Morning everyone, I got myself in a bit of a mess with a solicitor 3 years ago when I had a breakdown following separation. I saw a solicitor for an hour or so, he did nothing for me but I stopped answering all e-mails and calls and ended up with a CCJ for £1150. Quite ridiculous, but I only have myself to blame. I didn't take my head out the sand there and ended up with a Charging Order made against my property for £1237.50 which is the CCJ amount plus statutory interest. The charging order was for "the payment of £1237.50 together with any further interest becoming due and the costs of the application." I finally took my head out the sand in October, got in touch with the solicitor and agreed that I'd pay £150 immediately, followed by the same amount every month until the end of February when I would pay the balance from a small company bonus. I stuck to that but at the end of February I took a close look at what he was claiming as follows: £1237.50, the amount of the charging order £100.00 - charging order fee £50.00 - property search fees £110 - Fixed costs All of the above, I completely understand I must pay and I have now fully paid. My issue is with the following claims from the solicitor. He's actually claiming £179.50 in fixed costs, not £110. He is (incorrectly in my view), claiming an additional £69.50 which is allowed for in the PART 45 but only refers to claims made under 70.5(4) which is for non County Court/High Court enforceable actions. He's also claiming £120 in bailiff fees (£60 for transferring up to HCEO and £60 Abortive Fees because apparently I "evaded" the bailiffs - they never visited my property when I was in and never left any letters). I suspect that I must pay both of these costs but have read some conflicting advice online. Finally, he's claiming a shed load of interest. I believe it's quite clear from regulations that interest is not applicable to a debt under £5,000 regardless of whether it's a consumer credit agreement or not. However, interest was added to the charging order. Have I now blown it with regards to opportunity to prevent interest? Now that it's on the charging order, even if it's on there incorrectly, is it now payable? Sorry to waffle on but any advice you can give me on these matters would be much appreciated. This is a mess entirely of my own making but the ruthlessness with which this solicitor has pursued me given how little he did for me is staggering. I want to get this guy off my back and am able to pay him what he's asked but I really don't want to give him a penny more than he is entitled to. Many thanks in advance. Ian.

Hi, My girlfriend and I pay for a service each month and by an oversight, we paid last month's bill a week late. This month we have had a late payment fee added to the bill. The late payment fee is calculated at 1% interest per day on the sum owed after 7 days. (Sorry for not giving more detail about the service but the company is a bit vindictive and we need the service) Having spoken to the CAB we know that it all depends on the contract we have with them (we've been there for a long time so can't find the original contract right now) but wondering what others think about this in terms of 'fairness'.....1% interest per day after just 7 days.

I have about £1400 of student debt from loans I had in 95,96 and 97. I've always been able to defer. Given that Erudio are taking housing benefit, maintenance, etc. into their calculations that takes me over their income threshold. I sent back the old style SLC forms with a letter stating my concerns and requesting clarification over the new form. They ignored the letter and just sent me another copy of their form. My deferrment period is now up and they've since begun to take payments from my account - without any notice of how much and for how long. It appears they've worked out that I need to repay them back over the year and have taken about £110 this month. From what I'd read about repayments I was expecting repayments to be related to a 60 month period. What will happen if I cancel my direct debit? My credit report has only just got out of the red and I don't want them to ruin my credit rating again. Can they really take my housing benefit etc into consideration in their calculation of eligibility for repayments? I'm currently not working so I have no earned income. I always understood that to be eligible for repayments I had to be earning a wage in excess of £20k In the past when I was working part time I never earned enough to have to pay my student loan off. Even so, following a divorce settlement I paid over £3000 of it off when I didn't have to. So I feel really gutted now that I appear to be being forced to repay money to a DCA. I'd like to just cancel my direct debit and just forget about them. Is that possible?

Hi, A quick heads up on my dilemma.. .similar to another post . I currently have 2 accounts with Barclaycard totaling nearly 7k my £180 monthly payments are the most i can pay.. .The debt does not decrease though as it gets swallowed by interest payments. My credit rating is very poor and i cannot get any which is a good thing as it stops future debt. I have contacted them regarding this and although they said they would freeze repayments for a month whilst i send them a expenses form. ..I do not want to stop paying the debt its the interest that i dont want to pay.. .I have even told them i will just stop paying because of my credit rating. I have just had a letter though charging me late payment fee and overlimit fee and the bill is for 2 months repayment. ..it totals £160 just for 1 account.. .I need advise please as they say if i do not return the expenses form by 25th feb then they will revert back to charging interest

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?441409-Secrets-of-the-Parking-Wardens-Channel-4-Dispatches%281-Viewing%29-nbsp

Hi, Im desperately hoping someone can advise... To cut a really long story short, i took a career break from my bank job to care for my sick husband in 2012. It left us with minimum income other than disability allowance and carers allowance as because i was still classed as employed we were told we couldnt claim any other benefit, not that we wanted to. We never have had any state benefits. My husband passed away in 2013 and i had to pay his funeral costs, half of which i paid upfront. His family were meant to pay the other half but never did. Subsequently the co-op billed me. I had gotten in to a mess financially since still being off work, entitled to no benefits and trying to deal with my own grief aswell as supporting my 9 year old daughter with hers. Falling behind with mortgage payments and council tax i had to agree to pay almost double on them both to avoid reposession of the house and removal of goods for bailiffs. I counted these as my priority debts and put everything else to the bottom of the list including the coop bill. They issued a ccj against me which unfortunately then meant i couldnt go back to my old job (i work for a bank and policy is no ccjs). I have since started up my own business and draw £100 a week wages when there is enough money to take of course. I also now get working tax credits so a tiny bit better off. The solicitors dealing with the case sent me an enforcement notification. I rang straight away to see if i could make some kind of arrangement but they said no. The original outstanding was £2200. The ccj had £2900 and now ive had a letter through the door telling me its £3900!! The bailiff has said in the letter he will come back and take my car. And other goods within 7 days, i have tried to speak to the solicitors but they've said its pay the lot or nothing. Ive submitted for n245 to the court with a copy if my income and expenditure but i really need a bit of advice. Will the bailiff allow me to make payments by instalments or will they just keep coming back and taking my things regardless of the fact i can prove i dont have the means to pay. If they take everything i have and its still not enough what will they do then?? I feel totally helpless Hoping for some/any kind of advice... Shelley

Hi I am trying to obtain some help for some close friends who naively accepted a 100% interest only mortgage about 8 years ago with no capitol repayment plan put in place. They bought the property in Scotland at peak price period. It is a sought after area outside Glasgow 5 min walk to a station with a 15 min commute into Glasgow City Centre. The area has been a low turnover in regards to property sales but downside has been an elderly population who have lived there all their lives. Over the last five years a significant number of properties have hit the market from deceased or elderly moving into homes. Some of these properties have required significant modernisation due to the older generation not updating the properties. This has led to average prices falling and bargain prices on those properties. Naturally most have been modernised now but this has impacted on local values in terms of a falling average sale price. Basically my friends need to rid themselves of the interest only mortgage but are concerned if they approach the lender who discovers there is no capitol repayment plan in place it will have a negative impact and could result in the mortgage being called in. The have had hefty loan and credit card debts putting children through education but now the children have left home and work, they have concentrated on paying off these debts. There is no question they can afford to make the repayments on a standard repayment mortgage given the amount of other debts they have cleared. The downside is the property is in negative equity and a general read through the internet does not off much hope on them being able to remortgage. Loan aprox £135k value of property £100-£120k depending on valuation. They are in need of replacement windows and a new kitchen and possible rewiring which may impact on any valuation. I guess I am seeking any opinion that may help me to guide them. Sorry for the long post but any advice would be helpful. I think the broker who sold the product didn't reinforce advice about capitol repayment.

I have a charging order secured against an ex landlords property. This was for an amount around £10,000 with interest allowed to be added at a rate of 8% per annum. The landlord has made no payments to account and the charging order was granted almost 3 years ago. I am in process of writing a letter to the landlord and need to work out how much now will be owed. Do i add interest on annually onto interest already incurred? if that makes sense. Or is the interest just on the original £10,000 debt?

Hi guys! I've been reviewing a car credit agreement I am currently paying, I was originally trying to calculate my own settlement figure using the Actuarial method. However, it seemed to me that in the interest figures stated on the Credit Agreement don't quite add up: Payment setup is as follows: 1st Payment of: £250.00 (arrangement fee) 59 payments of: £316.20 Final Payment of: £511.20 (includes credit facility fee) When I calculate the interest due using the 26.98% figure, my total payable is always much less than my agreement says it should be. Who's wrong, me or the agreement? And in any event, what formula is used to calculate interest on this type of finance?

Hello I was chatting to my niece over xmas. She told me about her credit card problem she had been experiencing. A few months previous she applied and received a Barclaycard Freedom Rewards card, so she could use it’s 8 months free 0% credit transfer. When she applied, she filled out wanting pay offline with statements via post. one months had passed no bill, she contacted Barclay, who said it was down as online service but she was told the error would be rectified. Few days later she was contacted by Barclay asking why she had not made a payment yet. Niece told the Barclay employee what had happened with the mix up at the start. The Barclay employee revealed at that point she would not be getting the 0%. My niece had defaulted at the firsts payment (Even though the error should have be rectified) and any other late or non monthly payments received she will receive a late payment charge and interest on the standard balance. When she finally received her first bill it showed interest & charges added. Barclay have also sent late bills and again charged her for late payment. This is a joke can someone advise? Thanks

Hi Guys, with all the latest goings on with Wonga I hoped I might be in line for some compensation as I received letters from 'Chainey, D’Amato & Shannon’ so I filled in the contact section on the website as per the email back in September. I hadn't heard anything by the end of November so I decided to give them a call to see if they would acknowledge that I had been affected by this, they said I was and that I would be receiving a letter in due course. While on the phone I asked if they could send me a statement on my account so I could see what I actually paid back on my £750 Loan, Here is the statement: Initial Loan Advance 30 September 2008 £750.00 Total Principal Amount: £750.00 Payment 03 November 2008 £256.18 Payment 04 November 2008 £100.00 Payment 12 March 2009 £100.00 Payment 17 April 2009 £100.00 Payment 21 September 2009 £50.00 Payment 21 September 2009 £50.00 Payment 25 September 2009 £50.00 Payment 17 October 2009 £50.00 Payment 05 December 2009 £50.00 Payment 08 January 2010 £50.00 Payment 05 February 2010 £50.00 Payment 05 March 2010 £50.00 Payment 01 April 2010 £50.00 Payment 06 April 2010 £50.00 Payment 07 May 2010 £50.00 Payment 05 July 2010 £50.00 Payment 06 August 2010 £100.00 Payment 03 September 2010 £50.00 Payment 08 October 2010 £50.00 Payment 05 November 2010 £50.00 Payment 01 February 2011 £110.47 Payment 07 March 2011 £110.47 Payment 17 March 2011 £220.94 Payment 23 March 2011 £770.65 Payment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Payment 25 March 2013 £4.74 Payment 24 June 2014 £12.39 Payment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Payment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Payment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Total Sum Paid £2,731.84 Total Principal Amount less Total Sum Paid -£1,981.84 Transfer Fee 30 September 2008 £3.00 Extension Fee 04 November 2008 £10.00 Default Fee 30 October 2008 £10.00 Default Fee 28 November 2008 £10.00 Default Fee 07 December 2008 £45.00 Interest 29 October 2008 £222.81 Interest 27 November 2008 £197.50 Interest 13 January 2009 £50.00 Interest 01 February 2009 £534.73 Interest 29 March 2009 £585.67 Interest 21 September 2009 £50.00 Refund 05 March 2013 £174.00 Interest adjustment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Interest adjustment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Interest adjustment 05 March 2013 £24.00 Interest adjustment 25 March 2013 £4.74 Total Outstanding -£12.39 As you can see it took a long time to pay this back and got a default on my Experian Credit file which wont come off until February 2015! I got an email in March 13 saying my account had been wrongly calculated and I had over paid £174.00 and this was refunded. Just really wanted opinion from you guys if I have a case for reclaiming some of this inflated interest and if I do, who do I go to? Thanks D

I have a credit account with Simply Be with a limit of £750. The current balance is almost £600. I always pay the minimum repayment every month and have never missed a month but the repayments are getting higher and higher. I know that only making the minimum payment each month is only very slowly chipping away at the balance. I have been trying to sell bit and bobs, doing online surveys etc to try and earn some extra each month so I can make above the minimum. I feel like it's a long shot but I don't suppose it is possible to freeze interest on the account whilst I repay the balance? I am completely fine with not being able to purchase on the account anymore, especially with the remaining credit.

Hi everyone, good afternoon My boss owned a Ltd company which went into liquidation, a building supplier approached him last year with a claim for bunkruptcy if the debt could not be paid, so he entered into a payment arrangement with them to stop this from happening. Coming to the end of the agreement, the solicitor has wacked on the interest charges and is now requesting this be paid alongside the last instalment. So, i understand that if a judgement is over £5,000 or more, the claimant is entitled to charge interest. Fine, but the actual debt was £4,650.00 but then the claimants solicitor had put on their costs, which brought the debt up to £6,890.00 with the threats of bunkruptcy if no agreement could be made. My boss never actually got any judgement from court, but just threats from the solicitor this would happen, would the judgement class as the debt before the solcitors fees? or does the debt come as a whole amount therefore allowing them to charge interest as its over £5,000? It's been a really horrible situation for my boss because a customer (in the building trade) knocked us for £100k and he didnt reailse at the time of obtaining credit from the building suppliers that he signed a personal guarantee! Your feedback is much appreciated. Many thanks, Mehdi

HI Guys, In 2005 I took on an interest only re-mortgage for 20 years with GE Money. I was massively in debt (still am) at the time and this was the one and only way I could release some equity on my house as I was desperate to repair house problems etc. Anyway, GE knew all about the debts and were quite happy to help even though it was 100% of the value We have just received letter from GE asking us how we intend to repay the loan and of course, we can't. There's simply no way of paying £105,000 in 10 years, not on the money we earn. I have written to them asking if they could extend the loan and maybe put us on a repayment plan, but had a phone call from them saying the payments would be over £1200 per month and we couldn't afford that. And that they couldn't extend the loan. So that's that. In 10 years we will be out. Most of it our own fault, not thinking of the future, but at the time everyone was saying houses were a pension, and that we would simply be able to sell and downsize. I think with all our problems, we should never have been given an interest only mortgage, but I guess there's not much we can do now. I really would like to see interest only mortgages banned for main residence, as how can anyone pay them off unless they have massive pension pot coming up sometime. If anyone has any ideas for us, please say!

Hi, hope you can help I opened up a flex account with Nationwide in May and they offered me a £1000 interest free overdraft (which I signed for) for a year. Today I got a letter from them to say that my overdraft has gone down to £250 and from November I will have to pay interest. Are they allowed to just withdraw an agreement? Thanks

Hi, Quick Quid continued to add interest to my debt even after I started my dmp with Payplan. I am coming to the end of the dmp and still owe them more than when I started. Is there anything I can do ? Cheers

I am confused about the new rules for interest on discrimination awards in the Employment Tribunal when the case spans the 29th July 2013 and the rate changed from 0.5% to 8.0%. I understand the bit that says interest is payable at 8.0% if the respondent does not settle within 14 days of the remedy judgement but am having difficulty with the rest. For example if a discriminationary event took place on 29th July 2010 and a liability hearing on 29th July 2012 found in favour of the claimant and a remedy hearing on 29th July 2014 awarded compensation for injury to feelings and psychiatric damage plus an award for loss of earnings what rate of interest is applicable? Does interest accrue at 0.5% up to 29th July 2013 then 8.0%? Can anyone give an example with numbers?

I have a Very mail order catalogue for many many years, have a huge credit limit and only every owe it £100 - £150 at a time at most. Maybe a couple of day late payments but NEVER been in default, never not paid etc etc. can they just send me a letter increasing the general interest rate from 14% to 26% a nd make it apply to the amount I have outstanding. I thought it would be on future orders but it appears it's on everything I owe. Can they just randomly put the rate up? I didn't order goods at 26% can they legally just effectively charge me what they like.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29530615 You would have thought they would have learned their lesson by now.. but nope.. they try to squeeze these ads through !

Hi, Can anyone give me some advice. I sent a SAR to MBNA it came back with the no PPI box ticked. There are lots of Late fees £25 and Over Limit Fees £25 amounting in total to around £600. There is also Special Cash Interest (I have been told this is an interest charged when gambling) is that the case and are any or all of these charges reclaimable and is there a calculator to work out the interest. Thanks

Hi I am new to the forum and am looking for a little help. I have a tenant who has basically stopped paying her rent. After some abortive attempts to evict her I am nearly there but she has run up over £1000 in unpaid rent. Can someone advise how I calculate interest on this unpaid debt as it is increasing every month so there is no specific date that the debt is incurred. The only way I can think of is to treat each monthly payment as a separate debt and add up the interest charges individually. Will money claim online accept this as I don't want to jeopardize the claim by calimng the interest incorrectly. Many thanks

Just to share some good news. Letter out of the blue today from Barclays. Advising that I am due a refund on my closed loan due to an "error" on their part, following discussions with OFT and FCA. Cheque for £200+ enclosed. Nice start to the week.

Sorry, newbie alert, I might be in the wrong section. I have a loan charging 20.6%APR and have a poor credit score. I desperately need to move to a better APR loan but obviously I'm stuck, any suggestions ?

I am looking for help with the issue of First Plus interest rates on a loan. Has anyone else tackled these people over re negotiating their loan to a fairer agreement? Thank you.

HSBC is expecting to pay back $367m (£218m) of interest payments to some UK customers owing to mistakes in paperwork for personal loans. The bank has admitted to failing to include information in annual statements relating to the option for customers to make overpayments. This is required in the UK under the Consumer Credit Act. The bank outlined the provision in its results for the first half of 2014, but suggested no customers had lost out. A spokesman for the bank said there had been "no financial detriment" suffered by customers as a result of the error. Omission Under the rules, banks must explain to loan customers that they can make overpayments or partial overpayments on top of their regular repayments. HSBC included this in the initial paperwork when customers took out a loan. But the bank has admitted that when it sent annual statements, reviewing the latest status of loans, these details were omitted. A spokesman said that the error went back a couple of years, but had now been corrected. HSBC says it will be contacting all affected customers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28639103