mmm interesting, thanks for your answers dx100uk, Consumer Dude and buzby. Buzby, how do you recommend I try to give BT their money with minimum hassle and damage to myself? I am very tempted to save the money and donate it to charity though instead of giving it to BT if I can get away with it ...

... oh yeah, the other thing I'm worried about is if I was to move to a new flat and decided I wanted to take out a BT landline for a DHCL broadband subscription with another company ... would they then knock me back and give me hassle once they know my current address... like notify the DCA where I live etc??? Maybe they will say to me, fine, pay us your outstanding fees then we'll give you a landline?? ... as long as they don't put anything on my credit file, I don't care.

hi dx100uk, that's really interesting, thanks. To be honest I did call BT at the middle of last year to pay it all off, and they said that it had been passed on, so I didn't pay them in the end because I didn't want to call a DCA! If BT had been willing to process the payment themselves, like I had insisted, they would have had it by now. ... the numpties. I have the money, but what I'm really worried about is whether I'll get a default or CCJ put on my credit file (can BT or the credit companies do that?... would they be willing to give me a CCJ for £150???) The only thing I'm worried about is keeping my experian credit file at 'Fair' ... I don't want any nasty surprises from them in the future if I continue ignoring ...

I have an unpaid BT bill from last year, that started off at around £80 then finished off at around £150 after it went unpaid for various months and then went to a collection agency that threatened me with visits etc. From the middle of last year until now I have been suffering from depression and financial difficulties, and pretty much through in the towel with keeping tabs of my finances and it just all ran over my head ... many envelopes unopened etc. But not any more, I'm ready to get absolutely everything sorted and pay off all my unpaid debts. I have managed to bring myself to view my credit report, and to my amazement BT haven't added any defaults to it, and neither has the water company who I owe 400 to and is threatening me with court and neither has an internet domain registrar. To my amazement my credit rating is fair, after I had two defaults in 2004 with a student overdraft and credit card with BOS (satisfied immediately) that were on the file. So... I would like to call the debt collection agency that BT hired (Nelson Guest & Partners Solicitors and Wescott) and tell them I'll make a card payment. They seem to have forgotten about me though, and haven't sent me any letters all year. What I am worried about, is if I call them to confirm my address etc and offer to make the payment, they will register a default on my credit file before I pay it? ... which will then mark it as satisfied? That would be a disaster for me as I had to wait for 6 years that have just cleared for my credit rating to get rid of the defaults from 2004. So if anyone has any advice on this matter, I would very much appreciate it. Many thanks, Ray

I've first sent of my S.A.R a year and a half ago, I've still not managed to get my money because when I didn't know too much what was going on after the L.B.A i was scared by this site into ordering Patricia Pearls book, which was then delayed etc etc... because I stupidly thought I'd need to prepare my self for a small chance that it would end up in court. Anyway, I was claiming back six years, I can't file at court yet because I haven't got the funds now, but from the end of December 6 years ago I started to get charged so I'm starting to loose the amount I've been claiming. Can I still claim these after the test case? Also I'm suffering from hardship and (i don't qualify for benefits because my partner as a low pay job that disqualifies me before anyone suggests that). What action should I take so I can claim all my charges that as of now are starting to extend more then 6 years back? Also I didn't include the statutory interested amount in my prelim or LBA, can I include that in another LBA or whatever?

Hi, no I've not filed at court because I don't have the funds available for the court fees just now, I've only sent an LBA. I can't get help towards the fees because my partner is employed, albeit a crappy low pay job. This disqualifies me from benefits and court fees help etc. That's as far as I can take it just now and I was hoping to just wait until January, fingers crossed the OFT case will be successful and the bank can pay me back the full amount. Hope that helps?

Hi, thanks for the replies, Answering your question Milktrayman: The name of the Debt Collection Agency that it was sent on to is Roxburghe Debt Collectors. The name of the lawyers firm that they sent the debt on to that have sent me an LBA and now a final warning is: Graham White LL.B Solicitor. I'm currently setting up a Personal Budge Sheet etc, and some covering letters, I've sent them before but this time I'll be sending a copy to the FSA also for continued harassment, do you think I'll get an invitation through the post to appear at court in the next few days anyway? My letters won't arrive in time. Do you think they are just threats and wind ups to get me to pay? Thanks again.

Hi, Initially I'd started a claim on this Nationwide account that was currently open, by asking them to pay me back £250 of charges that they'd unlawfully taken off my wages etc. I sent the Prelim + LBA using the templates on this site and obviously sent recorded etc. Later on my lost my job due to health reasons and the wages stopped, I didn't have any money left in the account and since it was a standard savings account and not a debit account I wasn't too concerned about letting direct debits bounce etc. Anyway, this account that couldn't go underneath zero magically went to minus 600 after a few months lol, ALL of it out of bounced Direct Debits. The bank responded to my LBA with the usual crap about waiting for the OFT test case etc. So I thought I'd wait as well. Anyway, half a rain forrest of paper through dodgy threat letters and threats later it was passed on to a DCA, i ignored all their threats etc because I'm too busy looking for a job, now the DCA has got some sort of lawyer and have sent me an LBA. I don't qualify for benefits since my partner works, it's a crappy sort of job she's got but a job is a job, just incase anyone tells me to go on benefits and send a personal budget sheet from the Citz Advice. Now what? Is this really happening? Are they really going to try and be so sleazy to CCJ me about an account in dispute whilst I'm unemployed, for an account made of 100% UNLAWFUL CHARGES!!!??? Any advice much appreciated, Oh, PS, I've been sent a 'Final Warning' now as it's been about 10 days since the LBA

No I hadn't, thanks Jan I've just sent off a little Email regarding my little case here.

Hi Jan, thanks for the info, The reason I want to apply for hardship at the banks is that I don't think I'll be able to lift my stay (if I went as far as putting the case to court) as I choose not to receive benefits even though I'm entitled to them, I detailed the reason above. After some phone calls to the Ombudsmen they said they would agree to help me after I'd shown hardship to the banks and they hadn't reacted apropiatly after two weeks. Only after I'd done that but specified the hardship should have nothing to do with the bank charges because of the test case claim. Also thanks for the links with draft hardship templates to write for the bank, that's EXACTLY what I've been looking for but this board has grown so big now that I find it hard pin pointing information quickly. Cheers and congrats on the case, I'll be reading those links etc, Ray

First of all, thanks for answering! I don't think there's much point going down the hardship route at the courts because even if I didn't have to pay the court fees, if I applied for the stay to be waived through hardship it would get knocked back anyway, as have ALL hardship cases at the considerate and humane Bristol County Court.

anyone?

Thanks, that's a good idea, I've created a separate thread for this problem but we're already in the General forum believe, cheers

I'm in the situation that I've had an offer of £410 out of £1050 after sending my LBA. I’ve tried to reject it with a rejection letter and the Bank of Scotland/Halifax said that they can’t negotiate any more cases for the meantime until the OFT ruling. But I still had another two months to accept their pathetic offer if I wished. I live in Bristol at and it looks like I'm going to have to accept it as I was just talking the courts today and they haven’t had any requests to remove the stays because of hardship accepted, that's NONE at all and various people have requested for them to be removed. Sounds like a lovely judge or whoever makes the decisions there! As well as them putting ALL the cases on ‘Stay’ I have found out that they have knocked back all hardship requests so far! My situation is that I've lost the good job through mental illness, I can't claim benefits of any type because my wife is a 'no recourse to public funds' stamp on her 'spouse visa' since as we just got married last year and she's from abroad and we obviously want to carry on living with each other in this country for the rest of our life. Plus she has a standard £6.50p/h type job and I live with her so I wouldn't be able to claim anyway even if she was British. I have rent arrears, council tax arrears, other bills arrears etc, court threats and have recently received another default. So look like I'm going to have to accept the offer? OR would I be able to carry on negotiating the 'hardship situation' thing if I send the bank a rejection letter, detailing my situation with photocopies of my bills with lots of re letters and threats etc? I'm already late with last months rent and I have another one on the 25th and I may be forced to accept the £410 offer. Is there a 'chance' that even if I sign for it, accepting 'full and final offer' that I may be able to get the remainder early next year should the OFT Court Case test case thing rule that the banks have to pay out the remainder even if they have signed for it? Obviously there's some people that are going to say to me now, "we don't know as we can't predict the future etc etc, BUT what I want to know is there a CHANCE and is it one of the things consumer groups are pushing for? As well as pay outs of bank charge history to be made instantly with interest added on top, without having to write to request for it etc etc. Are there other people out there at are hopeful that this may happen? That those people that have been forced to sign to accept offers due to hardship may have their remainder bank charges paid to them sometime next year? Any help advice much appreciated, Cheers, Ray

First Question: Is it possible to use the FSA hardship waiver on stay argument also at negotiation stages, i.e: when you're still negotiating with the bank and wanting to reject an offer so you can get your full amount? I'm in the situation that I've had an offer of £410 out of £1050 after sending my LBA. I’ve tried to reject it with a rejection letter and the Bank of Scotland/Halifax replied saying that they can’t negotiate any more cases for the meantime until the OFT ruling. But I still had another two months to accept their pathetic offer if I wished. I live in Bristol at and it looks like I'm going to have to accept it as I was just talking the courts today and they haven’t had any requests to remove the stays because of hardship accepted, that's NONE at all and various people have requested for them to be removed. Sounds like a lovely judge or whoever makes the decisions there! As well as them putting ALL the cases on ‘Stay’ I have found out that they have knocked back all hardship requests so far! I'm so skint just now that I can't even afford court fees and have no way of them getting paid for me as I'm not on benefits. So I want to carry on negotiating with the bank if possible and sending them threats that I will claim at court immediately if they don't reply satisfactorily etc. My situation is that I've lost the good job through mental illness, I can't claim benefits of any type because my wife is a 'no recourse to public funds' stamp on her 'spouse visa' since as we just got married last year and she's from abroad and we obviously want to carry on living with each other in this country for the rest of our lives, despite my current mental illness we still keep each other going, and help each other a great deal etc. As soon as you claim any type of benefits you put you chance of long term residency of your spouse in jeopardy because you have to be able to prove that you can support each other financially. I normally can just recently suffered some breakdowns due to various issues. Plus she has a standard £6.50p/h type job and I live with her so I wouldn't be able to claim anyway even if she was British aswell. I have rent arrears, council tax arrears, other bills arrears etc, court threats and have recently received another default. So look like I'm going to have to accept the offer? OR would I be able to carry on negotiating the 'hardship situation' thing if I send the bank a rejection letter, detailing my situation with photocopies of my bills with lots of re letters and threats etc? I'm already late with last months rent and I have another one on the 25th and I may be forced to accept the £410 offer. Second Question: Is there a 'chance' that even if I sign for it, accepting 'full and final offer' that I may be able to get the remainder early next year should the OFT Test Court Case thing rule that the banks have to pay out the remainder even if they have signed for it? Obviously there's some people that are going to say to me now, "we don't know as we can't predict the future etc etc, BUT what I want to know is there a CHANCE and is it one of the things consumer groups are pushing for? As well as pay outs of bank charge history to be made instantly with interest added on top, without having to write to request for it etc etc. Are there other people out there at are hopeful that this may happen? That those people that have been forced to sign to accept offers due to hardship may have their remainder bank charges paid to them sometime next year? Any help/advice much appreciated, Cheers, Ray