The benifit system work OK if your entitled to it, but eligability does not take into account all outgoings, If you earn £900 per month, your rent/Mortgage is £500, other bills and debts £400, not including CTax the you will not get any benefit towards your £140 + Ctax bill, even though you might need it, they only take into consideration certain outgoings when deciding your benefit, and if you left over income after rent is over a certain amount they decide you can afford it, they DO NOT take into consideration any other required outgoings. This is where I feel it is an unfair system. I think that other outgoings should be taken into account when deciding abillity to pay.

My understanding of Council tax, is that it is due for payment in April, and they allow you to pay it in arreas over 10 months, this is how they get away with demanding the amount in full. As much as I hate the idea of giving the council vast sums every month, I suppose they have to get their wages from somewhere, I dont agree with the amount they charge either, and I also think that not paying should be de criminalised, as being unable to pay should be a defence. whereas as it stands now even if you really dont have the funds you still have to pay or you go to prison.

At what point should a DCA stop trying to hassle me ?? (Regal Credit Collections) I sent the SAR to Barclays and told them that I will be claiming back the charges and have them set against the debt of £1,300 this is made up of what I calculate to be about 95% charges, although until I get the statments from the bank I do not know exactly. The oridginal debt was £1350 and I have paid in over £400 which has been swallowed up by more charges somewhere and the debt only reduced by £50 Also they phoned up today and asked if I was me, and did no other security checks, and went on to discuss the debt. I informed him the account was in dispute and I had informed Barclays of my intentions, and he went on to say that the debt was still collectable, and they would be persuing me still for it. He just started spilling on how charges were not added untill the account was in arrears and interest is still payable, I informed him again that the charges made up a huge amount of the debt, many of which were added as a result of barclays removing the OD without notice. he started to argue again, I stopped him in his track by saying I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY OTHER THAN, I HAVE INFORMED YOU THE ACCOUNT IS IN DISPUTE AND IS NOT COLLECTABLE AT PRESENT, PLEASE REFER TO BARCLAYS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. He again seemed to get upset and I thought he was going to cry down the phone, he was trying to find words to respond with. I was not rude, offensive, angry or stressed, but did seem to catch him on the off. Any Ideas if i'm right in what I said, do I have to inform the DCA in writing that the account is in dispute too. Thanks in advance

I'm Still waiting for a responce to the SAR, it's now 21 days since it was signed for as delivered at my local branch. I will make a point of pointing out this case in further correspondence, as I really do need the account, but the money is needed too, As for opening accounts with Halifax or Citibank, I have had cards and accounts with them and it looks like citibank have forgotten about the £4,000 odd I owe them, not heard anything from them in about 5 years so don't want to remind them i'm alive for another year or so, and as for Halifax they are about to get a SAR too for a closed account and credit card. Don't get me wrong, I didn't load myself up with debt with no intentions of paying it back, i'm like most others who borrow within thier means, then something happens that ruins future life plans and find themselves in debt. My something was a fire that gutted my house, destroyed everything I own, Then having to deal with IMO the worst Insurance company in the country (Big red phone), that took 2 years to decide they were not going to pay out. During that time I had to pay rent on another house and pay my mortgage, so Like many others it was not my fault. So during that time I managed to upset a few poor desperate credit card companies that can't afford to lose a few quid, I wrote to all of them at the time to explain my situation, not one of them was helpfull, they all basicly said if you dont pay on time you'll be in default and we'll come after you for the amout and costs. I'm still re-building my house now myself and have been for over a year, it should be habitable again in a few weeks, i'm waiting for the gas and electric to be re-connected (which I have to pay for at around £2,400) this is what any money I get back from Nationwide will pay for. I'm doing it because I need to, not just because I can.

Thanks for your comments MilkTrayMan, but as a result of being behind with quite a few debts, through unlawfull bank charges and not, I still have an adverse credit rating, which will make it extreamly difficult to get an account with a Debit Card, I rely on a debit card and can't be without one. I have no intention of being in a position where they can charge me in the future, the account is in good order and I have every intention of keeping it that way, They might not want to close the accounts though as I have about 10K in my savings account and a mortgage which earns them money every month legally. Thanks Richthegill, I might try an Abbey account, and see if they will upgragde it, If I open a savings account too. and they see money going in every month they might see that there was a genuine reason for my bad credit rating.

Can you insist that they don't close your account ?? if you do, surley if they settle before it goes to court, they are not legally obliged to keep the account open.

Just been reading through your post and have noticed one thing that does not appear to have been mentioned, Travel Insurance... did you have any, surley this will cover your losses in full. Also what tarrif are you being charged monthly for ??? even though the have susspended your service, you may be able to change to the lowest monthly tarrif with no free mins or texts, might be worth a try.

This is more of a poll than anything else, i personally could do without them closing my account, as I am blacklisted and won't be able to open another, I need to have a Debit card and Direct Debits. Can I have a quick YES or NO answer from everyone who has claimed and won against Nationwide. Many Thanks

Thanks Rooster One thing I have just come accross in other threads is that nationwide like to close accounts, I have a savings account, Current account and a mortgage account, could the close all 3 ?? The Mortgage is in arreas by £240 and is being paid back @ £10 per month as set by the court, The Savings account is due to receive about £2000 in interest on march 31st, if they close the account before then I might loose the interest (not 100% sure) Due to all the problems I had, I am Currently Blacklisted so I won't be able to open another account, as I have loads of Direct Debits and need a Debit card, a basic account probably won't be any use. So I have the potential to lose out all round. If I pay the Mortgage arreas, they may not be able to close that as it will no longer be in default. and it's a fixed term account, but still need to be sure. Any Advise ??

All my troubles started in September 2003, i had a fire and lost everything, after 2 years of fighting with an insurance Company they decided not to pay out in full, only offererd a 30% settlement , although the 2 years waiting had created costs equating to 50% of their settlement so I was left well and truely in the Poo !! but that's another story !! As a result of the above, I fell in to arreas on my mortgage as I was having to pay rent on alternative accomodation, I informed Nationwide of my situation and they were not interested, they just insisted i kept up repayments or they would move to reposess, anyhow month after month i was charged £55 for returned DD and Mortgage not paid fees plus other charges, Not sure how much in total but it was stupid amounts every month. I have sent them the S.A.R and am waiting for thier response, When I get the list of charges, do I then have to work out what the "Fair" amount is and take it from the amount charged and then just claim the balance, or as the charge is deemed as unjust, the whole amount is owed ?? on to Barklays Barclays !!!, I had a business account with a £1000 overdraft, the overdraft was taken away with 7 days notice as I had gone over it because of bank charges (all because of the above), I moaned and complained and as I refused to pay the overdraft back within a stupid space of time they kept adding unauthorised OD fees and as much as I was paying in, it was being swallowed up by bank charges, so the amount never went down, They eventually closed the account and Passed the debt to a collection agency who are now chasing me for £1300, they have also entered a default on my Credit file, if the charges were not added in the first place, I would be in credit by as much as they now say I owe. I asked the Debt Recovery firm when they called the other day if the 1999 act means that the bank charges they are claiming are unlawfull and as such can't be claimed, she said "doesn't apply to business accounts" can anyone confirm this ?? Should I send the SAR to the collection company as they are now acting on behalf of Barclays ?? Any Advice would be great