Hi everybody, I'm new here. I had a court fine dating back to 2009, and I had been paying it back until 2010, when I stopped paying due to financial difficulty. The fine relates to a road traffic incident. I got back into contact with the court in September 2012 and they wanted the full balance of £340 paid there and then, they stated that I hadn't paid in a long while, which I appreciate, but I couldn't pay in full then. So I wrote to the court asking for some time to get together the money and was trying to hold them off. I finally had all the money together around Christmas, this being at the same time I received a letter from a bailiff company, who wanted an extra £300 from me. I paid the bailiff £350 earlier this month with an agreement to pay off the remainder in a couple of weeks, but I have since found out about bailiffs being unclear about what they are charging for. They have added £300 to the balance, making it £640. I don't have the initial letter from the bailiff, but in a follow up letter, they say that they will add £215 to my account for a 'field visit'. However, I've read somewhere that they can charge £85 for a letter and £215 for the field visit. This equals £300. Is this true? If so, how would I go about only paying what I truly owe? I want to clear the debt, but paying less would help me out greatly. I've read that they can only charge reasonable fees for the work they carry out. Does £300 constitute reasonable? Please help in whatever way you can, sorry if this is unclear, it is somewhat rushed.

I've recently obtained an SAR on an satisfied debt I had with Hitachi Captal Credit (taken out in 2009), with regard to claiming back some of the fees. I did however notice this section on the credit agreement: Charges will be payable under this agreement in the following events: - Recalled direct debits: £32 - returned or recalled cheques of credit/debit repayments: £30 - letters sent as a result of a breach in the credit agreement: £25 - telephone calls in respect of late payment: £10 - issue of a default notice: £50 - transfer account from collections to debt recovery: £50 - tracing your address if you move without telling us: £40 - administration charge for appointing an agent to visit you: £85 As that is included in the signed agreement am I prevented from recovering any charges? If I am able to claim any charges back, which ones would I be eligible to reclaim? Reading through the document I also noticed something else - they went for a charging order on my house in March 2011 and appear to have lied to do so, claiming I had ignored a CCJ ordering monthly payments to commence from 07/01/2011 of £30.20 despite my bank statement quite clearly showing the payment was made to Addleston Keane (acting on their behalf) on 04/01/2011, 07/02/2011 and 07/03/2011.

Hello Guys, I'm having real trouble with Barclaycard, who bought the credit cards of Egg sometime in the last few years. I'm presently in a DMP and paying back at a rate I can afford to, however every month Barclaycard continue to add more interest/fees to the account because they claim the funds I send through my DMP (PayPlan) don't arrive until after the due date. This means that my account which should be £58.98, instead sits at £104.43, not a massive difference but this continues to climb every month, despite conversations with them about what's going on, my forced home move (caused by a landlord divorce) and an assurance that fees/interest would be frozen to help this is still being added. I have attempted a SAR before but this was returned to me without any explanation as to why, and I imagine if it was successful it would clear the debt I presently have with Barclaycard freeing up the money to distribute among my other creditors. Does anyone have any advice on what to do here, PayPlan are suggesting I speak with Barclaycard directly but that feels like talking to a brick wall at times, more so with their outsourced call centres seemingly trained in high level sarcasm.

Good Day I hope you can give me some advise on my problem! We bought a Lounge Suite on 25 Jan 2013 from Furn-4-U. After they offloaded the goods and we unwrapped it we realise that it was damaged. The material was damaged on each couch. It look like they have put screws in after they have put the material on. The next day we went back and asked if we can return the set and get a refund. The sales lady said it wont be a problem we just have to take the set back to the store rooms and come back on Monday because the lady doing refunds does not work on weekends. On Monday i went back then the manager told me i must pay a amount of R450-00 (which is also 10% of the amount we payed for the lounge suite) banking fees because it is not his problem the furniture is damaged. He want us to pay for his suppliers mistakes. Is he allowed to charge me any fees? We still haven't received our money back. Thank You

Hi, my computer won't let me get directly to the web relations team so posting my dilema, I have been paying my wifes contract for 19 months at the agreed £24.99 (now £25.50) only 5 months to go, when I came to pay this months bill it has increased by £3.60 because of administration fees so now over £29, I phoned them asking why and the rep stated that this is what the banks are charging them for taking visa debit payments which has recently started the only way around this is to start direct debit payments I argued to no avail and agreed to start a DD payment to sort, I had my doubts and went to my bank and asked the question and was told this is not true and Vodafone have misled me, I was not happy. Since phoned and told them I was not happy to be misled into starting a DD under false facts and insisted that they wouldn't process the DD. Anyway it appears now that because I have been paying by card for 19 months I should have been paying these admin fees every month and its only been realised this month they have agreed to waiver the admin fees for this month only but I will have to pay the extra for the remaining 5 months which I'm not happy about. We have 3 contract phones with Vodafone this one, mine thats up in March plus another recent one. Feel as though I will see the contracts out and go elsewhere. Cannot believe that Vodafone will be losing 3 contracts over an extra £20 admin fees, I promised the rep that I will be publishing this on this forum so here it is. Hopefully Lee will see this and advise.

Can anyone advise whether CAG is advocating the reclamation of Mis-sold Packaged Account Fees?

Hi All, Just two very quick questions (saves me digging through reams of paper at home) Just had recent statement of account from CAP1 and noticed the following: 1. Purchase interest x.xx when balance was paid off in full between statement dates (and before deadline). Prior statement balance was zero, so say make purchase in November appears in December statement, paid statement balance in full mid December (within 7 days) - but still find Purchase interest in January statement. Thought you got approx. 56 days interest free on purchases???? 2. Had a credit balance which I transfered from CAP1 to another CC and was charged a 'Balance transfer fee'. Is this allowed (approx 3% of transfer funds)? Effectively charging me to get my own money from them? Responses welcome - even if "tough luck them's the T&Cs" G

hi recenctly posted 20 k debt 17 creditors so im working through my debts and this is debt number 2 of 17 its for £447.3 with ecar insurance for cancelling a car insurance policy last letter dated 8th january 2013. now this is my most recent of all my debts and its a cracker right here goes i took out this insurance on the 28/7/2012 through a price comparison website and stated on the site i had 6 points 2 x sp30s and i proceeded to checkout, checked my details were correct and paid the deposit 1 week later i get my docs and installment schedule and all paerwork to sign and send back i signed and sent back with photocopies of my driving license and just got on with my life stupidly i never checked over the details with a fine tooth comb but i was working 16hrs plus a day on a building job a month later they sent a letter saying i only declared 3 points on my original quote and when they recieved my photocopied licensee it had 6 points on it they were increasing my premium from £2000 to £3000 because they said i tried to falsify my points to get cheaper insurance. which i wouldnt do i live in merseyside and the police are all over car insurance up here it was inportant to get it right with the comparison site in the first place rather than have my van taken etc etc etc i paid them the original £430 deposit in the first place on the comparrison site to get on the road and the next payment was in 14 days for £168.44 then every end of month thereafter the second payment of £168.44 went out 14 days later as agreed a few days later thats when they wrote to me saying i falseified my details etc (wow) they are now gonna charge me 3k for the premium when it started around 2k (extra grand for an extra 3 points i declared in the first place ) and the finace people will write out with a new schedule so that came out and that was for £297.30 per month what a joke from £168 i sent them a cancelation request and hey presto now they're saying i owe £447.3 for cancelling to top it off i deliberately went onto their website and got a quote stating i had 9 points not 6 to see the outcome it come out at £2100 with 6 points more that what they originally said i put through the price comparrison this is a joke PLEASE HELP what should i do they're pulling a fast one here or a fast few ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ps i have every doc they sent and the finace conpany even my insurance policy HOPE THAT ALL MAKES SENSE IN A NUT SHELL IT WAS 2 K THEN 3K THEN WHEN I PUT 3 POINTS EXTRA AFTER CANCELLING IT WAS £2100

I took out a motor insurance policy with Swinton back in April. The policy was taken out online then passed to my local branch. They wrote to me asking for proof of no claims and to complete the credit agreement form, to which both were posted to the local brach. A week later I received a letter asking for proof of no claims, but as the letter stated that if I had sent it back within the last few days please ignore the letter. As this was the case I ignored the letter. A week later I received another letter stating that the policy would be cancelled within seven days if I did not provide proof of no claims. At this point I called my local branch and was advised to ignore the letter as they had proof of no claims and there was no further issue. Just over a week later I received a cancellation letter and a cancellation charge of £50. At this point I wrote to my local branch and asked why it had been cancelled when they had all relevant paperwork. No response was received so I called the office but the phone just constantly rang. I sent a further letter and still no reply. I cancelled the direct debit as I had already paid a months premium which covered more than the period I was insured and was not prepared to pay any further premiums or charges as the fault was with their local branch not myself. No response was received until today when I received a letter from Regal Credit Consultants demanding £131.68! I called them this morning but the stroppy operator wasn’t interested in anything I had to say, but just that the outstanding balance is now legally owed and they were going to pursue no matter what. This includes external doorstep collectors. I am now in the process of writing to them detailing the situation and stating that I do not owe the amount stated and that any collection agent calling will be turned away. What I now need is advice on where I stand legally with this. Do I take it up with Swinton head office or do I go to trading standards? Any helpful advice will be gratefully appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I'm at the stage of making a court application against GMAC, now called Paratus. I'm in Scotland, and I've looked at the court processes regarding this, and it looks like I'll have to use Ordinary Cause Procedure, as my claim is going to be over £5000. It's a bit more complicated than the small claims procedure, so I'm looking for a bit of information and advice on this kind of procedure, please. I work in a court, so I'm not intimidated by processes, or judges, etc, as I know some personally and they all pee out the same hole as the rest of us, basically lol! But I would like to have everything correct and in order and be ready for whatever on the day of the case. Any information anyone has on these kinds of cases would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance!

Hello Everyone, I had an MBNA Credit Card in the early 90's. I have recently started reading about reclaiming the "penalty charges" and looked through some old paperwork I have. I have managed to find a few statements where these "fees" were applied. I have sent them a SAR and was wondering if they will come back with all the statements from the start date of the account or whether I will be told that they don't have them. I should state that I am still paying the debt off to a 3rd party to this date. I hope someone can help me with this.

Hi, Back in 2002 I applied and got accepted for a mortgage. I have been scanning through my paperwork and have noticed that the mortgage company, Northern Rock, charged me a fee £1306. The fee is listed next to a statement saying: - "We would only normally lend you £**,*** on the security of the property but are prepared to lend £**,*** subject to the payment of a risk charge fee of £1,306. This non-refundable fee will be added to your mortgage account on completion of the loan." I was wondering if this is a fee which would be able to be claimed back???

Every year I always shop around for my car insurance, I never auto renew it, my car insurance was due in mid May. At the end of April I got a phonecall from Swinton's Stratford-upon-Avon branch and I told him I was NOT renewing my policy with them as was not happy with how my policy had been dealt with or the renewal price, I'd got the renewal info a day before, he said it was the best price I was getting, my response was to again say I am not renewing my policy with your company. I bought and paid in full for a new policy with another company, a week after the renewal date the 1st envelope from Swinton arrived with my 'thanks for renewing your policy' and the documents enclosed , I phoned up and asked what they were playing at as I'd already told them I was not renewing etc etc, get told I have to return the documents and provide proof of insurance. The 2nd letter with the 2nd certificate etc arrived within 3 days, so I made a round trip of 28 miles, gave them their certificates and bumf back, they refused to print out my certificate which was the only proof I had as my insurers are online (my printers broken) they refused to accept the cert number as proof (most other companies do this OK), so I got angry and told them to f off and they were getting no money out of me for something I didn't want or ask for, I also told them I had cancelled my direct debit and warned my bank (normally I pay in full). Since this I have had a few letters mentioning about my direct debit, then they're going to reapply for my direct debit and now they want £120 for fees for this product I never wanted to start with.............................the saga is ongoing

I wonder if anyone has any advice for me. I'm at a stage 2 complaint with Marstons as I disagree with the fees for a PCN. I will try to keep it short: they called at my home at 2.30 and posted a removal notice when I was not in. Amount due - £129.04 - PCN or debt to council is £82.00 They arrived around 6am the next morning and clamped my car, posted a Final Notice and then knocked on the door (in that order, I was getting ready for work but was frightened to disturb them so just looking out of the window) They demanded £379.76 at this point which I had to pay as I had to be in London for work within a few hours I complained to them and the council (who defended their actions - on a stage 2 complaint with them at the moment) and they sent me this breakdown: 11.20 Letter 61.94 levy 175.00 attendance to remove 49.63 vat 1.00 debit card charge Strangely the council sent me a breakdown of same said fees like this (and I have written proof of course): 11.20 letter - 13.44 with vat 33.60 first visit charge - 28.00 with vat 40.73 second visit charge - 33.94 with vat 210.00 attendance to remove fee - 175 with vat Now its slightly worrying that Marstons and the council have provided me with different numbers altogether. Also the bailiff does not appear in the register - i used the justice.gov site Marstons wrote to me again recently to say the the attendance to remove fee is not a statutory fee but a 'charge' and not regulated. I am considering entering a claim into the small claims court as I've simply had enough with waiting around for a straight answer. Is there any way the bailiff may not be on the national register?

So wifey has a Keys account which has been in default since Jan 2012 (you know the rest). I'm going to reclaim the Late payment fees Just need some information on this (we have all the statements from Kays); 1...Which spreadsheet do i use to work out the total reclaimable. 2...How much intreist should I charge on the total reclaimable. Thanks, will post my dealings.

Govan Law Centre have found that some people have been charged legal fees more than once, and offer advice on how to claim them back. http://expensesback.weebly.com/index.html

Hi all Hope someone can help me here and make clear whether or not I can claim anything back from this cowboy company! I split up from my wife in 2011. Initially she asked to keep the property I purchased yet had both our names on the mortgage. At the time I was prepared to give up the house and start again. However unknown to me after 6-8 months she had not paid the mortgage and ran up arrears of around £4000.00 . Along with more money from utitlity bills which she did not pay. I took over the house from her and she has since moved to an unknown address ( in yorkshire) and has taken a Job promotion working in London. Anyway as things stand I think I am unlikely to get any money back from her. Dont even know where to serve divorce papers to! No doubt once the house is back out of negative equity she will try rip me off for half but thats something else to look forward to in the future..... I have now repaid all the arrears and lived off nothing (cup a soups etc lol get the violin out!)for the last 3-4 months. I made a SAR request when I was desperately trying to get the payments down by them 4 months ago. At that time the amount Ive got to in arrears fees applied plus debt councillor fees (for someone who never came) plus solicitor fees(over £200) .. . is in the region of £2000-£3000. I have literally given every penny Ive had to them and finally got the arrears paid off. Work however is slow again (im a roofer) and this time of year is not the best as people are saving their cash for Christmas and its aftermath on their finances in January so going to be a long cold winter! I am unsure as to whether Ive paid off the fees or whether the fees have just been added to the mortgage and now being charged interest on for the remainding 20 years of my mortgage. Can somebody please please help me to figure out if i can have these monies refunded in cash if they have been paid or have the charges removed if added to the outstanding amount and being charged interest on. I simply cannot afford to keep being ripped off and have no life apart from paying unfair charges and bills. If possible are there template letters I can send to start the ball rolling and give me an idea of the process from start to end. Many many Thanks in advance for any help. Desperate!

Hi Forum, long time no speaky... This says it all really, so here goes: I will of course update as and when I get a response

I was just wondering what is the best way to deal with the late payment fees added to this account. My wife's account went into arrears around November last year and she called them to sort out a repayment plan. They told her that due to the size of the debt (which was not all that big actually) there is no way they will take any less than £20. My wife did what she could on the phone but was suffering from depression so didn't chase up the request. So, I called them recently as they had 'lost' my complaint and managed to get a repayment plan for £5.00 a month. This is despite the account being around twice as large now due to the addition of these fees at £24.00 per month (2 x £12.00 per month). I told them that we're not paying this and they told me as it was in Simply Be's T&C's then they are legal. My problem here is that when my wife called them in November. Instead of agreeing to a plan they lied to her by saying that due to the amount on the account they could not take less than £20.00. Despite this claim in November they've recently accepted £5.00 on a debt that is now around twice the original debt. Had they not deceived my wife and accepted the offer as they have now then these fees would not be on the account as we would have been paying them. So, can anybody recommend the best course of action to get these fees acknowledged by Simply Be as unfair? Thanks - Lee.

In brief: Case lost on no win no fee basis. Concluded Aug 2011. May 2012, Sol requests counsel`s fees. Sol is aware that, as a result of a court imposed installment order, i am paying over and above my I/E assessment. I explain that there is no disposable income available. I request that the fees be put on hold or written off if posssible. Failing that, I can only offer a £1 a week. I have repeatedly requested counsel`s attendance notes, as i was unhappy with representation. I was repeatedly informed that counsel would not supply them! Two barristers were involved. One made two lenghty court appearances (a), the other (b) a brief appearance at the county court. Yet (a) bill is nearly half that of (b). I had heard nothing until yesterday. I received a letter from sol dated 15/11/12 requesting i set up a direct debit for payment and agree to a Charge Order on my home. I have 14 days to reply, else legal proceedings will ensue. Can anyone offer some advice on how to proceed. Thanks.

I re-mortgaged over 5yrs ago.There was an early redemption fee for 6.000 pounds up to 3yrs then there is a months interest of 675.00 for the remainder of the term.I'm now out of the 3yrs .So is all of this right for the Broker to have done so?Also the original loan shows the amount for the mortgage and the amount added to this for 3.000.00 pounds so on any letters from them they show the original Mortgage with these totals as the total amount borrowed.So can the mortgage broker charge interest on these too?I've found a letter from them dated nearly 4 yrs ago in old paperwork and they mention the redemption fees incurring a penalty.they state that they might not of fully established that the mortgage was affordable and they point out to an interest only,length of the mortgage and 'Involved a remortgage that incurred penalties.

Hi, i am writing on behalf of 2 friends who purchased things from Brighthouse. They have paid £7.50 as fees, when asked what the £7.50 was for, Brighthouse response was that it is a delivery fee. Delivery fee is £30.00 and this is split up into 4 payments of £7.50 Has anyone else paid this delivery fee? Is it normal?

I am changing my vehicle on Thursday and the insurance company after re-newing the policy in October. They are not competetive for the new car so am going to change companues. They say they are going to charge me admin cancellation fees and for loss of commission, is this right?

As those of us who have already been stung will know, most insurers charge a cancellation fee if you end your policy before the full term. However, I thought that penalty fees were illegal and the admin charge could only reflect their true costs. In addition, my insurer is refusing to give me my No Claims certificiate until I pay their penalty fee; surely they are obliged to supply my No Claims certificate and cannot hold it to ransom, like this or make conditions as to its provision? I cannot insure my car with another company without the No Claims certificate. I'd really appreciate other's views on these matters.

Hello all, wondered if i could get some advice please? My parents took out an endowment mortgage with National Home Loans (now Paragon) back in 1985, they changed mortgage company some years later. They dont have any documents any more but i said to mum it might be worth seeing if there is any claim she could make on mortgage exit fees. They struggling financially at the time and she cant remember what fees etc they paid. I wrote on her behalf, no account number or anything just gave her name, address and year of mortgage and asked for exit fees refund. I thought it was a bit of a long shot but to my surprise got a letter today with a cheque for £40, which is fab! The reason im asking for advice is that they have written this covering letter: Thank you for your recent letter, regarding your request for a refund of fees incurred during the redemption of your loan has been reviewed in light of the recent statement made by the FSA. The statement made by the FSA however relates only to loans regulated by the FSA. Unfortunately your loan does not fall under the jurisdiction of the FSA and therefore there is no obligation to refund the amount requested. We regularly review the fee tariffs and the level of fees reflects the administrative and operational costs involved in servicing mortgage accounts. However as a gesture of goodwill we will refund the amount of £40 which equates to the amount charged at redemption of your loan. I'm just wondering why they would pay out a goodwill gesture if they didn't have to? Are they just being genuinely nice and she should think herself very lucky and take the cheque? Is it worth SAR-ing them to see if theres anything dodgy on the account? I dont know what exactly, just being a bit suspicious i guess Thank you