Somebody has been owing me money for more than a year now. I made the loan to him via a Loan Note (Mini Bond). I have chased him up for the money dozens of times, but he has used every trick possible to give me my money back. I need to enforce the Personal Guarantee he gave me now. Does anybody know any proactive and effective debt collection or law firms that may be able to take on my case on a 'no win no fee' basis please? That would save me paying on an hourly rate, at hundreds of pounds an hour to a legal firm. Many thanks.

I loaned thousands of pounds to a UK business, a Limited Company, a few years ago in the form of a loan note (also known as mini-bond). To protect my investment, as well as a legal charge on the business, I got a Personal Guarantee from the Director. He has considerable assets, worth many millions of pounds (verified in writing from his accountancy firm). The arrangement was I would receive monthly interest payments and get my full capital back after two years. To cut a very long story short, the Director started defaulting on his payments over a year ago. I've chased him up, through every means possible, a thousand times, but he hasn't paid a penny in interest, nor has he returned my capital. A couple of weeks ago the Company went into liquidation. This is due to the debts it has to multiple lenders. Having experienced these situations before, the liquidation/administration process is likely to drag on for years and I'm unlikely to get anything back. Therefore, I wish to enforce the personal guarantee I have. However, I've never had to do that before. I've Googled phrases like "enforce personal guarantee" and various variations of that phrase, but the majority of webpages that appear in the search results guide borrowers on how to wriggle out of their personal guarantee liabilities. It's made me quite worried. I can't find anything much in terms of how to enforce a personal guarantee. I imagine I could hire a legal firm, but my experience of lawyers hasn't been great in the past and don't want to pay them thousands of pounds at their hefty hourly rates if I can avoid it. However, if that is the only/best option, I'm willing to take the hit and would appreciate any recommendations of who I may contact. The Insolvency Service told me I may be able serve a statutory demand myself, so I'm wondering if that's a route I should take. I'm not sure if that's the first formal step one should take (subsequent to sending formal demand letters, which I've done) towards enforcing a personal guarantee? Also, I have grown to discover the Director in question is a very devious and slippery character and if I go it alone, I'm wondering if it'll put me in a weak position and much more likely to fail in my quest to get my money back? Another option I've considered is a debt collection firm - or a law firm - that may be able to take my case on a 'no win no fee' basis. Do they take on cases like mine? If so, do you have any recommendations of firms please? Feel free to DM me if you're not allowed to make any suggestions publicly on these forums. I'd very much welcome any guidance you may offer as I'm quite lost. The borrower has been making a fool of me for over a year and this long-standing situation is continuing to cause me infinite distress. Thanks very much in advance.

I have applied to several UK banks for current accounts over a period of approximately two months and, for various reasons (such as mistakenly being classified as not being on the electoral roll), been rejected by all of them. The application searches are on my Experian credit file. I appreciate that having too many applications in a short period of time is not something the banks take too kindly to. Should I wait a period of time before applying to further banks? I appreciate it's a question one can generally only guestimate, but how many banks would be "too many" to apply to before further banks get suspicious and reject an application? If I should wait for a while, how long should I wait please? Thanks a lot.

I requested my credit file from Experian and it states I am not on the electoral roll: "No Electoral Roll Information available from the addresses provided". I registered to be on the Electoral Roll a few months ago. This was confirmed to me by my local authority and I also received a voting card for the last general election. Therefore this has shocked me. I have been applying for bank current accounts over the last few weeks and, disappointingly, been rejected by all of them. I am already in a weaker position than most people as I have a non UK passport, not even an EU one, and mine is from a country which many financial institutions classify as a 'high risk' one. And then to also mark me as not being on the electoral roll would be another negative when banks check my credit record. I had some questions please: - if Experian say I'm not on the electoral roll, is it likely the two other credit reference agencies will state the same thing as well? - what could have gone wrong? - how long does it normally take for the records of the credit reference agencies to be updated about somebody being on a local authority's database? - how may I get this rectified please? How long does it take for the credit records to be corrected? - last, but not least, is it worth me applying to more banks? Or should I wait until the records are updated, even if it takes many weeks? How fussy are banks about somebody being on the electoral roll please? Thanks a lot in advance for the advice.

Apologies for the lack of paragraphs. I've tried to add them several times but they don't work.

I have a long standing issue: I have received letters from the DWP saying I have been overpaid benefits over a number of years, ending about two years ago, because of a mistake in their calculations of how much I was due and therefore I must repay them. The sum totals several thousand pounds. I believe the overpayments were in the form of supplements (for illness) on top of my Income Support. I am aware of this situation from before, and I was paying back a sizeable sum each week when I was on benefits. However, I am no longer on benefits as more than a year and a half ago and am very short of money, as I don't have an income. I am now a part-time student and I look after my elderly father who is very ill. I get by on a very low expenditure, with money my father gives me from his pension. I am very worried as you can imagine. I simply don't have the money and can't afford even low repayment amounts as I am scrimping to make ends meet. I rang the DWP explaining my situation, saying I have an extremely low income and can't afford to pay back thousands of pounds, and all they have done is sent me a form which asks me what my sources of income are to enable an evaluation of what repayment amounts to make. (I haven't returned the form yet, because it may be seen as a concession that I am willing and able to make repayments.) The letter comes with a statement that I must start repaying the sum, or else they will get a private debt collection company to pursue the money from me. When I rang an advice centre they told me that they don't believe I can challenge the repayment request now because more than 13 months has passed since I was initially made aware of it. That is correct, but at no stage have I been informed that I may appeal the claim or refer to any deadline - it doesn't mention it in a single letter from the DWP. Is the 13 month deadline correct? If it does apply in my case, is there any way at all I can contest the payments request please (rather than arranging a low repayment amount, which I am fully aware I can do)? My specific query is: I am intending to write back to the DWP and, in terms of contesting the claim, is there any specific legislation I may refer to or way I should script my letter please? I am very appreciative of any help anybody could offer please.