My spouse had a text message from Capita stating that they had appointments available in our area this week and asking to phone them to book an appointment. Not sure why they did not phone? The number is a "0808" number. Is this genuine and is the number a free phone number? If it is genuine, it reads as if they want to do a home visit. Can they insist on a home visit as don't really like strangers in the home at any time? The visit will be in connection with the Lower Care DLA being received and renewing it. My spouse is retired and has been for a couple of months.

I have been getting lots of calls ( recorded message ) to my cell phone , lots of emails & a text message to my phone informing me of a substantial discount offer from MMF over the course of about 4 months now , none to which I have replied as far as I am concerned I have no debt , checked my credit report & there is nothing on there either , but today they called my parents home phone ( how they got that I don't know ) again a recorded message along the lines of press 1 for a home visit etc , etc , now my parents are in there late 70's & in a fragile way & anyone calling on them will get them in a right state , my question I have is are MMF in there right to call at my parents home even though I don't live there ? I live & work away outside the UK . They are starting to freak me out how they got my parents number , it's an ex directory by the way & now I am panicking in case they call at the address

My wife claims the lower rate of care due to osteoarthritis. The DWP wanted to do a home visit on Sunday. We are not 1005 sure it si the DWP as they do not even ask any security questions to confirm your identity. As it happens we are away on "holiday" in the UK and will not be available to end of July 2014. This is the third phone call she has had regarding the issue and has told them on all occasions that we are away until end of July and asked them to make a note of it. Are they allowed to make home visits on a Sunday and to keep phoning or harassing people.

My son has recently returned to live with us. It transpires that he has a court fine which he has not paid. We found out about this when he collected a "Removal Visit" letter from Collectica at his old address. He rang Collectica and offered to pay £100 (which I offered to lend him) and then further instalments. This was declined, and he was told that he needs to pay the entire amount by tomorrow morning. I told him to email Collectica to put the offer in writing - which he did. I've been reading this site for information, and it seems that collection agencies/bailiffs have different "powers" when collecting unpaid fines. I'm a little uncertain about giving them his new (our) address. Also, I have no idea what happens next. Any suggestions regarding what can be done would be gratefully received. It goes without saying that I have issued a severe verbal beating to my son, who is now motivated to deal with the situation and has hopefully learned a lesson. How can we deal with this? We can't afford the full amount of £475.00 (which includes nearly £300 of fees) at present. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Just a quick question,do I have to be given notice of when they will attend my home.

Good morning all...... Just need a bit of quick advice. I had for the 3rd time in a month had a visit from Bristow and Sutor regarding Council Tax, we have never let them into our home at any point. And as I understand it they cannot force entry. However the letter pushed through the door mentioned The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 schedule 12, after reading up on this can they gain a warrant to gain entry? or are BS just pulling things out of the air in hope of gaining entry by peaceful means? The letter said I have to make contact by Tuesday otherwise they are coming back and what that is supposed to mean I'm not sure. But to confirm again BS have never gained peaceful entry into our home. All advice is most welcome.

Hi, I'm new here and so apologies if this has been asked before. I have searched the forums for info on Motormile but have a few questions that I couldn't find exact answers to. Any help will be appreciated. recieved an email informing me that they have purchased a debt and I now owe them the outstanding balance. I actually don't have any problem with that. I do owe it and if I can work out a payment plan then I'll pay it. Questions I have though are this: 1) How likely are they to visit my 'home' address? From there website I can see that the closest doorstep office they have is around 70-80 miles from the address they are likely to have. I live abroad so I don't have any worries about them turning up but it's possible they have my parents address on file. Although the most recent address they should hold is somewhere else. Are they likely to visit 'older' addresses? And travel 80 miles hoping I will be in? 2) Does anyone have a working email address for MMF? Seeing as I am normally out of the UK I can't phone, have no postal address here and I need to email them to offer a payment plan. Or at least seeing if I can get a reduction and then pay the balance..... Thanks.

hi all I have been fortunate enough to find work a year ago. Upon finding work I signed off JSA and that was that. However Ingues have been persistent to ask me for employer details etc. After missing calls,not replying to emails they sent me a letter telling me if I don't phone them back, they will visit my home to ask for a employment update. There is still a year left on my '2 year programme' that I signed. Should I just avoid the hassle and tell them or if they come tell them to p*ss off.

I had a letter from bristow and sutor as I owed council tax to the value of about £200, I spoke with them and said that I could not afford to pay £40 per week as they were asking me to. They told me to wait until a bailiff came round and I could arrange a payment plan over a longer period of time. Unfortunately having had them round for a previous debt, I am fully aware of the visit charges that can be incurred, I asked what would happen if the bailiff attends while I am not in as Im not sat in the house all day! I was informed that the bailiff would leave his number and I could contact them and see if they were able to come back and if not I could make the payment plan with the office and would not incur a visit fee. A bailiff attended yesterday and I was not in, he did not leave his number just a letter telling me to call the office and that I owed £47.21 which included a visit charge of £24.70. I called the office and asked why this had decreased and the council had told them I was owed council tax relief. When I explained what I had previously been told, the lady told me I must have misunderstood and that there was no way I had been told all of the above on the previous call and that I should take legal advice if I don't want to pay the charge! I'm very annoyed as I know what I heard and don't know where to go from here! Please help!

Hi, I had a home visit today from a customer compliance officer, I won't go into detail what the visit was about but after about 20 minutes of discussion he left saying the case would be closed. I don't know if it is just me being paranoid after reading other people horror stories but I am just wondering if the case will actually be closed or if he was just saying that so he didn't have any trouble. Has anyone else been in this situation and can shed a bit of light please??

My husband and I have done all we can to settle any debt incurred while he was out of work. Now we have received more than 1 letter from UMS in connection with a 'debt' to HFO Capital Limited, which I can't recall offhand. The letter shows large, purple letters stating: PROPERTY VISIT before saying they have been instructed to organise a visit to our property to collect the full balance due or make arrangements for this 'long-overdue' debt to be repaid as quickly as possible. I've just drafted a CCA letter to send and was just wondering what else I need to do or be aware of. Do I need to keep my house door locked?

Hi, I received a letter in the mail from Capital Resolve this morning on behalf of their client (Greater Anglia train service) requesting payment of £62.60 This all scales from a charge around £4.20 last year for an unpaid ticket due to their on-board card machine refusing my card (there is no ticket machine at the station to buy before hand) And my account with more than enough money for the purchase as I had to withdraw later in the day to get home (from the same card that was refused) I explained this in a written letter with receipt proof to Greater Anglia (or whoever deals with payments) and told them that I was refusing to pay as it was there problem resulting in me not buying a ticket, and not my own. (to which I never received any reply) Is there anything I can do to fight this, should I just ignore it? Should I offer to pay the original price of £4 something? Thanks for any help or advice you can give for this as I feel charging over £60 for what is essentially their own fault, is a bit over the top.

This lot have been harassing an employee where I work for a Wonga loan from 2009 which was repaid but apparently there was interest outstanding and charges have been continuously added till the amount they are chasing now stands at almost £1,100 (apparently just over £200 was owing in 2009). Despite several carefully worded emails being sent to them - they have not responded (no surprise) and this morning intimidating texts and voicemails were received stating that an agent would call at their house unannounced to asses their living standards. OP got angry and rang MMF "doorstep team" - spoke to little smart$$e who advised that they were perfectly within their right to come to the door and assess living standards - OP advised they were recording the call and the MMF guy had a bit of a splutter - he was then advised that the police had been informed about the threat and if they continued to harass then OP would be happy to let a county court judge look over the charges and decide the outcome. Parting shot from MMF was - we WILL be sending someone to your home no matter what you say .........

Hi all I have just got back from the school run to find that an Enforcement Officer from Andrew Wilson has been. They left a notice letter in my door. I was over paid by my old job and was taken to court, I filled out the form to ask to pay in instalments and sent it back to the company dealing with the overpayment. I have not received anything from them or the court to say anything after the court hearing??? First thing I got was this letter from enforcing the debt and further charges by the enforcer. Can anyone help with this?? Do I need to call the debter or the court to try and solve this as don't want to deal with the enforcement officer

on jan 4th i recieved a letter of atos for assesment on the 9th jan, letter dated 18th dec. 6th of jan i rang atos requesting a home visit.said i needed a fax o my dr to confirm this. 7th jan dr surgery rang atos and said a fax will be sent in a few days and they told her they have canceled my 9th jan appointment. 8th jan dr rings me and said they have sent a fax outlining my disabilities and not to worry. 9th jan i get letter of atos for assement in exeter 28th jan. dated 7th jan. irang atos outlining the above, lady said i must atend 28th appt.i said how can you send a appt before you have read the fax. i then got o its just arrived today. she said to me that they will request my file back from exeter and asses again and they will be in contact with me. i said so i dont have to go to exeter on the 28th, she said no i dont. my worry is that are atos to be trusted on this as we have all read the horror stories. and ive got a funny feeling i will recive a letter benefits stopped failure to attend assesment on the 28th. is there anything else i can do. thankyou.

I am currently on ESA in the wrag group after migrating from Incapacity Benefit. My health is not good and recently when i visited my local Jobcentre Plus office for my ESA work- focused interview with my personal adviser she advised me to apply for Personal Independence payments due to my condition. She said this would help me financially and also i would not have to struggle to attend any more interviews with her. I applied for PIP by telephone and then a massive PIP claim form arrived. I have had difficulty trying to complete this form(ESA50 is nothing compared to this monster). I telephoned them to say i was having difficulty completing the form. I have now received a letter saying an adviser is coming to visit me at my home address. They say they are coming to assist me with the form and to discuss benefits i am already receiving or may be entitled to, plus to provide information on further services. Has anyone else been through this procedure or can anyone offer any advice please? I hate claiming benefits in this current social climate and am very suspicious(rightly or wrongly) of DWP after all the problems i have had with them and ATOS whilst claiming ESA. I do not know if i have done right by applying for PIP. Should i have applied to go in ESA support group? Will they stop my current ESA payments if i fail on my PIP application? The whole thing worries me so much. Can anyone help please?

after many months of anguish we reported our next door neighbour to the council for noise as she has 4 Chihuahua dogs and they are constantly barking and yapping for extended periods of time on a daily basis. About 2 weeks letter we get a telephone call from a Social worker saying that my next door neighbour has reported my 15 year old son to the police for exposing himself to her 2 young daughters who are 5 and 7 years of age during mid summer. The social worker stated that the police will be coming out to our home to speak to us and our son regarding the allegation. We have questioned him and he denies it outright we have warned him of the seriousness of the allegation and the potential consequences yet he still is adamant he has done nothing, my son is one of those who finds lying incredibly difficult so we are convinced he is telling the truth. My question is what should my next course of action be? Can we ask the police for the interview to be recorded? should we need it later down the Line. Can we arrange for it to be done at the Police station instead of our home?

Hello there, I am posting this for some advice please. This morning there was a mighty knock at the door and a man built like a brick s*** house was asking for money. After my husband spoke to him (Lucky he was there) we had a chat about what had happened we are behind with our council tax payments, although to be fair i paid them every month via internet banking, as i had already spoken to them about a payment plan. I made a payment on the 26th august for £160 which i have been doing every mth, and it went as normal, however, when we were checking the statements at the end of the next mth (Sept) it showed that the money had come straight back into our account. Now i assumed that there was something maybe wrong on our account we called the council to ask if they had received the payment, and they advised that they had not, and they had now passed the debt to a bailiff and said we needed to speak to them and gave us their number to call. My husband was left with sorting this out as i work funny shifts (12hrs) and was not going to be in to do this. He called the bailiff directly, now after reading this forum i am now aware that we should not have done this but the council lady gave us the number to call. The man then said that he had to come to our house to sort out a payment plan and made an appointment to come around the next week.! i was at work so was not there to deal with the man but Steve showed up and my husband let him in (I know again from reading the forum that this was probably not the best thing to do) they sorted out a payment plan for £25 a week starting from the next week and gave him a letter with the details and what they would take if it all went pear shaped (Which it has). the 1st week hubby went to them directly and paid the 25 and has a receipt 2nd week done via phone 25 (with the dc fee goes to 28) and the 3rd wk 28 again by phone he has however and not to my knowledge missed a week (which after checking turns out to be 2!) He went to see them yesterday to ask if we can pay them monthly as it would be easier as we owed £50 and he only had £30 on him which they refused to take as it was not the full amount. Steve said that he would have to pop to the house again and coud sort something out.# Which brings us back to today Mr Big polish guy said you have missed payments and now it has been passed onto me, Steve has nothing to do with it and you need to pay £500 by Friday or we will come into your house with a locksmith and take your stuff. My husband looks like he is going to have some sort of heart attack and i don't know what to do, i have tried speaking to the council but they will not do anything as it is with the bailiffs and i have read about just paying them directly but the payments will no go as they are bouncing back. How does 50 turn into 500 in 1 day, i know my husband was stupid to miss weeks a nd we have spoken about it but it was a genuine mistake he just completely forgot. I asked him to get all of the paperwork so i can look at it and come on this forum to ask you guys. This is the paperwork i'm so sorry for the length of the post Dated 3-10-13 Notice of seizure of goods and inventory. Amount for which this distress is made Arrears due to authority £611.50 1st attendance fee £0 2nd attendance fee £0 Levy fee to scale schedule £67 Attending with a vehicle with a view to removing £200 !! (he cam in a car) Walking possession fee £11 (Again he came in a car) Close possession fee per day £0 Removal fee / where no sale takes place £22.50 Amount paid £0 URGENT ARREARS NOW DUE £1912 Now i am no Carol Vorderman but doesn't that have to add up ? Letter left today Enforcement action We attended at your property today with a view to removing your goods. You have incurred further costs as a result of the bailiffs attendance. If full payment is not IMMEDIATELY paid to our head office we will re-attend your property with a view to FORCING ENTRY AND REMOVING YOUR GOODS in accordance with the terms of the walking possession agreement. They will attend this Friday at 10 It also says If our bailiff has to re-attend you may incur further costs as a consequence of the re attendance. Please note a locksmith will also be in attendance and you will be responsible for any costs incurred as a result of our bailiff having to force entry and replace locks. Total now due £1837 where has that figure come from ??? Please help, i know what we should have done, however it has been done and i need some guidance please??

Had a visit from Equita this morning regarding 3 years arrears amounting to over £7k .. The demand was to pay in FULL immediately this sum, he showed me that he had scribbled down the registration no's of our two vehicles, one being mine the other is in my wife's name. My questions are ... The council tax is solely in my name does the bailiff have a 'levy' over my wife's car? but more importantly can I get this account sent back to the council by applying to the court and try to negotiate some sort of payment plan? What do I do with the bailiffs as they threatened to return at 5pm if I don't contact them. I will of course not be allowing them entry into my home...Thanks

hi guys was looking for some advice i have moved to a new area with a friend we are both sleeping on couches at her mothers untill i can find somewhere to live she was already claiming jsa and has moved her claim to this area and i have just started a claim for jsa we have both recieved a letter from the dwp saying we are to receive a visit from a compliance officer i understand this may be due to the fact they think we are a couple. we are not we are both single and have our lives separatley we buy our own food and do our own things will they see us as being a couple because we live in the same household? any advice would be greatly appreciated

hello all, we had an agreement to pay arrears off on gas/electric at £100 for electric, and £20 for gas, we paid both on time except for this month we were two days late, but we paid £100 off both so reduced gas debt to £85 electric is now £300 (the arrears is due to having a years worth of estimated bills) However today a 'rep' (doorstep collector) turned up about the gas arrears, obviously I told him to go away, however for them coming round they have charged us £50, now not being au fait with energy companies is this charge legal? do we have to pay it? If not is there a letter in library we can send them to tell them to foxtrot oscar with their charge? thanks all

i had a letter pushed through my door when i got home late yesterday saying about a final notice for 373 and he would be returning later this week i think its for the remainder oof a court fine for tv license which i thought had been paid 2 years ago i have had no thing from court before and no final steps notice etc or any letters from marstons can i get a stat dec from court how do i go about getting one of these am worried sick i have a mentally sick husband 2 children under 5 and a pregnant daughter as well helppppp

hi, just joined up to hopefully get some information for anyone who has been in the same boat as me. my partner claims ESA but has just been declared fit for work so is going through all that mess on to decide against it like she has done many times before. we have just a got a flat together so i have just been added onto her claim, i was on jsa before that. my partner received a letter this morning and when she read it through it said that dwp were going to do a home visit and the reasons were for " to help complete claim forms for benefits she may be entitled to and more information on other services" so she gave them a call to ask what it was all about and they said it is because of missed appointments, now i will not lie she hasnt delt with this well, she suffers from anxiety and depression so she has been fighting them for the past 2 years and she was coming on leaps and bounds. she managed to start staying at my house which was a hour form her home so this was a big step and they gave her an appointment to come in and see her as she is in the work support group or something like that. anyways she ended up missing that appointment and every time they rang her father would give a poor excuse such as "ohh shes out with her mum" well she finally gave them a call and sorted it out, then the next appointment came though when she was away again and when she was about to ring up, she then got a letter for a missed appointment she then rang up and this got sorted out. when she called DWP about the visit they said she missed an appointment on the 18th of october, but we have had no letter,call or message about this appointment so did not even know about it, but apparently because of missing that a woman from DWP is coming out to see her about this. now i am very worried what they are going to say or do, i can talk my way out of anything but she cant do it aswell as me and the biggest problem is the fact that her excuse for not attending the other appointments its she forgot all about them, which is true but it is a very poor excuse to use. when she asked if we would loose our money the person on the phone said "not yet but we will have to see how it goes" so that is a big worry as we have a flat to look after now. so my questions are will they stop our money and would i be able to go off her claim back on a JSA then sign the flat over to my name. sorry for such a long first post but thank you for any help

Hello everyone. I have a doctor visit on Saturday about a DLA claim. Does anyone have any experience or advice regarding this. I have heard people say don't sign things but surely they will need some kind of signature at some point. I'm really looking for what to expect and what to look out for. So any help at all would be really appreciated.

Hi, Whilst I was out this afternoon, I had a visit from a baliff the left me a letter. Arrears of council tax £397 In accordance with the law, your possesssions will be seized if payment is not made within 5 days. I am asked to contact the baliff directly. I have an old car in my drive which has no tax or mot and wouldn't want the baliff to take this away when I am out. I haven't the funds to pay the baliff in full and any advice would be greatfully accepted.