I phoned the RBOS customer relation department and spoke to someone there. This is what I was told by them. They would process and pay out on my 6 year claim - no hassle Because my claim was the size it was to spead up the process send a copy of my statements to them otherwise they would need to do it from their end and it would delay the process. Send a summery of my claims (and remove any charges that could not be claimed) HOWEVER IF I went for interest it would delay the claim and it would be delt with by their Litigation team. I decided instead of going for the interest I would claim 6 years instead of 5 (this is was I thought I could claim for only in Scotland). He did say that it may well get paid with the interest however would take longer. I thought that if I went to court I would only get the 5 years + interest so not that much of a difference for me. They have sent a standard letter today saying that sign this full and final (I am not going to sign it now off to research this!) So within 6 working days off sending my request for money I got my offer easy peasy!!!!! Once I get it be assured I will be giving a donation. If any anyone wants to ask me anything about this just post or PM me! If you are dithering just get it done - get your letter off!!

Okay I will dig out the wording and post it. thanks again

Hi I was told in Feb company re-structure. However not told that my role was getting made redundent until may. Insurance company wrote to my company and asked when their was any comunication about any changes. They told them Feb. However confirmed that I was not made redundent or told until May. It was a large scale restructure and involved people in different sites and more that 100 people so they had to give us notice in Feb. I feel annoyed because if I had worked for a small company and handn't got made redundent until may then they would have payed out due to the timescales involved in large scale redundencies. Does this make sence?