Sorry Mike I meant the judge was a stupid man.

For the love of all that is morally acceptable. Having been given a run around by the Halifax. i phoned FOS service. What a joke! The guy I talked to was obviously inexperienced. I explained I had a number of bank charges I would like to reclaim and I also explained about the debt Halifax and their henchmen Global Arrow and their solicitor say I owe. Firstly, the very young person I spoke to said something like. Why are you claiming bank charges refund I am always running them up and I have to pay mine. I was shocked and said if e was not willing to listen then I would put the phone down and complain. He kind of modified his tone of voice and started to listen. I told him about the account that had been allowed to go over the agreed overdraft and how prior to that there had been a number of bank charges and then more raised which took the account in to further unauthorised territory. The upshot was that he agreed to have the case "looked in to". He said it would take 8 weeks. The adviser then went on to say that a depending on the outcome a complaint would be made. but my case would be put in a very long queue. After the conversation (?) had finished I looked on the Om-buds-man website (note careful attempt to move away from accepted Ombudsman and all that term stands for). I can find loads of info about how to complain about financial matters but nothing about how you complain about their service. I will complain in writing because I was so distressed about the judgemental tone of the adviser I felt I had not really put my points across. I worked at the CAB at the time when Ombudsmen came in to being. Certainly not the same now some 30 years later. I agree the service has become business oriented and seems to be involved in simple complaints that are easy to handle. In connection with the requests for repayment of the amount owed from Arrow Global's solicitors. There is no CCJ but I am going to suggest that they file a claim and I will counterclaim stating that I am awaiting a decision from the Ombudsman and that I have myself written to Halifax asking them to investigate all bank charges since the year dot. I will seek legal advice before doing so. Blake Lapthorn the solicitors have found my name out because the account was a joint account and someone somewhere gave them my name because I did not. I am going in to hospital next week for my bypass surgery. Strange to imagine that I will prefer heart surgery to listening to idiots. Meanwhile I am trying to contact the local CAB but they are overwhelmed with PPI claims etc The money advice orgs I have contacted say make an arrangement to pay but I have no intention of doing that. I will also make an arrangement to see my MP who is very supportive about these things. Do you know Mike I can understand about judges not knowing their jobs. Stupid man!!!! Any furhter advice would be welcome. Regards Lin

Hi there, There does not appear to be a CCJ. I have checked Experian and Trust Online. Think I am going to complain to the Financial Ombudsman about the way Halifax have handled the debt and how Blake Lapthorn the soliciotrs hired by Arrow Global have used a passive aggressive approach and said there is a CCJ when there is not (threatening) and pretend to have a customer service who listen (passive, kind) who refer to Blake Lapthorn's collections team again (aggressive). They have not attempted to trace my estranged husband and they are holding me entirely responsible for the debt.

Hello there, A letter from solicitors Blake Lapthorn arrived at my address about 10 days ago. It was addressed to my estranged husband who I have not seen for about 6 years. I suppose I should have just thrown it away but I decided to read it. The usual blurb was written on it and I guessed it was some kind of debt letter asking for his whereabouts. Again I should have thrown it away but I thought I would telephone because I did not want my name associated with him. After all he had caused me to be in debt to the tune of about £7.000 plus he owed me £26,000. I talked with the usual threatening collections person. She would not give me details of the debt owed but she told me I was jointly and severally liable. After some thought I realised that this debt related to a joint account I had held with my estranged husband from 2005 - 2008. The account had an agreed overdraft of £100 and on the day we separated he used his debit card to buy groceries that took the account into un-arranged territory. I contested this with the bank because surely the EPOS payment should have been rejected. How I wish i had demanded the return of that card from him. I was very distressed and ill so bank charges mounted up as I sent more letters. Finally the bank said they were going to make a payment as a matter of goodwill and I thought that was the end of it. The account disappeared from the online banking screen and as I had requested it be closed I thought that is what happened. After all, I was ill at the time. This was back in 2008. Returning to the present I wrote to customer services at Blake Lapthorn asking for an explanation because I thought that account had been closed. A reply laid out full details of the debt. The debt had been sold on to Arrow Global Limited in 2010. I was not informed about this and nor do I remember receiving any requests for payment. Apparently a CCJ was obtained in 2012 but I have searched using Trust Online and can find no evidence of this judgement. Further, because I had to clear the known debts he incurred I have an account with Experian and my credit rating is good. The only reason it is not excellent is that I have not had any credit myself for some years as I do not believe in it. I have received a request form the solicitors to complete an Income and Expenditure sheet which I do not feel inclined to do. I continue to be ill and am awaiting urgent surgery for an aortic valve replacement. Without being emotive I do not have very long to live unless this surgery is carried out in the next week or so. I cannot postpone it to deal with this. Frankly, I am like so many of us at the end of my tether. What should I do? Please help.