Hi, please tell me if in wrong forum etc but here goes. For a long time I have felt that internet recruitment agencies are a little like smiling politicians who you must simply ask 'why are you smiling?'... in that you must question them 'why are you on the internet?'. Quite simply, the answer would be: to troll data in order to bolster up numbers to generate revenue. Cut to the chase, there is one company in BIRMINGHAM who persistently advertise jobs and will not deliver. They will, if anything, just send you a 'cut and paste' email in a certain friendly 'tone' that reflects well on them. Once they sent a text to my voicemail (I was holding phone in hand so know it went there, as opposed to calling me which I assume is cheaper?) and when I called back, the person was 'not available'. Simply, how do I report them, and to who?

An acquaintance has today been contacted by a DCA and I found their approach unprofessional / bordering on harassment. My acquaintance was severely upset by their behaviour and attitude. I would appreciate your advice on the general situation (though not necessarily the rightness or wrongness of either party's claims). Is there anything my acquaintance should be doing at this point or should they be awaiting further contact? I am not a lawyer. Context: This acquaintance is a director of a limited liability company (A). That limited liability company paid for services from a third-party (the supposed creditor - B) and in turn had an exclusive franchise for a specific region. The understanding was that the franchise was perpetual and of a similar form to all other franchises provided by B. All contracts / agreements were oral though there is c10 years of historic precedent supporting the existence and nature of those arrangements. Approximately 2 years ago B decided to disenfranchise A and enfranchise a new third party (as it was financially beneficial for B to do so) thereby ending A's sole revenue stream. At that time, an agreement was reached with B that an alternative franchise would be provided though that never materialised. A may have owed B a low five figure sum for services rendered before the termination of the franchise. Following negotiations, as no new franchise was provided, it was understood by A that any sums owed to B were to be cancelled. None of those discussions, or details of sums owed are documented. B did not subsequently send requests for payment. Currently, A has negligible assets and six figure liabilities (including a significant debt to my acquaintance). Any sums owed by A to B were unsecured. Both B and my acquaintance have not been in contact for over 18 months and no requests for payment have been received in that time. Today, a DCA contacted my acquaintance informing them that they required immediate payment. DCA are a small firm (3 family members) and, as far as I can tell, are legitimate - they have a website and no negative media results. From their website, I cannot however determine their company number or if they are a member of any trade associations. As part of the 45 minute conversation between my acquaintance and DCA DCA said: 1) Threatened my acquaintance with criminal prosecution and a potential jail sentence for robbery 2) Spoke in legalese referencing c15 different forms and procedures with no intent (/ability) to explain 3) Had no knowledge of the arrangements between A and B 4) Assumed that my acquaintance was fully liable for A's debts and repeatedly stated that claim 5) Became forceful / insistent to the extent that my acquaintance burst into tears I have recommended that, next time they make contact, my acquaintance do the following: 1) Request they contact them in writing 2) Request that they stop contacting by phone 3) End the conversation at that point 4) Note key details of the conversation Any advice would be hugely appreciated given the distress my acquaintance is experiencing. Thanks, Ben

I have taken a lettings agency that let my property to the small claims court and have received a judgement as they defaulted and did not reply to the summons. The judgement was mailed to them on August 3, so they have received it by now. I have sent a polite but firm email requesting payment in full within the next 7 days, but I'm anticipating that they will ignore this. The next potential step is enforcement via a third party debt order, but it states in the instructions that I must appear in person at the court when this goes to the judge. I'm resident in the USA, so this isn't practical. Does anyone know whether this can be done by Skype?? If it can't then what type of enforcement would be best? Would appreciate any help and advice - thanks in advance!

Hello, can anyone help? I had an old telephone bill with BT that I was originally paying £1 a month to clear. I agreed to pay the full amount on the 08/11/14 but when I telephoned the company I had made this agreement with they had already sent it back to BT and then BT have sold it onto another debt recovery agency which has now effected my credit score. Is there anything I can do about this? Thanks

Hi Everyone, I recently finished the tenancy at a property and as per the norm agreed to a checkout at the end before handing over the keys. The checkout lady arrived on time. Before starting she made a call to the landlord (as had been requested to her before by him) and I overheard parts of the conversation. she said " yes cleaning has been done professionally as per receipts but not by the cleaners as suggested from the estate agency". Next she started her inventory check eventually taking 5 hours to do the whole check. She went over each point, one by one and went to the extent of running her hand over the backs of the pelmets/curtains to check for dust !! All this time my wife and I had to hover around, because she seemed to sometimes note down things which were even already said to be defective/faulty. Well due to her diligence, she made some additional 10 or so entries. Is it normal for a checkout to last 5 hours for a 4 bedroom property???

Hi all I am new to this me and my wife about 12 years ago got offered credits cards and loans when we were on benefits which doesn't make good lending sense the loan and credit cards were used up as we were young and had just decided to have a family we were very silly with our money at the time and have now learnt a very valuable lesson and do have good control of money matters now apart from these debts. we had the interest stopped many years ago and have had several debt companies take it on and we have kept up the payments which have been anything from £1 per month to £5 per month which has changed throughout the years. at the moment cabot and Aktiv Kapital. aktiv Kapital have the bank account which was overdrawn due to the payment which was setup to be taken for the loan that came out of that bank account and the amount is around £286.00 at the moment there is 3 other accounts which cabot have which are credit card around £2600 credit card around £1000 loan around £8000 these amounts are estimates as cant remember the exact amounts off the top of my head. all the accounts were with lloyds tsb A few weeks ago I sent requesting the CCA for each account with £1 postal order for the credit cards and loans I didn't do anything for the bank account as I wasn't sure this would qualify under the same thing. I had a letter back from cabot for 2 of the accounts saying they have requested the information (I guess from tsb/Lloyds bank) and that they are fairly certain they will gain the information needed but will reply within 40 days but I clearly stated the 12 days in my cca letter. it has now gone passed the 12 days + 2 days and I haven't had any other contact from them. im really looking for guidance as what to do next do I send anymore letters and is there any templates I can use etc. I was hoping to clear all the debts with f&f offers I have about £1500 to do this with if possible as me and my wife would like to be debt free if we can. Also if I do make f+f offers should these be made in writing and is there any template letters I could use and what 10% offer should I start with. any advise would be greatly appreciated we just want to Be debt free once and for all.

Hi, I work at a company order picking through an agency, I've been there 14 weeks and after 12 weeks my pay went up to what everyone else is on who works there. The people employed by the company and not the agency are getting time and a half or double time for working today (bank holiday monday 25th Aug 2014), I rang the agency on Friday just gone and asked them would I be getting any extra pay for working it and they said no, you will just be getting your normal rate. I said fair enough and hung up. Surely when getting equal pay/treatment after the 12 weeks, I should be entitled to the same pay (double or time and a half) like the actual employees are getting? We all do the same job, order picking. Thanks.

Hello, I have been working with an agency over the last year and have been paid £65 a day working 5 days a week in a school. I have just been given holiday pay at lower rates of pay (∼£60 per day for one week and ∼£50 for the next). I've looked into this and to calculate how much pay you get on holiday they look at your average pay over 12 weeks disregarding weeks off (which I would of had for half term). I worked for 2 days on the last week because the term finished on a Tuesday. Is this why Im being paid less as it bring down the average? if so is this fair? Its not my fault I couldn't work the rest of the week. Surely they should take an average of a FULL working week.

Hi there, Last year in July 2013 I had a procedure done at the Winfield private hospital. I have medical insurance with Bupa, but it has a £100 excess on it for treatment each year. This means that the first £100 of any treatment must be paid to the company carrying out the procedure, in this case the Winfield hospital. I thought that I had paid this £100, so was surprised to receive a letter from Icon Collections saying that I hadn't and that I now owed Icon collections £118, this was sent in January 2014. It stated in the letter that the money was to be paid directly to them and not to the hospital. Does this mean that they have assumed the debt now? Anyhow I ignored this letter and a couple more that I received from them. They also called me on several occasions and left voicemails for me which I also ignored. Eventually an advisor from Icon collections did get through to me and I explained that I thought that I had paid the amount and could she email me a copy of the invoice to look at. I gave her an email address that I rarely check. They did send a copy on 14th May 2014. The invoice was for £100, but in the email they said that a charge of £18 had been applied for late payment. They did send a follow up email on 2nd June 2014, but this said please contact them to arrange payment. Both of these emails I didn't actually see until today, as I rarely check the account and didn't want to give them my regular email address. I have now received another letter from icon collections dated 13th June stating a notice of Legal action. On it they say the amount due is £118. Part of the letter says the following. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS ARE NOW BEING DRAWN UP AGAINST YOU we are preparing legal proceedings against you and therefore you have rendered yourself liable for the following costs along with statutory Interest, which will accrue daily. COURT FEE £15 SOLICITORS COSTS £50 It then goes on to say a court summons will be served upon me shortly which will result in bailiffs attending my property. I then called them today 16th July, to see if they had actually sent me a copy of the invoices (which they had done) and to check if I actually had paid the original £100. It turns out I hadn't paid it, so offered to pay half of the amount now (£60 if you include the late charge fee) and the other half by 1st August to take the total up to £118. She then said the amount was now £189 because it had moved to legal proceedings. I asked what the costs were for and she said it was because it had moved to legal proceedings and that they have records of the multiple times they have called me and the number of letters that they have sent to me. My question is (apart from is the debt now with Icon?). Are these fees legally enforceable? I know that I haven't answered their letters or calls and the debt is now 1 year old with Winfield hospital (7 months that Icon collections have been chasing). But £78 on an original £100 bill seems excessive to me. Can I just pay the original £100? Do do I need to pay the late fee of £18, and do I need to pay these Court fee and solicitors costs of £65? To be fair I don't have a problem paying the additional £18 late fee, as I was in the wrong and I didn't settle the debt and did ignore their calls and emails, but I don't want to pay the additional £65 if I don't have to. Would they take me to court if I just paid £118, or even the £100? I have paid £60 to them today. But the lady wants me to email her to set out what we agreed on the phone, (which was to pay the full amount of £189 by the end of August), however at the end of the call I said I would email her, but I wanted to check the legality of the costs before emailing her to confirm the payment schedule. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated on what I am legally obliged to pay. Also I'm sorry that this email is so long, the advice on the forum is that you should be as clear and detailed as possible, so that's what I've tried to do.

Hello there.... advice sought please. I have been working for an agency for 14 weeks now on minimum wage, I am aware that after 12 weeks in the same job you should be entitled to the same wage as permanent staff in a comparable position. So, I emailed my agency contact and this was the reply: "I was passed an email from you with regards to parity rates when you have worked your 12th week. Your friend is right to some degree, if a client has a person who works the same job on a fulltime contract with the same job specification then you would be entitled to earn the same wage as the fulltime member of staff. However with (name removed) this is not the case as we do not have a comparator so as a result there is nobody to match your wage against so you would stay at the same rate of pay I’m afraid." Fair enough you might say but I'm doing the exact same job as the guy who gets paid a lot more than me to do it!!! What I'm asking then is, is there anything I can do about it? My fear is that they will suddenly find I am no longer suitable for the job if I make a fuss about it. I am looking for permanent work but in the meantime I don't want to find myself on the dole for being a "troublemaker", and to be honest I rather like this job. It would just be nice to get a living wage from it. Thanks in advance and apologies if I have posted in the wrong place xx

I am with Brook Street and last week I started at a company last week but when I left on Friday I received a telephone call from the agency telling me that the company no longer wanted me as I didn't pick up things quickly enough for them. I'm really gutted as I only had a few days training whilst I was there and now back to square one again on the job front . Also I'm going to send an email to the agency to tell them to tell how disappointed I am but not sure what to include.

Hi On the 14th June my brother was using my van and on his way back from Bedfordshire to Liverpool. On the A14 Junction 1-2, the van had a blowout and both wheels came off (twin axle) at the back passengers side. van was on the hard shoulder with a bit of the van on a slant blocking a part of Lane 1. The holes where the bolts go in the tyre had expanded so it needed 2 new wheels so couldn't just arrange for a replacement tyre fitting. My brother rang me and I immediately arranged for Green Flag to recover the van off the carriageway. 45 minutes - 1hr was the estimated time. In the meantime, the Highway Agency tuned up and organised their own recovery. I spoke to the officer on the phone and he said it's first come first served (his recovery or ours). Because it was blocking part of the lane, they had to get it off as soon as. Low and behold, their recovery vehicle turned up first (beating Green Flag by less than 5 minutes). The van was taken to an storage/impound and I had to pay £250 + £20 1 day storage. I then had to pay a further £370 to get it recovered back to Liverpool. Do I have any right to appeal this? Thanks Mike

Hi i need advice i work as an IT contractor and I have an umbrella company called NASA consultancy ,Now i was offered work from Robert Half i accepted and started on the 30th of May 2014 and the contracts was signed on the Monday ,In the term's and conditions it states that i'll be getting paid weekly, i did a full 7.5 hours monday - Friday during that time i was promised an online timesheet via robert half website, now on the friday last week i never received a username and password i kept constant calling them regarding and never heard anything it was coming up to 5pm, i sent an email about 4:30 to one of the lead administrators who replied " oh you wont get a username and password from us it will come from head office" i've kept this email over the weekend i kept checking my email's nothing came through on the monday this week i had not received any username and password and i called them at 8:30am and they said they will chase up with payroll about 10:45am i got an email to say about my username and password i logged in and they sent me directions on how to put a time sheet in and on the timesheet tab there was no timesheet icon for me to submit back on the phone for about 1hr they explain there was something wrong with your account from 11am till 12pm it took them to tell me there was something wrong with my account and they get back to me i called them at 1:30 and they said they still need to chase i left it for another 1hr 2:30pm call them oh we cant get in contact with payroll "can you send me an email with your times and we send it off to your manager " who i say works in USA" you will be paid on friday i worked till 5 till tuesday this week and i woke up tuesday morning with a migrane attack (yes its horrible) i sent my manager in usa to tell him im ILL i get a call from my agent to tell me "in a rude manner why are you not in" i explained that im ill and ill be back on Thursday (yesterday) all night wednesday i was unwell i was still low and being sick etc i sent an email to my agency and my manager in usa that i wont be in on thursday as im still unwell at 12:30pm yesterday afternoon another phone call from agency " IF YOU DONT COME IN TOMMROW I SHALL REPLACE YOU" i said i'll be in as im going doctors at 2pm now my head still banging cant see anything etc. my doctor explained he worried about me and requests i get a scan on monday 16th june i sent an email to both of my agency and manager today friday 13th at 7:30 am handing in my notice and there for i wont be coming in. about 8:38am i get an email from agency " you decided to tell me at 8:38am which i sent the email 1hr earlier and saying its "pathetic" rude and unprofessional. i didnt reply and i went back to sleep being low, i woke up at 12:30 today to check on my bank account and there was no money in there. i sent an email regarding the issue and i got back saying "oh the timesheet hasnt been approved yet due to times even know its taken 4 days since i sent it to get approval and it states in contract "we a sign you to approval manager automatic via there website i sent an email fuming with anger saying i need to get paid 2hrs later no reply i sent another one asking if its been approved and asked when ill be getting paid at 3pm i got a reply stating " we still not got it approved and that you have missed the deadline to be paid" and i was promised in my contract that ill be getting paid weekly i sent another one straight after asking when ami getting paid and has it been approved "guess what no reply". i have kept all the rude emails from admin and the agency guy. are they breaking the law and gone against the contract which it states paid weekly .i can upload the contract.

Hi, A couple of days ago I received a call from a Recruitment Agency asking if I am interested in a temporary office job assisting a company (their client) with their back log. This would be a contract job for 5 days. I completed the interview process and agreed to the job starting soon. Today I received an email from Recruitment Agency's umbrella company with the breakdown of my salary. Income tax, my NI contributions, company margin net and employer's NI contributions are all being deducted from my salary. What I don't understand is why do I have to be liable for my Employer's NI contributions? Surely that's for the employer to pay? Can anyone please advice me why employer's NI contributions would be deducted from my salary and is this a normal practice?

Hello - My son opened an account with a gym in Bournemouth but has since relocated to China - I believe a years membership was owed which was £72. As no one ever received any letters from the gym (as he had moved) they passed it to a Collection agency (CRS) who have traced his home address (Im his Father) so we have now received 2 letters demanding £172 I am ok paying the £72 but CRS have added £102 fees - do you think this is excessive and / or enforecable?. Of course it was my sons fault for not sorting it out when he relocated - but as he didnt no one knew of the original debt - so it seems a bit much to also pay the £102 fees. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello every body, I am hoping to find some help with my situation. I rented a flat through a letting agency, with a one year renewable contract which finished a few months ago. Before the deadline of my contract, I tried to contact the letting agency because I wanted to renew it, but all my mails bounced back, nobody was answering the calls. I went to the agency shop only to discover it totally shut down, with just a paper telling us that it was out of business, and we should contact a banking institution for questions. That institutions is not answering any of my questions, I can't contact the landlord as the only mail address I have is not on use anymore. I am feeling totally lost, as I am still paying my council tax, the water and electricity bills, but not my rent as I don't know where is that money going. My deposit is supposedly protected as it is say in the contract. It feels utterly weird for me that nobody is trying to contact me since I have stopped to pay the rent, that I have no way to contact the landlord and nobody knows nothing. All I want is to have a new contract and stay in this flat, as it is perfect for my needs and I am happy here. I don't know what to do next, I feel like a squatter and I am afraid I could be asked to leave the flat without notice one day. Someone recommended me to go to the land registry and see who owns the flat, to contact him. Do you think it could be a good idea? thank you very much for any kind of opinions and help you could provide me with. jenn.

Hello, I have a question relating to sending a copy of a passport via email to a recruitment agency. It's for a friend, who is insistent they are not going to send a copy, to the agent, but I just wanted to ask here as I know there are some excellent and knowledgable people on here who will know more of the legalities. My friend saw a job advertised, contacted the agent advertising the job etc and went for several interviews with the company. The agent has been the go-between, and my friend will not be working at any time for the agent, it is merely a job finding service (for which the agent will receive a very hefty commission). He has received written contract from the company, the contract states provision of P45/passport etc required to prove right to work in UK. We both totally understand the company which will be his employer is obliged to do such checks etc. He has signed contract, and will take all docs necessary on day 1, and new employer is happy with this. Meanwhile, after the agent arranged interviews, and job has been accepted and contract signed (with prospective employer) the agent is now insisting on my friend providing a copy of passport to them via email. This is over 4 months after initial contact with the agency. Due to fraud concerns, friend does not intend to send any copy of identity docs over email. He also thinks that as the agent is not the employer then he is not legally obligated to provide such proof. Surely if this is a legal requirement, the agency should have requested (and received) required documents before any CV was forwarded never mind 3 interviews and a job contract signed? Also my friend has not seen and T&C for the service which agency has provided, and has not signed anything with them. Is my friend legally obliged to send copy of passport to the agent?

Hi Caggers, It has been a while I was on this forum from the Early Bank Charging Days was the last time I was here and am happy to say that this forum was good to me as I was able to get back almost £3.5k from my Bank in charges. It was very good indeed. Okay, now I have another Legal Issue. I worked for an agency as an IT Contractor. I got an IT position to work from a site in Swindon but also had the option to travel to other sites around the UK for the same company. My expenses was always paid when submitted via an online portal system with receipts. When I got this three months contract position, I negotiated the contract with the agency and also get them to pay all my expenses as part of the contract, ie, Hotels and Trains Travels to and from site. This was agreed over the phone and was normal practice as well. I subsequently submitted all my expenses every week to the agency and every week this was signed and approved for my expenses to be reimbursed back to me. Please note, every week I put in my expenses and it got signed off and approved by the agency. This went on for almost 8 weeks with no problem. Then on the sixth week, I got a rejection of my expenses claim and the reason was since I was based on a home site which means expenses cannot be paid for while on a home site. I live in London and the position is in Swindon which was where I was now based for the contract position. All my Hotels and other expenses have all been paid for all this while and even in the contract, it did not say that swindon was a home site for me. The point now is, not have the agency stopped paying for any more expenses claim going forward, they now even want to recoup all the expenses claim they have paid from when the contract started which almost £4k!! So what they are saying is that they will not pay me my contractual pay as well to cover the expenses they have paid on my behalf all this while!! Please note that every week, when I submitted my expenses and receipts on an online portal system, it was always accepted and signed off as approved. My contention is the person who approved and always signed my expense claims seems to have made a mistake from what the agency are saying and I am claiming that I am supposed to get my expenses paid for. Therefore, I am now paying my own expenses as it stands and also facing my money due to my company being stopped as well. The contract I am on, has a week left on it and it seems I will be out of pocket for this blunder and claim by the agency who claim that I was told over the phone that Swindon was my home site and therefore no expenses was to be paid for me. Which I think is all rubbish really. If that was the case does it mean they were incompetent when all my receipts was properly inspected and signed off as approved for a whole six weeks? This really started when funding for the project was not forthcoming for the next phase. I have to say this agency has a very bad reputation and are good at trying to ripp contractors off. I am disputing the fact that not only are they saying they will not pay my expenses moving forward but the fact that they are withholding my contractual pay too!! They are doing this as I have just a week more on the contract hence this attitude from them. I want to sue them and go all the way to court if I have to as I will not accept this sort of attitude from a Recruitment Agency. These are the sort of agencies they call " Cowboys" this one is one of them. If I am right, my next action is to write them a letter before action, is that right? Can fellow caggers advise me on my next move please. I am going all the way with this one!! Some of these cowboys agencies need to be stopped and I will keep you all updated on my progress. Thanks to all indeed.

Debt collection agency is chasing me for limited company debt for a company that closed about 4 years ago. They claim I was a guarantor and that the debt would have been registered with credit agencies which will affect my ability to get credit. I cannot remember but I might have signed as a guarantor and money owed relates to overdraft. Any advice would be appreciated.

After being sacked from my previous job,i have now got a new job.Our wage started at £7.50 a hour but after 3 months it would be increased to £8.50.Nothing wrong with this as our pay rise was duly given.My problem is with holiday pay. As we accrued the holiday pay before our payrise we have been told that we will be paid the lower hourly rate of £7.50. My question is:Can they do this? Is it legal? Many thanks peter

After passing a Fork lift course in November last year I am now being "offered" the "opportunity to attend an open day run by Staffline DHl at a local college who are offering a training course specific to the local Land rover/Jaguar plant with a guaranteed interview with JLR at the end. The bait being the "Good wages" and secure job etc. However, a little research shows that 80% off the staff at JLR (Halewood) are Temps provided by Staffline DHL and are not paid anything like the rate JLR staff are. This company exploits a loophole in the regulations regarding temp workers and equal pay after 12 weeks, known as the "Swedish derogatory", this basically means the temps are contracted to the agency as employees and then subcontracted at a rate set by their "employers" What is troubling me is the fact that only 300 of the 800 current "temps" at JLR "Halewood" are on 5 shifts a week contracts and 200 are only guaranteed 1 shift's payment if laid off (zero hours) but according to my advisor they are looking for a further 500 ? Given the recent industrial unrest both at JLR Halewood and JLR's two plants in the midlands, with strike action being threatened unless wage parity is introduced, this makes me a bit suspicious particularly when JLR and DHL have stated they have a contingency plan in case off industrial action ! Any thoughts on this? am I just being a bit paranoid?

Dear CAGers, hope someone can shed some light on this On the 17th January 2014 I sent a notice to vacate to both my landlord and letting agency via Royal Mail first class sign for service telling them it was my intention to vacate the property from the 2nd March 2014. This was done under the understanding I make of the attached part of the contract on clause 4 under section "Ending the contract" Today I received a letter acknowledging receipt of notice and "reminding" me that I have entered an agreement for 12 months that because I am not allowing the contract to reach its term I am responsible to pay rent as every other bill to the house. I am also liable for payment of early termination penalty regarding the fees the landlord paid to the agency. My reading of this is that if I am allowed to terminate the contract at any time then I should not be responsible for either the rent or the penalty since I follow the conditions they determine in the agreement... All help greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, This is my first post so I apologise if I am in the wrong section for this type of query. A forum member at Moneysaving Expert recommended I ask for help/advice from CAG and I have spent the last couple of hours looking over posts but I just need a bit of clarification if anyone can help......... My husband received a claim form through the post from a county court on Tuesday. The claimant is a DCA and on the claim form they say that a Notice of Assignment has been sent to him to explain that they now own the debt. The sum they are claiming with solicitors costs is just under £6,000 and they state that it relates to the Lloyds Banking Group. My husband had a debt with Lloyds which defaulted in 1999 . The debt is made up almost entirely of bank charges that piled up when he went over his overdraft after he was made redundant. Since then he has lived at the same address but in the intervening years there have been no letters or phone calls...nothing until now. We have filed an acknowledgment to the court and asked for the full 28days but looking through all the posts that seemed similar to our case I think that this is a statute barred debt but if someone could just confirm that they agree or disagree with me I would be very grateful. One big worry that I have got is that the DCA registered the default date as being 2008. This is definitely wrong but does this affect our claim that it is statute barred debt? If anyone can point me in the right direction regarding the correct templates to base our letters on I would be grateful. Do we send any correspondence only to the court or to the DCA as well ? Any advice very much appreciated Thanks in advance Elizabeth

About 5 years ago I lost my job and got behind with my mortgage. MAS No5 the mortgage provider went for eviction through the courts, but I managed to have the warrant suspended. I kept up the terms of the suspension and cleared all arrears, but the mortgage company refused to retract the eviction notice and said it would have to remain as suspended even though there no arrears. Question 1: Was that lawful? About 4.5 years ago we moved out of the property to move nearer to my new job which was 100 miles away with the intention of selling or renting the property. The market collapsed so we could not get a buyer above negative equity and as the house was empty longer it became damp to the point of being not fit to live in. During this period I have been trying to pay for this property plus the one that we live in now (rented), but it has been very difficult. The final stumbling block was last year when I had all of my wages taken from my bank by a PayDay Lender (despite not all being owed to them and me not giving them my bank details) which has been the catalyst for us falling 4 months behind. Last Saturday we were fortunate enough that after much hard work and travelling up and down to the property we have a tenant who has moved in. Despite numerous attempts to agree a payment plan MAS have refused and taken the suspended warrant back to court. We have been given an eviction date of 21.02.14, but due to having rented the property, my bonus at work due in March and an increase in salary as well as having cleared some other debts I am now in a position to clear the arrears by 31st March in full as well as reducing the arrears before the eviction date. Question 2: Can I get the warranty suspended till 31.03.14? Question 3: Once cleared can I get the suspension removed? Having been visited by bailifs yesterday for Council Tax arrears for the property of £2139 (the council have imposed a 150% council tax charge I am at my wits end and could do with some advice and do not want to go bankrupt etc just want to pay my debts so I am in a position in the near future to sell this house and buy one nearer my work.

Can anybody please advise me on this as I have no idea about any of it. I owe £107.41 to Scottish Power for Gas and Electricity combined. I pay in monthly installments of £85. On the 26th of October 2013 I was £28.56 in credit When my next bill came I expected it to be £85, but it actually came early on the 11th of November 2013 and was £277.47. I have no idea how this happened. I have been trying my very very best to pay it off. As I say I have it down to £107.41 I have a 7 month old baby, I live in a house where half the radiators don't work, landlord wont give me double glazing, I'm just turning 20 this month, my maternity pay has stopped. I have no income at all now except for my boyfriends £90 a week from his job. I don't receive any benefits. I got a letter on the 8th of January from Sterling Collections on behalf of SP saying that they want £85 immediately after several requests for payment. But I haven't had several requests I've had one letter in the post and an online letter on the 14th January, after the letter from the debt collection agency. What on earth is going on. Can somebody please, please advise me.