"This report looks at how local welfare reform has developed over the last two years from the local authority and social housing point of view. It includes a look at some of the innovative ‘good practice’ that local authorities are using to address it. Our report is concerned with: • the impact of reform on the strategy, finances and administration of local authorities and their partners, including housing associations • the impact on welfare recipients to the extent that this has direct consequences for local authorities and housing associations • what the future might hold." This report makes for interesting reading and a worthwhile read see attachment (PDF) This information was gathered from here including the link to this report: http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23008%3Acouncils-and-housing-associations-see-rent-arrears-and-evictions-rise&catid=60&Itemid=28

My noddle report is pretty poor as it has 2 defaults on it which are 5 years old (and both currently being disputed). Today I paid the fee and viewed my experian report and that says I have excellent credit and no record of the 2 defaults? I have an old experian report from 2012 and that has one of the defaults on it, but not the other, but now they no longer appear on it. I even called experian to check, and she said there was no active record for them, so they are not part of the credit report. My 2012 report was in the region of ~700, but now it's mid 900's, and even says at the top that it has improved because there are no longer delinquent or defaulted accounts on it. One other thing that confuses me is that Experian have no record of my current bank account. They have my main bank account down as an old closed Barclays account. Again, I asked them and they said if the account was opened over 10 years ago it may be that my bank never agreed to share the information. So my credit score is now so good, do I risk calling my bank to ask them to share info? I've been a customer for 15+ years, have a 1500 OD that I basically live in. This may look negative!

Hi, I'm hoping to get some understanding of exactly what an update of my credit file means and how, if possible, I can get it corrected. I have a mortgage with GE Home Lending. Around the time of a divorce, June 2013 I missed a payment on the Mortgage. I continued to pay the mortgage thereafter with one payment of arrears. About a year or so after missing that payment I contacted them to make an arrangement for the arrears to be cleared. Their response was along the lines of 'We will not enter into an agreement as the arrears are not serious enough' Based on that I decided to pay off 50% of the missed payment straight away. Six months later I paid off another 25% of the arrears. In early March of this year I paid off the remaining 25%. All is good so far. However, a few months ago I applied for a new mortgage in order to move house. I received an offer in principle so decided to market the house and sell it. I struggled to find a new place but last week I finally did. I needed a slightly higher mortgage amount so re-applied. I was immediately declined. The lender suggested that I look at my credit report as an adverse entry was added on 7th April. Having looked at my report, GE money added a '2' against my credit report for April. This applied to both Equifax and Experian. My credit report for this account shows Green for every entry prior to this. The new lender is reading this as me being two months in arrears with my Mortgage. I have provided bank statements to prove that I've been making payments on time but they are not interested. A huge black mark for obvious reasons. I have take this up with GE but I'm not making much progress. They accept that they have added an incorrect entry for April. They are proposing that they move the '2' entry to February '15. They claim that this two entry means that a payment was made later than 30 days, but less than 59 days. According two Equifax and Experian the 2 means that I missed two consecutive payments in February. Dealing with GE is like wading through treacle. I make countless calls and send numerous emails but I'm getting fobbed off time and time again. One minute they are fixing it. The next minute it's the credit reference agent's fault. I guess my question is a) what's the forum's view on the interpretation of a '2' recorded against a given month and b) if there's any advice anyone can give to help me get this corrected. Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any help I.

New Which? research has revealed a startlingly low awareness of the 7726 text service that enables you to report spam texts for free. A whopping 90% of people said they have never heard of this number to report spam text messages to their mobile phone provider. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is now warning of an imminent increase in spam text messages following the changes to pension rules coming into force on 6 April. You can report spam texts directly to your mobile phone provider. All operators now use 7726 - with the exception of Vodafone who uses 87726 - as the short code to report spam texts which is free of charge. Once reported you should get an automated response thanking you for the report and giving you further instructions. http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/04/most-people-in-the-dark-about-reporting-spam-texts-399675/

http://www.racfoundation.org/media-centre/private-parking-public-concern-press-release

Looks like Oor Ian has some explaining to do. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/report-universal-credit-progress-update/

Last night (no doubt in preparation of Barry Beavis's Court of Appeal case in a few days times) the RAC Foundation issued a 64 page statement from a highly respected QC questioning the legality of private parking tickets. The document is stunning and is a 'must read' for anyone with an interest in these dreadful private parking tickets. http://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/RACF_Private_Parking_Public_Concern_John_de_Waal_Jo_Abbott_February_2015.pdf

Hi My son bought an Advent laptop from Currys around April 2013. In October last year it developed a graphic card fault and he took it back. The store told him that it was out of warranty and it was a chargeable repair. He thought fair enough and, not being able to afford it, left the store. I was telling a friend about it last month and he said to get it independently tested to see if it was an inherent fault. If so Currys would have to arrange a repair or replacement under the Sale of Goods Act. That's now been done and the report says it was an inherent fault. The store said to contact knowhow which my son did. They say they have to test it and it will cost £60. My son told them he had an independent report saying it's a manufacturer fault but they stll insist that they will charge £60 before taking the machine back. If its a manufacture fault they will refund the £60 He's worried that if he pays the £60 they will say it isn't a manufacture fault and I agreee as I wouldn't consider Currys the most independent of people. What are his rights please

4th December 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5HlJ1z5lDtYHqVRTRqxx4XL/npower-billing-chaos

Hello anyone, I would like some advice on how best to improve my current credit report situation. When I was a teenager I got into a bit of debt with my bank after loosing my job etc. Many years on now I am 27 and looking at buying a property, so i need a mortgage etc. (Regretting my ignorance now) What is the best/cheapest/efficient/fastest way to sort my self out please? I have checked my report and I have a total of 4 Defaults 2005 Lowell - £1320 2008 Mkdp Llp - £2375 2009 Arrow Global LTD - £96 2012 Lowell - £38 To be honest I have ignored all correspondence in regards to all and any financial related letters and all of these debts are still outstanding & I dont even know what they are for anymore. What Action should i take? Regards Consortium

Hi Everyone, I used to be a director of a estate agency around 8 years ago, the company was dissolved quite soon after that. As far as I know there weren't any debts owed to anyone. I checked my credit report a few days ago and am shocked to see a CCJ for £192, after calling Norwich County Court its turns out that the money is allegedly owed to a a company called Agency Express which provide for sale signs to estate agents. Although we did use that company I am not aware of any debt owed to them, even if I did all business was done though the ltd company. The CCJ is under my name albeit, not my full name, Ric instead of Richard and the address on the CCJ is the wrong door number, I live at 150, the door number recorded is 153. The CCJ was granted in Aug 2009. What can I do about this, can I have this set aside as any paperwork would have gone to the wrong address, also I feel that I cannot held be liable for any debts relating to the ltd company. I hope someone can give me some advice

Hi all, I have 2 bank account, one is Halifax other Lloyd's. On my Halifax account I could go overdraft £1250, in 2013 I move to new place and forget to inform Halifax bank about my new address, and at that point I did not use Halifax account at all. I was on overdraft around £500. At the beginning of 2014, Halifax canceled my overdraft, which I realize in March 3 months later, I quickly repay outstanding fee, informed about my new address and start using this bank account more often. Recently I was shopping for mortgage and have been informed that I had 3 late payments on my Halifax account (outstanding £500 - my overdraft has been canceled). This mess up my credit score big time from 966 went down to 677!!! It was my fault I know, but is there any chance to fix that for example by witting a goodwill letter if yes, have anyone did it? Has other advice? Thanks for helping

Hi All, Hoping you can help. A couple of years ago I got in a mess with payday loans, all were paid off via step change last November. However CFO lending and Payday Express are still causing me a headache. Payday express show a default with an outstanding balance of £645.00 and CFO lending are showing as satisfactory but with an outstanding balance of £645.00 - I have tried calling and emailing both companies to get this resolve but I am getting no response whatsoever. Is there anything I can do about this??? Thanks in advance

Hi All, I'm hoping someone here can assist me with MKDP/Compello/Raven etc. For some time (years) I have been receiving letters from the above to my mothers house about an outstanding debt to Welcome Finance, I was duely ignoring them as I was not aware of any debt. Some time ago I re-registered on the electoral role after getting married and moving to a new house with my now wife, it would seem this meant the "group" knew to send letters there instead. I finally decided enough was enough when the "group" started calling the house, and so wrote them the attached letter. They responded after a few days saying they would supply the requested information which arrived today In the envelope they sent is a signed Welcome Finance Personal Loan Agreement that I had taken out in 2003 and several "Welcome Financier : Loan History" sheets showing direct debit payments that I had paid with the final one on the 22/02/06 (which is when I started University not that this is relevant). Then there is an entry for a "Cash Payment" on the 22/12/2008 which I have no recollection of at all. I guess my questions here and advice I require are: By my asking for proof of the debt mean I have accepted knowledge of it? I believe this is to be Statute Barred this year even working off this dubious cash payment date? Could it be possible this Cache payment has been fictitious added to skew the dates? Thanks in advance, Glenn

Hi all I recently signed up to noddle to check my credit report. I noticed that I have a CCJ issued against me on the 15/05/2014. A case number is provided but no company name shows. I would also like to point out that this CCJ is registered with my previous address. I would like assistance or to be guided in the right way to deal with this issue. I didn't know that a CCJ was going to be issued. I moved out of the address it's listed against on the 28/09/2013 so any paper work relating to this would have been sent there and I had no knowledge that a case was to be heard. I can provide proof by a tenancy agreement showing the date that I moved out of that address. Is there anything that I can do to try and resolve this issue? thank you in advance

Hello there I wonder if anyone can help with this. I am considering buying a new car in the next month or so, and thought I would check out my noddle report before doing so. I noticed a default on my account in the name of Arvato Financial Solutions LTD T/A Buchanan Clark & Wells. The date of birth is over 20 years out and I don't remember ever having any dealings with this company. I logged it on the noddle site as incorrect today, stating that I don't know what it is. I'm wondering if I should contact this company as well? I have searched for some kind of address for them, but as I don't know what I'm looking for, I cant find anything. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

Hi All, Not sure if I have posted in correct place however I need some URGENT advice. I recently received my Credit Report from Experian and Equifax and was quite dismayed to find a default for Orange in the amount of 97.00 pounds. I want to get this removed ASAP as I was unaware that this had happened. I am hoping to start a business in the next couple of months and this will be detrimental if I require funding, business account etc. Could someone please advise the best way to proceed. Thanks in advance.

This is my first post to assist anyone cancelling their credit report trial or monthly fee with Equifax. I started a 30 day free trial in April with the intention of cancelling before the trial period ended. Due to unexpected personal circumstances I forgot. I started being charged £9.95 per month and cancelled in August. I requested a refund of the latest month's charge and they also offered a refund of £29.95 for the previous charges. I cancelled via their website as I prefer to have a written record of communication. I think they prefer you to cancel by telephone as it's a little tricky to navigate doing it online. However, it does work and I've done it a few times over the years. Login as usual and make a note of your credit report number. At the bottom of the page click on FAQs. It will take you to another page and ask you to log in again (if you have not used this part of their service before I think it will ask you to create a login for it). Then click on 'ask a question'. Click on 'product' and pick an option - I chose 'Equifax credit Report'. Click on 'category' and pick an option - I chose 'I have a question' ('I have a question' is listed 3 times and I picked the 3rd one on the list). I then clicked on 'other'. Enter your credit report reference as requested. Enter your message in the box and submit. It will then bring up some 'auto responses' and ask if they answer your question. Submit your question again so that it is sent to a real person who can respond. If you don't hear back in a couple of days login again and resubmit (this only happened once throughout my communication with them). Be persistent and don't accept anyone telling you no. Here is the transcript of mine and their emails: Me: Please cancel the £9.95 per month charge with immediate effect. Please do not charge me for the amount debiting my account today as I will not be using the service - if you have already debited this from my account then please refund. Thank you for your assistance. Equifax: Thank you for getting in touch about your Equifax subscription. I've reviewed your request for a refund, along with your membership history with Equifax. I can see you signed up online to our Free Credit Report in April 2014. Your first 30 days' access to this product was free but there are monthly charges after this unless the service is cancelled. I've cancelled your product now so you won't be charged again and in light of your comments about how we subscribed you to this product, I've also refunded your previous payments. You'll see this return to your account in the next 5-7 working days. I hope you find this useful. If there’s anything else we can do for you, please let us know. Me: Thank you for your email. Please be advised that I have only received the latest payment of £9.95 refunded. As your email states 'I've also refunded your previous payments' please ensure that the remaining payments are refunded too. Me again: Thank you for your email. Please be advised that I have only received the latest payment of £9.95 refunded. As your email states 'I've also refunded your previous payments' please ensure that the remaining payments are refunded too. Equifax: Thank you for getting in touch. As you were charged £9.95 on the day you cancelled as a good will gesture we refunded you this £9.95. We cannot refund you previous charges as you did not contact us to cancel. I hope you find this useful. If there’s anything else we can do for you, please let us know. Me: Thank you for your email. Please be advised that I have only received the latest payment of £9.95 refunded. As your email states 'I've also refunded your previous payments' please ensure that the remaining payments are refunded too. The original response from Tiffany clearly states that 'previous payments' will be refunded. Therefore, please ensure that the previous payments (plural) not just a singular payment are refunded. Equifax: Your enquiry has been passed to myself for further investigating. I have taken on board your comments and have authorised the refund of 3 months payments. The amount of £29.85 will return to your account in the next 5-7 days. If there’s anything else we can do for you, please let us know.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29047911 Very worrying !!

I might be fixing this, but I'd appreciate some feedback if possible. Background: In August 2008 I entered into a Trust Deed. Because some of the debts were with Abbey National (as was) I had to get myself a new bank for a current account. I went to Nationwide as they appeared to have a good reputation; well there's a new lesson every day I suppose. After a year of struggling along with two basic bank accounts (one was joint with my wife which we used to manage our household bills) and trying to get by using cash and a prepaid debit card only it was time to change and Barclays offered me a debit card with their basic account. After getting all my direct debits changed over I transferred the remaining few pence and asked Nationwide to close the accounts as they now each had balances of £0. Nationwide wrote back refusing to do so saying there were pending charges - two unpaid DDs from the previous month (I think) on each account (charges of £30 a time) which had not yet been applied. I then began the usual process of disputing the validity of the charges using guidance from this site. I even used the tack of asking them how their charges were calculated as they claimed they were based on cost and not punitive - the irony of that was that they sent a letter saying that they were "open and transparent about charges" but wouldn't provide the cost detail as it was "commercially sensitive". Such charges on my new account with Barclays would have been £8. every month during this dispute period Nationwide put a further £30 unauthorised overdraft charge, and interest on to the -ve balance. This dragged on until I gave them an ultimatum and offered them £16 (based on paying the level of Barclays charge for the original two unpaid DDs) without accepting the liability for them. They accepted this and marked my credit file with a partial settlement from March 2011, preceded by over a year of sustained arrears markers. I have recently read the ICO's publication: “Principles for the Reporting of Arrears, Arrangements and Defaults at Credit Reference Agencies” which clearly states that I wrote to Nationwide just the other day to request that they remove the defaults as the balance they showed was indeed only made up of charges and interest on those charges. Is this right?

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday published a report into the country's energy markets in which it identifies opaque pricing, the dominance of utilities and an uncompetitive retail market as the main negative factors. The so-called issues statement is part of an investigation into the British energy market, one which the CMA will publish its final report by Dec. 25 2015. http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?code=lc2pkmug&headline=UK_competition_watchdog_publishes_report_on_energy_market_investigation

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmworpen/302/302.pdf In summary:- 'The flaws in the existing ESA system are so grave that simply “rebranding” the WCA by taking on a new provider will not solve the problems: a fundamental redesign of the ESA end-to-end process is required, including its outcomes, and the descriptors used in the WCA. This will be time-consuming and complex but the redesigned ESA assessment process needs to be in place by the time a completely new contract, involving multiple providers, is tendered in 2018.'

Dear all, The Friday before last (4/7/2014) I went to make a debit card payment for dinner with clients and the transaction declined. I checked my account on my phone (Barlcays App) and my two barclays personal accounts (current and premier) 4 savings accounts and 2 business accounts were collectively showing to be overdrawn by £5,000,000. On 7/7/2014 all available funds in the account were sent to reconcile to Coventry OPS 05 ADV. I logged a formal complaint on (4/7/2014) and after countless calls to customer service advisors who gave excuses ranging from a technical error to an account review and no resolution I sent an email to senior executive at Barclays. Later that day I was contacted by a member of the Barclays customer relations team at their Head Office in Canary which was on Thursday of last week (10/7/14) however he has not been of much help at all, he has not provided any clarity as to what is going on or any time frames as to when I can expect to have my funds released. I have gained an understanding myself and believe it is a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) that has been filed to the National Crime Agency (NCA) or similar however I have nothing to hide and although its been a good year for business everything is above board and I do not understand why they can't simply ask me for clarity... This freeze on my accounts/blocking of funds is causing serious problems for me and those dependant on me/my business. I was wondering if anyone has experienced a similar situation and if so when the issue was resolved and if there is anything I can do to speed up the process or any other information that might be helpful. It's so frustrating being in the dark and having hard earned money taken away from you with no explanation ! Thanks.

Hi Everyone. The A4E Exit Report (moving on report), the one you get on your last appointment with A4E before being thrown back to the JCP. Does anyone know how many pages there should be ? I received a two page report, but googling some page I didnt bookmark said there was 7 pages, and that we only get two but the full 7 pages are sent to DWP. Ive put in a SAR with the DWP, and they say there is only two pages. So just wanted clarification that there is only two pages and not seven.

The lead adjudicators report makes for interesting reading. The figures show that appeals to POPLA are a very small percentage of ' tickets ' issued. http://www.popla.org.uk/AnnualReport.htm