Wanting to know exactly how much they have borrowed and why they have borrowed it is absolutely none of our business in this thread. This is a wonderful site but there are many people on here asking things in response to opening posts which they ask out of nosiness: to know the answer to how much OP has borrowed and why OP has borrowed it does not, in any way, help to provide the answer to OP's original post - which is "What should I do, I've made a part payment, I'm late with the balance, they're accusing me of fraud, what should I do/where do I stand". Your post does not say "is it a secured loan" and "why have you run into trouble so soon into the repayments" - both of which could have been pertinent questions. Instead you asked "how much have you borrowed and why". Irrelevant and none of your/our business. And I get really annoyed about this because when I posted a question on a housing (rental) issue I was asked "how much rent are you paying" -what I pay in rent was totally irrelevant to the question I had asked. Yes, people have to provide enough information for people to be able to help but they should not be asked for information when the sole reason for asking it is nosiness.

The amount of the loan and what is was for are none of our business. OP has borrowed a sum from Welcome. OP should re-pay £470 pm. OP has messed-up and has paid £100 so far and is hoping to pay the balance next week. Conclusion, OP is late making the majority of the payment. Welcome are pestering and making nasty allegations in an effort to try to get OP to pay sooner rather than later. The reason why OP is unable to make the full payment on time is, perhaps, something we should know as it may help OP re-negotiate the terms with Welcome. HOWEVER - PLEASE NOTE - Welcome charge very high rates; it is in OP's interest to make the payments in full and to clear the debt as soon as possible.

It doesn't seem unfair, it is blatantly unfair. Any person who sends a letter can prove they sent it (recorded, registered etc) The person who supposedly receives a letter cannot prove they didn't receive it.

If you were to go bankrupt you have to disclose these disposals, tell them [the Official Receiver] where they've gone and the OR will try to get them back by hook or by crook and anyone else in the chain is in trouble too. Generally it narrows down to friends and/or family. OH tells me that it's actually 5 years (so I was wrong thinking it was 3).

But I know of instances where people have produced letters in court which were genuinely never received (and probably only written in support of the court proceedings). In the "old days" when people had morals and (mostly) told the truth I was sent summons(es) for parking ticket(s) by recorded delivery. Now it seems that anyone can SAY they sent something and it's accepted that they're telling the truth even though they can't PROVE they sent it(but would have been able to provide proof if they'd sent the letter with some sort of proof of posting). The recipient, however, is unable to prove non-receipt or late-receipt - and is deemed to be lying if (s)he says (s)he didn't receive the letter. God bless this country!

I used to have a PAYG phone with Virgin (stupid me!). Recently I bought a new SIM card from ASDA (much cheaper). When I telephoned Virgin to ask for the PAC ( I wanted to keep my old number) I was told that I had to supply them with my name, address, contact phone number, email address and date of birth before they'd give me a PAC number... I'd been with Virgin for around 4 years and they'd never needed or asked for this information but because I was leaving them they wouldn't let me go without giving them all this personal information. I changed phone number...

Thanks Bookie. You say "... showing a copy of the letter is sufficient to establish receipt." BUT we all know there are some very unscrupulous people out there who are not always truthful in their dealings. Some people don't send letters they say they have sent (ie the cheque is in the post), some send letters dated several days/weeks before the post-mark etc. So what happens if someone REALLY, GENUINELY doesn't receive a letter? They can't prove they DIDN'T receive it and the person who posted it can't prove they DID post it.

You can give anything to anyone. You don't need to have a receipt (though any paperwork confirming gifts, sales, bequests etc are, IMHO, a Good Thing as it can help to avoid future problems). BUT if it's done to avoid creditors then it has to be done some time [3 years?] before. If it's done less than [3 years] before then the creditors can claim the assets. And if the assets are sold - for less than fair market value - less than [3 years] before then the creditors can claim the assets. BECAUSE both ways are assumed to be avoidance schemes. I put [3 years] because though I think it is 3 years I'm not totally sure...

Will they matter for much longer anyhow? If things are going to be as bad as the "experts" predict then pretty much everyone will have bad CRA ratings. Which should mean their ratings system will become worthless... Lenders might have to start meeting people again, reading their business plans and making decisions based on face to face meetings. And that would be good.

I'd start by making an appointment to see the local Citizen's Advice Bureau and getting as much help from them as you can and then, if necessary, getting professional legal help. Who is paying the mortage now? Can you let the property until the housing market picks up again? That way some of the current bills would be covered.

I was under the impression that lenders were supposed to be doing everything they could to help people stay in their houses.... If I have understood correctly your mortage is £960 but due to arrears should increase to £1100 for the next 24 months. You also have repayments of £500pm on a loan and a car. Total £1,100 + £500 = £1,500. It seems to me that a good solution would be for you to take up your mother's offer and move into her house (£400 pm). That would increase your outgoings to £1,900 BUT if you rented out YOUR house for £600pm this would have the effect of reducing the payments you had to find the money for to £1,300. That might be a neat solution to your problem and your house will, eventually, increase in value... as will your mother's.

Why is it when we CAGers send ANY letter to ANY bank regarding re-claiming charges we are advised to send by Recorded or Registered Delivery? "So the bank can't pretend not to have received it". I just ask because if you are late paying Council Tax you receive a summons directly from your local authority with no evidence of posting whatsoever. We didn't receive one letter from our local authority but were told "it was posted and so it arrived". Ahah - so they don't need to proove they posted something, but the public do...? Apparently many millions of letters going astray every week SURELY we can use, in our defence, that we didn't receive a letter if we didn't sign for it? And if not, how come there is one rule for them and one for the rest of us?

Not the first time I've heard Welcome acuse people of fraud but they usually back-off when challenged. To quote from the University of Birmingham website What is Fraud "No precise legal definition of fraud exists; many of the offences referred to as fraud are covered by the Theft Acts of 1968 and 1978. Generally, the term is used to describe such acts as deception, bribery, forgery, extortion, corruption, theft, conspiracy, embezzlement, misappropriation, false representation, concealment of material facts and collusion. For practical purposes fraud may be defined as the use of deception with the intention of obtaining an advantage, avoiding an obligation or causing loss to another party." IMHO it's just a very nasty threat to try to get people to "cough up". Have you got in touch with Trading Standards and asked them for their thoughts?

Blimey, I see what you're up against. Will National Express ticket and local bus service do? It might be quicker for her to walk.

Send her to ours - we'll teach her a trick or six!

OH tried to commence proceedings just before Christmas, but the court was shut. He then tried between Christmas and New Year, but the court was shut. On the doors to the court there was a notice saying the court would be re-opening on 2nd January. When OH went to the court on Friday, 2nd January ... it was closed and there was a new message on the doors saying that it would re-open on the following Monday. OH finally managed to get into court, bright and early, on Monday 5th January. OH also asked for and completed the Remission Fee papers, and produced all the necessary documentary evidence of entitlement (the same docs had been accepted in an earlier case). The clerk said as she was very busy the summons would be served the following day. By our calculations that meant the summons was posted on 6th and the defendant had until today (at the latest) to file their defence. When OH telephoned the court to find out whether a defence had been filed they said (first excuse) that the summons hadn't been posted because "this court has to send remission requests elsewhere for processing" and (second excuse) "we're short-staffed". What is going on here? If OH hadn't telephoned today I dread to think how long our summons would have languished there waiting for someone to find the time to deal with it. As it is we're going to call again tomorrow to make sure it has gone out... I know for a fact this court is processing other things as we had to file a defence on something else last week. We posted it on Thursday and received the Allocation Questionnaire the following Monday (though papers they said they'd included with the AQ were missing). Surely the courts have to comply to minimum standards etc?

Sorry to hear that you're suffering. I'd open all the windows as wide as possible and give the place a thorough airing - 10 minutes or so should do the trick. And if possible I'd take the cushions (where he sat down) outside and give them a bash. Yes, there seems to be an ever increasing supply of these revolting, scented products on the market. And people seem to think they need to wash everything even if they've only worn it once! I only use one tab of power for a full machine, the washing comes out just as clean and doesn't smell of washing power. I use a power to help with the lime-scale (much, much cheaper than calgon or similar) and doesn't smell. If something's really stained I put in a bit of stain remover powder. And that's all I use. Sadly many people are completely taken in by the marketing people!

I've had terrible problems with eBay and PayPal too and now that eBay has bought PayPal it's a complete nightmare. Neither seem to come under UK jurisdiction either. Personally, I think we should all vote with our feet and use different auction sites. Perhaps then eBay and PayPal will get off their plinths and start listening to their clients.

So good to hear you say that! I was beginning to think it was just me! We did wonder whether it had something to do with businesses turning off their computers for an extended period - (we're not technically minded) but I don't think that can be the reason as we'd be back up to the high volume by now.

He is what the Americans call "an Oreo" because, like the biscuit (or cookie) he's black on the outside and white in the middle. I bet that if he does well the reporters, columnists etc will gush on about his being "the first black president of the US of A" and if he does badly they'll suddenly remember that he isn't completely black after all. Don't forget, a lot of the celebrating was relief at seeing the end of 43 (Dubbya).

OH and I use Outlook Express to send and receive email. Up until Christmas OH and I were receiving at least 100 - 150 spam messages each per day - fake watches, sex, pharmaceutical etc (and before you all ask, no, we don't look at medication, pornography or watches on the net). Pretty much all of them were collected into our spam boxes which we access through Explorer. Between Christmas and New Year the spam messages were down to 3 or 4 each per day. Were now getting around 10 - 14. Has anyone else noticed this or is it something (wonderful) that we've done? Our ISP is BT.

I hate Nationwide too. They give you nothing, their in-branch staff are the rudest, nastiest, most arrogant and ugly of any High Street bank. They go out of their way to be obnoxious and rude. OH went to the branch fairly recently because they wanted to impose charges, told them that they wouldn't be getting a cent and asked them to close the account. They refused. OH telephoned, told them that they wouldn't be receiving a cent and asked them to close the account. They rang back within the hour confirming they were happy to waive the charges and close the account. That afternoon OH opened a far better account with another bank - much better staff in every way and a much better account too! Don't think you have to stay with these idiots! There are better options out there!

Payment can be reversed simply because the person hasn't got enough funds in their account - and it takes quite a long time to find that out...if memory serves they say an echeque payment (that's what they call a transfer from a bank account) takes 7 working days - and it's only on the day that the payment is supposed to be on the account that they let you know that it has bounced. Before you do anything you should start a dispute with PayPal and then elevate it to a claim if necessary (sounds as if it will be necessary). You should also report it to Ebay who should give you free re-listing fees and should give the buyer a "strike" for non-completion of the deal. If you haven't sent the items - fingers crossed you haven't - you should re-list the items - but you may have to wait until Paypal and Ebay have finished their "investigations" (I daresay their sites will have the info in the FAQs. You could sue the first purchaser for breach of contract if there is a short-fall between what you get second time round as you've lost out as a reult of their non-performance. However, it will take time, effort and stress and I wouldn't go that route unless there is a big discrepancy and you really have the time, stamina and mental strength to go through with it. Additionally, the person may live some way from you and may ask for your claim to be moved to their local court - therefore travel expenses. You can reclaim these and your time but the amounts paid are VERY small. Hope this helps and good luck with it. BB

I think the diplexer route looks a bit too complicated for non-technical me! I googled it and it seems you need different ones depending on which channels are getting joint signals - all of our are suffering from this "blanking". It certainly isn't scart or floorboard related as it happens when no-one is moving around / the tv & freeview box are on a solid base. Being a rented house... looks like we may have to suffer! But I'll look into the costs involved with upgrading to Freesat. All very well this digital stuff (if you're a homeowner) not quite so wonderful if you're a tenant and having to upgrade someone else's property... But in this "home-owning society" no-one seems to think about people like us :-?

We have Freeview and receive pretty good coverage. Our problem is that when we are watching the tv we get "blanks" when we cannot hear what is being said, the picture carries on with no problem. It only last for 1 - 2 seconds but can be pretty annoying as we're not good at lip-reading! Does this happen to other people? Is there anything we can do to stop this happening? We have a TECHNIKA AESTBS7. Thanks in advance for any help and advice. BB