Hi I'm considering taking someone to small claims court over a faulty TV that they've sold me. I was just wondering if it's possible to inlcude filling and hearing fee as part of my claim? Also, can I claim anything for the income I'm going to lose for attending the court? If yes, how much? many thanks

I defended the case and they had to discontinue the claim, but now they sent me a letter, with all the court fees and interest added on a periodic statement, almost £600 added to debt. Can the buyer of defaulted debt keep on adding fees and interest where the default debt was less than £5,000? Or could it be a ploy to get me to make contact with them (to prevent it from becoming time barred) as I never made contact with them since default some 4 years ago?

I defaulted on a credit card for 11.2k , they sent a default notice in october, however, i checked online, and they are adding £170 a month interest. can they do that? - what should i do ?

Hi I'm pulling my hair out with an ongoing council tax issue or issue's' rather ! I recently received 8 letters from my local council about old council tax bills dating as far back as 2008! The bills are for a number of different properties (I've moved around a lot) A couple of them are final small bills that I've missed after moving out, another is for a shared property where I paid my share and unfortunately someone else didn't and another is for two months after I moved out of a property. In 2012, my car was seized unfairly (I used it for self employment at the time and the bailiff used very dodgy means to remove it) to cover a £217 bill, the car was worth £3k and sold for £700, only £200 of that went to the council. On the day he took it, I rang the council while he was there to offer payment of the £217 and they refused to accept it. After receiving the letters recently, i have raised an issue (not an official complaint yet) to say that I do not owe them said council tax, number 1 because they took a £3k car and got nothing for it even though I offered payment and the bailiffs took so much for illegal fees at the time and also because the other property was shared and they can chase the other person on the bill. I can also provide evidence of moving out of the other property. I have been going back and forth with the council for a couple of weeks now who are refusing to listen to me and keep repeating that I am liable for all properties and accounts. The total outstanding is nearly £2000. They refuse to acknowledge that they did anything wrong in taking my car and actually said if I had offered to pay the bailiff or the council they would've much rather have accepted it, which is rubbish! When I received the letters, I contacted them immediately and asked that any further bailiff action was placed on hold while they investigated my points but the council ignored me and I have received numerous letters from THREE different bailiff agencies adding on further fees so the outstanding now totals £3,200!!! Its insane. My time to make an arrangement was up with one agency so I have had to agree to make payments of £400 a month to clear the £1,400 that they hold otherwise they would've visited my property. Another agency have given me 7 days. How is this OK? They have already taken a car which they should not have done ( I complained at the time and obviously my complaint was not upheld!) There are other people named on two of the bills yet they aren't being pursued. I have provided evidence of not living in one property in the time they claim but they have ignored it. I read something about a liability order only lasting 12 months? Is there anything I can do? I would even be willing to just take the council tax arrears on the chin and pay the council, but I cannot afford to pay £1,200 on top of that in bailiff fees! help!

Hi I recently returned an item to a small online retailer due to the item being faulty/ incompatible with another item it was designed for. I made it clear in their support ticket that I wished to return the item for a full refund. Their support rep responded with "If the item is faulty we will replace it for you from our stock." The attitude of the customer service rep and part of their Terms of Service has me concerned: "Where items are returned as faulty and no fault is found by [RETAILER] a charge of £19.99 plus return postage is payable to cover the engineer's time." Also the return document sent for me to include with the item had the following paragraph: "Nb. Returns which are tested and found to be without fault, or where damage is found to have been caused by misuse, are liable to a £19.99 engineer's fee, plus return postage. By returning goods to us you are confirming that you understand and accept this." I left this unsigned. The item was returned in its original packaging. Would the seller have any recourse the levy a "engineer's fee" if they find no fault? If the item was returned fixed/replaced against my instructions what would be my next option (payment was through paypal)? Thank you in advance.

Hello, I owe service charge backpayment to my management agent for my leasehold property. They took it to county court, then fast tracked to high court without informing me. I only knew when I received a demand for £2100 from the Sheriff's office. I offered to pay in instalments but they said their client wanted full payment, which I could not do. I sent them a copy of my Debt and Mental Health Evidence Form, they said their client rejected it. A Baliff visited my property when I was not in. I submitted an income and expenditure form (both mine and my wife's)to the sheriff's office, which clearly shows a minus. Even so I offered to pay £50 a month. I have now had an email saying they will forward this to their client and if it is rejected I will receive a visit from the Baliff without any prior notice. The amount has risen from £2100 to £3700 in just over 6 weeks, with interest at 41p a day. There is also a charge for a Baliff visit that never happened. I am worried sick. Please, if you can, please advise. I feel due process was not followed regarding the secrecy in taking this to court. I suffer from depression due to my debt issues and this is really affecting me

Hi I have had 3 x late payment fees of £25 each on my car insurance with RAC which i pay monthly and credit is provided by BISL. I would like to reclaim these can someone point me to a template letter suitable to start the ball rolling ?

Hi all, I am close to paying off a secured loan. The balance of £988.00 is made up of the fees and interest on fees levied over the past 7 years. I want to have these charges refunded and this will clear my balance. Should I send a letter before action and should I charge intererst.

Hi I have a council tax bill outstanding that has been passed to Marstons. They wrote to me about it and the amount seemed wrong I disputed it with the council. Once that had been settled, I have tried continuously to get in touch with Marstons probably for about 4 weeks, and each time been on hold for at least 30 minutes. I finally got through on Friday and was told my account had been passed to a bailiff and I would have to speak to him. I rang the man who was rude, aggressive and abrupt. I offered to make two payments (the debt is £1000) as I couldn't afford to pay it one go. He said OK but he would still attend my property and add £235 to the arrears. I asked why as I had just offered to pay him and he said because he could. I said very calmly that no one would be in and we wouldn't open the door anyway he started shouting that that was it, I couldn't pay in two payments any longer and he would 'see me Monday'. I once again asked for an explanation as to why he wouldn't accept my payment offer and he shouted 'goodbye' and put the phone down! I tried calling Marstons back but once again couldn't get through I emailed and complained about his conduct and offered to phone and pay via the office. The bailiff has since attended twice and put letters through the door, but I will not ring him again to be shouted at thank you. I have also emailed the council to offer payment directly and as you'd expect they said I have to deal with Marstons. Obviously he's attended so they can add money on and I will not pay the £235. Just wanted to check where I stand legally? If neither the council or Marstons will accept my payment offer, what am I actually meant to do!?

Hi, I have been receiving letters from Harlands regarding failed direct debit payments and admin charges etc, similar to many of the other posts on this forum. Back in August, I paid for two memberships with Lifestyle fitness(for me and my girlfriend), both of which were on a "flexible" contract which required a minimum one month commitment. Both of these direct debits were setup under my bank account. My girlfriend moved back home in September and I wanted to go to a more local gym and so tried to cancel the memberships. My girlfriend rang the gym up who informed her that only the owner of the bank account can cancel the contract. I sent an email off at the beginning of October to Harlands customer support including my name, bank account and sort code and asked them to cancel both direct debit agreements linked to my bank account. 10 or so days later, after hearing no response from Harlands and it being only a few days before the next direct debit payment was due to be took out, I decided to cancel both direct debits via my online bank account. After this, I had no contact from Harlands for around a month or so until I received a letter through the post addressed to my girlfriend with the whole admin fees crap. Strangely enough, I didn't receive the same letter for whatever reason. I think I read before in the T&Cs that you must give at least a month's notice if you're cancelling, which I didn't realise. I'd happily pay the last month's fee for my girlfriend but outright refuse to pay the now £50 admin fee. Is there anything I can do to get them off my back?

Hello everyone, I am new here. Sorry if this problem has already been discussed before, but would really want some advice on the matter. I've joined exercise for less on the 18th of September 2017, and I wanted to join for a month to test out the gym, so the personal trainer there at the time said that I can join and cancel on the same day so that the charge would only be taken for September, they charged me 40 pounds, 20 for admin and 20 for the month. The contract I am on is a rolling contract. although on the terms and condition states that I shouldn't cancel the DD, but I did it anyway because I don't want them to 'accidentally' take another month's cash from me. Got an email from xercise for less (central support team) about arrears, called them and they told me I have to pay the October fee (20) and administrative fees( for cancelling) 25 ( 44.99 in total), Ive hanged up and complain to the gym front desk, they told me they will help contact harlands ( blah blah blah). Nothing happens until the 19 of October which Harlands sent me an email, demanding payment of the 44.99 or they are going to up the charges. I have written the reply below ( not yet sent), and was wondering if there is anything I should add or avoid? ------------- Dear Sir/Madam, Please note that the date I have joined xercise4less on the 18 of September is also the date I have filled in the online cancellation form which would have given you 30 days of notice of cancellation, I had been adviced by member of staff from xercise4 less in the Newcastle-under-Lyme branch to fill in the online cancellation form on the first day due to the fact that I was only interested to join for one month. No administrative fees will be given. Yours Sincerely ---------- Thank you for taking your time to read this. hopefully hear from you soon. Paarthurnax

When the Taking Control of Goods regulations came into effect in 2014, they not only provided a much clearer and fixed fee scale, they also introduced a fairer system whereby, in order to keep bailiff fees to the barest minimum, (of just £75) the debtor is given the opportunity of avoiding a personal bailiff visit (and an enforcement fee of £235 being applied) by paying the debt (including the Compliance Fee of £75) by the date outlined on the Notice of Enforcement....or alternatively, by agreeing a payment arrangement with the enforcement company. Most payment arrangements are for a short period of approx 3-4 months (sometimes even more). Where problems have arisen since 2014, is that many people receiving a Notice of Enforcement from the bailiff company, try to avoid paying bailiff fees by visiting the local authorities website and making an online payment of just the debt owed to the council. Such avoidance methods do not work. This is because, the regulations are very specific in that once the Notice of Enforcement has been issued, the debt owed includes the compliance fee of £75. Furthermore, and this is again in the regulations, any payments made after the Notice of Enforcement has been issued must first be applied towards discharging the Compliance fee (of £75). The bottom line is that if a payment is made to a local authority (minus bailiff fees) after the date on when a Notice of Enforcement is issued, the enforcement company are entitled to their compliance fee (of £75). The effect being that any payment made to a local authority (minus bailiff fees) must be considered as merely a part payment and accordingly, the warrant is not satisfied…and bailiff enforcement can.....and will continue. Since 2014, debt avoidance websites have inundated local authorities with many hundreds of Freedom of Information requests enquiring as to whether councils retain these online payment or pass the compliance fee to the enforcement company etc. These pointless requests have achieved absolutely nothing. There have been quite a few Local Government Ombudsman’s decisions regarding this scenario but a very recent one is of interest because, in this particular case, the local authority adjusted the amount of the Liability Order but failed to inform the enforcement company. The debtor also paid the council direct (minus bailiffs). A have copied the decision in the next post.

Originally had a Council Tax debt of £167.00. A fee was added of £75.00. I agreed to pay £20.00 per month and did so on 15th of each month. At the end of August 2017 I owed £62.00. Stupidly I forgot to pay on the 15th September and on Wednesday I got home from work to a hand delivered letter which turned out to be an Enforcement Order with a further £235.00 of charges. I contacted the Bailiff by text and offer 50% of the £62.00 now and the balance next month but he was not interested. He wanted me to pay the total £297.00 the next morning. I asked what the next stage was and he menacingly answered "You will have to wait and see." I was hoping to be debt free by the end of the year, but these mean it will be another year. Can anyone please give some advice ? This means that my charges exceed the value of the original debt and he is expecting me to pay more than I can afford. Can I challenge the Enforcement Charge? Can I pay the charge by setting up a payment plan? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I have cancelled my Direct debit with Xercise4less around 4 months ago due to money problems as I had just moved into a new house and didn't realize how much bills were going to cost, I did not have the money to pay them so I cancelled the direct debit through my bank account. I received the email below from the Harlands company. "We refer to our previous letter and note that you have not contacted us. You have now incurred a further £ 25.00 charge and are £ 73.98 in arrears. Under your Membership Agreement, you have promised to pay this debt. If you continue to refuse to honour that commitment, we will have no option but to take further steps to collect the outstanding balance. We want to help you resolve this situation but you must call us. Ignoring our letters is only resulting in further charges being added. Please call the HARLANDS HELPLINE on 01444 449033 to clear your arrears by Debit/Credit Card and reinstate your Direct Debit. If you are unable to clear your arrears in full then we may be able to help you but you must call us to discuss this. If you do not contact us by 17th September 2017 your balance of £ 157.91 will be passed to a Debt Recovery company who will add their fees to your account." I have checked my emails and can not see any emails from them previously? I would have dealt with this sooner, they are threatening to charge me 160?! I am now in a place were I can pay the 11.99 a month to Excersise4less but surely I don't need to pay the admin fees, that is too much money, can they make me pay these? I do not know what to do and can't afford to pay £73. I would be happy to pay 11.99 a month again to the GYM

I'm making a (very!) small claim through MCOL on a point of principle - to recover just £5. That amount is dwarfed by the £25 MCOL fee - I'll make the claim anyway as I want to hold the other party to account, but can I include the £25 MCOL fee in my claim - or is that disallowed? (I seem to remember than the previous Small Claims Court arrangement, part of the deal was each side paying their own fees - but I can't find any reference to this in MCOL documentation)

I would be grateful if anyone here can give me a brief outline of the actual law relating to gym's that attempt to charge an administration fee (£25.00)? Am I correct in saying that this is legally defined as a penalty fee and therefore unlawful and can be safely ignored? Thanks in advance for any help provided. And might I say what a wonderful resource this forum is. All power to your elbow. Dubs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40727400

Hello! I know the answer is easy to find but I can't find it! I have approx £360 left of an enormous loan with WF. I have refused to pay it for possibly a year now. Might be slightly less. I know there is a letter you can write about not paying the fees and telling them politely no. But I can't find it. Please can someone point me in the right direction? If I'm completely wrong, I'd love your advise J

Hi, I was visited today by two bailiffs form the company Court Enforcement Services Limited pertaining to the payment of a business electricity bill. I had not received a letter or other warning of the visit which was to my home address and not the business address. My residential address is used as the registered office of the business, hence their knowledge of it, however it is not my property (it is jointly owned by three family members.) I was upstairs at home when the bailiffs entered via the unlocked back door (I believe this is their right?) They told me that they would be taking £3367.58 (they didn't give this exact figure initially) worth of goods or money for enforcement of a High Court writ for the electricity debt of £2300. During our interaction the bailiffs referred to themselves as "The Court Enforcement Service" which I think is deceitful and an attempt to portray themselves as officers of the law rather than employees of a limited company, which is apparent form the documentation they gave me before they left. I asked for some documentation pertaining the the Order or Writ that they were carrying out and was shown an illegible document on the screen of a phone which was heavily cracked. They had no other paperwork to offer. They asked me (more than once) if I was refusing to pay the bill. This is not the case and I had previously spoken to a representative of my electricity provider in person regarding the debt and did not know that the utility company had applied for a court order. (I have the funds to pay the £2300 to the utility company directly and acknowledge that this is what my company legitimately owes). I told the bailiffs that there was money in the safe a the business premises (which there is) about 10 miles away, but I could not get hold of my business partner to ask him to access it as his personal phone wasn't answering and the business was shut at the time. I was told that this was irrelevant and that they (the bailiffs) would travel to the business premises and break the door down in my absence to take goods to the value of £3300 if I didn't pay up. In the end I paid their demand via direct debit as I did not want people breaking into my business premise and was issued a receipt which is how I found out I was dealing with Court Enforcement Services Limited and not "The Court Enforcement Service" (LOL). After the two gentlemen left I consulted the CAB website as to the fees which bailiffs may charge. From the CAB site it seems that the maximum they could levy is around £360 (which I would dispute anyway as I have not reneged on payment in the first place and was unaware of their impending visit). However they have extracted a fee of £1000 which I only acquiesced to under the threat of a break in at my business. I am considering having my bank cancel this payment. If anyone can advise on theese issues it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I am currently with the fos with a claim for mis-selling of account and o/d charges reclaim for financial hardship. The FOS seems to side with the bank and is asking for t&cs of the accounts I held at the time, Additions, Additions plus and Premier. The bank has lied about products provided on these accounts and I need access to welcome packs and terms of conditions for the said accounts. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

I had an issue with Virgin Media about early termination fees when I was helping out a friend. The way he was treated was grossly unfair - details don't matter now. However, I wrote to Ofcom about it and they said that they consider early termination fees to be fair PROVIDED they only cover lost profit - actual cost of providing the service has to be deducted for the charge to be fair. This is because, if you cancel, they are saving this amount. I wrote to Virgin Media and told them what Ofcom had said. I asked them to tell me how much it cost them to supply the service my friend was terminating so that we could calculate the fair early termination fee. We've not heard from them since. The reason for this is that the information I was asking for is highly commercial (they wouldn't want Sky or anyone else knowing this) and there is no way they will divulge it. If they think you might pursue them for this information (which you have a right to do - find my thread on getting similar commercial information from Welcome Finance), they will just go away. This is not just for Virgin Media but for any ISP, Cable TV or phone service that charges early termination fees. Enjoy!

When the enforcement regulations were overhauled in 2014, they provided a radical change whereby, a debtor could repay their debt by way of a payment arrangement (usually over a period of approx 3-4 months). Such payment arrangements need to be set up within the very strict time frame outlined on the Notice of Enforcement. This period of time is referred to as the 'Compliance stage' and as long as a payment arrangement is agreed by the date and time given on the notice, an enforcement visit will not be required, and this will save the debtor incurring an enforcement fee of £235. The ‘compliance stage’ is also the period when cases of ‘vulnerability’ should be bought to the attention of the enforcement company (and evidence provided where possible). When the Notice of Enforcement is sent, a Compliance fee of £75 will be added to the principal debt. It is important to make clear that the Compliance fee (of £75) is not a fee for just sending a letter. It is a fee that covers many different costs incurred by the enforcement agent including the setting up of Welfare Departments, training and setting up and managing payment arrangements etc, etc. The second radical change introduced in 2014 was the provided that where the proceeds of enforcement are less than the amount outstanding, that the payment should be distributed on a pro-rata basis between the creditor and enforcement agent. With the ‘Compliance stage’ allowing for short term payment arrangements, the government were concerned that this could cause enforcement agents to operate at a loss until the total debt was paid (and they recovered their fees) and that this could undermine the fee structure and could lead to enforcement agents acting in an aggressive manner in order to recoup the entire debt. It was for this precise reason, that the regulations provide that enforcement agents should be paid the compliance stage in full first, followed by a pro-rata division of proceeds. This is explained in more detail in the following Explanatory Memorandum supporting the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1/pdfs/uksiem_20140001_en.pdf It has been interesting to observe over the past 3 years the way in which 'debt avoidance' websites reacted to the compliance fee with literally hundreds of Freedom of Information requests being made to councils around the country questioning how each council dealt with 'direct payments' and whether they retained the payment...or forwarded it to the enforcement agent. The advice from these groups has remained unchanged...pay the council direct online the principal debt (minus enforcement agent fees). With Magistrate Court fines, in every case where a payment is received after a case had been passed to an enforcement agency, the court will forward the payment to the enforcement agent so that they can deduct the compliance fee (of £75) and apportion the balance in line with legislation. If the debt in question is a local authority issued penalty charge notice or a liability order, some councils manage direct payments in different ways. Some forward the entire payment to the enforcement agent....some forward just the compliance fee and others keep the payment. Regardless of the internal procedures, the fact remains, that paying the council (or creditor direct) does not avoid paying bailiff fees and this has been the subject of an important legal case details of which are posted below.

It would appear that Ebay is to start charging 20% VAT on fees when it changes it corporate structure later this year. Sellers with a turnover under £85,000 will not be affected. https://tamebay.com/2017/05/ebay-uk-spring-2017-seller-release-ebay-to-charge-vat-on-fees.html

Hello, I am looking for some help with regards to a letter in received from Credit Resolution Services in regards to an outstanding payment for my gym member ship ' Peak Physique Fitness in Hitchin stating I owe them £235.50 They claim I sign up via online sign up process for the membership which I advised I never had as this was with the gym were in person at the gym but they just don't appear to understand what I am telling them. They also state upon providing my bank details email address name and date of birth tjat I agree to pay £25.00 per month. I signed up March 2016 but had no paperwork at all as I just game them my debt card details and email address. They advised me that a signature on a contract is not always necessary for a contract to be formed. I been in contact with the Citizen Advice Burea and they believe this not a regulated finance agreement in place and they asked me to find out if the gym is part of a trade association - I have emailed the gym to enquire about this I never revived another letter and threatens Court Action (CCJ). They also including the handling fee of £66.50 included in the £235.35 I owe them. I know I cancelled the gym membership within 12 months but I have never been provided a contract or signed up online and the gym had never contacted me in regards this , instead I get this letter from the debt company. I see on this site it mentions a template letter but I was unable to locate it but any advice would be appreciated in regards to this as this starting to worry me alot. I rather deal with the gym direct but its very frustrating they can not provide any gym contract or nay durable form to back up there charges.with the gym were in person at the gym but they just dont appear to understand what I am tellling them. I signed up March 2016 but had no paperwork at all as I just game them y debt details and email address. They advised me that a signature on a contract is not always necessary for a contract to be formed. I been in contact with the Citizen Advice Burea and they believe this not a regulated finance agreement in place and they asked me to find out if the gym is part of a trade association - I have emailed the gym to enquire about this I never revived another letter and threatens Court Action (CCJ). They also including the handling fee of £66.50 included in the £235.35 I owe them. I know I cancelled the gym membership within 12 months but I have never been provided a contract or signed up online and the gym had never contacted me in regards this , instead I get this letter from the debt company. I see on this site it mentions a template letter but I was unable to locate it but any advice would be appreciated in regards to this as this starting to worry me alot. I rather deal with the gym direct but its very frustrating they can not provide any gym contract or nay durable form to back up there charges. Gym arrars letter.pdf

Hi, I wonder if any one can give me any advice! I was enrolled into university September 2015 and was at university for around a week before I was involved in a serious car accident. The accident resulted in me having to withdraw from the course. The university provided absolutely no support to help me stay on the course as I was so reluctant to leave. I was told I had to pay £195 to them for 'Tuition fees' even though the first week I was there I didn't learn a thing! I've been paying £10 a month to STA International to clear this debt and have been for the last 6 months. Yesterday I got a letter from STA asking me to fill out a questionnaire where they're asking for all my financial details including my partners! i.e my salary and mortgage payments, car finance, gas & electric out goings. This is clearly an attempt from them to look at my finances and demand higher monthly payments from me. I contacted a STA adviser today who told me I agreed to the questionnaire when I set up the direct debit (this was over the phone), they have never had me sign anything to tie me into any sort of agreement! I told them I am not providing this information but will continue to pay my £10 a month until the debt is cleared. The adviser responded telling me they will phone, email and send letters until I send them this information back. My question is, do I have to respond with what they're asking for? will they be able to take legal action? I'm assuming not since I am paying them however I have never had any debt before and I am worried! Thanks G