Oh that's good, they don't believe in their fees enough to want to stand up to defend them then? Ah okay. Guess they are going to give them back to me

I just noticed they have put 'without prejudice' on top of the letter, and i can't exactly remember what that means can anyone remind me?

:D

Well, I live in an upstairs flat so they can't get hold of any garden furniture of anything like that, and I can't drive so they can't have levied on a car ! Dammit I think they must have tried to levy on my luxury yacht... either that or the flying unicorn I whizz about the place on Hey ho. Once more unto the fray!!!

The one time I know they had come, I wasn't in, and it was a day or two after I'd made a payment anyway. Also if they didn't come in, how could they have levied on anything?

I don't know what a form 7 is and pretty sure I haven't seen one. I've no idea what they may have levied on. As far as I'm aware, they have only visited once.

Got a reply from Newlyns today. Not a screenshot, just a letter. The fees they now quote are: Visit fees £42.50 Levy fees £51.00 Enforcement fee £105.00 Original debt £898.98 So now what? They tell me they won't give me a SAR unless I send them £10 (I didn't actually ask for this though, I asked for a screenshot)

Well done Hallowitch

Hiya Kimmie I'm pretty new to this but would like to help if I can any. Even if it just bumps it so someone else can answer you better! My LA charged me £95.00 for the court fees, when they took me to court (which I didn't even know they were doing, grrr; they told me it wouldn't as I'd applied for benefit and was waiting for the decision) but that was added on to the debt by the Local authority - not the baliff co. (I think from what I can gather that's their costs of taking you to court in the first place. (how nice of them )

Hi Been reading your thread with interest. I am going through a similar thing with Newlyns, loads of charges added to my account. I absolutely agree, find out how much Newlyns have paid to your Local Authority - I have registered with my Local Authority to get access to my account online and I found out that even though I have paid £721.00 to Newlyns but only £301.50 has made it's way from them into my council tax account yet. make sure you have proof of all your payments and double check them very carefully. Good luck

Thank you very much both for your advise. I really really do appreciate it... went to bed about 7am worrying about all this but finally am feeling a bit positive and hopeful at getting somewhere! I'm getting on with the screenshot letter straight away. Thanks :o)

As far as I am aware they have only made one visit. I don't drive, so have no car, so they couldn't levy on that; and if they attempted to do something like that surely I would have to know? I'm quite confused as to all the legalities on this. I know as soon as the account was taken over they had added in a whole bunch of fees as the debt went up from £880 to just under £1,050 from the very first letter I received from them. I do admit I had a few letters from them before I responded, as a friend had recently died and I just kept putting off dealing with it. It sounds as though right from the start they added on fees which they weren't entitled to add on - can someone point me to somewhere where I can check out what they can (and can't) legally charge me? I feel nervous writing letters until I'm absolutely sure of everything.

Also - I have made all my payments by card, over the phone ... and they charge me a % surcharge on this ie if I paid £100 they would bill me £103, can they do this?

Thank you for that. I'm a bit confused by this .. when Newlyn took over the account from the local authority they straight away added on £220 (they have told me). Their fees. Can they not do that then? This is straight away when they got the account, no-one had visited me EVER then.

I guess so... the logo is the same ... commission? Does that mean that the LA should be paying them?

Hi I'm totally lost what to do and any help would be great. I was unemployed and receiving Income Support for a while (lone parent) and then I got a temporary job. Because of some mix up with Housing/Council Tax benefit (they'd assessed me incorrectly), I carried on receiving housing and council tax benefit for quite a few months at a higher level then I was entitled to when I was working. Then the benefit was stopped, and I was receiving none at all... and I started getting arrears letters from the council saying I owed over £1,700 in Council Tax. I kept ringing them, blah blah, and eventually it got sorted out but I still owed about £890 in Council Tax. I made an offer to the council to repay it at about £100 a month, but they refused me, and said it had already gone to a debt collector (this was last Dec). I then discovered they had taken me to court in July (although I had rang them then and explained the situation, that it was a mix up and the amount owed was incorrect, and been told it was on hold) Then I started getting letters from Newlyns. I made an arrangement to pay and have been making them payments. However - I've been reading these forums and looking into it and I'm sure I'm being asked to repay loads more then was originally owed. I have recently registered with my Local Authority and looked at my council tax online - and the debt amount on there bears very little similarity to the debt I have been quoted from Newlyns. The figures are very different. Also - and this really worrries me - some of the payments I have made to Newlyns don't seem to have come off the online statements with the Local Authority. For example I made a payment of £300 but my account was credited with just £101.50. About 3 weeks ago, I asked Newlyns to give me a breakdown of the debt, what it was comprised, but all they have sent me is a list of payments I have made (I could have told them that - I've got them logged!). However, the amounts of the payments do tally, so I assume they are taking off a chunk 'for fees'. I have asked them again today for a full breakdown of debt and fees, and initially they refused, saying they only had computer generated letters and couldn't do it, but eventually the person said they would get someone in the admin department to do it. I'm a bit of a loss just now, what to do next, and very sick and panicky - my temporary job has just ended so I am going to be really pushed to repay the last £400 they are asking me for, and scared I am going to have baliffs at the door. But I think I've repayed all that I owed and don't know how to prove it. I am sure it's wrong for Newlyn to add on about £220 in fees (this is what was quoted to me on the phone today). As far as I am aware, there has been one baliff visit to my house - I made a payment to Newlyn over the phone on a Saturday, and the following Monday I had a letter through the door saying they were coming back on Wednesday to remove goods, and I rang up Newlyn who said 'ignore it, it's a mistake', so I did (foolishly I guess). Any advice gratefully received on what else I should do. I can't sleep for worrying about this

thanks for the advice Sally. It's still daunting as in all my dealings with Halifax Visa so far, I've found them really difficult ... refusing to stop interest etc ... what started as a £2,000 debt nearly four years ago is now doubled I'm wondering if it is would be better for me ultimately to get them to take me to court ?

Hi I have been very foolish, and let things get totally out of control and want to try and rectify it but I really don't know where to start... Basically, several years ago I had Halifax and Sainsbury's Credit Cards, and I gave up work in 2003 to go back to university. I lived off them for a couple of years, run up a debt to the limit (£3000) and then in 2005, spent a year unemployed. Got into a huge financial mess, both cards taken from me, defaults issued. I made an agreement to repay them £10 a month. They froze interest, for about a year everything was fine. During 2006 I started on the process of chasing my banks for refunds and had succeses with my bank accounts and with Capital One Credit card. Despite numerous attempts, I never received the full transaction details from these two organisations, and because at that time I got evicted, had work difficulties .. I gave up pursuing them. It just became too complicated with everythign else going on in my life. Sainsburys stopped chasing me and I eventually just stopped paying them. I get an occasional letter from them but I think they may have just written it off. Halifax however... another story. Constant phoning, they started adding on interest again, the debt was going up and up. Last January I just thought, the best thing for me is to let it go to court. I stopped paying them the standing order (still just £10 a month, but as they were whacking on over £70 interest each month the balance never went down .. I think it's up to £5000 or something now:() I get lots of letters from Halifax/Blair Oliver & Scott etc. I've just been ignoring them, having no idea what to do, feeling totally out of my depth and sick with nerves/worry. It's time to stop being an ostrich with my head in the sand, but I really don't know what to do. I'm scared of contacting them now and letting a caged tiger loose again! I want to repay both of these, in some way, but I know I won't be able to pay the full amount... I am a single parent and currently don't have a job. I'd like to clear my credit file of the defaults too, which I am sure is a total mess (I got a copy a couple of years ago ... eurgh). I just don't know where to start .. if someone could give me a pointer I would really appreciate it. I'm reading forums and getting more and more confused...I don't think it is worth chasing them now for charges, it's gone so far beyond that ... I have looked at the IVAs and thought about bankruptcy ... I'm lost.

hi LadyE yes, they contacted me by email . Like you I had no contact from them at all, until I had sent the bundle and I was getting very bothered thinking 'why are they ignoring me??'. I had tried to email the famous Ashton's before submitting my bundle trying to prompt them into offering something, but they were very dismissive until they got the bundle and it was 10 days until the case, by which time I was so peeved by being ignored there was no way I would have settled for anything less!

hi psm, good luck to you My court date should have been today (7/8/07) but I received an offer of full settlement on 26th July, last thing - the day before the OFT case announced, but they must have been aware of it by then, so I cross my fingers that you will get an offer very soon as you are so far down the line. Like you, Abbey didn't submit any court bundle etc. I'd check with the court that they haven't requested a stay good luck xx

hi LadyE I'm not sure if my case will help you but the dates are so close and my experience has been almost the same so far, so I hope it does! My court date was due to be today (7/8/07) and I submitted my bundle to the court & Abbey on Mon 23rd July. Up until then I had received *nothing* from Abbey since the start of the case - no offer or indeed any communication, at all. (Defense & AQ were sent to the court but no copy to me). I received a GOGW months ago for a paltry £100 & my original sum on the N1 was £1300. I received an offer on Wednesday 25th which was about £200 short of the total, they asked me to reply by 5pm Thur 26th which I did with a refusal and I was looking forward to going to court! Then, last thing on Thur 26th, they offered to pay me the full amount (now just under £1400) which they did by paying a cheque into my a/c which cleared Fri 3rd Aug. so, this overlaps slightly the test case announcement ~ they offered me settlement at 5 pm the day before ~ and as your case is very close to completion, and they haven't submitted a bundle AS PER THE JUDGES DIRECTIONS, I expect you too will get a little email shortly making you an offer. :D Good luck let us know how you get on!

thanks ! cheque appeared in my a/c today so will clear at the end of the week YIPEEE!! ... 9 months after I started all this ... I could've had a baby in this time!!

Marky I should have received my bundle by last Tuesday. I lodged mine with the court and sent them one, del'd Tues. My court date is 7th Aug. Abbey didn't lodge a bundle, against the Judnge's directions. On Wednesday, I got an email with an offer to settle - £200 less. The offer was valid (they said) until Thurs 5pm, so I said 'no thanks' - I'm unwilling to settle for anything less then full amount esp in view of late stage & their non compliance with court's directions. Thursday - they offered to settle for the full amount. I strongly suspect you will receive a settlement offer very soon!

good for you if you just said partial settlement! I'm not an expert ~ I'm sure there's much better people on here to advise the legalities ~ but I fail to see how they can settle with the court - they have to settle with YOU. I'm pretty sure the case goes ahead unless you say they have settled. They emailed me, saying they were going to contact the court to ask them to take the hearing off the register! , I'm going to say to the court and Abbey not to do that, and that the case goes ahead unless I have cleared funds as promised (after all, in any case, someone could say 'oh I'm paying' and not couldn't they. I'm sure the courts won't just take their word for it!) I would send them a stern email saying you are contacting the court to tell them no settlement has been reached, I'm sure they will quickly cough up the money, they are trying their hardest to get you to give up

Did you say to them you would settle on the phone or email, or did they just contact you saying 'we are prepared to settle for £xxx'? I'm asking as they made me an offer, I said no today , and within an hour or two they came back with the full amount. I am at very same stage as you (my thread is here) http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/46163-apple-abbey-claim-started.html - my court date is 7th Aug, and exactly as you, Abbey haven't complied with the Directions for submitting documents to court. They are in a very precarious position now!!! Don't let them off!