I have a couple of relatively small debts, and I'm trying to get them to accept a full and final settlement figure. I read that the best tactic is to offer a much lower amount, say 80%, and most will come back with 40%-50%. One company has replied (Motormile Finance). The debt is for £462.74. I offered £200 to close the account and this is their reply... Debt balance: £462 Debt: Sunny Payday Loans - Debt assigned to Motormile Finance UK Ltd. Further to your recent communication, I would like to offer you the following information. Motormile Finance UK Ltd recognises your willingness to satisfy your liability to us by offering a payment of £200.00 to close your account, unfortunately your offer does not meet our criteria. However we are in a position to accept a settlement figure of £370.00 to close your account. If you wish to take advantage of the settlement offer, please can you forward me the below details in order to process the payment: - Debit Credit Card Number - Expiry Date - Security Code - Name as appears on Card If you are unable to settle your account, we are willing to accept a repayment plan. Please reply direct to myself via email, I will be your account manager. This equates to a 20% reduction. Should I press for more? What is the best way to do this? Thanks!

I cant post links.. but found this on blog.itsecurityexpert Can Merchants Apply a Minimum Spend or a Surcharge in the UK? I have been speaking with Visa, MasterCard and Barclaycard about this, and to be honest the answer is not clear cut as I thought it would be, mainly thanks to complicated European Laws and UK Laws, and even local area laws comes into the equation. What I do know is the likes of Visa and MasterCard do have strict regulations which they say apply to all merchants (retail shops) which accept their card payments. These regulations clearly state merchants are not allowed to apply any surcharge or require a minimum spend amount as detailed below. VISA 5.1.C Prohibitions A Merchant must not: • Add any surcharges to Transactions, unless local law expressly requires that a Merchant be permitted to impose a surcharge. I have been reading up on the legal side of this issue, as I understand it, it appears merchants are not allowed to profit from surcharging. However going back to the strict card scheme regulations, lets take the scenario where we have a small shop which has been provided with the equipment to accept card payments, as provided by the likes of HSBC and Streamline. From my conversations it came across surcharging and applying a minimum spend in this type of scenario is highly frowned upon by the card schemes (Visa & MasterCard). In fact during my discussions with these card brands, they both offered a method to file a complaint about small merchants doing this. Visa: Notify your Visa card-issuing bank. Visa Member financial institutions have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations. Your card-issuing bank can best answer your questions about surcharges. They also have access to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms that should be used by the financial institution to document and file this type of complaint. You can contact them directly, using the address or telephone number on your Visa statement or on the back of your card. MasterCard: File a merchant violation by Email We do contact the merchant's bank when we see repeated violations and they are requested to maintain appropriate controls over the merchants.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, but here goes. I get quite annoyed by merchants enforcing minimum payments by card (debit). It seems to be mainly independents and smaller stores. I generally don't carry any cash with me, as its so much easier to pay for everything by contactless or chip&pin. I actually think I spend less as I'm not constantly collecting shrapnel. I've done a little research and it seems Visa's terms and conditions specifically state that merchants cannot enforce a minimum payment for debit cards. My question is has anyone ever reported a store for this, and what was the outcome? Thanks!

well the other part on that yahoo post was... As for the P45, just tell your new employer that you lost it and just request that you are happy to fill in a P46 form. That way your tax office will inform your new employer what tax code to use on your pay after a couple of months.

Hey, I recently applied for a job which was way above my pay scale but very similar in responsibilities. Stupidly, I inflated my current salary slightly so it looked more in line with the new position. Now I've been offered the job and background checks have started. I'm concerned that my 'white lie' will be discovered. I have found the following thread info on the subject.. Is this correct? http ://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110820063708AA7O9OH References normally NEVER include salary details because that would be against the Data Protection Act. Your last employer cannot reveal your financial information to anyone else unless you authorise them to. Thanks!