Would love to hear what CA said to you about them......

Thanking you again 42man...... Trolls are on diet.....I shall remember

It has now moved beyond the letter stage for me - received a claim form through money claim online for a fraction of the amount owed. Rather than go to court I paid the amount online direct to H&L Solicitors....thinking that would be an end to it...Didn't agree to anything or admit to anything or send any paperwork back....but the phonecalls have not stopped....checking a number online that phoned me at 8.30 at night....I found this posted on Aug 9th... http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01527586594#p435970149187947847 Let's just say I'm feeling gutted now... Does my paying the sum of the claim in itself constitute admission of the debt?

Thank you Mike770... BazookaBoo - I haven't checked my credit file, about 5-6 years ago had a serious breakdown, wasn't functioning for about a year, everything went topsy turvy money wise and haven't worked properly since. I told all my creditors at the time, it didn't stop the phone calls.....scarred me that, still can't pick up my home landline, have to do a 1471 and call them back if I know who it is who rang....anywise that has left it's mark on my credit history and I'm now sub-prime...Which is a blessing I'm discovering....

it has an online adress for payment http://www.payhl.co.uk and a barcode for paying at a post office or paypoint. or payment must be sent direct to us at the above address HL legal collections grosvenor house prospect hill redditch

It was addressed to him, but quoting a debt I owed in which I dispute the amount owed with M&S. I sent them one of your templates( I believe it was the general debt template) adjusted to say I was not the named person and had no knowledge of what they were on about. I received back a profusely apologetic letter from the supervisor, saying they've corrected the error in their system that caused the problem and included a demand for me to pay the disputed debt....this is approaching six years now that this has been in dispute in one way or another.... Received this last week from 'H&L Legal & Collections solicitors' (sic) We act for Sigma SPV1 Limited who have instructed us with regard to the outstanding accouont with them in the above amount. We are not aware there are any reasons for non-payment or that you have indicated to our client that the debt is disputed. We should therefore be grateful if you would please make arrangements to settle the full amount outstanding in the next 7 days........Should payment not be made then we anticipate instructions to issue legal proceedings against you in the County Court claiming the full amount outstanding together with interest and costs. At the beginning of the year I had received a letter from M&S saying they had sold my account to Sigma. If that is true then they sould have passed over my file as well which contains all the information about the dispute and my illness and why there is no way I could pay anyway as I'm on benefits...... So am wondering where I stand, are H&L Legal truly soicitors with clout or is the by a legal letter H&P? Do I send off the general debt template letter again telling them what I've told you here?...Why should I have to if they have my file? :-/ (Atom scratches his head in puzzlement)

Thank you for this thread.... I just received a threatening letter from Sigma Red claiming that Sean B.of my address owes M&S £1784.97.....I have NO IDEA who Sean B. is....With the sums and issues involved, you'd think they'd be more careful to say the least......

Continuing on from this thread : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?312363-Smile-ignores-letter-of-appropriation. Am still on reduced benefits while awaiting tribunal...Have been doing as I have been advised ie. sending letters of appropriation every time the bank notitifies me they will impose their excess charges and everytime I have been ignored. I have sent a letter of hardship and nothing happens.... In October this year the bank took half of my already reduced benefits :-/ Is there no protection for us?

I'm having the same difficulty with Smile...good bank but outrageous charges. Presently on reduced benefits while awaiting a tribunal. So receiving approximately £400 a month to live on and Smile is taking half that in bank charges and creating a vicious circle of unpaid direct debts and bank charges. According to what you've said here I'll have to send the bank 4 letters of appropriation a month..... I will try sending a hardship letter and request they refund what they've already taken and see what happens....by the way you need to update the Hardship template as it hasn't been adjusted to reflect the judgement in favour of the banks.... Occupy the World........

This is turning quickly into farce, if it wasn't one already....just had a reply from Nat West today saying; " Thank you for returning the signed acceptance enclosed with my colleagues letter that offered you a goodwill gesture for you account as shown above. Unfortunately this payment cannot be completed as you have failed to accept the clause to reduce any outstanding borrowing you have with the bank. This claim has been deemed void and the offer is now withdrawn. Yours sincerely...." Well, the account was closed over 5 years ago. There was no outstanding borrowing. The clause I refused to accept was regarding whether the payment was in full settlement of my claim. I'm left wondering how these people can manage to hold a job? I'll be writing back pointing out the account was closed and there was no outstanding balance, just to see what happens.....

That was helpful Patrick. ...crossed out 'in full and final settlement' and replaced it with 'in part payment'.....let's see what happens.....

Thanking you Patrick..... Had to do a bit of digging round in my files but the offer of £1066 is full compensation for charges up to 6 years ago - The full amount of £5373 is claiming back everything I have records for possibly to 1997. Thinking I may take the offer of £1066 unless anyone can think of a reason not to....Could certainly do with the money to payy for a new clutch right now.....

I'm gob-smacked to say the least - Had this claim running against NatWest for £5,373.38 in 2008....I stopped pursuing it when the court judgment was in favour of the banks. At that point in time Nat West had made an offer of £1066 in full and final settlement. I never responded as the court passed judgement at that point and received a letter from Nat West saying (essentially) that as a result of the claim there was no point in proceeding further and the case is closed. After no correspondence in three years....today I received a letter from Nat West that reads - "A recent review of our records has revealed that sometime ago you made a complaint to the Bank claiming a refund of unarranged overdraft charges. The Bank fully investigated your complaiont and made an offer to refund £1066 on 12 Nov 2008. To date the bank has not received a response to this offer. In order to bring this matter to a conclusion the Bank is prepared to extend the acceptance date of this offer to 21 days from the date of this letter. Please be advised that if we do not hear from you within 21 days from the date of this letter our offer will be withdrawn and your file will be closed. I should also advise you that the Bank will only refund the amount offered and new claims for unarranged overdraft charges will not be considered. Please regard this letter as our final response to your complaint. If you are unhappy with our decision then you have the right to refere your complaint to the FOS etc, etc,......etc." Don't quite know what to make of this - I see you've started a petition to get this Gov't to act on what they said in opposition regarding bank charges (which I've signed). Is there something going on I should know about? Is the campaign starting up again? Is this the bank trying to get a settlement done and dusted before a whole new campaign against them starts? Should I accept the offer or hold out for the £5,373.38? Valuing your input as always...... Thanks Atom

Had a health crisis several years ago, notified Smile of it in writing. Am in receipt of benefits. In July 2010 sent Smile a letter of appropriation, they responded in hard copy not mentioning the letter as a letter of appropriation but stating it's contents had been noted and that only withdrawals made from my account with sufficient funds to cover them would be permitted on my account. Fair enough !...Having received a charge on my account two weeks ago I questioned why when there was a letter of appropriation set up on the acct. Bank response has been- We have no record of your letter, we have no record of your health problems, the fact that I'm on benefits doesn't matter. They say letters of appropriation only apply in a single instance, they've consulted their legal department and have done everything correctly...And I feel like I have run into a brick wall. They've also said customers are pre-notified of charges...I wasn't, I've double checked. This has now reached the formal complaint stage and still the brick wall. All the correspondence from them feels very gamey and I'm stuck for what to do....any help would be appreciated....feeling frustrated and angry....

Atomboy is a happy puppy today.....In response to my refusal of the goodwill gesture as final settlement, today I received a cheque for the outstanding balance, and a letter with a lot of waffle about how they don't agree with my claim. Ha Ha! :D £469 all mine :D