Thanks for your reply. Huge number of complaints!!! I am afraid that if I don't make the payment then they will trash my credit file. When I spoke to vanquis they said I should ring up every month to find out the payment!!! I have never know a company like this.

Hi All I really can't believe this crook of a company. In the past I have tried a balance transfer from another card to pay off my debt that I owe to vanquis and it was rejected as vanquis do not accept balance transfers. Yesterday I made a payment with my partner's card to basically pay off majority of the debt, as the interest rate as we all know is incredibly high. After a few days the payment was authorised from my partners bank and is now showing on the statement, however Vanquis has blocked my card and the account online. I rang vanquis and they said I need to send a photocopy of the front and the back of the card, which my partner does not want to do, end of the day his bank have not had a problem, so does not really see why vanquis should. Furthermore it's his card and has nothing to do with vanquis. I have informed vanquis that I am will not be sending the photocopy and they can leave the account blocked. Vanquis advised that I will not be able to make debit card payments anymore, so I will need to pay by bank transfer, which is fine, but just a pain as I am not able to view my statements online as everything is paperless. I have never come across a bank like this, it's like they want to keep you tied to a debt to generate the huge interest every month. Has anyone come across this or can share any experience? I also want to close the account after the debt is paid off as I am quite fed up of them, will I be able to do this if the account is blocked? Thanks

Hello All, I need some help please. HMRC have wrote to me advising that I owe student loan from a few years ago as I had 2 employments. I was completing a tax return but for my business only and did not include my PAYE income. Student Loan payments have been deducted from both of my PAYE income over the years. I have also underpaid tax on PAYE by about 1k from a few years ago, despite them knowing that I had 2 jobs and issuing me an adjusted tax code every year. I am really stressed regarding this matter as they are demanding 5k, plus penalties. I dont have the money. I was thinking is it really necessary to pay the student loan as I currently paying it anyway? and also whether I can apply the above using that legislation E19 i think it is? Any advice please?

Right I would just like to update everyone regarding the above case...please read on if you have been a customer with mini credit.... After a lot of arguing back and forwards with mini credit, they finally agreed to refund the early repayment fee of £5.50 for every loan that I had. After remaining dissatisfied with their response, I had to persistently beg for mini credits to give me their final response - and they confirmed that this was their final response. I then took the complaint to FOS who have wrote to me today advising that mini credit don't agree with their decision and it has now gone to the ombudsman to review. The decision was was that the fee £19.50 fee should not be funded, however they should pay me 8% interest FOR THIS AMOUNT ON EVERY LOAN since I TOOK OUT because mini credit were deducting the £19.50 fee and charging interest on money that they did not give me!!!! This was the same with the £5.50 fee. I feel like a bit of success against mini credit and I urge everyone to put in a complaint regarding the fees! I know I'm still waiting for the ombudsman to make the final decision but it sounds sweet against a coMpany that has taken advantage from many of us! If anyone wants to know the letter I used please get in touch... The more the merrier

I agree with you. But I always make a note in my calender when the 8 weeks end, and have the complaint form ready to post the day before the 8 weeks end. I know what you mean though, but I actually love sending in complaints, arguing back and forwards, and then sending it on to Ombudsman, trade associations, OFT etc etc lol......and it is worth it, I have so far had a total of £195 from Goodwill gesture for distress caused in 4 of my complaints. So when a company does do wrong it is worth to follow their complaints procedure, and be persistent in following it up all the way (and asking for compensation if distress is actually caused).

Thank you both for the above replies, I will ask OFT its in breach of any of their guidance before submitting a complaint. Even then, whether I win or loose, Mini Credit will still have a £500 bill to pay if sent to the FOS! If I get any further info or I submit the complaint, I will keep it posted here

Hi All, As most are aware, Mini Credit charge £19.50 faster payment fee every time they issue the loan - 1) there is no option when you apply for the loan for this not to be added 2) Faster payment is free 3) the faster payment charge of £19.50 is excessive and misleading as it is being advertised as a "faster payment charge", rather than actually being profit for Mini Credit. Additionally, Mini Credit also charge £5.50 for using debit card for repaying the loan early - I believe this is excessive and misleading, and charged as a profit. I am not 100% sure but I thought debit card transactions for businesses are charged at 50p?? Now, I have had several loans in the past with Mini Credit and all paid on time. I currently have no loan with Mini Credit and my account is closed (I would strongly advise anyone not to apply with them either). What I wanted to do was submit a complaint to Mini Credit requesting my money back due to the above arguments. Most likely, they will refuse and I will take the complaint to FOS. Has anyone every submitted a complaint to Mini Credit or FOS regarding this? Also does anyone have any views on this or my chances? I was thinking its worth a try to fight for, I wont end up loosing anything and I dont owe them any money anyway!

i have taken a default issue to the FOS before and I think they do have the power to remove it? Although the outcome did not rule in my favour (probably correctly), atleast it was looked into and the company I was complaining about got slapped with, I believe, a £500 bill for me taking the complaint to the FOS!

Hi, I had the same from Payday Express when I defaulted. Some advice.... 1) keep a log of calls including time and date 2) I would advise not to avoid the debt - if you can, email them with an affordable repayment plan proposal and also let them know not to contact you at work due to disciplinary actions that may be taken, and prefer communication via email or writing. 3) Most likely, they will refuse your repayment plan proposal or you will not hear back from them. 4) if you do not hear back from them within 48 hours ( and put that you would like a response within 48 hours in your email), then submit a complaint following their complaints procedure. 5) do not speak to them on the phone - keep everything in writing 6) If they still do not give you a repayment plan or respond to you or you are not satisfied with their response, you can refer the complaint to the FOS - this is how I managed to get my repayment plan agreed. 7) what I also used to do is everytime they rang on my mobile (several times a day, using different numbers), I would email them every night, stating the times they telephoned asking for them to stop harassing me as it was causing me and my baby distress. I would advise that they communicate via email or writing. All the above was submitted as evidence to the FOS. Good luck, but please try not avoid it as then you are only delaying the problem.

I want to sign up, let me know when it's ready I can get some signatures on there! I have had mixed experiences with FOS, 1 or 2 good but the majority been handled bad. FOS do tend to favour the banks, payday loan companies etc, even though you highlight relevant legislation or OFT guidelines to them. I do think that employees at FOS do need training up (I dont want to use the word incompetent), in my experience, including the people that allocate the complaints, I have only come across a couple of people from the FOS who seem to know what they are doing. In one of my complaints regarding a insurance company, the person allocating the complaint just kept sending the complaint back to me as they did not recognise the name of the insurance company (Homeserve)!!. This went on for 3 months. Then I get a letter telling me that its another company that owns it and they will write to them. Few months later, I submit another complaint saying I have not heard from the company they have written to. They send me another letter that its another company and they will now write to them. Same issue again, I submitted another complaint form as I had not heard from them after 8 weeks. To make the long story short, they eventually wrote to Homeserve and I had heard back from the investigation after 1 year and 3 months!! On another occasion, one of my complaints has gone to the Ombudsman but as they are overloaded with work "with the large number of complaints being referred" (wonder why?!), they keep writing to me every month saying its not been looked into yet - I have been getting these letters for the last 8 months - I have lost count of how many months/years it actually has been since i submitted the complaint!

Put in a complaint, following their complaints procedure either by email or recorded delivery. I have always found complaint route's the best way to progress. Also, am I right in thinking if you cancel your card or reporting your card as lost/stolen provides 2 different outcomes? The reason being is when I wanted to stop my CPA with payday loans (i think 11 in total), I always reported my card as "lost" and have never had any money taken out from them despite being on repayment plans with all of them.

Hi David, I have sent my complaint to the above email address that you have given, many thanks

Forgot to mention, The Active Group / Active Agent have only 1 engineer per area / region! So was surprised when he went to the wrong address for the 2nd visit!

Hi David, I have already received an email from Scottish Power that its been escalated to the Home Comfort Team and I am still waiting for a response. Also, what I forgot to mention in the above thread was that the engineer advised and also put on his work sheet that the boiler needed a new pump and was in the section of "parts required". However, when the engineer came to replace the Gas Valve, he now said that the pump was not covered!

Hello All, I need some advice and I thought I would share my experience so others do no have to go through what I have had to deal with. My current Gas/Electric is with Scottish Power and I am on the Platinum package which gives boiler care / cover with Scottish Power for "free". I had always been with British Gas boiler care, so I decided to cancel as I was getting a service with Scottish Power - big mistake! I had a boiler breakdown so I telephoned Scottish Power. Scottish Power advised they would call me back for an appointment on the same day - no phone call. I telephoned Scottish Power for a update several times but was told I would get a phone call back. The evening of the following day, I get a phone call to book a appointment - earliest 2 day's later. The engineer arrived from The Active Group (www,active-ukgroup.com) - when you visit the website it comes up as Active Agent. The engineer gave a time to visit of 13:00-15:00 and arrived at 18:30. He was present for 15 minutes and said everything was ok. The next morning my family awoke to freezing cold again and no hot water - the boiler was not working. I telephoned Scottish Power and had the same fiasco again with the appointment. I telephoned Scottish Power several times throughout the day and was promised the engineer would arrive in the afternoon. I waited till late afternoon and gave a phone call to Scottish Power as the engineer had not attended - I was told the engineer went to the wrong address! Now the appointment was set to the following morning - no time given. The following day, I made several phone calls to Scottish Power in the morning to chase up the engineer visit. Several times Scottish Power had advised that they were unable to get through on the phone to The Active Group / Active Agent. The engineer eventually attended near lunch time. The engineer advised that there was dust in the boiler (which he cleaned) and advised there was an issue with the flame injector - but carried out no work on it. The boiler was up and running. 30 minutes later the boiler broke down again, with the Flame Injector sign being displayed on the screen of the boiler. I telephoned Scottish Power again and was advised that the engineer would visit again the following day. The engineer came the following day (as I was now "priority"), and advised I needed a Gas Valve (to do with the flame injector). The engineer advised they carry no parts - great! I asked when the part would arrive - the engineer was unsure. I got a phone call the next day again from The Active Group / Active Agent that the part would arrive the next day. The following day, the engineer came again and now fixed the boiler. The Active Group / Active Agent also do not provide a copy of the work carried out. I made sure that I was given a copy of it, by photocopying it. The engineer also broke a filling loop (this is on their work sheet, which I got photocopied). I have been asking Scottish Power to get their amateur sub contractor out to come and fix it - still waiting its been 10 days - chased up again. I have also submitted a complaint to Scottish Power approx 2 weeks ago - I am still waiting for a response. The advice I need is: 1) are Scottish Power / the Active Group / Agent liable to fix the part they broke - especially when I have written proof that they broke it? 2) If I do no hear back from my complaint, can I submit it to the energy Ombudsman, after the relevant timescales have passed? In total, I was without heating/hot water for 10 days. I had small infants in the house and it was freezing cold. The sub contractor (Active Group / Agent) seem to amateur at their own profession. I have never had this kind of service from British Gas before. I would advise to stay clear of Scottish Power Boiler care and their amateur sub contractor. As a consequence I may now also move my gas/electric and I have now signed up with British Gas again.