Hi, I have a friend who has just fallen foul of a DCA. She was contacted by a company claiming to be representing a creditor she owes £15 to. She disputes this debt exists. She received a Final Notice issued by DCA which was very vague. It didn't mention anywhere on the letter the name of the company they were acting on behalf of, or even what the debt was for, just a total + an admin fee. The DCA isn't a registered company, is operating out of a PO Box, its number is ex-directory, and the letter was signed by a person mentioning no position in the company just giving a surname and initial. Being naive and working in an FSA regulated job. I thought this can't be legal, especially not mentioning what the debt was for and the company they were collecting on behalf of. So I advised my friend to write back requesting information. Along the lines of who they were, a legal address, there relationship to the company they are acting for and legitimate registered company name. Today she received another letter from them, this time a Notification of Summons Application. The letter had a different unregistered company name from the same Po Box, and new total with even larger admin fees. It was signed by a person mentioning, first name, surname and position, but still no mention of the relationship to the company they are representing nor mention of that company itself. Surely somewhere a DCA is required legally to mention who they are actually representing? Write on the letter what the debt is for, not just a 'YOU OWE' followed by a number with no explanation of what for? And supply a legitimate company name and address? When we go court surely I can inform the judge I don't believe a legitimate Final Notice was served before the Notification of Summons? Does this misrepresentation by the DCA count as criminal fraud? Do DCA have to register with any professional body or obtain a CLL or anything to trade?

If you had paid your final month's rent, you should simply have contacted a locksmith. But as I understand, unless your landlord agreed to you using the deposit as the final month's rent, your tenancy ended a month ago when you failed to pay the rent and your landlord has simply re-taken possession of his property. However he still holds your deposit and if the contract states the deposit is held against condition of the property and rental arrears, not breach of contract, and you can prove you didn't harm the property you may get it back. As for your belongings still in the flat. The Landlord may consider them abandoned. You should send him a recorded delivery letter, and keep a copy for yourself, clearly stating they aren't and you require them back.

Here you seem to be complicating the matters. What you are doing is asking for a new loan. Currently you have a secured loaned and are trying to take out a new unsecured loans to pay off the old secured one. You probably in no way meet their lending criteria for an unsecured loan. A much better idea might be to tell them to take £25000, there's noway you can pay the rest and they have to accept the loss.

Sounds like your ex-hasn't acknowledged it because they are trying to find him through you. It might be worth contacting him if you can and warning him not to acknowledge it, incase they find him independently at a later date. Another possibility is your ex-paid it for another four years then ceased and the statute will come in shortly. Often loans companies make a last gasp effort to find people a few weeks before the statue comes into effect. I know a couple of weeks before my student loan hit the statute, all my old addresses and parents were contacted.

As I understand it they have had no contact with you for ten years and made no attempt to recover the loan. As the law stands after six years it covered by the statute of limitations and they can pursue you for it no-longer. However there is one exception, if you acknowledge it and request information about it from them. This is probably why they contacted you they were sneakily trying to get you to request information about it from them to reactivate it. Most important thing is do not admit the debt, do not contact them and if they turn up on your door do not let them in, answer questions, simply say "I don't know of any debt and since you have not pursued the alleged debt for ten years it's well over the statute of limitations period, please don't contact me again or I will report you to the FSA" and close the door.

The basics is, you are in no way obliged to pay any fees, and they are in no way obliged to give you the contact number of the landlord. The question is can you find the landlord without them and approach him privately.

An alternative approach may be to check the land registry charges register and see who the 1st charge is registered to. This will be the name of the mortgage lender. Then write to the mortgage lender spelling out the bad state of repair of the property. They have the power to send people around and repair the property without the owner's consent and then bill him.

No you are not the owner of the property. Platform have a charge on the property in the land register. They are empowered to do many reasonable things, such as demand repairs on the property if you neglect it and insure it (at your expense) if you fail to do it adequately. Once upon a time all motgages were by demise, meaning the property stayed in the lenders name until you finished paying it. This meant if you fell into arrears they could simply kick you out. Nowadays mortgages are by charge, which means a lender must go to court to get you out and courts are there to broker a compromise and do everything to keep you in your home. However while no-longer all powerful lenders still have considerable control over the property. If you have a tenant and they are receiving rent from the tenant and presumably the rent covers the interest of the mortage, I can't see the judge giving Platform possession of the property. How much arrears are you in?

If you get on well with the tenants next door have you suggested they make the repairs at their own expense then deduct them from the rental payments.

A little less conspiracy minded. Have you just applied for a current account or anything that's covered by the new money laundering laws? I had an absolutely identical experience a few days after I applied for a new current account but wasn't in when they rang. Same explanation everything. Then again I may be wrong in the association, it just seemed natural at the time but could be coincidence.

So what you are saying is it's perfectly ok for a delivary service to deliver something to you for £190 and write on the invoice............... Vat £30 Vat admin fee £20 These fees are raised by HMR&C and are no responsibility of the company. .............. then keep the £20 for itself because it wasn't raised by HMC&R. If there is nothing wrong with this I'm going into business.

But calling the small charge a fee levied by customs not them is fraud.

It arrived by post, sender abroad. The delivery company shoved the invoice in my face and I paid. Later I read it, phoned them and established it was their fee, not a customs charge despite what it said on the invoice.

You can join experien free online without providing any of these security measures. If you cancel before the month's trial period is over it hasn't cost you a penny.

That's the point it's fraudulent. It's pretending a fee added by the company is levied by HMC&R and hoping no-one notices. Which violates many laws.