Hi all, I started receiving calls from Lowell last week over an alleged balance of £28 owing to T-Mobile. I couldn't initially work out what it was, but my mobile was originally with T-Mob, they 'upgraded' me to 4g and the contract moved to EE and looks like I missed the last payment with T-Mob, so I do owe the money and will quite happily pay it. However, I checked with the CRA's and they registered a default against the account in January for the princely sum of the £28. I have never received a default notice. Is there any way I can get it removed, or am I going to have to put up with a 'satsfied' marker and my credit file being blighted for the balance of six years? Thanks.

Hi Guys, Part of my bigger debt problem here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387784-Big-Debt-Problem...HELP!&p=4197488#post4197488 We had a claim from Shoosmith for a HSBC debt on the 13th August. I sent off acknowledgment with the I&E form filled in as I cannot pay in full. I sent the letter/form last weekend recorded delivery. I have just received a letter from the court today saying I have not acknowledged the claim and I now need to pay in full! Just checked the tracking number and it still says the letter/form is in transit! I have proof I sent it with the tracking. Help! What can I do?

Having a sort out have found a letter to the other half natwest account being sent to morecroft This account was opened online but never had any money paid in or taken out card has never been activated The balance stands at £330.85 overdrawn! How is the best way to deal with this apart from ignoring morecroft? Thanks

In 2012 when my dad moved into a flat he asked social if he can have a loan to furnish it. They refused the loan and heard nothing from them until a few days ago. He received a letter saying he owed them £70, which I know he doesn't. Of course he will call them but does he need proof he was refused the loan? He's currently having problems with the bank right now and needs to change it but none will have him because he has become over drawn with some before. This bank is taking out money when he doesn't have any. And he's got yet another charge on there. I don't know where else to put this as only on here can I post anything.

after some advice regarding a loan of my husbands from about 4 years ago. He took it out as one of those guarantor loans (which was his dad). Anyway, the loan was for approx 3K, and he fell behind with payments as he lost his job. His dad picked up the payments but then went bankrupt. He presumed that the debt died when this happened, but when we requested a copy of his credit report this week, the loan was still active. The loan was taken out in October 2010. Payments were made until June 2011 and then thats when his dad picked them up. By Jan 2012, the payments were in arrears as he had gone bankrupt a couple of months before. Now, when he looked his credit report, i presumed that the loan would of been subject to a default notice and passed to a DCA. However, the loan has never defaulted, and is still classed as in arrears. My belief was that after 6 months of being in arrears, a default should made as it is unfair to leave the account in arrears. there have never been any letters to my husband ( his parents still live at the address where the debt is registered). Am i right in thinking it should be under deafult? or are lenders allowed to leave an account in arrears for 30+ months. All advice greatfully received

Hi My son has received a latter today from IRCAS saying he hasn't appealed a train fine from may 28th. Well its news to him, this is the first letter. It says he dodged his fare on this date from Hereford to Manchester. He has never been to Hereford in his life or near there and was in work that day and can prove it. its a 72 quid fine. at first i thought it was a spoof as had never heard of them before but now I think someone must have used his name and address. Do they ask for ID when taking someones name and address? It wasn't him and I am not sure what to do now. Anyone able to help please?

Hi all, I am desperately in need of advice because I am unsure where to go from here. Back in 2011/12 I was unemployed and so tried to claim council tax benefit, due to the length of time that it took to sort this out I continued to pay my council tax during this time from my savings. When the savings ran out I couldn't pay it but around the same time I was granted the council tax benefit which when credited to my account resulted not surprisingly that I had overpaid quite significantly. In the next council tax bill for 12/13 there was no mention of this overpayment and so I write back to the council asking for my overpayment to be applied and for a new bill. I even included my own calculations of what I thought I owed and asked that I receive this new bill so I can pay it. But I got nothing from them dispute numerous emails, recorded letters, letters, all which contained copies of all previous correspondence, I did not receive anything back. I then found a new job and moved out the area and again wrote a letter to the council asking them to use my new address for this correspondence. The council then issued a liabilty order and bailiffs were after me, and so I found the details of executive in the council and wrote a letter of complaint to them and then finally action occurred. She telephoned me whilst I was driving and agreed that I actually owed the amount that I stated I did, she recalled the bailiffs and I agreed that I would pay it of before a certain date provided I received a letter stating how much I owe. Well I never got this letter, and so I made one payment and cancelled it and meant to chase the council but forgot. I eventually was hounded by the bailiffs again, (all correspondence was going to the old address) so I contracted this lady at the council again asking for the amount that I owe in writing....which she finally obliged in her email, only 14 months late. So I promptly paid this and the liability order fee. But now the bailiffs are chasing me for their fees as the council lady didn't pull the account back from the bailiffs. They are saying that they will advise the the council to go for committal proceedings, part of my wants to tell my side of it to a judge, as all I have been asking for is a new revised bill! And that's all it took to get me to pay it! Or do I pay the 270 bailiffs fees and forget it? Where do I go? Any advice anyone can give will be very welcomed!

Hi there, was hoping to get some advice on a problem I've had with Orange. I was checking my bank account yesterday and noticed Orange had taken out a whopping £202 for my last months bill. Now I knew I'd use a bit of excess data but nowhere near that much. Upon checking my bill I found I'd been charged for calls to a premium rate number that were never connected. I'm in the process of emigrating to New Zealand (I actually fly next Tuesday) this has all been very short notice due to personal reasons I won't go into. On the 9th April I was at my fiancee's parents house putting together the evidence for my visa application and had a query I needed to raise with NZ Immigration. No big deal I thought I'll phone them, it's a Premium number but it's only a quick question, and I have to make the last post for the day to send my application. When I dialed the number I got a recording saying something along the lines of calls to this number are blocked from my phone press whatever to speak to a customer service rep. So of course I did that, they said they'd unblocked it and to turn my phone off and on again and I'd be able to make the call, easy. So I do that, get the same message, hang up. Try again a couple of minutes later, same thing, few minutes later same again. Try resetting my phone again, same message. So I phone again and choose the option to speak to someone, they tell me I shouldn't have been told it would be done there and then because it can take up to an hour. Not happy but it's still in time so I try again a few times over the next hour. Comes to an hour and 10 minutes after the original call and it's still not working, so I choose the option to speak to someone. This person then tells me they don't know why I was told this as it can take up to 24 hours! Obviously I'm not happy at all about that and ask to speak to a manager to discuss why I've been told 3 different things and the problems this is causing me, I have to wait quite a while and we go through a few things and in the end she says there's still a good chance it will work in time, and she'll phone me back. I wait and make two final attempts just before 5pm and of course still not working. About an hour later the manager phones back and I make my displeasure known that if I'd been told originally it was going to take that long I'd have had the time to drive home to make the call (her parents are emigrating as well and had already had all their accounts closed and disconnected as they were leaving the next day). In the end I had to pay to have a same day courier deliver my application on the Monday but I decided to let it slide as I'd be free of Orange soon anyway. it turns out though that after all of that I was charged for every single one of those phone calls at a premium rate despite none of them making it past Orange's blocked message. The half hour I spent on the phone to the manager cost me just shy of £60. After incorporating VAT I was charged £120 for calls that never went past Orange themselves. Obviously being quite angry but figuring it was a fairly simple problem, I phoned Orange yesterday and explained all this. The woman on the phone didn't seem to believe me when I said none of the calls had connected, I mean, making a load of 5 second phone calls to a premium rate number, followed up by a 30 minute call, followed up two more 5 second calls is obviously what I wanted to do....... She explained she couldn't refund my money and that it had to be investigated by an "offline" team who would phone me back. Great I thought, what time will they call? Sometime in the next two weeks........ Given that they'd billed me just shy of 3 times what they should I explained I didn't think it was reasonable for them to sit on that money for 2 weeks and was basically told sorry but we can't do anything. I contacted Barclays straight after and they reversed the direct debit within an hour, so at least I've got my money now, but has anyone had experience of something similar with Orange? It seems insane that they'd consider it acceptable to try and sit on that money for 2 weeks whilst they "investigate" what is a very obvious case. So I'm now left with a £202 outstanding balance on my Orange account that I'm going to have to deal with from outside the country, which is going to be a complete nightmare. Sorry if this is long winded it's just a very stressful thing to have thrown at you a week before you move to the other side of the world!

I am very disappointed with Vauxhall Customer Care and the Dealership in Kingston Upon Thames. I am self employed Taxi Driver and I rely on my car to earn a living. Due to incompetency of Vauxhall Kingston I was unable to work for 17 days in total. My car was giving out white smoke in February 2014, I took it to Vauxhall Dealership, after carrying out diagnostic I was told DPF line is split and it is the reason for white smoke. Two days after paying for repair costing more than £750, my car started giving out white smoke again. I took it back to Dealership, after 3-4 days of not being able to find out what is wrong with my car, the dealership had to contact Vauxhall Technicians for help which took some times and I was told that the Cat needs to be changed which was done under warranty after waiting for approval from Vauxhall Warranty. Customer Care called me that my car is fixed and ready for collection. When i went to dealership to collect my car, i was told there is a needle sized hole in my radiator and is not important. As soon as I collected my car and got home, I had the white smoke again. I waited two weeks for my car to get fixed, which was not fixed. I called up Vauxhall Customer Care and told them that my car was not fixed by the dealership, I was told to get independent advice. After researching for few days, I took my car to a local mechanic and they fixed it within 1 day just by replacing my radiator. I contacted Vauxhall Customer Care again and asked for Compensation for keeping my car for so long and not fixing it, I was refereed to Vauxhall Kingston. Vauxhall Kingston Services Manager was not willing to speak to me for few days. I complained to Vauxhall Customer Care and within one day Vauxhall Kingston Services Manager called me and was asking me to bring the car so they take a look at it again. I explained to him that I fixed it independently and the reason for contacting him was to do something about my loss of earning due to his dealerships incompetent mechanics/technicians. He referred me to Vauxhall Customer Care who are not willing to help. After several email exchanges, they are not willing to compensate me.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/food-banks-debate-video-iain-2941100

Hello, I moved property 3 months ago. When I chose this location, there were several factors which were very important to me. 1) A NTL connection had to be available, which the estate agent told me was available, and they even showed me the NTL connection. 2) That there was CCTV around the entire property, which there appears to be by various cameras placed around the property. Since I have moved there, I have found out that: 1) The NTL connection is infact a dummy and does not work. I approached the letting agent about this and got the following response: ********** Response: With regards to the NTL. This is the first ive heard about it. And as far as i am aware if you are in a non serviceable area then NTL would'nt install a connection point. If there is a connection point Joseph would assume like anybody else would, that NTL would supply a connection there. ********** 2) The CCTV camera's are ALSO dummies... I also approached them about this and they came back with the following: ********** Response: With regard to the CCTV this would be down to the Managment Company (SLM) TEL: 01482 328068. ********** Now why do I feel like I'm being fobbed off here and that the buck is being passed on. What options do I have to sort this out? Also in light of this, can I dispute the £120.00 administration cost which they said was for 'administration and credit checking'? Thanks and Regards Adrian

there are free ones such as : StepChange - NOTE : - We understand that StepChange is supported by the Financial Industry. Payplan National Debt Line. dx

Hi There, I hope i'm in the correct place with this! I will try and keep this as short as poss but its been going on for nearly 2 yrs now so maybe long winded! My husband and I have a current loan with WFS - this is a joint loan and we have claimed the PPI on this which has come off the balance. Prior to this my husband had a loan with WFS, that we were informed was sold to him, along with PPI, by Bright Finance - a claim for the PPI has been with the FSCS for the past 2 years as WFS are being as difficult as possible and dragging things out. We applied for a SAR last year and received what we thought was all our info. The complication comes from the fact that there is no document stating what i have just received an email back from the claimanthelp people: "This refund was applied to the settlement figure (this refund reduced the amount you had to pay to settle the account) for the secured loan *******, the amount you received is shown on the Compensation Calculation which was attached to your Decision Letter, under the heading "Rebate paid/due upon cancellation". As you only held your PPI for 9 months, you did not pay for the full cost of the policy. You have now received a refund of the amount you paid towards your PPI plus the interest you were charged." Now, i've been through all our docs from the SAR - there is nothing about any of this, no mention of a rebate of PPI or anything. A couple of years back we made a complaint to WFS about how the most recent loan was sold to us - i never thought until last night to look through this as it doesn't really have anything to do with it. But i found a document stating that an amount has gone to pay off the old loa n- i thought when you SAR them, they have to send everything? !- But i believe they have deliberately left this out. Also, i've been through the figures as we have the above stated and can not make any of it add up - it's out by about £80ish - which doesn't sound a lot but it's still there! I have all the docs if anyone wants to take a look and give us a hand to see whether they are hiding something?! Could someone also point me in the direction of claiming back for phone calls and letters etc - my husband cancelled his DD last week, but i made the payment 1 day early - they still sent a letter to say they know we cancelled the DD and they want £12 in charges haha Sorry if this a a little skittish, but there's been a lot going on!!

Could someone who is experienced in these matters please give me some advice. I recently got my credit file as I am going to be applying for a mortgage towards the end of the year. There was a default registered against me by JD Williams for about £200.00. I actually know what this was for, even thought it was a long time ago, it was an order that I had placed prior to going working away for the summer which was delayed and then I went away. I informed the company but they had a nasty habit (despite me telling them I had no secure place) of throwing my parcels into my neighbours garden (literally!) which is what I thought happened here. So to cut a long story short I refused to pay for goods that I hadn't received, I think it was one item of a pair of shoes, and pretty much forgot all about it. I never paid the account because frankly I thought I was in the right. I have investigated since finding out about the default and I think the order in dispute was about £80.00 and the rest is made up of charges. There was never any default notice in my post so I wrote to them recently and asked them for a copy of it. They have replied saying "we have not issued a default notice as defined under Section 88 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in respect of this account. Any defaults, which we file with credit reference agencies are filed in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner's Office. The term "default" on credit reference files is used to refer to the situation when the relationship between lender and borrower has broken down". I don't know how to answer this. Is there anything I can do or am I stuck with this default on my credit file now? The letter they sent me was quite aggressive and they sent me a "true copy" of my unsigned credit agreement. I didn't actually ask for this but they must be so used to being asked for them! I don't dispute I opened an account with them but I really do feel this default is unfair. If they don't serve a person with a notice how can they register it with the credit agencies? If anyone has got any advice, I would be very grateful. I just hope there is something I can do, but I'm a bit (well a lot!) out of my depth here! Thank you.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows the course of action I can take against Viagogo. I purchased concert tickets for my kids and myself to attend. I choose to buy Pitt tickets and nowhere on the site or the seller posting did it indicate that the tickets were for 16 years and older. I received the tickets and clearly stated on the tickets is the age limit. I contacted Viagogo and the customer service rep (using the term very loosely) indicated it is not their responsibility, they are just the middle man. So clearly, Viagogo can take the money for selling the tickets but they do not want to bear any responsibility for the seller not giving clear information to sell the tickets. Comically, Viagogo have suggested to re-sell the tickets, which I promptly replied, I would NEVER use their services again. Any suggestions of what I can do, I overpaid for tickets that I CANNOT use! HELP!!!!!

I yesterday recieved a letter from, 'Equita Certified Baliif's, ' saying that they had been instructed by the London Bourough of Lambeth in connection with the warrant of execution granted against you by the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court. I had no idea what this was about as I no longer live in London or have not worked in London for over a year. The letter did not state how much i owed nor did it state any details of the incident which they say I owe money for. I phoned, Equita and spoke to the person and gave them my reference number. He informed me that it was from an incident back in April 2012 where turned left down a street where a left turn was prohibited and now the amount to be paid was 215 pounds. I explained that this is the first I had of heard of it and had recieved no letters previously telling me of this. He gave me the reference number for the PCN and suggested that I take it up with the council. I have tried using the reference number he gave me on the councils online website to show photos/videos of the incident but it says that there is nothing found. After finishing the phone call i had a think and I do remember recieving a PCN to which I appealed but shortly after I moved house but notified the DVLA and got my vehicles address and details changed to my new address. I had a lot going o at the time and to be honest i completely forgot about the PCN until now (almost a year later). I assume that all of the letters and the warrant have all gone to my old address, which obviously I have never received and now I am getting a letter from the baliffs at my new address. Where do I stand on this because i have notified the DVLA of the change of address to my vehicle?? At the time of writing the appeal I was unsure of my new address and nothing about my move was finalised until after i had written the appeal letter, so I could not put my new address on it for them to send any letters to. I'm willing to pay the original fine but not pay all of the other fees as I did not know anything about it. I am going to phone the council later today but just wanted to know where i stand and if i have much chance of not paying these baliff fees? How can they expect me to pay this money if I have never heard anything about this?? Any help will be appreciated Thanks

I have just left my employment, not on entirely good terms. In my employment contract it states: You will be entitled to become a member of the Company’s pension scheme and we will pay into an appropriate pension fund on your behalf, on a monthly basis, an amount corresponding to a maximum of 5% of your basic salary (excluding bonus and benefits) subject to any Inland Revenue requirements and overriding legislation. I have been with the company over 2 years, and on many many occasions I have asked for this to be sorted, but they never did. Much was agreed (for all staff, its a small firm) and back payments agreed, but never paid, due mainly to ineffective management and cash flow. What should I do. I have written to say they are contractually obliged to make these contributions and I want to be compensated. But what payments do they have to make to me? the full amount? or do they pay this to an insurance firm?? Not sure. thanks

Hello everyone. I am looking for some help on a secured loan (second mortgage) with GE Money.... The loan was taken out mid 2005 for consolidation of credit cards.. Figures are: Amount Borrowed £44,800 fixed at 6% above base rate over 180 months less Broker Fee £500.00 less PPI £4800.00 (yes, we were told we had to have this in order to qualify for the loan!) Processing Fee £500.00 Amount Received £39,000 Monthly payments have been maintained to date, albeit many times payments late so there are loads of charges, (approx £3000 + interest on charges of £800!) The trouble is as of today, having paid GE just over £42,000, they have told us there is STILL £32,000 to go! So we end up paying just short of £75,000 for a £45k loan. I know taking this loan was probably the worst thing we could have done, we were under a lot of stress at the time and wanted to pay off a load of credit cards and other finance. Can anyone tell if this agreement is 'legally' fair? or are there any options available to get our agreement looked at? It would be great to get PPI back/charges or even see if the ridiculous total repayment can be lowered Thanks in advance, J

Hi everyone this is my first post here, I checked out a few other threads and everyone is extremely friendly on this matter. About a year or so ago my then girlfriend and I were in some financial difficulties until we found FLM Loans which offered quick cash and simple method to pay the money back. Due to youthful foolishness we went for it not realizing what this meant :/. The original Loan amount was £500 to be paid in monthly installments. I would not ask if it were not important although the situation is becoming dire, since July last year I have paid out £833.01 in Payments and Charges yet still have a balance of £477. Every time I make a payment another large charge get slapped on top again. My Balance sheet is here if needed, although I can't post because of the 10 post limit :/ Please if anyone can help me with this I would be very grateful. Thanks Paul

Hi, I took out a loan £2500 with Welcome Finance in 2007 and due to various issues fell behind on payments. So instead of having payed off the loan in 2009, I'm still paying off the loan at £250/month. However the balance is still close to £4500, and of the £250 only around £25 goes to paying off the loan. Which means that it will take me another 3 - 4 years to pay off the loan at this rate. Unfortunately I can't increase the payments in order to pay it off faster. The strange thing is that they keep telling me that I should have paid them off in 2009 and that they are doing me a favour and no, since the account is in arrears they won't entertain any final payment offer unless it's in full. So far I have paid over £7000:x I actually told them during a heated conversation to stop "doing me a favour" and take me to court. The response was: "No, we will not take you to court. You just have to come up with the money!" Does anyone know if there's something that I can do about this situation?

It was top-secret in 1959 and remains almost completely unknown to this day - the first Soviet nuclear missile base outside the USSR. But it is still there, crumbling and steadily being reclaimed by nature in the forests north of Berlin. Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20079147

How do I get a refund from Amazon? I ordered some LED light bulbs for £6 plus £4odd postage and packing. They never arrived. When I enquired the tracking said "attempted delivery 18:50 on (date). I dont believe that Royal Mail would attempt delivery at this time of day, nor was there a card through the door, nor did anyone knock. I have emailed amazon who have in turn emailed the supplier "Cashbrokers" which sounds dodgy anyway. They claim delivery was attempted and the tracking now says being returned to sender.

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on something. My daughter is 17 years old and a full time student studying for A levels. Up until this weekend she has been working for a small restaurant at weekends and on the odd day during the week. She has been paid always cash in her hand averaging £40 to £80 a week. On Friday i had a massive argument with her employer when i found out that they have been putting her behind the bar, shes worked 10 hour shifts with no breaks and they keep her tips. My daughter has never been asked to give her national insurance number and never had a wage slip. Today we received a "signed for" letter in the post saying that she isn't sacked but due to my "outburst" it would be impossible for her to come back. They have asked for her uniform back and have now asked for her national insurance number. I'm really annoyed and want to blow the lid on them for child exploitation but i dont want my daughter to get into any trouble over the national insurance matter. My question is "who is liable and at fault, my daughter or her former employer?" Any advice would be really appreciated as im not sure where to go on this matter! Thank you

In April this year me and my partner while coming back from Liverpool stopped off at TKMAX. I suggested we pick up a frying pan so I could cook breakfast in the morning. It was a quick in and out job as we needed to get back home quick. We looked at the pans in the reduced section which all where £3 to £4 on them i picked up a suitable one i liked in that section but it had no sticker on it (price). i said to my partner get one of them tags and put it on this because being in a hurry i didn't want to take it to the desk where then she would have to send some one back up find a price those making a 5 minute job into a 20 minute one. i took it to the cashier who is actually is a client of mine. payed the £4 and walked out. as leaving a hand grabbed me shoulder. turns out to be security wanting to ask questions about this bloody pan. they asked for our details and said we were watched on camera doing something worse than shoplifting (fraud) No police where called and no arrest where made. He said it was a joint fine and we would receive a letter in the post for a fine he said would be only £40. I told him my story and said I would pay the difference for that bloody pan as I needed one. But they had refund me and take it of me. Later that week I received the letter asking for £170 ( same letter was sent to my partners home address too. i did my research and have ignored the letters. they keep writing to me demanding this money which i think is robbery on their behalf. But now I received a phone call from someone in that department demanding I pay this sum of money. I didn't admit anything on the phone just told them who I was and why was I being celled. He was very aragont and rude persistant to know if I was the person he wanted to speak with. He then stated you where caught shoplifting in tkmax on the 7 April to which I kept saying no because it wasn't it was apparently fraud I committed. To end the call I said am not paying anything. So what will their next tactic be? It put me in such a bad mood all day for something so petty. I had no intention of thieving from the store nor have ever been convicted of shoplifting because I never do it. any advice would be greatful x

Lowell have been on my back for £903 which they say I owe Home shopping. I accepted responsibility for £650 which is the actual amount. For months they have refused to lower this figure to the amount I readily accept , and insist I pay them the £903. I have told them on many occasions , (never by phone , but by email only) to GFT's. Following advice on CAG , I contacted them , again by email , and told them that as we are on full benefits , I will pay them £1.00 per month. I recieved a email from Lowell yesterday saying that they will accept £1.01p a month over 900 months if I agree to the £903 that they want. That would take 75 years to pay off!!. Should I accept their offer ? It would be very nice to get these of my back , but if I agree their terms , would this mean that if I accept that I would have agreed to the £903 they say I owe?. They also say I could pay a one off fee of £700 to settle. I can honestly say I never expected Lowell to agree £1.00 a month !!!