Hey Guys, i have a CCJ i need to set aside and a Current claim i need urgent help on. I am in quite a bit of debt and working with Step Change. I visited the local CAB and they said i wont be able to get legal aid because of my income. Is there any other way i can get free legal advice or help? Thanks

This is likely to be a move we will see from other Councils. It will surely affect those who entered the buy to let market before the credit crunch and find themselves with empty houses as the austerity measures bite. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20634448

hi forumites parked on Aldi for 2 1/2 hours and got a PCN from Parking Eye for £80, £40 if I PAY NOW. I am not going to enter into any correspondence with them about the matter and I am not going to pay. Where do I STAND LEGALLY? My defense would be that the parking charge is disproportionate to any actual loss to Aldi. Can anyone put my mind at ease that I am doing the right and proper action. thanks for reading

Just wondered trying to put stuff onto a CD.

just recieved a notice today 11/10/2012 and found these forums via a google search and noticed you tell everyone to ignore them so ive had a read around but just wanted to double check the infringment is 10mins too long in a free carpark and its from before the 1st of october im just wondering what has this new legislation that ive loosely seen spoke about on here change? and i know you love this question so i will ask it.....Should i pay?

Hi all, I have today received my second SAR out of the 12 that I have requested from various companies (not good seeing as I started back in March!) Anyway, this one form Citi is very vague, only statements and a sheet showing application information, no agreement. It says on there that i requested PPI which is bizarre because I wouldn't have and also on my statements I had 6 months interest free and that is the only months I have been charges PPI for! once I started paying interest the PPI stops. Second question is as this SAR is so limited I am unsure if I ever attempted to reclaim the bank charges from them. Shall I: A) write and say SAR is inadequate (although I have everything I need for PPI bar my agreement but I know I wouldn't have asked for it anyway and the interest free period is a good indicator that they forced it upon me for that period anyway to make up for loss of interest) or B) just whack in another claim for charges seperately and let them figure it out if I already had a refund?? Not sure which is best route to go down, I genuinely don't know if I did or not! Thanks

This was emailed to me this morning. I urge all Caggers to sign the petition because of the wide-ranging consequences of what this secretive body is planning. Dear friends, We have four days to stop a top-secret global corporate power grab that attacks everything from a free Internet to environmental protections. This agreement is being negotiated right now by bureaucrats backed by corporate lobbyists. Click below to crash their secret meeting with our global call to kill the TPP deal: Details are leaking of a top-secret, global corporate power grab of breathtaking scope -- attacking everything from a free Internet to health and environmental regulations, and we have just 4 days to stop it. Big business has a new plan to fatten their pockets: a giant global pact, with an international tribunal to enforce it, that is kept top secret for years (even from our lawmakers!) and then brought down like a Death Star on our democracies. Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Walmart and almost 600 other corporate lobbyists are all in on the draft -- including limits on smoking laws, affordable medicines and free speech on the Net. The latest round of negotiations ends in just 4 days -- but outcries in each of our countries could shake the confidence of negotiators and scuttle the talks forever. Let's get to a million against the global corporate takeover. Sign below and forward widely. Avaaz will project our petition counter on the walls of the conference so negotiators can see the opposition to their plan exploding in real time: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bWGgIcb&v=17866 The deal, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is written to protect investors from government regulation, even if that regulation is passed in the public interest. Leaked versions suggest the TPP would undermine protections for air and water safety and reintroduce measures from the US Internet freedom attack as well as steamrolling efforts to produce generic affordable medicines. Worse still, lawmakers who fail to conform to the TPP’s rules face sanctions in an international tribunal -- a place where corporations can sue us for deals previous governments signed in secret! Negotiators say this is just a trade agreement, written to facilitate investment and profit for all. But the leaked draft imposes so many limits on citizen protections, it's clear this "trade" agreement is skewed to put corporate profit above people's needs -- that's not surprising since it's been drafted in secret with almost 600 corporate lobbyists. But there is hope: Australia is bucking against the international tribunal system, and New Zealand is objecting to the takeover of its medicine-pricing protections that keep drugs affordable. Massive public opposition, casting doubt over each country's ability to sell TPP at home, could derail the talks for good. Sign the petition now, and forward widely -- the delegates and lobbyists are watching the wave of opposition grow in real time: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bWGgIcb&v=17866 US candidate for Senate, Elizabeth Warren in a recent speech said: “Corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters, because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people." Let’s reach one million to stop the corporate takeover of our governments. With hope, Iain, Pedro, Laura, Ari, Emma, Lisa, Luca, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team PS - Avaaz has launched Community Petitions, an exciting new platform where it's quick and easy to create a campaign on any issue you care strongly about. Start your own by clicking here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?do.ps.tpp MORE INFORMATION The Nation: "NAFTA on Steroids" http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids The Guardian: "The Pacific free trade deal that's anything but free" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/27/pacific-free-trade-deal Huffington Post: "Leak Cracks Open Trans-Pacific Partnership Scandal" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/leak-cracks-open-transpac_b_1594675.html Reuters: "Lawmakers press for open Trans-Pacific trade talks" http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-usa-congress-trade-idUSBRE85Q1MK20120627 TechDirt: "Hollywood Gets To Party With TPP Negotiators; Public Interest Groups Get Thrown Out Of Hotel" http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120131/23161417605/hollywood-gets-to-party-with-tpp-negotiators-public-interest-groups-get-thrown-out-hotel.shtml Electronic Frontier Foundation: "Background and analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement" https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp

Santander has staged an about-turn and will no longer withdraw its "free banking forever" account from 230,000 small business customers. The original decision, first revealed in late July, upset some customers who thought the bank was reneging on an unbreakable promise to them. They would have had to pay either £7.50 or £12.50 a month for a business bank account that was previously free. Santander had previously said it was within its right to change the account. But less than two months after first announcing the change, it has reversed its policy. "After listening to feedback from our existing customers, a small number of whom do not feel their businesses would benefit from these changes, we will be retaining the fee-free option for existing customers," a spokesman said. One factor that may have weighed on the bank's mind is that every one of the affected customers could have taken their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). This would have cost the bank £500 each time in FOS administration fees and could, theoretically, have landed it with a bill of £115m if every customer had taken this route. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19506634

free coke at freecoke.co.uk then i found out it was for a bl**dy soft drink!!!

After vowing to be a drug free olympics, Liam Gallagher, Russell brand, George Michael, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell all performed in the Olympic closing ceremony.... I guess they relaxed the rules!!

I am amazed how incompetent this lot have been. First - I don't use O2 - just their network via Giffgaff. I lost about 24 hours of data and a bit less of calls and texts when their network failed last week. It was the second problem in six months, as I had to change my number in February/March as I used my mobile as a modem - and an error on O2 forwarded the phone number to all sites visited, including ad servers. Then the spamming texts started. I contacted O2 on their web chat - and told them I wanted my phone unlocked free (its PAYG and meant to take a year before it can be unlocked, and it costs £15. The problem was the year!) So after they agreed their service was unsatisfactory, I pointed out my phone must be unsatisfactory too as it was locked to them/that unsatisfactory service, and they had two major screw ups in six months. So they agreed to unlock it free after a bit of a discussion. Now I have an email stating both... It has zero O2 credit, as its not on O2! AND in the small email a few lines down from their chat person it mentions... Hopefully the third web chat earlier will have fixed this!!! :D:D

The free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) entitles the holder to free or discounted medical treatment at state-run hospitals and GPs in any European Union country, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. If you're in Europe and you've got an EHIC you’ll be entitled the same treatment that local citizens are entitled to, which is extremely useful in emergencies. It’s completely free and valid for five years. All UK residents are eligible, residents of the Channel Islands and Isle of Man aren't. Does it make treatment free? No. You get treated the same way as a citizen of that country. If they get free medical treatment you do too; if they pay, you pay the same rates. As this is a reciprocal agreement across Europe, it also means EU citizens can use the NHS in the same way. You will still need travel insurance. The EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or costs such as mountain rescue in ski resorts, being flown back to the UK, or lost or stolen property. Therefore, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. Some insurers now insist you hold an EHIC and many will waive the excess if you have one. Apply on-line for free If you google EHIC, there are dozens of unofficial sites, which charge up to £15 for something you can get for free from: http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx

http://www.togglemobile.co.uk/local/en Largely UK style rates of 15p calls 9p texts in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. 15p per meg for data.

Hello I booked a 3-night stay in a hotel in Greece in October (that's nearly 5 months in advance) directly through their website. I was careful to note that the booking was able to be cancelled without charges at the time. The exact wording was as follows: Cancellation Policy: This rate allows booking modifications or cancellation without charges up to Sunday, 14 October 2012, 18:00 local time. I did cancel a few days later but found that they had charged the cost of the first night to my credit card - after digging a bit I noticed a separate section in the booking confirmation email called "payment policy": Payment Policy: Upon reservation first night will be charged and is Non Refundable. This seems totally out of order to me - I only booked on the basis that I could cancel without incurring any charges and 5 months is more than enough time to resell the room. I've sent them three emails over the last few days asking them to refund this charge but received no reply at all. Is this my mistake, or should I pursue this further? If so, how long should I give the hotel to respond before contacting my credit card company? Their silence is beginning to worry me, and at £145 I don't want to let this go so easily. Thanks!

Can you get free school, invalidity or elderly transport if you live in a remote area ?? The tools on 'magic.gov website can help. Please remember to click on the 'accept terms' button to enter the site On the bottom of the page, Use the + & - buttons to zoom in and out and the 'hand' to center the map. At the top of the page , use the 'Ruler' button to measure distance. http://magic.defra.gov.uk/website/magic/viewer.htm?startTopic=maggb