Hi All I recently ran into a spot of financial difficulties, and being left by the mrs (great week for me that was!) i missed a direct debit to Vodafone. Subsequently i missed a couple more without realising (4 i believe) and now have a balance of £670 with them. I have 3 lines with them, mine, one for my ex and a 3rd line that is not far from expiring. I am now at a point where Vodafone are saying either pay the balance in full, or lose the phone number for 4 months and pay £167.50 pm and then get it reactivated. The problem like i say is that im not financially sound at the moment, and i cant afford to lose my phone number for 4 months as i need it for work. The line rental is £110pm at the moment for the 3 phones, and something im struggling to pay as it is. I requested Vodafone Suspend lines 2 and 3, just leaving me with my phone number whilst i bust myself to pay £150 per month to them, clearing £100pm off the balance each month. Vodafone have since said this is not possible and i can either pay £300pm till its clear, the entire balance in one go, or lose the line. I've been with them for 7 years spending thousands with them over this time, yet they do not seem slightly fussed about an existing customer having a problem. I fully appreciate it was my fault in running up the debt, but i have made what i feel is a substantial offer only to be told it is not good enough. Is there anything i can do or is it time to look somewhere else and just pay them off gradually? Kind regards Matt

We had a charity take over a rental property two doors away, and they are housing teenagers that have been kicked out there homes. The recent lad who been housed in is a nightmare, no respect has friends hanging outside all evening swearing, spitting smoking. We complained once to the council already who have said is its not owned by them not a lot they can do but try to find out the charity housing it.. My wife a month ago spoke to the lady that appears to look after them, but she was just as rude telling her its none of her buisness and just call the police. Sadly last night it all blew up and I ended up having a face to face confrontation with the lad, who just said "I am 17 dont care what you do, you obviously dont know who I am" Any help or advise, as I am concerned I wont be able to control my temper next time...

Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice. I recently changed house and thought I would stay with British Gas, on the phone the lady asked for the readings of the new house, I told them to her. Now 3 months later I have received my bill, a whopping £700. It's a small flat, and my old bills are all around £150 mark. Now I called them 2 days ago and it appears they don't have my initial reading, they've estimated my initial reading. The billing dept. were closed so I called today, first put to someone who didn't understand what I was saying, then onto someone else. He told me that they had liaised the previous utility company, but then he asked to confirm me to confirm the reading. I don't have a copy of it, but he had told me that they had it. So I said to him ''Please tell me the utility company you liaised with to get my reading,'' He told me he did not have to and that he was not going to. So I said then tell me the reading you got from them, again he refused. So I asked to speak to his supervisor, this made him quite angry and he started raising his voice and he told me he was not going to pass me to a supervisor. I asked again, quite calmly to speak to a more senior member of staff. He refused again so I asked his name, he ignored me 5 times, on my 6th attempt he said his name and said goodbye. I was shocked by their service, I don't know if i'm in the right about the estimate and their customer service has made me disgusted. I think I will pay this then leave them. My question is; am I in the right about the bill? Thanks for reading

After being a long time reader of these forums I thought I would share my own tale of woe. Back in November 2011 I was summoned to an ATOS medical, not knowing the significance of the situation (my fault). The person asking the questions refused to take anything but one-word answers, this annoyed me and I became a bit flippant with them (stupidly). The 'medical' was over in fifteen minutes and I thought no more about it (remember I didn't know what ATOS was at this point). Two months later, 16th of January, my benefits didn't arrive in my account. After making a few calls I discovered to my horror that my benefits had been stopped because I had 'failed' the medical. That's the point at which I discovered this part of the forum and, thanks to the enormous amount of knowledge and advice here, I was able to fight back. Roll forward to November 2012 and I finally get to have my say at a tribunal, one year and one day since the original 'medical'. The panel of a doctor and a judge were "overwhelmingly convinced" of my rights to benefits and promptly overturned the previous decision. (I suffer from chronic PTSD and Bipolar II) I phoned the DWP and asked what happens next, they said my benefits and any back-pay would be sorted out within 6-8 weeks. Well, it's now 5 months later and today I was finally awarded the monies owed to me. It has taken 23 phone calls to the DWP to reach this point and a lot more grey hairs to-boot. In the end I had to phone the tribunal service myself to request the proof of their decision because, despite numerous requests and empty promises, the DWP were incapable of preforming such a simple task. Besides the grey hairs I have suffered countless sleepless nights and my health has suffered quite badly from the whole affair. If it wasn't for the people of this forum offering advice and sharing their experiences I'm not sure if I would have made it this far. So THANKS to you all, without you I wouldn't have received nearly £2000 today in back-pay. As for the DWP, all I can say is I'm glad I live 3hrs drive away from them or I might have done something I'd regret.

We took out boiler insurance with Npower after being hounded in the evenings to switch over. Loads of nice talk with big promises. This was in 2011 and we have never missed a payment nor have we claimed. We moved abroad in July 2012 for employment and stopped using Npower as a supplier but continued with the boiler insurance. Npower then continue to take the £17 per month even up to this February 2013 when we had a boiler break-down which they then declined to attend to because the house was rented. I then wrote a complaint on their official website and was told that I would get a response within 24 hours. Still waiting 3 weeks later! I then tried to call and was told that the queue was 29 minutes long. Great customer care so far! I then wrote a letter of complaint and received an email in response. The response told me that the policy did not cover rentals so therefore the claim was not attended to and yes they had continued to take my monthly payment of £17 which was now getting cancelled and No I could not expect a refund for the 7 months as this had to cover tests and administration! I have read a number of blogs and this appears to be a common problem. Take the customers money and then refer them to page 602, clause 59d of their terms and conditions which states they really cover very little! In my view Npower are underhanded and don't understand how they get away with this behaviour in a 1st world country. I will never use them again and recommend that anyone reading this message does not either. Please tell 13 friends who will then tell 13 friends and so on. These people do not deserve our custom!

The story goes like this I took out a trade policy 2 years ago with Unicom and listed my cars and had a year of no worry insurance. Last year we renewed my policy with a company called gardners insurance in Chelmsford. they took the deposit and started the policy. The company was given a list of vehicle's to be put on the MID website. 1 of the car on the list is not registered to me. The owner of the car that was not registered to me got a letter saying that the car had no insurance on 06Sept 2012 and has been flagged up as uninsured and Not on the MID and fined. I contacted gardners insurance and asked them why the car wasn't on the list. they said it was added at the start of the policy and that it was a mistake by traderwise the underwriters . they said they would sort out the mistake. after a few months they did nothing and the fine went up, then went to court. I gave up and contacted traderwise and had a good chat with a guy, and found out that from the start of the policy 1st may 2012 till 13th/14th sept 2012 there was no cars added to the MID list. then all 3 cars was added. I asked how the 3 cars details was added to the list and was told that the list was updated by gardners insurance. I phoned gardners and asked how the details got to the MID they said they are not sure. I know we didn't contact them and give them the list of the cars after the 06/09/12. the woman said the policy didnt have any cars added to the policy for 4 months as we didn't give them any details of the 3 cars. I replied that someone must be physic as some how the MID list was updated. I was thinking of asking Gardners in S.A.R letter to show me all the emails they have had from myself to them. I was also told to ask them for all call records kept. From the way I see it Gardners had missed listing all my cars on the MID and then added then after the no insurance offence. I was also lucky they didn't fine me for the other 2 cars as they was not on the list too. I would like some help in getting gardners to admit to the mistake and pay the fine. does anyone know what I should do now??

Eon forced a pre-payment meter on me because I had a £300 outstanding bill. They came and fixed the new meter while I was out of the house and I was simply stuck with it. The debt was repaid over a year ago. Unfortunately as I live alone, topping the meter up can be a problem - I really think they should have the facility to do this online for those of us who are not very mobile. Anyway I have recently had a nasty bout of flu and on more than one occasion when I have been unable to crawl to top the key up I have been in the dark and cold, which has meant the condition lasted much longer than it should have done. My question is, will another provider let me have a normal meter if I pay a deposit? I simply cannot go on like this, I have no friends or relatives nearby and no car, and the constant worry of running out of electricity is a nightmare. Bizzarely you can only top up by £49 - which sounds as if it should last forever but is only a few days at the high prices on pre-payment. Quite frankly I would be happy to pay even more than I do already to be relieved of the worry of being left cold and in darkness when I cannot leave the house. Thanks for any help!

Thanks to the great advice on here, I have begun the process of ending this PDL nightmare. I have done my budget and know what I can pay each PDL. I have a new account setup for wages etc and its not linked to any other account. My loans are to Wonga - Default end of Feb Swift Sterling - Default end of Feb PDUK - Default end of Feb PD express - Default end of Feb 247 Money Box - Clear in full end of Feb Zebit - Pay most of it in Feb Quid.co.uk - Pay most of it in Feb Money Shop - Clear in full end of Feb Peachy - Clear in full end of Feb Cheque Centre - 12 month installment loan - will go one month in arrears end of Feb. (not sure how they will react) if anyone has any experience of this type of loan please let me know. Yesterday I phoned both banks Natwest and Lloyds to cancel CPAs and low and behold they put me through to the visa disputes team who informed me that I didnt have any CPAs setup on my account. So today I will hand in letters of cancellation and will also report all cards stolen. I want to keep one of the accounts active for paying out to PDLs as I wont give out any details of my new account. So last night I sent nice emails off to Wonga, Swift Sterling, PD express and PDUK. Swift Sterling - emailed back saying thanks for letting them know and to email them with a time that they can contact me. Wonga - emailed back saying to log into my account and see repayment options, did log in but just the set reminder to extend option at the moment. Suppose I wont see anything until I default, they did thank me for getting in touch. PD express - sent me a text message stating that if I wanted to extend then replay to the text. Strange as I said I wouldnt be able to pay anything this month. PDUK - no response as yet. No money left in any bank accounts so if they are trying they wont have any success. Will keep this thread going for my own sanity and hopefully help others. Cheque centre one is the unknown to date, its an installment loan but if I cleared at the end of the month id save alot of money. Might need to see what I can do as they seem the most agressive. I really could kick myself for creating this mess

Hello All, New to the forum and looking for some advice. Basically I have decided to sort out my payday loan hell and get rid of this debt as soon as possible. Followed the advice ive seen on here and other places and opened a new unconnected bank account for my wages to go into. I have typed up a letter (which is what I want advice on) which i will send to the companys tomorrow notifying them of my inability to pay back in full at the end of feb. Sample of the letter is below, please let me know if it is suitable or not. From what ive heard they will be relentless in coming after me but im deteremined to sort this out and get my life back. sample letter : Dear Sir / Madam, Re: Repayment of loan agreement ************ / recording of all phone calls. I am writing with regret to inform you that due to my current financial circumstances I will be unable to repay the above loan, in part or in full on the February 28th 2013. I am proposing to the repay the loan in full via a repayment plan. To ensure the quickest resolution and ensure that you receive all monies in full, please freeze all interest and charges related to the agreement above and allow me to make the payments as set out in schedule below via standing order. [schedule will be insterted here] To allow me to make payments, please forward account and sort code number for your bank of choice and I will commence payments as set out in the schedule above. Methods of communication Acceptable methods of communication are set out below. Letters to postal address Emails You are expressly prohibited from contacting me at my place of employment, to do so will be deemed as harassment as set out in regulation 7 paragraph 2 of the consumer protection from unfair trading, regulations 2008. I also revoke any authority, implied or otherwise for you to send a 'doorstep collector' to my residence. All calls will be recorded and will be admissible to the office of fair trading should I need to raise a complaint. Complaints will also be raised and your company liable for fines and criminal proceedings should any information regarding the loan agreement be made available to any 3rd party without my express consent. The payment plan above is the only viable option available to me and agreement to this plan will ensure you receive all monies as quickly as possible. Should my circumstances change I will contact you with amendments and increase the payment values. I regret that I cannot make the full repayment of this loan on February 28th 2013 but am doing my best to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Regards, If anyone thinks I should change or add anything please let me know. So annoyed with myself but I will keep this thread going with updates in the hope that it may help someone else in a similar situation that is wanting to get off the payday loan spiral. I will no longer be the crock of gold waiting at the rainbow for these companys, I will pay what I owe, accept defaults on credit file, be worth it to be rid of them. Cheers, Rodger

All my problems began when my husband (who is Tunisian) came over to UK in August 2010. I have had a continuous nightmare with TCO (working tax) and DWP since then. The problems have both been continuous and many. TCO are saying i owe several hundred pounds from 2010 as they are saying i did not inform them my husband came to live with me. This is COMPLETELY incorrect. They have a letter which i sent in August informing them of ALL changes in circumstances and including my marriage certificate. In fact i have a letter from them dated September 17 2010 saying thank you for your marriage certificate which proved they received the letter. And to add to it they are now saying i owe a payment for around one of the times i was made Redundant in January 2012. I informed them immediately and was told i would received a "4 week run on". The last payment i received from them around that time was February 7th 2012 which would make it completely correct as i was made redundant on January 7th 2012. So 2 payments they are saying i owe which both i and them have the proof of that i did all the correct things. My MP has been helping me with this and it has been passed to an Adjudicators Officer. One for 2010 and one for 2012. Now as if that isnt bad enough i received a letter a couple of days ago from DWP saying i owe over 800.00 for social funds they gave me July 11 2007, October 11 2007 and February 5 2008. I was working in October 2011 and February 2008 so how can they have sent me a payment from the Social Fund as they do not give payments to people who are in full time employment. I called them today and asked the advisor by what method these payments were made to me. The first payment for over 640 she said she didnt know. How can they not know if they paid it to me. I said i needed to know so i could check my bank statements. The minute i said this she immediately said the other 2 were sent by Giro. She said someone would call me tonight before 5pm which no-one did. I wasnt working in the July but was on sick. Plus if i already had eg 1 or 2 loans why on earth would they have given me a 3rd and why has it taken nearly 6 years for them to ask for this back with no correspondence from them about it whatsoever. It is more strange as it comes at at the EXACT same time when both myself and my husband have just received a small redundancy payment from the Government as one of the companies we used to work for became Voluntary Insolvent. Can i demand proof that i received these payments they are saying i received? She said we know because it is on our "system". Anyone can say that and after what i have been through continuously with TCO i dont trust anyone. They wanted me to pay back ech week more than i can currently afford so the Advisor said today "you will be sent a letter with a reduced amount and even if you think it is still too high you still must sign it and return it or we will not be able to consider reducing it again if you still feel it is too much". How can this be right because obviously if you sign an amount on a letter you are agreeing to pay back that amount! I cannot see them sending me a Giro for over 640. and my bank has told me i did not receive this amount around this time! I will certainly be requesting a SARS but apart from that is there anything else i can do? Seems to be becoming the norm this type of thing! Would appreciate immensely any advice.

hi..i took out a 100.00 pay day loan with these on nov 24th..received 80.00...payment due on 8th december...2 days before i had to pay my council rent arrears..arranged through the courts...so i couldnt pay this...i couldnt roll loan over and emailed them ( i have kept all emails sent to them)..i couldnt pay that day.as all money i had was going to pay my rent...i got standard response..stating i failed the agreed date and added charges...i stated in the email..not to use my debit card..as i had cancelled it and the cpa with my bank...as not to occur charges...they still went ahead..i have the email withdrawing my consent...i kept getting standard replies..stating they have now added 55.00 plus 5.00 for every attempt they use my card...i asked for alternative payment method..i.e. there banking details so i could make token gestures as i wasnt avoiding the debt..just couldnt afford it now with rent priority...was getting no where..so got the fos involved...email sent back stating they have tried to contact me several times about the complaint...(only response i have is the emails sent to me stating charges, and i have kept copies...) all i want is the banking details..but am getting nowhere...the balance now stands at 900.00...despite telling them before loan was due..and several attempts for payment details...any advice please...as i dont know what to do...

I posted two parcels to my son who is at uni in France. this was on the 4th September, the parcels contained all his clothes, books, contact lenses etc etc. as he is there for a year. After one week the tracking system failed and P2G then declared them lost! They were sent via Parcel Force and GLS in France, so after many phone calls by myself in this country and my son in France we tracked the parcels to a warehouse near where he was. I went back to parcels 2 go who assured me that they would now be delivered within two days!! I spoke to P2G every day for two weeks and every day they assured me that the parcels would be delivered!This was via a live chat and their customer service was appalling:mad2:! eventually my son went to the depot in France , by taxi, at massive expense to be told they had been returned to England! I collected them from my local post office only to find one opened and half the clothes removed , the other badly damaged! I again spoke to parcels2 go who insisted they were lost and i should claim! For 5 weeks now I have been trying to claim for the lost clothes, everytime I upload what they ask for they send something else! they still seem to think the parcels are lost even though I email them twice a day!!! I am at my wits end! I really dont know what to do next! I am frightened they will throw out the claim because it has been going on too long, but this seriously takes 1/2 hour of my day every day Can anyone advise me???

Hi all, and thanks in advance. My partner has been paying Emergency Tax since July, despite giving her tax code to her employer. Eventually, they said they needed the tax office to send them the code, which they have done TWICE! She was paid today, and what a suprise, no rebate and still paying Emergency tax. Now with Christmas approaching, we could really use that rebate, roughly £1000 Her employers said that it would have to be in her next pay.... 2 days before Xmas!!! And thats if they actually pull their finger out and sort it out, which judging by previous months doesn't seem likely. What is our best course of action, and are we able to get this money earlier than 23rd December? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Our TV had two faults It turned itself on randomly from standby and it also had grey panels across the screen when the screen had a white image on it. Everything else was MINT condition, not a scratch on it. They turned up to take it away, they didn't wrap it in any kind of protective covering ie: bubble wrap etc. It was jammed into a tv container including the metal stand attached to it, it clearly wasn't meant to all fit in the box. I called them to see what was happening, they tell me they've fixed the turning on from standby randomly issue, I ask them if they've fixed the grey panels when a white image is shown and they have no clue. I get a call from them saying they've sent my tv to the wrong depot and the return delivery is delayed by about a week. We randomly got sent a Samsung remote through the post with my partners name on it and our job number, the buttons on the remote had been chewed so god knows who's this controller was, just goes to show how completely incompetent they are! The tv is returned, the delivery guy puts the tv down in my hallway which is very dark and hurry's me to sign the papers saying "nothing wrong with it is there, sign here please" rushing me to do it whilst I'm trying to look. I take the tv into my living room and the outside high gloss plastic edge is cracked and scratched! Obviously done when they took the tv away, I ran out to the delivery guy, got him to come back in and look at hit, he proceeds to lick his finger and try and rub the scratches off making more scratches saying "oh it's just tape" I said it's obviously not tape! It's cracked and scratched! I phone them up furious that they've taken it away to fix it and it's come back damaged. To top it all off they didn't even fix the grey panels issue previously mentioned. They arrange to come pick it up in a couple of days time. I phoned them up today as it's been over a month now they've had the tv (bar 2 or 3 days when it got dropped back and then sent off again) I asked the lady on the phone if they had fixed the damage, all she said was "They've replaced the screen and fixed some scratches on the back of the tv" I didn't even report any scratches on the back of the tv, the scratches were on the front, on the plastic edge. I get fobbed off again with "I'll speak to the person who dealt with the tv and I'll phone up the place where the tv is now to see if they've fixed the damage then I'll call you first thing tomorrow" I know damn well I won't get a call and I'll have to call them for the hundredth time. I get a call back saying they're going to deliver the tv back on saturday, my predicament is if the tv returns wit the damage that the delivery people caused to it, what do I do? We've been without a tv for over a month now, I'm looking for advice on what I should do, any light you can shed will be much appreciated. Thanks!

The Benefits Office managed to make a right mess of my claim following the death of my husband in May last year and landed me with £4000 of debt in housing and council tax benefit. That is going to Appeal but at the moment, this is not the (latest) problem. Earlier this year I badly broke my wrist and it hasn't healed properly. Now under a specialist hand hospital. I got a small amount of ESA - £10.65 a week (that plus my late husband's two small pensions took my weekly income to the government's magic figure of £71 per week). I decided to cash in my own pension because no matter how much information they want and get, the Benefits Office seem totally incapable of getting things right, so I decided to come off ESA and look for work. Easier said than done. Anyway, I registered with an agency I used to temp for years ago and to date I have had 2 jobs from them since August. The first was a total disaster. I worked 1 1/2 hours the first day and the computer system had a major crash and all the staff were sent home. Back to the same firm the following week and worked 1 1/2 days this time. More computer problems, no spare terminal so a permanent member of staff had to take over mine and I was sent home. Break of two weeks and I got another temp job, worked 4 days one week and 3 1/2 the next (Bank Holiday plus a hospital appointment for my wrist). I didn't get very much wages from these jobs as you can imagine, even less because I was put on Emergency Tax but at least it got me out of the house! I have been unable to get a job since - there's nothing in anything where I live and due to my age, despite applying for numerous jobs, I seem to be getting passed over all the time. Now the Benefits Office strikes again They wanted details of my pensions (the three total £74 a week) so my housing/council tax benefit can be worked out. I go in with all the information they require, get a receipt for everything I took in which was 4 pay slips, proof of my late husband's pensions and proof of my own pension. I even took in a letter from the specialist hospital explaining what's wrong with my hand/wrist. A few days later I get a letter asking for the same information again. So I rang them up...to be told, and I quote "Well, you must be working. How did you survive over the past few months on £74". I won't say what happened next but I really fell out with the woman on the phone. If the Benefits Office think people can't live on £74, perhaps they would like to tell those in government this. So, while the Benefits Office are being incompetent again, my rent arrears, which I had cleared are now spiralling out of control. I am about to be taken to Court for Repossession. At least our housing department are sympathetic and from what I can gather, they don't like the way the Benefits Office is run either but it doesn't stop their process of repossession. I am worried sick. Had a very interesting conversation with one of the Housing Officers earlier this week. They had notification from the Benefits Office that I am not entitled to ANY housing benefit for the following reason: According to the Benefits Office I am working full-time, have two pensions, therefore I am not entitled to any benefits at all. In reality I have 3 pensions totalling £74.70 per week and I am NOT working AT ALL!!! What does it take to get these stupid people to get things right? Do they deliberately hire incompetents? Luckily I had the counter receipt which I insisted listed every document I had taken in, read it back to the lady in Housing. Even she can't get over their incompetence and said she was going to refer my case to higher up and that they are going to try and get me legal help. My rent is pennies short of £84 a week. I have a gross weekly income of £74.70 a week. Until I can find a job (and I shouldn't even be thinking about working with my wrist the way it is - op pending) plus Council tax on top of that anyone can see that it's an impossibility to survive like this. I'm seriously beginning to think my name is somehow blacklisted with the Benefits Office. While my late husband was lying in a hospital bed dying, he got the runaround from the Benefits Office too which I have no doubt hastened his death, caused him to have another heart attack in hospital. Is there anything I can do to make these people, for once, get it right? Anywhere I can go to get redress, put formal complaint? I really do feel I'm being victimised. Thank you for reading.

hi Have been on ESA for 2 years, have never been awarded it, been on assessment phase all that time, have done 3 medical questionnaires, 3 atos medicals, 'failed' all 3 times, appealed every time, tribunal stage never reached or decision never been made to award ESA to me, every time jobcentre say their atos medical reports were not up to standard, not fit for purpose, ie they made mistakes, so they send me back to the beginning stage. They have said if i go on JSA or find suitable work now I will NOT be entitled to the backpayment of ESA for the 2 years, as their reports are not fit for purpose. So it seems i would lose money because they have not done their jobs properly. I was preparing for the tribunal hearing, and they pulled out at last minute. I just want a conclusion, the whole ESA process is bad for my health and im fed up with it. What if my symptoms are less than they were a year ago? or go on JSA out of esa frustration? How can they ask me to do another medical now, but link it to the beginning 2 years ago? they should treat it as separate claims. I have a CAB caseworker, but he is not allowing me to come in and see him to go through it all. They dont have time. Its all quick phone calls. I feel alone in this with no support or help. I dont know what to do. Deadline for 4th esa50 questionnaire is approaching. I need to be focusing on my health and getting better, not fighting this esa procedure. Can anyone clarify my rights, or what i could do, if i try helping myself by finding any sutiable work or go on jsa, i lose my esa from the past two years? feels like they are trapping me on ESA. The whole process is a pain, form, medical, fail, appeal, deadlines, reconsider, tribunal. thanks for any advice.

This situation has become horrendous but I will try to keep it short. Privately renting a flat in a converted house since 2001, my gas was & still is with British Gas, electricity paid via coin meter that landlord had installed. After a few years of the meter, I asked landlord to remove it which he did. I then had a Dual Fuel tariff with BG. Near the end of 2003, I suddenly start getting 'welcome' letters & bills from Scottish Power!! I rang to say I wasn't with them, as I wouldn't spilt my bills & cost myself more money but they refused to listen as I had apparently signed up with them. I asked for proof of this which they have never had or shown me. I have spent years trying to cancel the account that I never wanted & trying to go back to BG but SP just don't listen. They have been billing me for electricity but the meter serial number they have is for an address in the next street! I also have the problem that it seems that my meter/account is somehow attached to the flat upstairs which means that I am being held responsible for all the tenants who have lived up there too. I have been to the Ombudsman who agrees with me but who says as SP no longer have proof of my signature, the onus is on me to prove I never signed anything with them The bill is approx £6k at the moment. I am disabled & on benefits and have now had a warrant entry letter & I cannot deal with this anymore. Sorry to ramble but this is making me ill & I know it has gone on for too long but the Ombudsman took a year before getting back to me. Any advice & help very gratefully appreciated...

Well.. Moved from London back to Birmingham in 2008, I owned my property so I approached an estate agent to find the tenants. They did so, everything went swimimingly until May 2011 when the tenants split up and the (lady) remained in the property. She was receiving housing benefit so the rent was being paid. In Sept 2011, she told me that her benefits were being reviewed and there has been an overpayment and that she will now be receiving £199.00 per month (rent is £770). I spoke to NRAM and they told me to continue to pay what I can. I paid £50 a month (Contractual mortgage £495.00). In December 2011, I started proceeding to evict the tenant Section 21B, Eviction notice, Baliff warrant etc, this was concluded in April 2012. In the meantime NRAM started legal proceedings against me with a court date of 8 June 2012. Tenant was out in May 2012, and I was able to arrange for the property to be leased for 3 years, guaranteeing rent and they performed all the work to restore the property to its pre rental condition, but the Leasers said that if the costs were above £2000 then I would have to pay the remainder which was £800. With the court date looming I managed to convince NRAM that the going to court was not necessary given that I had leased the property out and their would be guaranteed rent. I kept NRAM informed of everything that I was doing, including giving them the lease so that they knew how much I would be receiving in rent each month and the conditions. The payments from the Lease agreement were due to start in July, but they started to collect my contributions towards the works they had done to the property. This meant that I was not able to make the contractual mortgage payment because I didn't get anything from the rent. I told NRAM and they asked me to provide evidence of the payment schedule which I did. They won't accept it and have involved the official receivers. I told NRAM that I didn't want Templetons involved and on 3rd August I paid the contractual payment and have paid on time ever since. I wrote to Templetons telling them that I will only deal with NRAM and that I had made a formal complaint to NRAM. On the 8 Sept, I was informed by the leasers that baliffs had gained entry to my property with the intention to change the locks. I contacted Templeton to ask them what is going on and they said that tenant had showed them the tenancy agreement and that they were trying to get the tenant to pay the rent directly to them. I think the council pays the Leaser so how the hell are they going to make the tenant pay directly to the official receivers? I tried to get them to explain but they still seem hell bent on pursuing the tenant which seems ridiculous. As it stands, Templetons have said that they don't have to give me updates on the property, that they will start collecting rent from November and will continue to be involved until NRAM says so. I want NRAM to de-instruct the official receivers, do you have any advice on how I can get them to do this?

Hi! This is probably reiterating a few other posts, but this is what happened to me today: I have 3 accounts with Halifax, one of which i only use to pay bills - i just transfer money into there in time for bill payment dates as it helps me manage my money. 18 months aho, i had a loan with CFO. It is now being repaid through Payplan. Yesterday, my bill account ~(which had all my rent money in) was emptied by CFO with 8 separate transactions. All the rent money went and my standing order bounced. They have apparently tried to take money from my debit card continuously since September 27th.. Halifax were actually really helpful. I read on here about Visa Chargeback and they assure me that it will be invoked once the payments "clear". I hope they honour this. The weird thing about this is how CFO got my details - I am with a different bank to the one that i had when i had the loan with them, and have never gievn them any details at all. All repayments ae through Payplan. They have got my card details from somewhere. I readthat they are forwarded card details when you apply for other loans, but i haven't done this to my knowledge in a long time. I will send off the letter discontinuing continuous payment authority tomorrow. Hate them. I tried to sort out my debts responsibly. Now they have put me in a position where i can't pay my rent.

I am having a nightmare with the child tax credit agency. In 2010 I got married but due to a court order stopping my children from seeing my husband (long complicated story) I spoke to the child tax credit agency and they agreed that I could continue claiming as a single person. Later on that year we won a court case which allowed my husband to see my children but not to be resident at my address. The court order states that he needs to leave by 8pm every evening. I wrote to the child tax credit agency to explain this and continued to claim as a single person. In Feb 2011, my husband's son moved in to my property as he was not happy living with his mum. I put in a claim for him and after a long battle with his mother over it, I started receiving tax credit for him too. I wrote to them about this change, further outlining the situation with my husband and the need for him to live elsewhere and also had many phone conversations about where my step-son was living etc. A few months ago they decided to put me under investigation, claiming that I should have been making a joint claim with my husband all of this time. In spite of sending court orders, tenancy agreements for my husbands flat and copies of all of the letters I had sent them over the years, they have now discontinued my claim entirely and are saying I owe them £7500 in overpayments!! I do not feel I have done anything wrong as I have been 100% up front with them all the way through. If they had told me in 2010 when I got married that I would loose my benefits we would have made very different choices over the years, including probably telling my step son that he couldn't move in. We can't retrospectively change the decisions we have made since 2010! We accept their decision from now onwards but do not feel we are responsible for paying back this money as they paid it to me in full knowledge of the way we were living. It isn't even like we are deliberately living apart to get more money - we are forced to live in this way. We are currently appealing and involving our MP. Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks Jo

Hello everyone. First post here so hope it's in the right place and someone out there can give me some advice. Very briefly: I'm a private landlord registered with the council and have been letting out my 2 bed flat for some years now. Previously, I had been using a letting agency but in 2010 I thought I would do it myself. In October 2010 I let the flat to two full time students, I wrote up the Short Assured Tenancy Agreement and they both signed it. I told them to register with the council for council tax purposes and they told me they would hand in their details as they were in their 3rd year at uni and did not pay CT. I phoned the council and let them know about the new tenants. Everything went ok until the students moved out in May this year. I phoned the council again to let them know and as the flat was unoccupied and unfurnished they sent out exemption forms which I filled out and returned. Two weeks later I got a letter from them saying they knew nothing of the tenants moving in (denied the phone call and students details) and they were holding me responsible for the CT from Oct 2010 until now. I sent them the 3 tenancy agreements but they said that wasn't enough proof so I sent them 2 years of bank statements. They are also asking for proof that the rental income has been declared for income tax purposes and may ask for proof that I wasn't living in the flat myself. One of the tenants has also emailed them confirming the details but they won't accept that as proof either. I am waiting on a reply to my email to them dated 9 August. The students have disappeared off the radar now and I don't know what to do next. I have never avoided CT and always kept them informed of tenants. Thank you for any advice/suggestions.

Trying to post my first thread. The into says use welcome page first - so I type out a thread. A message then appears saying don't ask questions on this page. So I search for somewhere else to leave a new thread - and I can't find anywhere! No buttons to click, no instructions to follow. So I'll just go back to the beginning and post where I'm not supposed to because there are no arrows to guide me anywhere else!

I have an outstanding payday loan with 1 Month Loan which I defaulted on a few months back. I have a standing order with 1 Month Loan & am paying back 310 per month, however they have passed the debt to Roxburgh who are constantly harassing me with phone calls on my mobile and at work. I have just had a call from them at work despite me writing to them and telling them not to do this. I told them again I cant take personal calls at work but she just carried on saying she was going to continue to call me as I had given them my number (I havent) and that the problem isnt going away if I ignore it. I'm not ignoring the problem - I am paying 1 Month Loan. They have made me so angry that I'm now reporting them to the OFT & FOS which I warned them I would do if they called again. Anyone else had any dealing with these people?

Hi there guys, I have been stupid with getting myself into trouble with payday loans. Ioriginally had one, rolled over or paid and requested more next time, then took anotherto pay off the last, etc, etc. This has been escalating for over a year and driving me mad with lock of sleep and constant worry. I have been reading other posts on here and find it fab the advice on here that people share. I have now come to a point where i need to face these loans head on and sort them out. I have a number of payday loans and am going to write to each of them and offer what payments i can. I have read info that some ignore you etc. I have a few questions and wonder if anyone can answer them for me. If a company has slapped on interest and charges that are way loads more than the original loan, is this legal and can i go to the OFT for help with getting rid of this extra money that i don't feel i owe. If i set up repayment plans with the PDL's, can they sill put a default notice on my credit report. Has anyone experienced whether the threat of bailiffs has actually been followed through from any payday loan company? I read on another post that a card was put through their letter box, does it come in an envelope?? I wont go into too much details but my OH half doesn't know about these PDL and has an excellent credit history. I have got myself into trouble a few times with credits cards over the years and he has bailed me out. We split up last year where i moved out with my little one and rented. These PDL started then and do not want to tell him that i took them out to help me along as i have moved back in now and hoped that i could pay them off. I'd be grateful for any advice.

Hi guys. Just in need of some advise.. Took out a £100 loan with minicredit couple months ago, due to change in circumstances I was unable to pay it back. They are not accepting any offers from Clark Richards ( the debt management company in charge of my accounts ) Had a letter through to day from them, saying total balance due £801. I need serious answers now guys, Is it possible to take this evil company to court? There is no chance I am paying back £700 extra! Many Thanks Karl