All you will get for your £49.50 is a lot of searches on your credit record as they go looking for somebody to take you on - been there and now having searches cleared from my file. DON'T fall for this one, you will only end up with companies such as Welcome Finance, Black Horse Loans or another bunch of clowns who charge high interest rates and will insist on you having a PPI.

Write back and tell them that as they haven't complied with your SARN request and misused the funds you are reporting them for Fraud under Section 2 of the 2006 act and the appropriate authorities including the police, OFT, FSO and Trading Standards are being made aware of their non-compliance and criminal act.

I've got one of these from Westcot, which basically triples the alleged debt, have sent it to Trading Standards as well as the OFT. The debt doesn't even exist as the balance on the account is 0.00 and I have proof of that, and proof that their clients have told them four times now that I don't owe them any money. I thought one of the things was they were not to send out documents which may be taken or implied to be part of the process of taking you to court!

Tell them you cannot pay the entire debt as legally it is now under dispute and until the correct information has been received from them - ie FULL breakdown of the cost of the sale, (which seems VERY high for that time) and FULL detailed breakdown of all legal services charged to the account at the minimum. Also hang in there, I am having similar problems as I was repossessed in October and apparently my old property still hasn't been sold, our if it has, the charges are being clocked up on the first mortgage to the tune of £75 per month with £350 legal fees every three months..... goodness knows what the second charge lot are doing but I can't touch them via the Financial Services Authority as they are not regulated, but the first charge lot are and a complaint has been lodged. Please also lodge a complaint with the FSA about this, they will tell you whether you have a claim just by calling them. It is completely wrong that when somebody is in deep trouble the legal system supports hitting them below the belt with goodness knows what charges and legal claims which are easy to get thrown out in court. I've had two solicitors 'severely' told off by judges in court over their so called legal status.

I would say that their behaviour covers all three Fraud by False Representation - could easily cover inflating their charges and claiming for calls not made and misleading about their 'rights' Fraud by failing to disclose information - again covered by not listing charges properly Fraud by abuse of position - they, like the DCA's think they are the only people who 'know the law and rights' and carry out work in a manner which if they were properly certified and independently scrutinised would cause the certificates to be promptly withdrawn However the police don't really want to help, it would possibly take a group action against individual councils and the companies they use (mine was Merton Council and MC2).

I've recently had three alleged debts through Westcot, each time I've asked for an original of the bill from the company as I had recently moved and twice Westcot returned the debt to the original company without further action. The third occasion they have been contacte on four occasions via the originating company saying the debt was cleared in full and they had no right to chase me - so complaint has gone to Trading Standards about this. If they don't listen to a company they incorrectly got an alleged debt from then who do they listen to....

Have you gone onto the Transport for London website and reported that somebody is using a card fraudulently - I would think that they would try to help as they can help trace the person involved via the travelcard and have them arrested the next time they use it.....

When was this agreement originally taken out? I hve an original agreement from them from around 2000 which has the T&Cs if anyone needs a copy - I can scan in no problems - I am going to go for PPI, Healthcare and admin fee.....

Sorry to post on here but I found a Welcome agreement going back to 200/2002 and there were three lots of charges listed, PPI, Healthcare and admin fee, could I claim the lot (PS I have the originalcopy of the agreement!) and whats the best address to write to? Their local office has changed five times in three years locally and their last one has a sign on the door with an address to write to somewhere up north

Have they refunded it in the manner in which it was taken, ie directly to the account they withdrew it from. I got caught by one lot by this who sent me a cheque for the refund....

After reading through this website I telephoned the FOS and a very nice girl took details of two claims from me, one against GMAC on my old mortgage and one for Capital One. For Capital One I NEVER had the card they claimed, and the case went to court in February last year, I showed up, they didn't and the very nice judge told me exactly what to write down and have the case cancelled. The case was duly cancelled and I received a Notice of Discontinuance from Capital One. Shortly after though I received chasing letters from their DCAS and Hamptons and other parties, including a letter and visit from Scotcall. I showed the Scotcall bloke the Notice of Discontinuance and away he went. I have't been chased since about October which was when I was repossessed. ( I didn't leave a forwarding address, only to my bank and current building society). With GMAC I had a second charge with London and Scottish, and it was London & Scottish who carried out the repossession. A couple of days afterwards a letter was received which stated the two companies were changing ownership of the property and cited two different solicitors companies in the same building..... I am claiming back charges on this one as they sent a debt counsellor round who falsified evidence (said I had a car and £400 a month clothing allowance - I don't drive due to arthritis and dodgy eyesight and if you saw my clothes you would know I don't spend that much money on them! So far there is no evidence that my old property has been sold on the Land Registry and I've received no letters from GMAC or London & Scottish. Progress reports will be posted as events happen GMAC RFC xxxxx initial claim to FOC 194.2007 Crap1 xxxxx initial claim to FOC 19.04.2007 RBS - old bank account - £10 sending 20.04.2007 I think I've managed to do it - can you check under the General Debt forums for me.

Louis, Thanks, I don't know how to change the forum I am on, whilst I know a bit about computers I am fairly new to forums like this. Can anyone suggest how to change the forum. Forgot to mention that I have also seen off Westcot over three alleged debts for my old place, I know I paid nearly everyone off last year and only had the mortgage debt left. Westcot have had a claim put into Trading Standards about the advice given to me by one of their employees 'go to the police as fraud has clearly been committed'.... I said 'Okay I will, and you are the people who have committed it!"

After reading through this website I telephoned the FOS and a very nice girl took details of two claims from me, one against GMAC on my old mortgage and one for Capital One. For Capital One I NEVER had the card they claimed, and the case went to court in February last year, I showed up, they didn't and the very nice judge told me exactly what to write down and have the case cancelled. The case was duly cancelled and I received a Notice of Discontinuance from Capital One. Shortly after though I received chasing letters from their DCAS and Hamptons and other parties, including a letter and visit from Scotcall. I showed the Scotcall bloke the Notice of Discontinuance and away he went. I have't been chased since about October which was when I was repossessed. ( I didn't leave a forwarding address, only to my bank and current building society). With GMAC I had a second charge with London and Scottish, and it was London & Scottish who carried out the repossession. A couple of days afterwards a letter was received which stated the two companies were changing ownership of the property and cited two different solicitors companies in the same building..... I am claiming back charges on this one as they sent a debt counsellor round who falsified evidence (said I had a car and £400 a month clothing allowance - I don't drive due to arthritis and dodgy eyesight and if you saw my clothes you would know I don't spend that much money on them! So far there is no evidence that my old property has been sold on the Land Registry and I've received no letters from GMAC or London & Scottish. Progress reports will be posted as events happen GMAC RFC xxxxx initial claim to FOC 20.04.2007 Crap1 xxxxx initial claim to FOC 20.04.2007 RBS (2003, closed due to charges) £10 sent 20.04.2007

Why not use your parachute to tie them up in when they call, I don't believe it can be classed as an 'offensive weapon'! I found a cheap recording gadget in Maplins yesterday, cost about £12 and you can use it on mobile phones as well, I'm very tempted to get this as o2 keep calling me saying its a 'courtesy call' and then trying to get me to go onto direct debit.... Complaint to Trading Standards about o2 going out today in post. If you work out the cost of the calls from the company against the cost of the debt it is disproportionate. I still think "Won Ton's Chinese Laundry and Brothel" is a good one to answer with when they are in pester mode. (Old line of one of my brothers.

My tactic with phone calls from DCA's is to state at the beginning that I am recording the call, then confirm my details and ask for theirs (including the name of their data controller....) I've had one particular company put the phone down immediately - and call back 15 minutes later to which they get the same treatment.

I would suggest going to Citizen's Advice as they are both elderly, they weren't much help to me (single white working female - no kids) but could help here. London and Scottish deserve all the hassle people can give them, their loan rates aren't the best going and their collection tactics are rather dubious, I had a 'debt counsel' visit which charged me £250 and lied on the form which he sent back to his clients stating I spent £400 a monthon a car and clothes! If you saw my wardrobe you would know it is not true, and I don't drive at all, I have arthritis in my right foot and dodgy eyesight so he was clearly making my situation seem worse.

Westcot - who are now in breach after contacting me about a Readers Union acccount, wonderful conversation was had where I was told to go directly to the police and report a fraud, I said "Will do, as your company have committed the fraud by sending a threatening letter about a non-existant debt." Requested info on the account and was told by their prat he had all this, including copy signatures for items received and I would get them in a week (I did get his name btw) and have heard nothing further - that was three weeks ago. Capital One - Seeing Trading Standards today about them, will report back what they say - but as I am single white working female I don't expect much help...

I'm even more cynical since I realised that London and Scottish (whoevicted me in October) and GMAC share the same address for different legal departments.... I will report back what Trading Standards says, I have five letters and a record of 'visit' since they served the 'Notice of Discontinuation' and as far as I know the CCJ is STILL showing on my credit record! I won't use a third party company for this as I have had experience in the past and know I can fight with the backing of a couple of friends.

DONT give in to the request to pay £15-£25 for your own info from Capital One, they tried that one on me and decided it was an 'agreement to pay' and 'acceptance of debt'. Despite the poor response from my thread which got reposted to the Capital One list I am going after them - have appointment tomorrow with Trading Standards. Capital One completely ignore customers requests and ignore the courts, they didn't turn up at my hearing and I had their claim thrown out, but despite receiving a Notice of Discontinuation I still had people chasing, this is why I am going to see Trading Standards tomorow...

Some time ago I had a lot of hassle with Capital One claiming I had a credit card from them and the case went to court, I had had a string of telephone calls from Capital One at my old work place and my old home (I was repossessed in October last year, another thread on that to be posted soon) - Capital One failed to show up for the hearing and the judge threw their claim out. I had a cancellation notice for a CCJ they had issues and that was cancelled, a notice of discontinuation received from Capital One. I thought that would be the end of it but there have been continued letters from the (and a call froma Scotcall agent) since the issue of the notice of discontinuation. Some letters have been from Hamptons Solicitors (copy of notice of discontinuation sent to them) and some from DCA's (Legal & Trade). I have all the paperwork (including CCJ appeal, cancellation and notice of discontinuation) in order and I was wondering what to claim 1. Charges on the alleged account 2. Breach after sending notice of discontinuation I've heard nothing at my new address so far but expect it won't be long before another DCA will start again. Any advice would be welcome. I've been told I could go to the FSA or Ombudsman but wondered which one would be best.