Last two years I've been temporarily in a bit of a financial pickle due to splitting up with my ex and various related problems. At one point I had to prioritise what I could and couldn't pay, and stopped making payments to my Barclaycard. I think I missed letters from them due to moving house twice and my ex throwing out my mail, but fast forward a while, I got my flat sold and was in the position to clear the debt altogether, which had always been my intention right from the start. But before I could get it sorted they sold the debt on and it's now showing as a default on my credit file. I'm getting lots of phone calls, which so far I haven't answered but I googled the number and it's a company called MKSS. What should I do? The amount is £3,700, which I am still in a position to be able to pay, but I'm a bit annoyed that I can't sort it out with Barclaycard and also a bit annoyed that even if I DO pay it off, it'll still be listed as a default on my credit file. I'm now finding it impossible to get another mortgage, and I'm still struggling quite a bit financially. Morally I do want to clear this debt but I sort of feel that I don't owe MKSS anything, as my debt is/was with Barclaycard. Practical advice would be welcomed. Many thanks.

Oops! Earlier message meant to read ' I already complained to the ASA...' And why the asterisks? I was just calling it an Ess Cee Ae Emm...

I have already submitted an online complaint to the ASAP but I'm sure more than one wouldn't do any harm. I received a reply to my request for the transaction to be cancelled, saying I would receive a full refund within 48 hours. Guess I'll just wait and see... It may be legal but it's still a [problem] IMO...

This has just happened to me tonight with taxdisconline.uk.com. Right after I had paid I realised something wasn't right, and phoned my bank to cancel the payment. They said they couldn't, and that the site was legit, as it does provide a service. I then went through the genuine DVLA site and paid them for the disc directly, and emailed the fake company asking to cancel the whole transaction and issue a refund immediately. I'm waiting to hear back at the moment. Surely this can't be legit? The site looks identical to the real DVLA site apart from a teeny tiny little notice in the corner saying they're nothing to do with DVLA at all! Bloody mental, that's what it is...

This has just happened to me tonight with taxdisconline.uk.com. Right after I had paid I realised something wasn't right, and phoned my bank to cancel the payment. They said they couldn't, and that the site was legit, as it does provide a service. I then went through the genuine DVLA site and paid them for the disc directly, and emailed the fake company asking to cancel the whole transaction and issue a refund immediately. I'm waiting to hear back at the moment. Surely this can't be legit? The site looks identical to the real DVLA site apart from a teeny tiny little notice in the corner saying they're nothing to do with DVLA at all! Bloody mental, that's what it is...

Hi Transparency... This was a really long drawn out piece of nonsense and it's long finished, but I'll tell you the story as you're obviously in a similar boat right now. In doing some investigation, I found out that the guy who ran our factoring company also ran the building company that the factors had recommended for a (very poor quality) £12k roof repair on our building. The building company's address was a corner shop premises and their phone number was the home phone of the guy who ran the factoring company. They had charged VAT, but looking through receipts and invoices, they didn't give a VAT number, so that was how I went after them. I wrote to them several times requesting an itemised invoice with VAT details, and when they failed to provide that I reported them to the Inland Revenue's complaints department, who I have to say were not the most helpful people to deal with, then to Glasgow City Council, who didn't really want to know, and then to Trading Standards, who were sympathetic but told me that factors could basically do what they wanted as they weren't covered by any specific legislation, only voluntary codes of practice... Anyway, I never got any money back from our shoddy factors, but my repeated snippish letters did send them packing and they never got any more money out of me despite repeatedly threatening legal action against me to recover the 'debt'. I think that this was probably an extreme case of shoddy factoring dishonesty, as most factors I hear about tend to be overpriced, careless and incompetent rather than downright crooked, but it's taught me a lesson for the future. Though unfortunately I am now so distrustful of all factors that our building has remained unfactored for the last two or three years and is slowly falling into a state of mild neglect, which also irks me greatly. Ho hum...

Yeah, what was their reason for the initial £20 charge. I bank with Nationwide and for as long as I can remember, their charges - for bounced cheque, returned direct debit, going over credit limit etc - are £30. What was the reason for the £20 charge?

I had kind of given up hope of going after the Nationwide after the latest rulings. Is there still a half decent chance of making a successful claim against them then? I have two flexaccounts and in the last five or six years have racked up £900 worth of charges on one and £1900 worth on the other. Most of both of these were all in the one year. I was self employed and my suppliers were constantly paying me very late so every month ALL of my direct debits were bouncing... Please let me know if/how I should get the ball rolling with them. All help/advice much appreciated!

Bumping this for you! I'm not sure how to go after banks since the latest ruling but somebody here should be able to advise you...

I have had RAC membership for two years now. I have found their service to be extremely unsatisfactory and so I was not intending to renew it this year. But I moved house recently and they sent all the renewal documents to my old address. I didn't think to inform them of my new address as I wasn't intending to renew my membership. So I didn't realise they had automatically renewed my membership until I saw the charge for £90 on my credit card statement. Phoned them up to cancel and get a refund and was told that I was outside their 14 day cooling off period by 5 days. I explained that I didn't even know I had renewed the membership as they sent all the bumf about it to my old address. They said it was my responsibility to inform them of a change of address and so they couldn't refund my £90. Is there anything I can do to cancel my membership and get my £90 back. I explained that I was intending to leave as I had found their service to be extremely poor, and got their head office address to write to, but I'm not sure what I should be saying in any letter. Can anyone please offer me some advice? P.S. If this post is in the wrong place I apologise. I couldn't find anywhere specifically to do with motoring breakdown companies...

Quote: Originally Posted by LancerQRL of course the customer will have notified his insurance company he has different bumpers fitted, worth checking? even if he has most policys only replace with standard parts *Think the point that was being made here was that it he did not inform his insurance company that he has modified his car then his insurance policy may well be invalid.

First time I went to court for a motoring offence I didn't realise that I should have taken my driving licence along. I was called up and before any of the case was heard the judge asked for my driving licence. When I said I didn't have it with me, the case was adjourned. Judge said the case could not proceed without my driving licence and set another date, telling me to be sure I brought my licence along. So I'm not sure how your son could have got the points without producing his licence to the court... And he should tell his insurance company IMMEDIATELY, not wait till his insurance is due for renewal. They will use anything to get out of paying a claim. A friend of my father's had a brand new sports car, got 3 points for something really trivial, forgot to inform his insurance company, had a bad crash and completely wrote his sports car off. Insurance company refused to pay out as he hadn't told them about the 3 points and he ended up around £30,000 out of pocket.

While it may not be 100% legal to park a car with no MOT out on the street, I'd imagine that as long as it had a valid tax disc you would be VERY unlikely to be rumbled. Police only tend to run cars through their computers for document checks if they have stopped you for something while you are actually driving the car. If the car is just sitting in the street looking all innocent and - most importantly - with a current tax disc, I don't see why it would arouse any suspicion. Just make sure you pre-book your MOT so that you can legally drive it to/from the garage when it's being tested. Please note that I'm not recommending that people go about routinely flouting motoring laws, I'm just saying that if the OP genuinely has nowhere else to keep the car then in this case the lack of an MOT is probably something that will go unnoticed by the police and traffic wardens etc.

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd point this out in case it wasn't common knowledge... If you're wanting to start a claim against Nationwide you don't have to bother with a Data Protection Act SAR letter and you don't have to pay them any £10 fee. Just sign up to their online banking and you can call up your last six years worth of your statements via their 'history' option. How helpful of them, eh?

Get in touch with the court and ask them what happened to your case. Write to Nationwide and tell them you have considered the matter and are still not satisfied with their response. I believe people on this forum are looking at other possible ways to attack the matter of unfair penalty charges through the courts so don't give up. Check out some of the threads to see what your next step should be. Don't give up yet!

If this is the first time you have had any 'unauthorised overdraft' charges on either account then simply asking for the charges to be removed (at your local branch) might be enough. Some banks will willingly remove yopur first charges as a gesture of goodwill. Nationwide did it for me many years ago. If that doesn't work then write a polite but firm letter to head office explaining the circumstances of the mix up. I had a similar mix up a few years ago (I also have two flexaccounts) and Nationwide were helpful about sorting it out and reversing the charges. If that doesn't work then follow the procedures outlined on this site for submitting a spreadsheet of charges along with a letter giving them 14 days to refund them before you take legal action. But I really think if these are your first charges Nationwide will most likely refund them as a goodwill gesture.

That is outrageous and unreasonable behaviour from them. But doing nothing and just ignoring it won't make the problem go away. Your daughter (or you) need to go on the offensive. Stop asking them nicely to be reasonable as it obviously has no effect. Get firm with them. Don't be apologetic. Be outraged. They stole your daughter's money! Nationwide are actually easier to deal with initially than some of the other banks as you don't need to get into all that hoo-ha about writing to them to ask for copies of your statements, you can just sign up to their internet banking and look at up to six years worth of your monthly statements online. List the charges applied to the account and write to Nationwide innsisting that they be refunded. Don't forget to add interest to each charge using the spreadsheets available on this site. Go on, start the process today!

I let this slip. Too much to do, not enough time to do it all in. My last letter to them was a rejection of their offer (which they credited into my account anyway and then left it there) combined with a LBA giving them 14 days to refund me in full or I would file a claim against them. Their last letter to me said the partial offer was their final response. Seeing as so much time has passed since the last correspondence, should I write to them again, or do I just proceed with filing a claim?

bump

So you're not asking how they should actually scrimp and save to find the money, rather you want to know where they can store it safely once they have it set aside, is that right? I think some sort of savings account would maybe be the best option to be honest. If i was in that situation I think it's what I would do. Maybe a 6 or 12 month notice account would suit if they're absolutely not going to be taking any money out at short notice. They usually offer higher interest rates. Or maybe a cash ISA? Have a look around (google, Which?, moneysupermarket.com etc) and see which banks or building societies offer the best rates on different types of accounts. Some savings accounts are pitiful, some are not too bad. Some offer better rates to online customers as well. Hope that might help you some

Got another call from ARC today. Refused to discuss the matter with them and asked that they communicate with me only in writing, then hung up. Ha ha ha.

Hey Slick, No, Virgin have not given me a copy of the contract. I wrote to them twice asking for a copy but since they passed the account on to ARC I have had no further contact from them. I'm not too bothered by that though, as I'm sure I did sign up to the terms that they're stating. That's not really the point though. I have asked them to hurry up and issue the Summons they keep threatening me with instead of pestering me with letters and phone calls as I have no intention of giving them a single penny. We'll see what happens next but I'm not overly worried by it. Cheers for the input!

Right, this nonsense is still ongoing. Despite a couple of letters to Virgin I have had no replies and am now being pursued by ARC debt collection and Trevor Munn solicitors. Having read all about them in this section I'm completely unbothered by their empty threats but just wish I could get them to b***er off and leave me alone. Question: Can I write to the debt collectors and solicitors and tell them that as this account is in dispute they have to leave me alone? I know you can for credit card debts etc but is the situation the same for gym membership fees? P.S. Thank you very much to PGH7447 for pointing out that Virgin keeping their Diamond fees the same despite the VAT reduction in 2008 meant that they broke their own terms and conditions. LOL! I really enjoyed pointing that out to them!

Cheers Rebel. Do you know anyone who's cancelled their membership though? That's the kind of info I was wanting, to see if they're genuinely hassle free like they promise...

Does anyone have any knowledge of PureGyms? There's one opening in Glasgow soon advertising £13 a month fees with NO contract, just cancel whenever you want. Is this actually the case? Has anyone got any experience of PureGyms? It's an online sign-up procedure with various terms and clauses and boxes to tick and I can't help being suspicious. Any info anyone has would be great. I've just about had enough of gyms and don't want to be stung by dodgy contract terms again...