The two biggest forums on CAG are Banks and Debt, with over a million posts each. Clearly money is a big issue in the UK. What is the root cause? The answer is that money is created by private companies (banks) simply by typing figures into a computer. It’s a great business model, isn’t it? You apply for a mortgage, the bank types numbers into your account and then charges you interest on them, many thousands of pounds over many years. This was not some pensioner's savings: it was new money created out of nothing by the bank. But don't take my word for it: here it is explained by the Bank of England: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/news/2014/051.aspx "​Where does money come from? In the modern economy, most money takes the form of bank deposits. But how those bank deposits are created is often misunderstood. The principal way in which they are created is through commercial banks making loans: whenever a bank makes a loan, it creates a deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money." The effects are huge and widespread: · * If you are wondering why you are in debt, the answer is that these companies are incentivised to create as much debt as possible so they can charge interest on it. Moreover, we can never get out of debt, because then 97% of the money in the economy would disappear. · * Why are houses so expensive? New money could be put into productive use - for example a business that employs people and makes widgets: but that's risky, so the biggest destination of new money is housing, and that's why houses are so expensive. · * Pensioners on the breadline. £1 saved in the 1950s has been deflated down to 4p today by the creation of masses of new money. · * The most profitable activity on the planet is now playing with numbers in computers. The brightest minds go not into industries that benefit society but into finance. This is not the first time such a situation existed. In the 1800s the promissory notes issued by private banks had become money, the banks figured out they could just print more, and a property bubble was caused. So Parliament stepped in with the Bank Charter Act of 1844 and said that only the Bank of England could print money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Charter_Act_1844 Unfortunately there was a get-out clause, which was Demand Deposits, i.e. your bank balance. With the advent of computers it became possible to multiply BoE currency massively, 48x at the time of the crash. Money is not a natural phenomenon, it is manmade and we make the rules. Yet a few years after they needed to be saved, banks are in the position to pay £billions in bonuses. I think that the rules should have money serve society, not private, unaccountable, profit seeking enterprises. If you agree, please post your support so I can organise the campaign. I have also set up an e-petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/64050 If you don’t agree, please say why, cite your evidence, and we can have a sensible debate about it. Thank you. Mike Garrard

Hi all, Back in early Dec 2013, I received a PCN from UKCPM Ltd. I was parked in an private office car park, in a space that had been allocated to me by the space holder for the day. I was working in their offices in the multi tenant building. The space is their's under their lease agreement and they told me to park there for the day - I can prove this as I have 2 emails from the office manager advising me to do this. I left my business card on my dashboard, clearly displayed, in case anyone wanted to query it etc. Several hours later I glanced out the window and saw a guy get out of a branded Smart car and put something on my car, I went out and asked what he was doing; he said (in broken english with a strong east european accent) - I was parked without a permit, therefore I had to pay a fine. I advised I had permission and could prove it, he wasn't interested and continued to put the PCN on my car and take pictures etc. I ignored the PCN, thought I'd just wait and see what happened. End of Jan, I receive a Notice to Keeper Formal Demand from UKCPM Ltd, advising that as the registered keeper of the vehicle I had to either advise the driver's name & address or pay £100 charge for "Not displaying a valid permit" - Discount payment period has expired. Several weeks later I decided to write a letter to UKCPM - I was happy to ignore, but the wife is a panicker!!! I wrote as the registered keeper of the vehicle, did not admit to being the driver or anything else. I stated the car was parked with consent of the space holder, and that their operative was advised of this at the time. I also stated that as far as I was concerned the matter was therefore closed and no further correspondence would be entered into. Also if they (or their agents etc etc) did contact me again, I would levy a £500 harassment charge per letter against UKCPM Ltd & its named Directors via the courts. Mid March I received a letter from DRP, Demand for Payment of an unpaid parking charge £149, deadline to pay 27th March. Today (2nd April) I received from DRP a notice of intended court action - unpaid parking charge £149.00, deadline to pay 14th April 2014 or will be passed to creditors solicitor with recommendation to commence court action. My intention is to continue to ignore this, and see what happens.... The sign in the car park (picture attached) reads: Private property Unauthorised parking or parking a vehicle in a area or space that has not been designated to you may result in your vehicle receiving parking charge notice. Enforcement in operation 24 hrs Permits must be clearly displayed in windscreen at all times Terms of parking without permission blah blah blah. MY ARGUMENT: I had permission from the space holder, I have advised UK CPM of this twice. Their sign states that only parking without authorisation or in an undesignated space will result in a PCN - I had authority and was in the space designated to me by the space leasee. Their sign does not state that failure to display a permit will result in a PCN - the PCN has been issued as Contravention - Not Displaying a Vaild permit AM I RIGHT TO CONTINUE THIS ARGUMENT, SIT BACK AND WAIT ETC.....?? Any advice gratefully received

My husband has been in dispute with Cap1 for several years, as they never managed to produce a valid CCA. Didn't hear anything from them for years, then suddenly, the attached letter was received today, and we're not sure how to proceed. There has been no notice of assignment (but we have moved home, twice, so they may not have the address, although CSL seem to have found it relatively easily). Can anyone advise what our course of action should be please? Many thanks. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49506[/ATTACH]

I wonder if anyone can help, I have been written to by Marks and Spencer Money in relation to a debt I know nothing about which is seven years old. There is no paper work except a letter from M and S with the account number. They have sold on this debt to a third party and the third party have contacted me by email. I do not know how they got my email address or indeed my new address, as I have recently moved to a new address. I have written to M and S informing them I have not taken a loan out with them and asking them to send copies of the contract documentation. This was four weeks ago and they are refusing to send the paperwork and want £10 for sending it. As it is not my debt I am not going to pay. In the meantime the emails from the buyer of the debt continue. Any suggestions what else I can do?

I am paying via ARC and have the original l oan but extension as defaults on my credit file. The extension is only for £160 so once I've paid that amount to ARC I'd like that default settled. note my account has been assigned not sold to ARC. Online chat:

back in may i had my quad bike stolen from my house. we contacted the police within minutes off it being taken, we even heard it start round the corner seconds before 999 answered. the NEXT day soco arrived and we showed them a foot print where one of the thieves had stepped in oil, he didnt finger print the pirlight they moved or the wheelie bin they stood on !! later plod arrived and took details. made a proper statement at the local station 2 days after that, that night the 2 thieves posted themselves on face book with it at 20:00. i instantly rang the cops, cheshire wouldnt do anything as it was in manchester, but gmp wouldnt touch it as it was a cheshire job......18 hours later they visited the lads addresses, GONE! after a few weeks i checked police.net website as they also had another quad and attempted to take a 3rd one and they also took a motor cross bike the same weekend and lo and behold those crimes are not even recorded on the police.net website. i rang asking to speak with an inspector, this was refused and a detective sargent rang and asked me to go and see him. i went loaded with lots of info about these people and i was told they will look into it. when i asked what they had to say in interview they dropped the bombshell, WE DIDNT ARREST THEM !!!! FFS!!! any advice would be helpfull

Right its been a while since I posted on here so its going to be a long one. About 2 years ago I opened an account with Alliance and Leicester mostly because I was in the market for a new bank and also because they were offering £100 to new customers that used their switching service. Applied, got an account with a £250 overdraft and waited for them to switch my currant account. A month passed and no switch, I contacted them and they said that it hadn’t been set up and they’d do it now – another 6 weeks and no switch. We’ll call this account 1. I popped into a branch (they had rebranded to Santander during this period)and explained and they said that’s odd, very sorry etc and said they could only switch me for the offer if I opened a new Santander account as the offer with Alliance and Lester had no expired as technically A&L no longer took new customers. Fine I said, can you switch that account over and my existing current account – I was told yes they could. We'll call this account 2. 6 weeks passed and I called and said still no word on the switch and they said no sir we haven’t been instructed to switch your accounts – at this point she then announced that I also wouldn’t be eligible to take advantage of the £100 switching offer as I already had an account with A&L which was part of the same group and thus I wasn’t a new customer…amazing! Account 1 problem: So I’d toyed with using account 1 and I’d withdrawn most of the overdraft one day when the machine munched my normal bank card, I figured this didn’t matter as I’d have my salary going in when they move everything over. Over the past 2 years it seems that the monthly couple of pounds overdraft interest has tipped me over the agreed overdraft limit and the charges have piled on to the sum of £750+ Account 2 problem: As I’d assumed that it wasn’t possible for the fiasco that occurred with account 1 to happen again in anticipation of this becoming my main account I set up a small direct debit on the account – I think it was a fiver a month for something, long story short they didn’t swap my accounts so it bounced and I got a £35 charge which took me overdrawn leading to a further charge for an unauthorized overdraft – I paid this which put me £2 in credit and after all the problems I moved my direct debt back to my normal current account and vowed never to deal with Santander again. It seems that they have charged me interest on the unauthorized overdraft on account 2 which has used my £2 credit and some and has now amassed £1375 in charges. I have 2 shiny defaults on my account now, which is upsetting as they will sit there for 6 years regardless of how this gets sorted – I’m one unhappy bunny. So to re-cap – I owe them £250 for the overdraft on account 1 + interest for that money I assume – everything else that makes up the £718 balance is charge. And on account 2 the full balance is charges. I only got into this mess due to their errors and incompetence which basically told me I had to open a second account – if they’d done what I signed up for and switched my account they’d have been my sole bank. What are my first steps to sorting this mess as this seems very hard to write down and they wont discuss it in branch with me. Thanks J

Hi On May 23rd I made a Telephone Claim for Employment and Support Allowance. On May 25th I recieved the "Statement" to read through, I contacted them and they told me I needed to send a Sick Note - I could not obtain this until May 31st, due to unforseen problems getting an appointment with my GP. I sent my Sick-Note and a Covering Letter explaining that I can not go out on my own and I cannot even be in the house on my own I also told them what medication I was on for my Depression and Anxiety/Panic Disorder. I sent that through the post on May 31st. I realise things take a while to get to them and the long Jubilee Weekend would not have helped matters but it is now 39 Days since I first made my claim and 30 Days since I sent the sicknote and letter and I have still heard nothing from them whatsoever. Could it be they have turned me down straight off and have just not bothered telling me? I know for a fact that they have not paid me as I check my account regularly and nothing is going in. This is a BRAND NEW ESA Claim by the way. Anyone had the same experience, can it take so long to assess a brand new claim before they give a decision either way??