Hi there I have been paying 40 quid a month for God knows how long on my Santander mortgage and hopefully can claim this back as another 4 grand has gone on mortgage because of this. Can someone give me a pointer to get started please. Thanks

I deposited some money to an online trading account who have an operations in the UK. This was about 7 days ago and i have come to have some reservations about the company. I am trying to withdraw my funds but according to their system they charge a £25 fee for withdrawals. Do i still have a penalty free option for 14 days using such a service or am i liable for the fee.? Not sure if this is in the right part of the forum but any advice would be useful.

To briefly explain the story, last week my wife had a car accident where a man reversed his van into my wifes car after he had stopped in the road and reversed back without looking to talk to his dad who was on the other side of the road, driving the other way. He was very apologetic and they exchanged details. This morning we had a letter from a no win no fee solicitor, claiming that my wife had driven into him, failing to drive without due care and attention. This is obviously very upsetting, and I guess it means at the very least we are going to have to pay our excess for repairs to our car since he has his own version of events. Any advice please? Thank you in advance.

When I moved into a new property recently, I was charged a £75 one off admin fee. This seemed a bit steep for sending me a tenancy agreement and doing a bit of filing, but I was in a bit of a bind, so I accepted. Is it legal for landlords to charge such a fee? Thanks Jeff

Halifax is imposing a fee of £1 a day from arranged overdrafts of £0.01 to £1,999 as from 1st Dec 2015. No interest rate is charged. So if one has an arranged overdraft of £100 and goes overdrawn by £0.10, a fee of £1 will be charged and by 100 days, this £0.10 becomes a unarranged overdraft for which a fee of £5.00 is faced. Is this imposing excessive charges or treating customers unfairly??

Does anyone know of any genuine employment lawyers that will do a FREE assessment for no win no fee. All the websites offering this always want an assessment fee which totally goes against the principle of no win no fee! I do however need help as I have a five day final hearing coming up in February.

A month ago, a regular contributor to this forum (Dodgeball) started a thread on here about the ‘sale stage fee’ of £100 and when it should be charged by bailiffs. The regulations were completely overhauled in April 2014 and there is (and will continue to be) a great deal of differing of opinion about the wording and application of the regulations and will no doubt not be properly resolved until a court makes a judgment. Unfortunately, Dodgeball’s thread was once again the focus of unwarranted attention elsewhere and with this in mind, the thread ended up running to seven pages. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?453200-Removal-for-sale-fee-when-can-it-be-charged I am reliably informed that because of the importance of this subject, Dodgeball approached the countries expert on bailiff law; John Kruse for his professional opinion. John considered that the question was important enough to be quoted is his regular Bulletin (that is available to the advice sector for free or available by subscription to the public). Given the popularity of this forum, it is frequently viewed by members of the the enforcement industry. Those individuals are unlikely to read a copy of John Kruse's Bulletin. Hopefully by providing a copy of his opinion on the charging of this fee it may prove useful to them. A copy of Dodgeball's question is below: I am currently engaged in an interesting debate about sale fees and when they are applicable- in particular if a bailiff can charge the sale stage fee whilst on an enforcement visit. Many, particularly HCEOs, are under the impression they can. My position is that they cannot. My arguments are these: Sch.12 para.13 TCE Act 2007- this section outlines the ways that goods can be taken under control; it says that one of the methods listed must be used. Since only controlled goods can be sold then presumably only one of these can be used and must be used prior to removal for sale. It must be noticed that none of the options relate to the sale of goods, in fact they all indicate that another attendance must be made, to removed the previously secured goods or to inquire about the failure of a controlled goods agreement. The mention of removing goods in para.13 is, as you say in Bulletin 27, for purpose of storage rather than sale, so a subsequent attendance must be made there also. The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations state that “the sale or disposal stage ... comprises all activities relating to enforcement from the first attendance at the property for the purpose of transporting goods to the place of sale etc.” The attendance at enforcement cannot in my opinion be for the purpose of transporting goods to the place of sale, because no goods have been seized at this point. There is also the matter of arrangement for sale as you mentioned in Bulletin 29. I do not believe that merely ringing for a van can fill these criteria as I believe the MoJ has suggested. Thirdly I think that the procedure was intended to be in three stages, so allowing the EA to circumvent the last stage by switching from enforcement to sale whilst in the enforcement stage is not what was intended. I would appreciate your thoughts.

A cap on the fees that banks charge businesses to process credit card payments could save UK retailers up to £700m a year. From December 9, the fees banks can charge will be capped at 0.3% for credit card transactions and at an average of 0.2% for domestic debit card transactions. It's hoped that retailers will pass on the savings to consumers. But a number of major credit card providers, have already scaled down cashback and loyalty point schemes, citing the forthcoming caps as the reason why. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/credit-card-fee-caps-could-save-700m-31594631.html

Dear all, Great website and excellent information. Below is an explanation of my current situation. It's a bit long but I have given as much info as possible in order to be as accurate as possible. Here goes... I was forwarded on a letter from my Mum today (I've recently moved back from abroad and have been using my parents' address) from Harlands regarding my recently cancelled Fit4Less membership. I cancelled my membership earlier this month as when I checked their website I saw that they stated: Monthly membership – paid via Direct Debit Membership agreements are for a period of 12 months, however we do not enforce contracts, long term commitment or pursue missed payments, as we understand that customers require flexibility and freedom to chose when and where they exercise. To cancel your membership at any time simply contact your bank and cancel your direct debit instruction. Please be advised that your membership will be terminated WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT and your access to the gym will be prohibited from the day you cancel your direct debit. To get the most out of your last month at the gym, it is advisable to cancel your direct debit about 7 working days before the date when your next subscription is due to be collected. Please do not leave it any later than this, or your bank will not have time to prevent the collection of your next month’s subscription." .fitness4less.co.uk/terms_and_conditions.html Taking this at face value I cancelled my Direct Debit via my online banking earlier this month. However I then receive the letter that states (in full): "Harlands administer the collection if all payments due under your membership agreement with Fit4Less abd you bank has recently advised us that your Direct Debit Instruction has been cancelled. The membership agreement you signed states that all payments must be made by Direct Debit. Therefore you must call HARLANDS HELPLINE... immediate in order for us to reinstate your Direct Debit over the phone. If you do not contact us by 18 october 15 you will be charged an administration fee. The telephone lines are open..." Now, the vague wording of the letter and the fact that they give me no concrete reason why I need to pay an admin fee of £25 leads me to believe they are trying to pull a fast one. Also I am not going to pay their ridiculously expensinve hotline. I have returned to my DD agreement and seen it states: "Amount to be debited from your account You will be debited £19.99 on 18/04/2015 and thereafter on the same day each month until further notice. The debit will be collected on or immediately after the date specified Start date for regular billing 18/04/2015 The company name which will appear on your bank statement is Eazipay Ltd. Your Membership details Chosen Membership: Online DD No Contract To start on: 18/03/2015" Then, on checking the T&C sent to me in April (the month I joined) I noticed the following (which is why I think they are trying to sting me here) "If your bank fails to make a due direct debit payment from your account, we will write to advise you of this. We may apply to your bank for payment by direct debit twice within one calendar month and we reserve the right to refer any missed due payments to a debt collection agency. We may charge a fee for failed direct debit payments and/or letters sent to you in respect of unpaid amounts. 5.7 Should any membership fees not be paid within 30 days of the due date, the full membership fee for the remainder of the commitment period will automatically become due and payable in full. 5.8 Any unpaid and overdue membership fees referred to a debt collection agency will be subject to a surcharge to cover the collection costs incurred. This surcharge together with all other charges and legal fees incurred in the collection of the overdue membership fees will be the responsibility of the member and will be legally recoverable from the member" At this stage I am looking for advice as how to reply. I think the website is misleading but I am willing to pay a final £19.99 for the final month membership to close the matter. The admin charge appears unlawful so I want to dispute this. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I will post back here to let you know how the matter is progressing so other people caught out can hopefully learn from my experience. Thanks Des

I applied for 18+ Oyster Photocard after being told by a member of staff that I am eligible since I am on a part-time course lasting over 14 weeks. After making the application, and it being rejected, I have found that I have to be in receipt of an NHS grant or receiving financial help from my education establishment. I have attached the webpage that I went through to make my application. I have also included the part of the terms and conditions that is relevant to me. My argument is that the webpage does not state any requirements for NHS funding, it only requires for the course to be eligible. Another argument is that the terms and conditions are confusing, namely the bullet points after either. Correct me if I'm wrong but after an either statement, and cannot be used. Such as: either A and (B or C), in this case A should not have come after either and should have been with the original set of bullet points either (A and B) or C, then in which was A and B do not need to be separate statements but could have been in the same bullet point. I understand this can be confusing and I might not have a valid argument, but any help is much appreciated. I don't see why someone in receipt of grants and financial help gets to reap the benefits of this scheme but not someone like me who is working hard to put myself through education, barely earning £8,000, most of which goes towards tuitions.

Hi all, So I had a 30-day phone contract with Three (£13/month). On 12/09/15, I called them up, notified them that I wished to cancel my contract, and requested a PAC code. A few hours after the phone call, I used the PAC code with Vodafone. I was told by the person on the phone that I would be charged roughly £1.30, for a pro-rata rate. Today, I discovered that there is a pending payment for £13.00 in my online banking (for the date 28/09/15). I called up and asked why - Three claimed it was an 'Early Termination Fee', since I did not serve my 30 days notice properly. They also said something along the lines of I used my PAC code before the contract was up??? Could anyone more familiar with this things please explain if this is correct? If I have been incorrectly/unfairly charged, I would like to dispute it. Many thanks CAGers.

Hi, I have a question that I'm having a LOT of trouble finding the answers to, I think I'm out of my depth and thinking of just letting the claim expire completely. I gave a landlord in London (name removed) £900.00 deposit and £931.67 first months rent on a property (£1831.67 total), but I changed my mind and didn't sign any contract with the landlord. The landlord refused to give my money back because he said he was suffering a loss and counter-claimed for a whole year of rent! I changed my mind within 1 week, and I feel he is trying to rip me off. I changed my mind because I was moving to the USA (I live in the USA now.). I started the claim in the UK with a UK address and went through MCOL. The hearing is in London (Edmonton). I received a letter to pay a court hearing fee of £170, however, I am supposed to pay this by 15th of May 2015. This letter did not reach me until today (14th), as it was relayed onto me in the USA from my family as the MCOL claim address is a UK address (My family address in the UK) I'm in a bit of pickle, as I cannot afford the £170 and I do qualify to use form ex160a for a fee remission. Within the letter, there is no mention of who to pay the £170 to, I searched all over Google, and I simply cannot find any answer. Does anybody know what steps I should take? 1. Who do I pay the £170 to? MCOL? Edmonton Court? Can I pay online? Can I apply for an extension on this payment date? What happens if the payment is late? If I can't pay online, I'm not sure how I can send a cheque to the UK from USA in time. 2. I'm not sure if it's the best option, but I can pay using a credit card, then can I apply for a refund later using ex160a? 3. When I log into MCOL, the last update was a year ago and the status is set to 'Transferred', does this mean MCOL is done with their part now and I should only contact the court directly from now on? 4. Do I need to give somebody my USA address now? 5. The court hearing is in November 2015, I'm 99% sure I cannot attend the date, would this affect my odds of winning? Sorry if I sound a bit dumb, I really feel like a fish out of water with this.

hi, i rent a room in one town (near my works and children) and my partner (not the mother of my children) rents a house in the next town, she is signed off sick and has a daughter. i cant move in to her home as she is being evicted as landlord is selling up, section 21 ends in september and her local council are not helping much they just say she will have to rent another private which isnt easy since she isnt working and on sick benefits due to ongoing heart issues for which she is having open heart surgery for very soon. i work full time but cant have her and her daughter live with me as i rent a room in a house to keep costs down so i can pay for my children and not go via csa. i have already registered for housing with local council in my town but of course can only apply for a 1 bed place due to it being just me. i have now filled in a change of circumstances form and added my partner as we were thinking of moving in together in the new year (have been with each other for several years so not a rushed thing) with all that is happening her end i dont know what to do as she is going to need me with her full time during and after surgery. have i done the correct thing adding her via the change of circumstances form with my local council? as i hope they will help us get a place together and soon due to her condition . we did not want to move in under these circumstances but i need to be there for her full time. since we are both living in different towns i am just wondering what the best thing to do or push for. a very odd situation and any pointers would be great as i am worried about her condition and the stress of all this being evicted is having on her but also wanting to get help with a council home not private rent as i cant afford to keep both of us on private rent rates. thanks.

I recently attempted to reclaim fees on our redeemed mortgage which was redeemed in October 2014. The fees charged to our account over 7 years amounted to £9550. After taking over two months to respond, as I expected, Acenden have refused to refund any fees, they consider the fees they have charged to be fair. Where do I go from here? Some forums say the ombudsman and some forums say the small claims court? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone! I have recently found a suitable property to rent in my local area via Rightmove and, after reading the information provided regarding fees, (Admin charge £50 and Referencing fee £75 plus vat) I contacted the letting agent for a viewing. I contacted the agent following my viewing, to express my interest in renting the property, who explained the fees had increased to £200 because, I insisted that I was only willing to pay £150, as advertised, initially and the letting agent reluctantly accepted. I have now been informed that my application has failed due to adverse credit and I will require a guarantor to continue with my application. After checking my credit file online, I have not found any adverse credit which would affect my application. Furthermore, I do not have anybody to act as a guarantor ...not that I'd be rude enough to ask in the first place! The agent has also informed me that they cannot refund the £150. Is there anything I can do?

I ordered something from China that was delivered by DHL. Two weeks later, I got the duty and admin fee request. The amount I was charged was much too much, so I queried it with DHL by phone. The reason for the overcharge is a mixup on the suppliers paperwork. It's another matter to sort that out. The problem is that I thought that their answer was wrong, so I put it aside to sort out another time, then forgot abut it. They have now passed on the debt to Control Account plc, who have added on an additional £40 for lare payment. I have noe paid DHL, but I've got a feeling Control Account won't be going away Can Control Account charge me for late payment, when I never had a direct contract with DHL? Their contract AFAIK is with the Chinese shipping company that has a contract with the supplier. Is there anything I can do to make them go away, other than pay.

Good day all. So I'm hoping having gone through this with other institutions that I have got this one right. That said I would very much appreciate somebody just checking my logic and attached letter. I took out a loan with BOS/HSPF and at the same time they issued me with a card, presumably a credit card though I'm not certain that is what technically classed as such. Fees were added and I would like to launch a claim for these back with interest. I have used the normal template - will this be subject to the same rules as more standard credit cards etc? Many thanks L1882

Hi, I hope someone might be able to provide some general advice. I am trying to reclaim £450 in Platinum Card membership fees, I have already unsuccessfully been through their complaints process and they've sent me the FoS leaflet. 1 - I've had both a British Airways Amex card and a Platinum Amex Charge card (with flexselect credit) for almost ten years. The latter has a membership fee of £450, paid in December 2 - I hadn't actually used the Platinum Card for two years until April 2015 when I tried to use it to pay for a hotel abroad - declined, despite my statement telling me I had over £1000 of my £3500 Flexselect credit available 3 - I rang Amex, and they essentially told me that because I was a risky customer, they were declining to put through my charges. Yes, late last year I ran into financial difficulties and had problems making loan and credit card payments and this will have affected my credit file 4 - However, at no time did Amex tell me I can't use the card. There is no notification on my online account, and I have received no letters or phone calls, so this is the first I had heard of it 5 - In fact the card does work sometimes. It usually works for smaller (less than £20) amounts in supermarkets etc. Not always. Yesterday an £8 charge went through, today a £17 one didn't 6 - I wrote to Amex making a complaint asking that my card be downgraded to one of the free ones, and that as I had been sold a card I can't actually make full use of, that my year's membership should be refunded 7 - Amex has rejected the complaint saying I could only have a pro rata refund (which I guess would be £300 odd) and making me aware that they can basically stop me using it when they want as it says so in the Tcs and Cs I would now like to complain to the FoC. The basis of my complaint will be that Amex knowingly sold me a card membership I can't make full use of, and never told me that I can't fully use the card. Had I known this, I would not have paid them the £450 at the end of last year. I have two questions: 1 - There is £550 due to be paid next week, some of this is from the small purchases I have been able to make - public transport, small supermarket shops etc. The rest is from my flex select balance. I am in a position to pay this, but would there be any grounds for me not to, if I am disputing the account? Or would this make things worse and I should just pay up as normal. 2 - Because the Amex card seems to work for most smaller charges, does this in any way negate my complaint? The £450 membership is sold with various travel benefits, but as I discovered I can't actually use the card when travelling Any other advice of how I should approach this with the FoS is appreciated. Thank you for hearing me out, all being well I'll look to submit my FoS complaint in the next few days

Ministry of Justice amendments to Contracts for Court Fine enforcement. In 2006 the Ministry of Justice awarded contracts to private sector bailiff companies to enforce magistrate court fines. Over time, new contracts have been awarded and the current position is that only four companies are contracted to enforce unpaid criminal court fines with Marston Group and Collectica Ltd enforcing in the UK and Excel Ltd and Swift Credit Services covering Wales. In April 2014 the Ministry of Justice Procurement Directorate (as representative of the Secretary of State) made important amendments to each of the companies contracts to ensure that they were compliant with Part 3 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 which came into effect on 6th April 2014. In this respect amendments were made to Schedule 4 (Specification) and Schedule 5 (Price Schedule). In respect to Schedule 4 the following changes have been made to the contracts: The word 'Bailiffs' have been replaced with ‘Enforcement Agent’ ‘Distress Warrants are now known as Warrants of Control’ 'Taking Control of Goods' has replaced words, such as ‘Levy’ and ‘Distrain, Distraint and Distress’ ...

hello all, my girlfriend applied for a prepaid credit card last september - i read the t&c's for her and it said the card had no fee's per month. she loaded £32 on it and a further £4.95 for the cost of issuing the card. she couldnt use it at stores as they kept saying it was invalid... .i phoned cashplus and they said it had the £32. tried it online at various times and it kept saying it was invalid. I found out you could check the account online so i logged on at the beginning of the month for the first time to find out whats been happening.... ..2 things: 1.the card hadnt been activated - so i activated it. 2. they took out 3 payments of £4.95 a time for a dormancy fee...this is not mentioned in the t&c's. I phoned them today and asked them what a 'dormany fee' is ....they said if the card is dormant between transactions for a long time they charge a fee... ...I asked is this on an active card. ..they said yes.. ...I said so as the card was NOT activated until the start of the month can you refund the 3 x £4.95 as the card wasnt active or dormant - they flat out refused. What can I do as they know they shouldnt be charging charges on a card that isnt active yet.? TIA.

I know that this isn't a big problem compared to most of the problems on here but I could use a little knowledge on the subject. My partner moved in with me in January after cancelling his BT broadband account, he paid his final bill but did not pay the £30 cancellation out of principle as he was unaware that was in his terms and conditions. They do not know where he lives and have no phone number for him but they do have an email address which has been passed to Walker Love (correspondence below). He is tempted to ignore the email but I am concerned as to where this could lead if anywhere. I have heard of unpaid debts mounting up over years and I do not want it to come back and bite him so I'd like to know what the real consequences could be? 'We've passed your debt of £37.50 to a collection agency. We've sent you several reminders but you still haven't paid us what you owe. So we've now passed your debt to Walker Love Collections, an authorised debt collection agency, to get in touch with you about paying it off. We've also added a charge of 25%, included in the outstanding balance above, to cover the cost of us handing over the debt.'

Hi This isn't actually for myself by my girlfriend. I have used this forum before and it was great so would appreciate some advice here. Its a complicated situation so in order to fully understand what has happened, here is the complaint she sent to student finance last week. "I would like to make a complaint regarding the communication skills and moral dishonesty of student finance. Before detailing the areas of my complaint I would like to state that I have always completed all paperwork on time, queried any abnormalities and upheld all details stated in the contract. To begin, I was given a maintenance loan and tuition fee loan without query when I began my degree in Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool (after recently completing my previous degree in Chemistry). I was aware that post-graduate students differ in their entitlement to student loans and spoke to numerous student finance advisers regarding this both before and after applying for a student loan. Not once was I told that student finance were making a mistake in allowing me my tuition fee loan and I was misled to believe that I would be able to finish my degree with complete financial support. That such a fundamental mistake could be made by so many of your staff is unthinkable and considering the impact it has now had on my studies, career, financial situation and well being. I am unable to understand how this mistake could have occurred multiple times and am seeking a full explanation regarding this. Not only did your staff make errors but I have been supplied with a full tuition fee loan for almost two years of my course and in this time your screening process has not picked up on this anomaly. I hope that this will also be addressed when investigating this complaint. Next, the manner in which Student Finance has dealt with their own incompetence can only be described as appalling. I received four letters in the space of two days and each letter had different values I was entitled to and confusingly spanned across a number of academic years. Together they were incomprehensible and incredibly unclear. My online account had always stated that I was received £0.00 for everything since you updated your online system. Upon querying this at the beginning of the year with one of you advisers I was told that it was just taking a long time to update. So I spokewith one of your advisers again to ask what all these letters meant; and although they also had trouble comprehending the situation I was told that the decision to discontinue my tuition fee loan had been made some time ago. I was never notified that my profile was being reviewed, given no written explanation as to why student finance had made such a mistake and offered no apology. This lack of communication is atrocious. How is Student Finance able to justify this knowing the impact this would have? As the investigation of this complaint I would require a full apology and would like to know the protocol Student Finance uses when dealing with ethically sensitive decisions. As of yet I not received the customer service that is advertised to students. Finally, I would like Student Finance to truly know the impact this has had. I am unable to fund my studies, am unable to apply for bursaries and have no additional financial support. I would never have invested the time and money into such a demanding and lengthy degree if I had not been misled by Student Finance on several occasions. I now face ending my course just before my exams that I will be unable to take and deal with the vast additional debt that would never have occurred. The actions of Student Finance will not only destroy my ambitions and career opportunities but will undoubtedly affect my well being. I expect an honest investigation on how this has happened,a sincere apology and how Student Finance aims to rectify such an abhorrent situation. " She has now been informed by her University (Liverpool) that she now may owe them 18k for the first 2 years of her degree. We live together and are independent (we rent) so obviously she cant afford to pay either the 18k herself or the further 3 years going forward. She obviously would want to continue with the degree if possible however we will have to see what happens. A strange situation I know. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Patrick

I have a charge on my property which I have now paid in full but the solicitors dealing with it wasn't a fee to remove it starting that "only they can remove the charge". The fee involved is close to £200 I would be grateful for your thoughts

Hi. Have just been given a weekend paid for caravan at a Parkdean site by a friend who can no longer go. I called Parkdean to advise that my friend is no longer going, but she has given it to me. I was informed that there was a £20 admin fee for changing the name. Whilst i'm grateful that my friend has given me a free weekend away, i can't help but think that they're taking the mick charging £20 for changing the details. I sent a message via Twitter, and have had their twitter team call me and reconfirm that there will be a £20 charge which will not be waived. I've asked what it was for, they said it was to cover the manpower it takes to swap details and reprint the documents. I asked what documents, i thought it was all done electronically, which she said yes it is, no printing is involved, but still confirmed the £20 stands. I would have accepted a £5 fee as would probably take maximum 15 mins to swap details, and that is based at the ridiculously paid rate of £20/hour for data entry. Can anyone tell me if i should just accept it, or if i have any grounds to stand up to this charge?

Hi This incident occurred a while ago (I wasn't aware of CAG back then) but it is something I've always pondered over should I find myself in the same situation again. I was at Curry's looking for a small portable TV for the bedroom. Now normally I stick to good brands like Sony, Samsung etc. On this occasion however I decided to buy a UMC set, the price was really good. The TV was on display but you could not interact with it (no remote). Having bought the item that day, I was disappointed to find the that the unit switched inputs/channels at an agonisingly slow speed. Something like 8 seconds, it was ridiculous. I was soo dissatisfied, I went back to the store the next day to return it. The assistants tried to brush me off saying its normal, but I wouldn't accept it. Then the assistant manager phoned the 'store manager' who was home(?) who agreed I could return the item but would incur a £20 restocking fee. (thus I get the cost of the tv unit - £20 back). My question is, was Curry's in it's rights to charge for a restocking fee?