Hi, I am hoping that someone can give me some advice with regards to my claim. I have a critical illness policy with friends life and in september whilst away with my family I suffered and unexpected heart attack and cardiac arrest in spain. Once back in the UK and feeling a little better I opened my critical illness claim, medical details were a struggle as it happened in Spain so required them documents and had to have the translated etc. Now that they have most although still said they did not have my ecg results, they called and said that looking at my medical report my docter has confirmed that we have a strong history of heart condition in the family with my mother having a bypass at 48 and my brother suffering a heartattack at 28. I disclosed the fact of the heart condition of my mother on the forms however I did not declare my brother which at the time of completing my form I was never aware and only when they called I was made aware. We do not really talk and my brother is very much a private person and i dont think he had told anyone of his condition and to be honest whenever I have seen him has looked fine and is 40 now. When I have been for regular tests for my cholestrol the docter has said we need to keep an eye on it due to family history but never ever indicated my brother had any issues. I have now been told that they could cancel my policy as i did not declare this information and had I the underwriters may not have given the policy or the premium would have been different. They said they will make a decision in the next week and may need to write to my docter again possibly to ask if I would have knew. I confirmed that I genuinely did not know and was open about my mother and would have been about my brother if I was aware. Reading the internet their are so many stories of how they look to find any loop not to pay and this seems to be something so am not very confident at this point. I would really appreciate some advice and what steps I could take if they decline my claim, or what I could do in the meantime, I still have not spoke to my brother about this as I do not want him to know i do know as he obviously kept this quiet for his reasons. Thanks Gavin

Morning all, I have recently been diagnosed with 2 serious mental illnesses and am starting the long road to recovery... The two illnesses, Bipolar disorder and Schizoaffective disorder, are now being treated, but I am concerned about divulging this information to an new potential employer... I have a job offer, but no start date as yet.. I understand that I must, by law declare this to the DVLA or face £2000 in fines for not doing so, but is there a legal obligation to declare these disorders to my new employer and, if I did, what should I expect from them? Has anyone had experience of doing this? Many thanks xxx

Hi - I am a new user. Any advice will be gratefully received. I am recovering from a serious stress related illness which started in 2003. I have been intending to check my credit card accounts,etc for ages but only just got round to it due to not being well enough through illness. I have the relevant statements. I have claims against a few companies but these go back as far as 2002. Am I right in thinking I can only claim for the last 6 yrs? Will the fact that I have not been mentally fit enough to tackle this be taken in to account at all? I also have a large claim against my bank but I am worried that they may close my account. Has this been happening? I may have problems opening another account due to a not very good credit scoring.

I have just received a form to fill in from ATOS for my migration from income support to ESA. Please can someone recommend any websites or information about how best to make points relevant to mental illness on the form ?? Also, is there a list on a website somewhere of how they score points from this form so that you can get an idea of where you stand? I have had a look at the form and am finding it overwhelming. Thanks for any help.

Hi, I'm new to this and forums, so forgive me if I've put this in the wrong place. My ET1 was accepted. The employers submitted an ET3. Due to 'an administrative error' (Employment Tribunal's phrase), there has been a very long delay between my being physically attacked by my employers and the submitting of forms by them and the employers. I have literally just received the hearing and due process dates and today I have received a letter from my now ex-employers' solicitors, asking for an unbelieveable amount of information, that I would have to get together by this coming Monday. It would take me more than three days under perfect circumstances, but I am on new medication, from the GP, and have been referred to crisis intervention and a psychiatrist, as well as other health care professionals, as in their words, I am very ill, due to the stress of the attack, incidents leading up to the attack, subsequent court case and continuing intimidation and threats. I am too ill to get this replying information in this time frame. How do I word an email to the Employment Tribunal people, to ask for an extension, to get myself together enough, to answer all these questions? I am also suffering side effects from the medications and clinical depression. Also, I have been asked by the tribunal people to describe my disability (also present at the time of employment) under some kind of regulation rules. Do you know how I do this please? I take about ten medications to maintain my hormone levels, including Metformin as I am pre-diabetic and I am diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder, which is triggered by things like stress, including someone trying to kill me. At some point, I will post a full explanation as to what happened, but I need to first remove the stress of being expected to answer a whole heap of intricately detailed questions by Monday. Thank you for taking time to read this; I hope it makes sense (it's hard to concentrate at the moment) and if anyone answers, I thank you, in advance, for your help. If possible, I think I have to ask for the extension today. C

Hello, apologies if I get something wrong - first post. I've tried to read the FAQ but mental illness drugs have left me with the concentration span of a gnat (that may be insulting to gnats, amoeba maybe?!) I've lost a year of my life to a misdiagnosed mental illness and the ensuing drugs which left me in a lithium-induced coma like state. Meanwhile, I've garnered a lot of financial problems (including CCJs) albeit the one thing I've managed to get a temporary agreement on is my mortgage. Is there an optimal charity for complex debt (there's a company failure in there too) please? I can't handle this on my own, especially as I fear sliding back into depression.. already overwhelmed Many thanks in advance for your kind assistance