the 21 year old is through direct debit.

The contract is on o2, will her credit be a problem though?

A 21 year old friend recently entered into a contract for an iphone for her landlady who has bad credit, in her own name. Now that she is moving out she wonders if it was a wise thing to do! Currently payments are £20 a month and have always been made on time. Any Advice?

Many thanks, doesn't look too complicated.

Sorry. I'll try again.

I need to take debtor to small claims court for missed payments. Only address I have is "care of" (debtor says all correspondence can be sent here). Does anyone know if it's possible to get "care of" forwarder to release forwarding address? Can I get a court order if I need to?

Many thanks. I'll get it rolling.

Thank you. Will small claims court accept CO address?

Advice please. Debtor has missed two payments on agreement.I want to take it to small claims court as I am owed £500. for these missed payments. I have only a C/O address and an email address for service- can I use either? If not do I have to get Court Order to get address? C/O address must have it. Would be glad of any advice.

Dear tryinhard, Well done!!! I know just how you must feel, it seems as if the bad guys get all the help, and the victims are unsupported. I think judges are more perceptive than we give them credit for, they can't seem to favour plaintiff as defendant could then complain. I'm sure your rotten builders reputation went before him. I got a fantastic judgement last time I went to court, but preparation took six months full time work by self and husband. We also needed solicitor, and had a brilliant barrister. You may have to accept that getting the judgement doesn't mean you get the money. When no payment came we wrote an agreement stating what payments we would accept, being a total of less than half the debt over a stated number of years. Solicitor checked and sent it and it was signed quickly. If payments are missed we revert to judgement which includes penal interest, so there is great incentive to keep up payments. It's surprisingly difficult to win in court but feel as if you have lost. You have achieved a lot, and may well have prevented the parasite from doing it again. Let us know how it goes. Hope you and your family can relax a bit now.

Still amazes me that so much help is available (free) to deliberate debtors. But if you are owed money it's incredibly difficult to enforce judgement- particularly if you don't want to throw good money after bad. In my case I spent about £30,000 in legal costs !!! Even though I won, I took my assailant (it was personal injuries) back to court 10 times. Don't want to depress you but we're unlikely to get that back. She's paying a monthly amount, by signed agreement, which is much less than court ordered but enough to give me some security. As you managed to get CCJ without solicitor, you might consider asking for an Order to Obtain Information before a judge. It would have to be served by process server but least expensive option I know of. I did it 3 times and it was useful. I don't know how to trace other CCJ's but expect someone on site does, if they didn't try enforcement you could suggest getting together to make builder bankrupt.

Hello Tkk 73, Sorry to hear of your problems. Well done you for getting CCJ without solicitors,in our experience they double your losses. If you get a charging order on builders property, he can't sell and walk away as his debt to you is secured on his property. This only works if he has equity in the property, if his mortgage is bigger than current value you have no chance. Land Registry can give you info you need on line. Hope this helps.

Have to admit I've been to County Court lots of times as claimant, usually represented by solicitors. Also asked for review of connected case and was defendant and represented myself when opposition had solicitor. Judge was particularly helpful to me at that time. In fact it's generally nervousness that makes us employ obscenely overpriced solicitors, when we can often do a much better job ourselves. Did a very simple small claim while living in Ireland, sent documentation to court which proved my claim, and got a cheque back. Any help I can give, just ask.

Hello tryinhard, Sorry to read of your problems. From my experience as LIP and having solicitor, I too was claimant, witness statement will only be taken into account if witness is present to answer questions about it. Otherwise,as you say, anyone could write any old rubbish. Don't get too worried, Judge is there to help you if you are representing yourself, so don't be afraid to ask if you need something explained. Hope this helps. katan.

Thank you for advice. Health and finance issues both serious enough and both nearly seventy now! So I'll tell it how it is and hope brain doesn't go before it's sorted.

I wasn't worried, just want to make the best of the opportunity. What do FOS best respond to?

I have recently had a letter from the Financial Ombudsman Service regarding a complaint I made about a house insurance company. So far it's only taken 8 months, and now FOS is telling me there may be a delay as they're very busy. They have asked me to detail any "exceptional financial hardship" connected to complaint, and any serious ill-health which makes it important to resolve the complaint quickly.Both are relevant. Does anyone have experience of best approach to FOS? I don't want to mess this up. Many thanks Katan.

Many thanks. Now I can relax. Debtor will have it hanging over her, well deserved because it was a violent attack. It's true 'what goes around comes around'. I think it was worth the cost, if she had settled early she would have been clear by now. Only people to have gained are lawyers. So if I can give advice it is 'avoid litigation, and make every attempt to settle out of court'. Thanks for your support.

Thanks. I don't know when time runs from. Is it from last payment?

Debtor has moved owing me lots for personal injuries, I have judgement but payments have stopped. Don't want to spend any more on this but can't forget the debt. So can anyone tell me what I have to do to keep debt from being wiped out. Or have I got plenty of time? I have current eMail address for debtor, would an occasional message keep it warm? At least until I'm ready to try again.

Latest development- the debtor has 'done a runner'. I'm not going to waste any more of my life on this, but I don't intend to forgive the debt. Can anyone tell me how to keep CCJ active without paying lawyers-again?

Back again. In view of the fact that my assailant has not disclosed any of the requested documents in court, even at a Record of Examination before a judge, I think it will be as well to present OR with evidence I have rather than mess about any longer. What I really want is regular payments without hassle, and have been content to accept much less than judgement on that basis. So I'm trying to 'revive' agreement, solicitor has written but I think she's on holiday- so I will give her a few days before doing any more. At least I am more confident now. So thanks for the advice.

Thanks to debtinfo for taking the trouble to help. I had heard that it could be difficult bankrupting for personal injuries if I was the only creditor. You and others on the CAG site have not only made things much clearer, but have given me the strength to carry this on. My sincere thanks, and I will let you know how things progress,I'll probably need some more advice anyway! I'm taking a couple of days break from the computer, it will give me time to think, but I'll be back on Wednesday Thanks again .

Great to hear some positive comments, much appreciated. Would like your opinion (or anyone who has been thro this) on needing a solicitor at bankruptcy hearing. Me and husband (Golden Wedding next year) have found and indexed all evidence to judges complete satisfaction before, but too important to pinch pennies at this stage. Comments welcome.

OK I think I'm beginning to understand. When I last went back to court Judge gave us all we asked for,large monthly payments, lump sum and interest to continue. So debt on the judgment is over £100,000. No contact or payment so we produced, with a good solicitor, an agreement. Smaller lump sum, which was paid on time, and repayments of only £250 a month rather than the £1,000 ordered. Without interest growing this was a better deal than deserved, but she's stopped paying with over £40,000 still owing on the agreement. Hope I've explained clearly. My next question is-- Do I bankrupt her for the £40,000 on the agreement, or the £100,000 + on judgment ? I'm not bothered by her trying to get a reduction, with income information I have and judges comments, an increase is more likely, I would be pleased if she took it back to get it reduced but think it unlikely.