I have been paying a debt to a Council through BCW. As I have a very low income it was agreed that I could repay £1/month. I have a letter from BCW agreeing to this and have since made the payment each month by sending them postal orders. Each month I get a letter from them saying that I have not honoured the agreement made with them, yet each month the amount owed is reduced by £1! Can I report them for this as they state in the letters that this is a notice of an intended visit as my agreement has been dishonoured. How can I best deal with this? Surely they are shooting themselves in the foot by reducing the amount of the debt each month? Would appreciate advice here. Have heard that this lot are not particularly pleasant to say the least......

Just about says it all about Egg and their efficiency!! Wise man going to live in Spain!

Thanks for that, I have no intention of not paying, but would like a settlement figure as I have paid horrendous amount of interest to date. Also I have not defaulted but cancelled the direct debit a couple of weeks ago to make them actually write to me as I could not get anywhere online. So, you reckon if I make an offer of say £1200 that would be worthwhile trying?

Thanks for the info, I will now check into what you have said. First will have to get the statements or perhaps they can be obtained online? Anybody know if this is the case? Re the termination, yes I was one of the ones unilaterally terminated. Any comments on getting a settlement figure?

Can you help with this please? Got an Egg card several years ago and have been paying £150 per month for at least the last two years by direct debit so finally rang Egg last week to ask what was still outstanding as this account was online and I had not used it for so long had forgotten the original account number, and was informed the figure was around £1500. I have not had a new card sent for at least two years despite the continual monthly payments and was informed that I was considered not a good enough risk to have a new card sent. I then asked for a settlement figure for the outstanding debt and also asked if the interest could be frozen and a better payment system set up and was informed that neither were possible, I would just have to keep paying the monthly £150. Is this in fact correct? Also is there any way in which I can get a settlement figure, I worked out that I have already paid thousands in interest over the past few years and was horrified to discover that the figure was as large as 1500 - the original limit on the card was no more than 3500!

I was 60 in December 2010 and am currently on JSA with no savings or other income. My Pension start date is at the beginning of September. Last time I went to sign on for JSA the very helpful person there suggested I enquire about Pension Credit as I may be eligible for that now? Can you advise please? Also, does JSA stop automatically upon payment of Pension in September?

Hi there, have contacted the Council who, needless to say, still haven't replied. Meanwhile I have had several threatening letters from BCW and one which states that they can confirm that the claim relates to Housing Benefit overpayment but that they do not hold agreements or invoices. AS it happens I have not actually received an invoice from the said council so have had no chance to offer payment terms to them direct. They have simply passed it straight to BCW. Where do I stand on this? In any case I have no bank account and only receive JSA from which deductions are being made. If I offer to pay anything at all, does this stop matters progressing to court? Would appreciate any help, your help so far has been great. Also, is it a good idea to email BCW or should I stick to normal letters. I do know not to call tham!

I am currently on JSA of £65.45 and already repaying an overpayment to a Council through another DCA (Stirling Park). Now received demand from BCW for whole amount of housing benefit to be repaid, which is absolutely impossible. I already have £5 a week taken back by DPW which takes my weekly income to £60.45 and as stated am paying £10 a month to another DCA for repayment of council tax to the same Council. I have no other income and am in seriously difficult circumstances. No bank account, only the Post Office account that benefit is paid into. I have not as yet responded to the letter from BCW and would like advice as to how to handle it. I know not to phone them from reading advice on this excellent site. Can somebody help please? Thanks in advance.

Had a letter from Debt Recovery Plus :Ltd, anybody heard from this lot? It was for parking in a retail park in a disabled spot - with the requisite Blue Badge - during an evening visit to the pictures. I (stupidly, probably) telephoned them to point out that I had written to the original parking company several weeks ago to point out that I was disputing the charge. The Debt Recovery female replied that unless I had replied to the charge within 14 days any notice of dispute would not be forwarded and therefore I could do nothing and the charge - now amounting to £148.99! - must be paid. I asked why this applied to a disabled space and was told the the Blue Badge scheme did not apply to private car parks. Why therefore are the disabled spaces clearly marked as normal???? And I was not (probably like the rest of the community) aware that the local retail park was private land, have not seen any sign to say so. Advice please? Am tempted to bin the paperwork...

Hi there, good to hear from you, didn't hear from them but money stopped going into the P Office account and when I asked why was told the claim had been closed in 2005 (this was after a phone call in Feb 2010..) Had moved house since then but had arranged for mail to be forwarded

Sorry, think the above should perhaps have been started in a new thread but I dont know how to do this...

Hi there can anybody help me? I am currently in the situation of having no income whatsoever, having been ill since June of last year. Previous to that I worked for 3 months for an employment agency and paid tax and NI through them. PRevious to that I was in receipt of Incapacity Benefit but this was ceased in February 2010, possibly due to the fact that I was in dispute with a Council re overclaiming/overpayment of HB and CTB and I assume the departments were in contact. This has led unfortunately to me being prosecuted for this and results of this will be in about a month. OBviously i am in a position of wrongdoing by not informing of a change of circumstances which I fully accept (it is totally mortifying to be 60 years old with a clean record and then having to plead guilty to this, but is my own fault I know...there are extenuating circumstances but that still doesnt change the facts...)but now I am in desperate need of help and also I will need to start repaying the overpaid HB etc. Can anybody advise please? I have got the number of DWP to make a claim for benefit but would like advice from someone on here first as everyone is really helpful and have had great help from other parts of this site previously. The stress factor is horrendous. (I should have said that I have managed to live through the past few months as my sons have helped me but I cannot continue to expect this) I am 60 now but cant claim pension till September 2010.

Thanks Scott, appreciated.

Thanks so much Halibutt, dont know how to start a new thread, can you advise? Stirling Park's (v aggressive) female demanded that I increase the payment or they would go to Court. She put it up to £10, demanded the first £10 was paid in two weeks or else....I explained that I had no actual income as such and was being helped out by my sons, but she kept telling me I should go onto benefits in order to pay the debt off. I wasn't aware that the idea of benefits was to pay debts.....

Also meant to ask - if the debt is now owned by Stirling Park, does that mean that the Council have been paid by them? Total is just over £1k. Thanks

Hi there, I have a debt for council tax which is with Stirling Park and they originally agreed that I could repay £6 a month as I couldn't afford more. This went on for 2 months then they called me and wrote demanding that I contact them in order to review the payment. I assured them that my circumstances/income had not improved and I was just about to seek work after a long illness. This was not accepted and they demanded to know why I was not claiming benefits. They then asked for my National Insurance number ~(presumably as they didn't believe me). Can they insist that I increase payments which I really cannot afford to do, also can they demand my NI number? Anyone else had problems with Stirling Park? Many thanks, this is such a great forum and helpful

Oh well, if they turn up they will be treated with the contempt they deserve......and not so dumb!....thanks for the help. They dont even know if I am here or not, have not at any stage signed for anything, just had loads of letter dumped on the doorstep.

Thanks Bazooka Boo, the letter will be printed off and at the front door in readiness. I probably couldn't discuss much with them anyway for coughing as am quite ill at the moment. Your help and info is invaluable, much appreciated. I take it doorstep agents are not the same as Sherriff Officers? Sorry to sound so dumb...

Thanks for that infor, I will make sure that the company sends a recorded delivery letter to the Fresh Start lot saying just that. Bad enough when you DO owe a debt, but when you DONT, it's a bit much. I am assuming that Murray White have sold them a 'pup' as there is in fact no debt outstanding?

Has anyone (Scotland) had any trouble recently from a company in Glasgow called Fresh Start? My son has been telephoned constantly by them regarding a debt which has long since been paid in full through another Glasgow company, Murray White, a nasty shower if ever there was one. Would be glad to hear of any other experiences with either of the above. We have reported the Fresh Start lot to OFT/TS as they are constantly calling his office number.

Many thanks for that info, really helpful, will act on it. Re Debt Managers Ltd, today I received yet another epistle from them (last week it was one from their solicitors in Edinburgh) saying : "You have failed to respond to our previous communications therefore our doorstep agents have now been instructed to call at yor address to collect the full amount owed. You have a final opportunity to prevent this happening by simply calling the above number. You may even be entitled to a discount (without prejudice) for an immediate settlement. Failure to respond to our letter will result in our agent calling. Account due To: Barclays Bank plc Debt Managers Ref:xxxxxxx Account balance : £473.73 Client ref: xxxxxxxx and of course the inevitable Giro payslip. Advice please? Can they actually come and harass you on the doorstep? (I live in Scotland, not sure if the law differs at all) Thanks guys, look forward to hearing from anyone, am still off work and now having to undergo hospital tests, this is not helping....

I have now received a letter from an Edinburgh firm of solicitors threatening court action and urging me to get in touch direct with the Debt Manager lot. I have ignored it like the rest. At no time have I signed for any correspondence. Any further advice? Also, on the subject of debt collection, one of my family repaid a credit card debt relating to the Clydesdale Bank to a company called Murray White in Glasgow and this was settled in full. Now, many months later he has a company called Fresh Start demanding money for the same thing. This is being done by telephone and yet not one shred of paperwork has been received. This debt is NOT outstanding, can these people be reported to anyone for this harassment? Or should we simply block the calls? Would be glad of advice.

Letter arrived this week headed Notice of Legal Action saying failure to respond to previous letters has resulted in the account being passed to this department (??) for court action and solicitors may prepare the court papers within seven days. If I wish to avoid legal action I must now pay in full today using the attached giro or I can phone and puy by debit or credit card or I must immediately telephone their legal manager on 0844 842 5291. Advice please? Am still not working due to ill health but would hope to take on part time work in a few weeks. Thanks, look forward to some help yet again.

No, was an employee and had NI and tax taken at source, paid net weekly.

Just been to doctor and he has signed me off for at least a month. Any info on this site as to how I would claim sickness benefit? Work for the past 4 months has been for a temp agency.