My car broke down on a busy road - while I was on the phone trying to arrange my breakdown service, I got a ticket. I explained that I had broken down, but he still issued it. He said I should have been next to the car. I told him I'd gone 50 yards up the road to try to find a street name to give to the breakdown service, but to no avail. I feel like contesting this, but is there any precedent anyone knows of for this type of situation? Thanks

But I do admit the debt, I just want to be given time to pay - reduced payments - and they haven't accepted the pro rata amount. Who am I supposed to send the papers to?

Howard Cohen issued papers on behalf of CL finance who have been assigned the credit card debt from G E Money. The particulars are basically that we owe the money, we haven't paid, so they are claiming via the court. Yes, I am paying them via payplan, on a pro rata basis with the other creditors, after having gone through an extremely comprehensive income/expenditure statment with payplan. Payplan have given be a breakdown of what might happen, which seems to involve lots of Court attendances complete with fees and paperwork, following which they might send bailiffs or ask for charging orders or attachment of earnings. And there was I thinking I'd been handling the debts responsibly by attempting to pay them off as best as I can afford. By the way, over the past couple of years they have racked up the interest to where my monthly payments were barely covering the interest, and one creditor who has accepted my offer, the interest and charges are three times the amount I'm paying, so I can't see this ever ending. Payplan mentioned an IVA, but I have equity in the house (which I obviously don't want to sell), so I thought I couldn't do that?? Thanks

Hi, After months of trying to communicate with creditors but they were ignoring my letters and offers to pay, I entered a DMP with Payplan. the plan is operational and making payments to all creditors, but only one has "accepted" the arrangements, the others are not, one has today issued a Court claim form. Payplan seem very blase about this - unlike me - I entered this plan to prevent this sort of hassle. I've CCA's the ones I think were incorrect, and in fact have heard nothing from one creditor for months now, but the others won't accept I'm doing my best to pay them I've no idea how best to proceed, and the thought of going to Court terrifies me. What can I do next?? thanks.

But how do you run your life without a bank account? Can you even pay utilities by cash? What about buying stuff on e-bay etc? I'd love to work in cash only but not sure how realistic it is, especially as they say they are going to phase out cheques - how do I pay my mortgage except by direct debit? I have 11 direct debits go out eacch month, paying all of those by cheque would be a pain and maybe even lead to them not arriving on time. Are there any realistic ideas out there for running your life without (or minimal use of) a bank account?

I've just spent the past three hours reading the whole of this thread, and am delighted and amazed that you had the guts to stick it out to the bitter end! It reads like an adventure novel, I was sweating in places where you were just about to go to court!!! I was tempted to sneak to the last page to see what happened, but stuck it out like you had to. Well done indeed. I thought the advice was brilliant, especially Banker Rhymes With .....I just hope I can stick it out like you did if it comes to that with my cases. Hope you are still enjoying that fantastic feeling of freedom.

I am a bit confused with the terminology of a "default notice" or a notice of charges added which the credit card companies are calling "default sums". Is there a difference? I've had loads of notices telling me of default sums added to my accounts, but I have thought that these were default notices - is this not right? Ta.

Thanks for that. Have sent the letters today. But Santander and MBNA have sent really detailed forms for me to fill in with masses of detail about our household, income, pensions, equity, outgoings etc. They also say that unless I fill it in they won't be able to agree to any reduced payments and will chase payment in full. And there is no mention of freezing interest or charges. I have not filled it in, just sent a reply letter with the basics in it. I have not gone into detail regarding who I owe what to, just stated the surplus amount and the fact that there are two other creditors. If the matter came to Court, would this be seen as reasonable?? Would it be a good idea to now ask for a statement of account as I want to know what charges they are whacking on, or should I just take things one step at a time? Thanks

Oh, that's interesting. But how does that work, with the mortgage etc being in joint names, and the loans being jointly and severally responsible for them? For the credit cards in my name, should I just show my income and half the outgoings, and the cc in my husband's name, HIS income and half the outgoings? That might look a bit odd, as we obviously pay all sums jointly, or we wouldn't be able to afford anything! (hope that makes sense).

thanks. this is my draft: Dear sir, Thank you for your letter of xxx asking for details of my income and expenditure. the details are as follows: Income from salaries xxxxxxxxx expenditure including mortgage, council tax, utilities, essential living expenses: xxxxxxxxxxx As you see there is only a surplus of xxxxxxx which needs to be split proportionaltely between yourselves and our other creditors. Therefore the amount of xxxxxxx is all I can reasonably offer in payment at the moment. Please therefore let me know how you wish me to pay this to you, and also confirm that you have stayed interest and charges on the account, to avoid increasing my indebtedness to you. Please also confirm that you are aware I wish all further communication to be in writing - in other words please stop telephoning me and sending letters asking me to telephone you. Yours etc What you you think?? Can you please confirm I DO NOT have to give them details of my other creditors? Or let them know the amount of equity in my property? Thanks!

One, Egg, has a dodgy CCA - so far the DCA seem to have gone quiet. the others probably have good CCAs as they are far more recent. I'm not trying to say I won't pay (except Egg), but we CAN'T pay at the moment. If we paid all our debts at the beginning of the month, we could just do it, but would have no money to live on for the rest of the month. so I decided to offer reduced payments for six months while chasing a bank charges reclaim, in the hope I can get back on my feet. I am about to draft further letters - what info do I have to give? And what can I avoid giving? thanks.

Yes I had one just like that. I immediately wrote and said I have already told you to keep communications in writing. You may call if you like to collect another letter, will save me going to the post office, but I will not be discussing anything with you, and will include your unauthorised visit in my list of code of conduct transgressions .... or words to that effect. they never turned up.

Hi, I'm trying to arrange reduced payments with several creditors, and have written asking for this and making an interim offer. two have completely ignored me, continuing to make phone calls at all hours of the day. One has asked for another request with my signature on it. The other has asked for lots of income/expenses information, relating to mortgage, insurance, council tax payments etc. They have also asked for a complete list of exactly who I owe money to, with amounts etc. Are they entitled to have such detailed information? Or can I submit my own list, saying "creditor one - £xxxx", "creditor two £xxxx" and so on? I don't feel comfortable with them knowing so much, I feel they will gang up on me! And what do I do with the ones who ignore me? Help!

Oh dear I didn't enjoy reading this - I've just opened a co-op account as I'm going to send first direct a reclaim charges letter and wanted a safety net account in case they got funny. But we're always going overdrawn - maybe I'd better have another think. Unbelieveable that a bank can act like this - why don't they just not pay any amount which would take you overdrawn if they hate it that much??

I've just got my docs back from Egg - in the statements there are £280 of charges from 2001 to 2006. Can I still claim these back even though they hve passed on the debt to a DCA? The charges ranged from £16 to £20. I don't understand masses of the docs they sent me, but there is some disturbing info in them - including a change of name which I didn't do!!!

I've searched their site, trying to find an address to send a request for reduced payments to, but can't find one. The Santander card address was refused by the post office as not on their system! The addresses on this site are two years old, so I daren't use them. Does anyone know who to send my desperate request to please? Thanks

Hi, I'm in the process of "taking back control" of my finances. I've done the budget planner, re-done it as it seemed to say I had loads of money (!) - asked for a CA from one card company, written to the others requesting a freeze on interest and charges and a reduced monthly amount for six months. But I'm confused about how to treat the various debts. I have one personal loan and one hp loan which are up to date. Mortgage and utilities are up to date. It's only the credit cards which are behind. When I write to them, can I just include the credit card debts to be paid from my "surplus" - or do I have to include the loan and hp which I'm up to date with - or is it up to me which I decide to pay. As I've never missed a loan, mortgate or hp payment, I'm loathe to start now. But I'm always missing credit card payments, hence the letters. Can anyone advise? Ta

Hi all, I'm trying to get my credit card lenders to accept reduced payments for 6 months, but can't find addresses - does anyone know who to write to for: Virgin Asda Mint Abbey the first two are MBNA, the second two are Santander - but who do I write to? Thanks PS it's urgent as I have missed payments but don't want to phone them.

Been arguing with Collect Direct about a Credit card from Egg which I defaulted on through lack of money. Egg have not produced a CCA, I kept telling Collect Direct this, but they just ignore me. I offer interim payments, which they ignore. I ask for statements of account, which they ignore. Now I have another "pay up or else" letter but this time from Fredrickson International Ltd from Surrey. Have Collect Direct sold it to them? Or is this another arm of Egg? Why have they sold it on? I've SARd Egg, and they have replied saying my docs will arrive mid August. Shall I just write to this new group and tell them all of this - they are phoning me about 20 times a day, every day. Thanks.

Well a long road it has been but got there in the end. Started claim back in 2008 just before it all went to court. I didnt persist thinking I was on a hide into nothing!! My mate gave me a kick up the backside and along with my family situation changing and all the extra financial hardship that comes with it I decided to go down the financial hardship route. After all the usual letters and phonecalls that everyone else seems to be experiencing NatWest finally paid out, well its not in the bank yet but it on its way. They paid £500.00 more than I asked which Im embarrassed to say ran into quite a few thousands. Anyway Ive won yippeeeeeeeeeeeee! So for all those people that are still battling through, keep on with please and hopefully your end up a happy bunny like me. good Luck.

If an SAR has been sent, and some paperwork received in reply, how do we know that is all they hold? If Egg know that their termination letters last year were unlawful, and they are SARd, why would they just not send a copy? any ideas?

Hi all, If a DCA have bought a debt, do they need a Notice of Assignment? If they are just acting for a creditor, do they need one? thanks.

Hi all I've sent an SAR to Egg, what should they send me? EVERYthing they have? Will that include a copy of the CCA, and 6 years of statements, and any DN, and details of any telephone calls etc? And details of when exactly they terminated my account, and so on and so on? Because I haven't kept half the stuff, and can't remember what came first - will what they send cover it all? Obviously I now keep it all, including recorded delivery slips! Do they have to send the stuff recorded delivery? They claim they sent a CCA but I never recieved it - should they send that recorded too? So many questions, all about the same thing!

Hi there - I'm sincerely hoping you'll update us further if and when you actually get them written off! Please can you let us know exactly why the agreement with Egg was un-enforceable? And, how did a claims company take the agreement to a judge for an opinion, without a case being brought? Ta!

Yes, I looked at that - my agreement is the same. But there doesn't seem to be anyone who has actually had their debt written off, or rather stop being pursued for it because of the faults in the CCA. The posters are still being hassled for payment. If I had to go to court to argue the toss, I don't think I'd be able to articulate it all properly. And then end up with costs too .....? Not sure what to do really.