Thanks for the reply. Yea, DCM did me over fairly well, although I did get about £1500 out of them at the end of the 5 years as it said on their paperwork they would 'clear my debts in 5 years' and they didn't, but even that took quite a bit of argueing! They went under a few months after that and are still going through the liquidation process as I periodically get letters from the liquidators. The CCJ was mainly for info to be honest, its 6th birthday is Dec 2014 so its already been like that for 5 years so not really worth the effort to dig up too much.

Hi one and all, I haven't posted much as I have spent a while sorting many things out and have cleared most of the debt I am after a little info and/or clarification from those probably more in the know than me. A very brief history leading to where I am now and the question ... I have previously been through debt management via a company known as DCM Apex (I am sure there are others here that shudder at that name), thats over and one with so lets not get into it. However, while under their 'management' I had a CCJ issued against me (Dec 2008). Now, I have recently (today) had a look at both my Experian and Equifax credit report, I did this as I have recently had notification that the one oustanding debt I had (to my knowledge) from my DCM days has been bought by IDEM Servicing. This debt was with HFC Bank, they moved it to HSBC in June 2013 and it went to IDEM in October (I have a letter from HSBC aswell confirming it going to IDEM). I have been paying this regularly via standing order (to HFC / HSBC) for 1-2 years. I see the oustanding CCJ on my credit reports and it is not marked as satisfied. I also see that the debt to HFC / HSBC and now IDEM is not showing anywhere on either the Equifax or Experian credit reports (could this be the CCJ or should it still show as a debt on the report?). The CCJ is 6 years old in Dec 2014 and I have not had any legal letters asking about payment, I actually thought it was cleared by DCM as it was one thing I insisted they did clear when I was having problems with them (notice they are now in liquidation). So the questions are this I suppose: 1) I assume I can contact the court to confirm / deny the CCJ was paid? I know a Declaration of Satisfaction will cost, but can I at least get confirmation one way or the other just from a letter asking? 2) The oustanding debt to HFC / HSBC / IDEM which isn't listed (that I can see) on my credit report with either Equifax or Experian, where do I stand with that? Does it mean it is potentially uninforceable? Any help, guidance or pointers greatly recieved. If you need more info im happy to provide. Many thanks

I will do, will get a picture of it as I dont have a scanner, will post back shortly. OK, trying to attach a couple of pictures (broke it into two to make sure it was legible), couldn't seem to get it a reasonable size uploading direct to here so I have uploaded at imageshack, links below. Hopefully they are legible enough http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/part1ia.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/part2nm.jpg/

I used the SAR template from here which requests a copy of the credit agreement as the first point. I have already looked through the transaction history, there are a series of individual fees against the account between 08/06/07 - 08/08/08. These are made up by fifteen £15 Administration Fee's (one per month), the total is then reduced a little by a two Payment Plus Fee Paid items (credits onto the account) of £26.00 and £0.95. This leaves a total of £198.05 which was added to the balance on 26/11/08 (hope that makes sense), which seems a strange way to do it. The copy of the agreement that they have sent me has no dates on it, no signatures etc. It has my name and address details, the account number, total amount and repayment (amount and duration) info etc. all hand written. Can they really enforce the loan based on that, which could of been produced yesterday and photocopied? I was fully expecting them to produce a copy of the original agreement, however if they can't, with my understanding, that makes it unenforceable. If true, and they have presented this avenue to me (albeit unexpected) I will have to look into this further.

Well, had a reply from HFC this morning, right on the 7 day deadline (no surprises there). I don't have a scanner so have typed out their letter word for word below: The bit in red is the main thing that interested me. I haven't had a chance to go through all the paperwork yet, but thought I would post this up for thoughts? Thank again for all the help, I will go through the paperwork this afternoon and see if anything else jumps out at me.

Many thanks, I was thinking that court seemed a little harsh outright at this stage which is why I thought I would seek a little clarification, your a star, much appreciated.

So, as expected, we are now at the 42 day point from the original letter date and nothing received. I would assume that Template 3 here now applies? This is 40 days after the original SAR was sent, obviuosly they have requested further identification since then (which I have also sent) and in that letter I stated that their request does not affect the 40 days especially as they had already cashed the £10 fee cheque associated with the original request, before receiving the additional ID. One good thing is that they appear to have taken heed of the other letter regarding the phonecalls as I have not received any calls since sending it, which is a vast improvement on the 10-15 calls per day I was getting. Although I have not had any contact by letter either apart from a standard 'thankyou for informing us about your financial difficulties ......' and asking for yet another financial statement. Interesting, as I have not actually informed them of any financial difficulties!

Well the 40 days are up today, will wait and see what mail is at home when I get back after work. Having said that, I am not expecting much to be honest, if I haven't had the response by now I really can't see it landing on the 40th day

To be honest, to get a laptop that would handle newer games comfortably, you would probably be looking at well over £1000 and it would still perform worse than a desktop of £600-£700. To get the best you can out of it, I would say look for a laptop with plenty of RAM, a Core i5 or i7 processor and an NVidia or ATI graphics card.

No apology necessary, I suspected that was the case but thought I would ask.

For some reason I get a different system in the email notification I got for this thread .... strange. Got this one in the email: http://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc-base-units/core-i3-i5-blast-base-units/core-i5-blast-760/prod_203.html

No problem, Dell was just an example. If you are looking at gaming, and you have to use a laptop, then I would seriously consider looking for one with a dedicated ATI or NVidia graphics card. Laptops will always be subpar compared to desktops for graphics programs / games and the Intel chips are pertty much the bottom end of the laptop range. They are capable if the settings are pretty low in the game, just don't expect too much from them Maybe keep and eye out here also ... www.aria.co.uk I use them alot now, pay attention to their 'Super Specials' as they sometimes have some decent deals / bargains in there and it changes fairly regularly. I also use www.ebuyer.com, those the probably the two main sites I use for any PC related hardware.

First thing you need to answer, for yourself, is what is the laptop going to be used for? Games, general surfing / email, word processing, graphical applications etc. Personally, If you have that sort of money to spend on a laptop and you aren't tied to that specific site, I would look more at something like a Dell Inspiron 15r. A little comparison below for you: Mid Range Inspiron 15r ......................................... Samsung Price = £449 (inc VAT and Delivery)....................... £485 15r is cheaper CPU = Inte Core i3 (Quad Core 2.2GHz) .................. Dual Core (2GHz) 15r is better Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit ............................ Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Unless you need the added tools / bits in Win7 Pro you are paying extra for things you won't use. 15.6" Screen ........................................................ 15.6" Screen 4Gb RAM ............................................................. 6Gb RAM 500GB Hard Drive ................................................. 320Gb Hard Drive Intel HD 3000 Graphics ......................................... Intel HD Graphics (Doesn't specificy type) Most of the other bits are standard to both, Network port, wireless etc. In my opinion, unless you are going to use it for graphics intensive programs or games (which it wouldn't handle well anyway with only Intel HD Graphics) then the extra cost for 6Gb RAM isn't worth it. The Dell is a better machine overall in my opinion, the mid range 15r is still cheaper than the Samsung, has a bigger Hard drive, 4Gb RAM which is plenty for general use and a better processor (more important for everyday use in my opinion), I am quite a heavy gamer on my desktop and I only have 4Gb RAM in that, with Windows 7 Home Premium. Bit of waffle maybe, but like to justify why I give an answer to a certain question, so in answer to your original question of is 'I don't think it is worth the money overall' Hope that helps.

Maybe haha. The game was supposed to have finished about 18 months ago, but my debt management company didn't play properly, which probably explains why they have now gone into liquidation!

Many thanks, I was thinking along the same lines regarding the cashed cheque and the 40 days, but always nice to get an opinion from a third party. Ironically, I have also had a letter from them today trying to tell me the account is almost £2000 in arrears (basically the total outstanding amount) even though I have been paying them every month for the last year, until now as I have stopped payments since the SAR was sent. I am no really concerned about this letter at this time, its a fairly standard one I have seen many times before when I went through debt management, although I was amused by the final line on it .... "We would prefer to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement to bring your account up to date" Really, strange as they have previously flatly refused any payment options I have proposed in the past. Hey ho, I try not to get too annoyed at these people anymore, will send the letter tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks again.

In addition to the above, I just thought of (and have checked) the cheque for the SAR fee, which has been cashed by HFC already! Surely, if they could not confirm the identity of the person submitting the SAR they should not be taking the fee?

Well, had a reply from HFC today. All it is though is an acknowledgement of receipt of the SAR and asking me to resubmit the full application with additional proof of identification (copy of driving license or passport). I have done two SAR before and never been asked for additional proof of identification. Do I have to resubmit the full application, which I can only assume is to reset the 40 days as they will treat it as a different request? I find it a little strange that it has taken them a month to respond just to ask for further proof of ID, surely that could of been done within a matter of days! It seems to be that HFC just seem to go out of their way to make things far more difficult than they need to be. Any thoughts? Thanks

The only expenses we are claiming back for the 2nd car (that was used in place of the moped) are the daily running costs i.e. fuel, because (as I said) I already appreciate that we can't claim for an expense based on something we were going to do without proof, which it is impossible to provide. I doubt anyone could of done it any cheaper I would like to get to a final outcome myself haha, almost 8 months now, a little excessive really.

We didn't hire a car, we had already picked up a cheap run around prior to the accident. The idea was that it was going to be SORN over the summer months so I could do a bit of work on it to get it up to scratch for use during the Winter, as use of a moped during that time of year isn't really ideal. Due to the accident that plan was changed as we needed that car. There was also additional cost at this point as that car was only taxed until the end of March but we obviously had to retax it, re insure it etc. However that additional cost can not be claimed as we can't prove we were going to do that, annoying as that is I can understand it. Our solicitor did suggest my wife use public transport, however that isn't ideal as she can not get to all her clients on public transport and the timing isn't ideal for those that she can. Our argument being that 'why should we be put out due to someone elses negligence'. The additional fuel costs are being recovered (we hope, haven't heard anything from the solicitor in well over a month and they are nightmare to get hold of), as far as we can see that is the cheapest solution that was available to us. The solicitor has also said they will try and claim for 'loss of enjoyment' of my holiday, but again, not heard anything. I am guessing, based on the information we have had from Hastings about LV's delay in repaying them, that the solicitor is having the same problem trying to get anywhere with the additional costs / compensation side of things. It just amazes me that a claim that is likely to total around £1000 (possibly a bit less) can be so problematic even when liability is not in question. The new insurer has said they will adjust the policy when we produce proof of no claims, however they have also implied there is a timelimit to produce it, if it takes too long it won't be considered. No idea if that is legally correct or if they have to adjust it when we provide proof regardless of the time it may take to get it? Thank you for the replies, it's good to get some info / pespective from people outside the problem, I fully understand that my view is somewhat 'rose tinted' Hence why I have asked the question. I am going to be writting to the solicitor again today (or via my wifes email tonight) to try and find out what is going on. I just like to be kept informed, even if that is just an occasional email or short phonecall to state 'we are still working on it but nothing new at this time', the total lack of communication just annoys me.

Thanks for the reply. I have written acceptance of liability for the initial accident (builder falling through neighbours roof) from the builders and a company director was on hand shortly after it happened taking pictures of the incident, thats about it. The bike has been replaced (eventually) and the roof repaired (which took even longer, though that is the landlords problem for next door (and he isn't a particularly decent landlord, the tenants that were there moved out not long after the accident due to a number of issues). I wouldn't necessarily expect to be able to claim anything beyond what is in the process (up to 14 days after receipt of the cheque for the replacement bike). Just thought I would ask as it is really annoying and frustrating that we are still incurring additional costs as a result of this accident nearly 8 months after it has happened. Each of those costs are only small but in todays climate we really can't afford to be paying out extra unecessarily. I would of thought, if anything (assuming I can get something in writing from Hastings (for example) stating the current situation), that I would be looking at compensation from LV as it is them not reimbursing our insurers that is causing the hassle / issue now. We will probably have to just live with the fact that, as usual, the paying customer is the one that suffers in any situation like this. I dread to think what it would be like having to deal with a significantly costly insurance claim!

Thanks, I suspected it would be calendar days as working days seemed a little excessive.

Hi all, Not 100% sure if this is the right place to ask but as its insurance related it seems the most logical place to start. Apologies for the longish post but thought I better give some info on the background. In March 2011 we had the sofits, facias and guttering replaced on the house. On 17th March one of the builders fell off this scaffolding and through our neighbours garage roof, landing on my wife's moped which was parked in their garage (we couldn't put it in ours because the scaffolding had blocked our garage door). We had written admission of liability from the building company and the claim was handled by my wifes insurer (Hastings) direct to the builders insurer (LV). The bike was a right off (only 10-11 months old) due to front fork damage etc and eventually a cheque was received and the bike replaced (after some negotiation) at the end of June 2011. When the accident occurred I had to take 5 days off work due to only having 1 other means of transport at time. My wife is self employed so we loose income if she doesn't work but I get paid holiday, we can not afford to loose income! We also incurred additional costs to run a second car (rather than moped) and my wife suffered with a 3 day migraine due to stress (she has been diagnosed with a chiari malformation which causes extreme headaches / migraines if she gets worked up or stressed). This is going through a Hastings appointed solicitor still! Now, the problems I have and am seeking advice on are as follows (remember we are now nearly 8 months on from the accident and liability was admitted in writting within a couple of weeks of it happening!): 1) We are still incurring additional costs as a result of the accident. We have been told we can not claim for anything later than 14 days after the date we received a cheque for the replacement moped. Is that correct? More info about these costs in point 2 below. 2) Hastings have still not recieved reimbursement for the payment they made to us to replace the bike. They have informed us (Friday last week), that they have handed this onto their solicitors to start looking at legal action against LV regarding this payment (£650). With that reimbursement not happening my wife has an outstanding claim on her policy (Hastings have told us this will be removed when they are reimbursed), however that claim means we are paying additional costs for the insurance of the new bike! Our new insurers may not accept the no claims details if they take too long, we had to change insurers as the new bike is a brand new model and Hastings didn't have the details on file so couldn't / wouldn't insure it! 3) We are getting absolutely no communication from the solicitor, can never get hold of the woman dealing with it to get any answers. Haven't heard anything in around 2 months! I was not particularly impressed with them from the start, all they seems to come out with is reasons why we couldn't claim anything. They have proof of differing weekly fuel costs etc. Where do I stand with the 5 days holiday I had to waste! If my wife had taken the time off there would be loss of earnings claims in there and a potential impact to her business as she is self employed, none of that is being claimed by us because we alleviated the problem. 4) With the ongoing issue of LV not reimbursing, where do we stand regarding the costs of my wifes new insurance etc? The policy is costing more than it should because of the currently outstanding claim / reduced no claims and this is entirely down to LV not paying Hastings! My wife is getting very upset and annoyed with the entire situation, which isn't good for her health. I have been dealing with it whenever possible but this isn't easy as the policy with Hastings is in her name. Any thoughts, hints, tips or advice would be very much appreciated.

I just had a thought today as I was checking dates for when this SAR was sent. You state in your details that they have 40 days in order to respond to an SAR, is that 40 calendar days or 40 working days?

Well, letters are all done and sent, now for waiting game!

Ive had a few calls from similar companies and other niusance calls in the past. So now I have a fold in 'My Documents' with various sound clips in and then try and have a little fun with them. A common one I use is to talk to them as if I don't know anything then, during the conversation I will move the phone away and say something to my daughter tell her to 'put that down', then go back to the call. This goes on for a few minutes then ends with my shouting at her (obviously not real, its all for the the guy on the other end of the phone), then play a loud gunshot noise from my PC, tell him I have to go and put the phone down. Either that, or I have some noises of a woman screaming, so will play that in the background then move the phone away from my ear and say something like 'shut her up for christ sake', then try and go back to the call. It can be quite entertaining sometimes if you can keep it going.