Good afternoon guys, I have a strange situation I am in and wanted to get as much advice as possible as to what I can do or what my options are. I was in a long term relationship with a girl, throughout it we were both in and out of work, to be fair me more so than her. She moved in with me and lived with me for the best part of two years. Basically I ended up borrowing some money from her to the tune of around £1500. We go through a messy breakup and she wants her money back. That's fine so I start paying her on a monthly basis but what with losing my job, racking up debts I sometimes had to skip paying her to be able to pay my rent. as I mentioned we didn't end on the best of terms and she would continually threaten me with court action. one day I get a letter and she has filed a claim through the small claims court for £5k! I obviously refute this seeing as her breakdown included things like dominos pizza £30 (failing to make the point that she actually ate half of it, or broadband which was my direct debit etc) in other words making it up to pad out the figures. I call up the number provided and spoke to a lady who told me that mediation is the best bet for our case due to the facts the courts don't like trying to settle domestic disputes through county court judgement. she sends me a form to fill in on what I think the right amount is and then to await a call for a meeting together with a mediator to settle the case. I fill in the form for the £1500 and send it back. What happens next shocked me. I then receive a letter through saying that I now have a CCJ against my name for £1500 and that I will have to start paying her immediately. No mediation, no discussion, nothing. It turns out that because I agreed, I got lumped with a CCJ and she gets the last laugh so to speak. That was three years ago and I am looking for a way to get this settled and turned into a CCS. Any ideas? Cheers in advance.

Hi there, I was advised to post here by a tenant who had issues with the landlord before and got advise here and hopefully I can have some guidance. I owe the landlord 5 months rent and have explained to him that I lost my job and cannot afford the rent. Since then he has issued an S21 and S8 and the notice ends in July. I know this is entirely my fault but the landlord has been aggressive, trying to break into my room, forcing the key out of the door and trying to open it so I have to call the police just to get him to leave. In fact I applied for JSA and Housing Benefit but failed to attend the appointment a few months ago due to him harassing me and trying to get in. Simply put I know I owe him rent, he wants it but I barely leave my room in fear he will remove my items, evict me illegally or get violent towards me. He has police reports against him several times for this and the private tenancy officer contacted which he stopped for awhile and now is starting again being a few hours ago trying to gain access and threatening me he will come back in 2 days with men to remove my things. I cannot even go to the bathroom without fearing he will come in at that moment and try to enter my room. I have missed doctors appointments for my health issues because of this too. I emailed again today asking him not to try to gain entry as it is illegal and he replied being aggressive that he WILL receive his money next week and that he 'knows I work because I get stuff ordered to the house' which is true somewhat but that is because friends have been kind enough to buy me food and send me it. I am trying to find work and do bits and odds just to give him some money with no luck and I just do not know what to do as he will not stop harassing me and the police will not help and he lies to the private tenant officer (so he has said in an email that I lied to them when I have proof of the food orders and nothing else). He is also telling my housemates the situation and they make me feel like rubbish looking down on me and again just making me stay locked in my room. I have sold my possessions other than my computer to look for work just to get some food too. I owe the landlord £1600 and the S21 end date seeking possession AFTER 20/7/13. Sorry for the long post and I am not looking for sympathy, I know I am at fault here but I am becoming more depressed and feel highly threatened and he just doesn't seem to care. Edit: Forgot to mention that he has been putting bills in tenants names when all bills are included in the rent. One tenant who moved out 14 months ago knocked a few weeks back as landlord had put a £900 electric bill in his name then pretended to be an estate agent saying he cannot get hold of the landlord so when I gave the old tenant the landlords number it turned out the estate agent was the same guy and it has escalated to court. I am worried he will also try this.

I was stopped last year for driving without insurance. This was partially my fault, as the insurance company did not send a notice to when the insurance had expired and it was a matter of ONE day. My licence was revoked under the new drivers act and 6 points were given to me. I received my provisional with 6 points on there and have retaken my theory test and am now waiting to take my practical test. Now I did a dumb thing today and drove the vehicle alone. I was also speeding, doing 54mph in a 30mph zone (about 20 other drivers were also pulled over) by traffic police with radar guns. They did not question me on the licence part which I am glad about but they seized the vehicle again for having no insurance. Now here's the tricky part. I am the registered owner of the vehicle, but the insurance that the car had was under a family members name as I have not been driving it. How do I get the seized vehicle out of the impound and what will happen to me? I am due to retake my driving test in June, but I may postpone that until this is all sorted out. I know this is my fault and I acknowledge that and it was a really idiotic thing to do, but any help and input would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All I have found myself in a very stressful situation with an ex landlord and would really appreciate some advice Basically on 31st March 2012 my partner and i signed a short assured tenancy lease with my then landlord, we paid the deposit in cash (£750) and first months rent. All went well from then, landlord responded to issues and repairs etc and when we asked permissions such as connecting sky tv etc we constantly got "yes, do what you want" Fast forward 12 months - The original lease was for 6 months, which we never actually officially renewed, we sort of just carried on paying rent and stayed there for 1 year in total. A day or so after we moved out i contacted the landlord to ask about deposit he said yes, we will check the property and get back to you, i called again 1 week later to be told he is not dealing with it and the person who is is on holiday for 2 weeks ( i have to say he is the landlord on the lease and not through a leting agent, so i was very confused by who the extra people could be) anyway several phonecalls to him and excuse after excuse saying he is not th one responsible and he has written a letter to the person/people who are, i finally called his bluff. I contacted the person he says is responsible who told me, that he owns the building however has let the residential properties to my landlord who can sublet to people (hence why we paid him and he signed the lease) - I told my landlord about this conversation and he got very angry obviously because i now know the truth that he has been lying - he said that he had reports we were smoking in the property and had pets (he said verbally we could have our cat and we don't smoke) so he says we breached lease and as he had to paint and fill pin holes from some pictures on the wall - he is not giving us anything and we will need to take him to court. that was Friday and i now dont know what to do! it is worth saying that i know he did not pay the deposit into a protection scheme and when asked he is not even aware what that is and laughed at me. and there was no inventory for the flat. I know he is going to be as difficult as he can be for no reason. Thanks and sorry for the essay. HP

Hi! I have been renting a flat on my sole name for a 2,6y. But we were there living with my wife. Now when things with wife become not so good we are now through our separation procces. Tenancy run out last week and wifey refuses vacate the property with our 3.6y old daughter. As she never been on a tenancy agreement LL agency says that they can't do nothing about it. And as I were a sole tenant, despite me moving out of the property and giving all the keys (exept wifes) to the property back to Estate Agent. They saying that I am breeching the tenancy agreement, because I didn't give them vaccant possesion at the end of the tenancy. And if I will not get them out of the property they will apply to the court to get repossesion order, and they will file a case to me, not the wife. And they are saying that I am still liable for the rent etc. I can trick them to get them out of the property (wife and daughter) and give that vaccant possesion. But obviously I will make them homeless, and the court that I am in with my wife right now will not be to keen on the fact that Father just thrown coldbloodily his wife and a kid to the streets. I am right now stuck between rock and a hard place. Can anyone give any advice? Wifey just changed the locks on the property, despite not having the right to do that. To be honest I don't really want to pay rent on the property I am not living in or even can't get into... It was shorthold tenancy agreement, renewed every 6 months. Nottice to vacate the property was in december. Wife was complitedly aware of it.

Hello everyone, First of all, thanks for the great forum, plenty of informations here. I'm writing to -hopefully- receive some suggestions regarding a relatively shady rental situation. In brief: We're living in three in a property here in London. The Landlord lives far away, one of us is the contract holder (leaseholder), the others are renting two rooms directly from the contract holder. We share communal spaces and have private rooms. I've been living here since December, the other lodger since August, there has been an unsurprisingly huge turnover during last year. We have no written contract, despite having requested, but all payments have been done via bank transfer, so evidence can be shown. This letter presents some issues we're experiencing with the leaseholder. Living here has been a nightmare, but hopefully this is coming to an end. Two people living in the smaller rooms have been harassed ever since, and have been covering with the rent roughly 90% of the total rent. Recently it came to our attention that the leaseholder has been claiming housing and council tax benefits as sole occupant, hence a letter from the council was received by the landlord and forwarded to us. The leaseholder is meant to leave the house in 1 month, upon ending the contract, and I will be taking over the contract then, becoming responsible for the whole rent/bills/taxes. It has also been proven that heating bills has not been paid so far, despite the leaseholder pretended to and started collecting shares. Since that was discovered I refused to pay my share anymore because I wanted to be sure that those money goes into the right hands. Now the problem is: the leaseholder is reluctant on paying the bills, and refuses to leave us a sum for the last two months of her life here, for the upcoming bills. She insists on us paying a share on the council tax - which I would agree to pay but I do not want to be held responsible for her cheating on the council. I foresee problems in having my deposit back: as "lodgers" we left deposit directly to the leaseholder for the whole sum originally requested by the landlord. If we were to get this money back, it would be fair to presume (I've been assured of this) that unpaid bills will be deducted from the original sum left by the leaseholder to the landlord. Unfortunately, I cant see this happening and I want to know if there is some way to enforce this. Hope this details are enought, any advice would be highly appreciated. My question is about finding the best way out from this. If there is else you need to know, I am here to provide more details. And..thank you. Sorry for my English, it is not my native language. Cheers,

Hi all... I have a slightly unusual situation brewing, about which I'd like some advice. I've been one of three tenant's in an old friends house for the last three years. Landlord is absentee, living in another country, and I've seen him face to face for a week in the time I've been renting his property. It's a pretty informal arrangement, I pay him the rent in cash into his bank, and keep both the receipts for these and my own records. There's been no formal tenancy agreement, though he's rightly realised he ought to provide one recently and I'm pushing him to get on with it. None of this would be a problem but for the fairly ominous post I've spotted in the pile's I've been forwarding to his overseas address. In essence, him and his long term partner are still using the house as a correspondence address for a fairly hefty debt to the local council (10k+), which looks to me like it's slowly going bad. I also suspect he's still registered as living at the house, on all but the electoral role, which I keep up true. The last demand had 'delivered by hand' on the back of the envelope, which suggests a CCJ and serious enforcement action is the next step. I've also been door-stepped by a collector some months ago, who I sent away. What's my situation as far as bailiffs and collections are concerned? The house was let unfurnished, nothing in it is the landlords, but from my experience of debt companies, they tend to get heavy first and work it out later. Any advice? Thanks!

I moved into my home almost 2 years ago, and for one reason or another, something went wrong and the council didn't get wind of it for a few months, and I was eventually issued a summons for council tax. I immediately contacted them, and paid the arrears in full, as well as the entire bill for the following year, there and then. An amount that was just shy of £3k, but I figured it was worth it for the peace of mind. Last week, I received another summons, for £110 for unpaid council tax for the period 2012-2013, along with another £110 court costs. I assumed this was a mistake, as I had paid in full as far as I was aware. A "quick" call to the council confirmed this, and neither the person I spoke to nor his supervisor could see any reason for the summons. They could see it had been paid in full as I claimed. So I contacted the council tax dept by email, asking what was going on. I received a rather stern reply claiming it was for outstanding court costs regarding the summons issued over a year ago, and that basically I have about a week to pay it or they will issue a liability order. They also claim to have sent a demand in January this year, but I haven't seen any such thing. Now the interesting bit is that this is the first I've heard of these outstanding costs, and the council themselves only claim to have contacted me in 2013 regarding them. The summons clearly states it is for unpaid council tax, and even gives a period for which the council tax is due. However, I also have documentary evidence of the council acknowledging that the council tax for the period in question is paid in full. Basically, I think it's incredibly underhand of them to sit on an unpaid debt of £110 for the best part of a year without mentioning it, then issuing a summons. Especially since I actually asked them exactly how much I needed to pay to clear the outstanding balance AND pay a further year's CT in advance. It's not like I'm trying to avoid paying the tax. So I'm tempted to simply turn up at court, with the summons, and the letters acknowledging that the CT was paid in full, and saying "not guilty". I realise I'll probably end up paying the £110 back anyway, but this is not the first time I've had trouble paying council tax here - a few years ago I set up a direct debit which they simply failed to collect anything from, eventually landing me with a large bill I had no choice but to pay. As a matter of principle, I feel like letting a council lawyer stand in court and argue that this man who readily paid nearly £3k in council tax is for some reason trying to avoid paying £110, and explain why they never bothered asking for it until nearly a year later. What are my chances of having this thrown out? I think that a) they didn't make reasonable attempts to collect the debt and b) they have issued the summons for the wrong thing, a debt that they clearly acknowledge is paid.

Well I think it's interesting. I've read a lot about Lowell here on these forums and elsewhere on the web as I have been contacted by them. I do share the popular opinion of these people as **** bags but I am also going to assume that they too read these forums so forgive me if I try to "fly under the radar" somewhat. They wrote to me claiming that I owe a major credit card provider over £5000. They say the debt was sold to them in June 2011. They quote an credit card account number with the last 3 digits missing. I truly and honestly do not know of this debt. I don't live in the UK any more, I moved to France in 2008. It's a long story that I'll spare you but I now own absolutely nothing. I live with my partner and children in a house that was left to her. I earn my keep doing odd jobs, painting and gardening for other ex-pats. No sympathy required, I live in a wondeful place and I have a loving partner and family. I'm very happy. Now this crowd are writing to me about this debt. I was paniked and scared at first. I found a template letter and wrote to them, recorder delivery, saying that I had no knowledge of any such debt. It quoted OFT rules etc. and said I ask that no furter contact be made unless they could provide evidence of my liability. I then received what appears to be their second standard demand letter. This did not answer od refer to my letter to them in any way. I replied and re-staed that I had no knowledge of the debt and this time asked specifically for a copy of the credit agreement and a full breakdown of the account including any interest and charges applied. They responded that they had asked the lender for a copy of the credit agreement and said that they would reply as soon as they could and do their best to send it within the 12 days. I got another letter 6 days later saying that the lender was trying to retrieve the agreement from their archive. Now I've had a letter saying "your original creditor has provided us with the attached reconstituted copy of the credit agreement you entered into with them, which they confirm you would have signed prior to the granting of credit to you. Under section 77/78 of the consumer credit act of 1974 we are not obliged to send you an exact copy of your signed agreement." Is this true? If so this in itself is outrageous. How can they get away with sending a copy of any old credit agreement and not the specific one bearing a (my) signature? Anyway, this is where I'm at. I'm not sure quite what to do next. Should I respond at all. I'm in France and I've truly got nothing, I don't believe I owe the money and Lowell can't send me a signed agreement but they say they have satisfied their obligations under the act. They have completely ignored my request for a full breakdown of transactions, interest and charges. What if my identity was stolen and a debt had been run up against my name fraudulently? How would I know? What should I do please? Your opinions would be gratefully received and appreciated.

Hello! This is an odd situation that I have had no luck in searching for a solution online, so I'm hoping someone here might know more... I had a visit from a bailiff last year for a parking fine, which I then paid fully over their automated payment line. I have just discovered that in the few days (2-3) between the money leaving my account and arriving in theirs, they visited me again, and once more since (I work abroad so wasn't aware of either). Even though I paid off the debt before this visit, they are now charging me for 2 visits and administration costs. I can prove with bank statements that I paid about 2 days before this happened, but they still insist I owe them for their time, and that I should have called and spoken to them instead of using the automated system. Do I owe them payment for visiting, even though it was their payment line that created the problem? Many many thanks.

Hi, This is my first post at CAG, so hello everyone hope that you are well. Not sure if this sub-forum is the right place to post as there see to be other references in the various banks pages. My debt position feels overwhelming, the basic problem being these days is I am self-employed and my income is erratic to say the least. Without going into detail too much, the position is that I have 5 separate creditors - 3 of them being different arms of Lloyds TSB the other 2 are MBNA and Santander. These are mostly credit agreements that have been serviced for between 4 and 30 years basically continually or loans that have gone from one to the other. The Santander debt is an old Cahoot flexible loan that I did not even realise that had been transferred to them until a few years ago. I could make the payments until basically this year. Now my income is so erratic, that recently I could not keep up on a DMP and now MBNA have sold the credit-card debt to some Irish company. I really would like to go bankrupt, but I work in the financial IT sector and I think that this would probably prevent me from working and also my SC for government work. We are tenants so it woulfd be entirely possible the landlord would terminate the SATA and we could end up homeless. An IVA is not possible because my income is so erratic. My total debt is about 40K, I have no real assets except a car which is 8 years old and a knacker and about a fee hundred in the bank to cover future rent and essential bills and I am currently not working. Very depressed and anxious about my family as I am the only earner. Any suggestions/advice would be welcomed

Hi from a newbie! I having been paying my 1991-94 student loans back from 2002 when I had CCJ against me. I had failed to inform of a new address and it got sent to court. Since then I have been paying back £5 a month due to to a low income. A few years ago I noticed I had been sold over to Link who have been charging me monthly interest - double my payment fee. (10 years of payment for nothing!) I am still on a v. low income and they now want to me to pay more. Since reading up on them I realise I dont want to pay anymore. What are my options? - Do the loans become void after 25 years? - Can I ignore them (I'm not going to talk on the phone again for sure now!) - Is a 2002 CCJ enforcable if I stop paying the £5/month (which I have now) with thanks

Hello All, I have used this web site many a times but I was not ready to deal or face my problems hence not registering before however the work you guys do to help others keeping people positive, motivated, not feeling isolated and on track against the big bad world of debt is amazing, keep up the good work to all involved Well here goes ...... My husband and I started having severe debt problems after a change in job amidst relocating back to Edinburgh from Kent. At the same time we lost all the equity in our house which was subsequently repossessed in October 2009. All our financial problems started around March 2008 where we started paying nothing or reduced payments to every company we owed money too. After spending years of moving around since our repossession with our two children, over two years of homelessness and serious consequences to my husbands health and our relationship we need to sort this mess that still haunts us before this ruins the future of our family, we don't where to turn. We always knew deep down Sequestration was our only option not only because of the total owned but after my husband health started suffering too and continues to do it really left any repayment options unavailable to us. So now we have the money needed to pursue our bankruptcy at long last however I wondered if we could have some personal opinions in what you what do in our situation. We are currently in receipt of benefits and have advise that we could take the LILA route for Sequestration. This is a list of everything I have noted from letters I have received however we ordered our credit reports last night for the first time since we had any late payments and now I can't make sense of who owns what and what areas we need to address also on a positive note the amounts I have listed are slightly less mainly being Northern Rock which is actually half that what their correspondence said at one point or I would not have noted this Due to all the moving about we have only just found out that my husband has two CCJ's these are highlighted below too: My Name Intrum Justitia or Lowell (not 100% was originally Barclaycard) £7,750 Halifax Credit Card £676 British Telecom £110 British Gas £1,200 Mint £2,110 Southern Water £66 Cabot Financial - Next Directory £760 Sheila Wheels £75 Husband Northern Rock Plc - House £72,000 Barclaycard - debt sold on? £6,500 Halifax Credit Card £4,000 Blackhorse Personal Finance (HIP) £250 Scottish Gas £355 Sky £101 Joint Alliance and Leicester - Current A/C £2,000 Halifax - Current A/C 1 £650 Halifax - Current A/C 2 £135 Halifax/HBOS Loan £1,300 Kent Council £233 West Lothian Council £710 Clydesdale Current Acc £200 Edinburgh District Council £202 HomeLet £500 Eon £1,400 Maybe having to long to "stew" in this whole situation and where it has led it us too coupled with all the other personal effect perhaps I am bitter. However all I do know is that preferably I don't want to pursue us going bankrupt and the time to recover from this when the debts with the largest capital against them are pretty old and they all relate to the house which was repossessed. I am more than happy to shed more light on the situation and give more details to allow anyone who can help to do so. I tend to ramble and go off point so I tried to keep this factual however I have probably missed so many relevant factors and explanations, hopefully this will be enough to get started Thanks in advance, Mrs H

Hi I was fortunate enough to secure a job offer roughly 2 weeks ago. I started the job Monday, and I like the workplace and people so far. Last week I had an interview for another job (a job with arguably better prospects and pays better wages), this interview had been arranged 2 or 3 weeks ago. On Monday of this week I had an answer phone message and checked it during my lunch break and it was regarding the interview last week. They have now also offered me a job, start next Tuesday, I was so happy I accepted on the spot. So the problem is that I started a job on Monday, was then offered a better job later on that same Monday morning. I am definitely going to take this 2nd job offer as IMO it's a better job. I haven't yet told my "current employer" albeit I've only worked for them for 2 days. My friends and family say I am right not to tell them as "what if the 2nd job offer is withdrawn later this week and you've already resigned" So in theory could lose 2 jobs in a matter of days. What do you think, I 110% will be taking this 2nd job offer. I've worked 2 days for this first company now so certainly want to be paid for them. I am, however, scaed about telling them as I have yet to start at this 2nd job and that job could disappear if a random boss decided to cutback staff! In this current job I am only being trained, for next 3 weeks, so I certainly do not see any issue of me working a notice period. They would simply be incurring a bills of my wages when, at present, I am very little use to them. Your thoughts? Will I definitely get paid for days I've worked this week? I wasn't going to go in to work today as I feel a bit sneaky doing it but my father said something like "you must be mad, you've got a job, do it for rest of week until you start this next one. It's dog eat dog. If you resign you risk ending up with nothing" my mates say pretty much the same. I'm sorry that my current employer has got an employee that is leaving after just a week, having started to train me, but surely 99.9% of people are going to take a much better job that comes up so quickly? I'm sympathetic to this 1st company but my priority is my future. Hope I've explained it clearly.

I am new to the forum and so apologies if this has been covered before. When I left my employer in 1986 the company put me on to Sedgwicks, (now Mercer) who advised me to transfer out of the company final salary scheme and into a section 32 buyout. My final salary pension was planned to provide a pension of £14000 and I was told I could reasonably expect to receive a pension of £28000 by transferring and so I did. The section 32 buyout had a GMP of £2907 which I wasn't aware of at the time. In 1999 I claimed for mis-selling and there was no argument and Sedgwick proposed to add a further £3500 to the fund to compensate me. My former employer would not allow me to re-enter their scheme. I challenged the amount proposed but was told that the calculations were made in accordance with PIA rules and that with several years before my pension was due it was considered sufficient to ensure that the sum available at retirement age would be equivalent to what I would have received had I not transferred out. I had no choice but to accept the amount offered. As I approach retirement age and without any communication from Sedgwick or Mercer since I have now discovered that not only was the amount woefully inadequate but it hasn't even increased the value of my pension beyond the original GMP - in effect I have not been compensated one penny. I have written to Mercer who have told me they have no case to answer and if I am unsatisfied to take it up with the Ombudsman which I am in the process of doing. But, I wonder if anyone else has had similar experience and if they have escalated and what the outcome was. It seems terribly unfair to me. The objective of the original compensation will by no means be achieved and I am severely disadvantaged. I suspect the Ombudsman will not find in my favour and I feel I want to take the matter further but do not know where but it sounds like something which could become terribly expensive and I don't have the means to pursue which in itself feels terribly unfair. Thanks

In a 12 month contract with supanet, which I have fulfilled, and now want to move to BT to get on their fibre infinity package. At the start of this month I called thier cancellations department and gave notice to cancel my account with them. I didnt get a name for who I spoke to but the guy told me this would incur a cancellation fee which I have paid, and that my account would be terminated on the 27th of August and MAC code delivered to me in 5 working days. The code never came and I contacted them again. The person I spoke to informed me there was no record of this payment and put me on hold while he talked to his manager to sort me out with a MAC code. When he came back he told me that the code would be sent to me later in the day, which it was. We then cancelled our direct debits to supanet and ordered the new package with BT. This weekend we recieved a letter from supanet informing us we would have to pay a £40 cancellation fee and that our service was to be terminated on the 27th of September. Today (28th) our internet is still active and is the first time I can call them with regards this letter. I spoke to cancellations again and they said that they had no record of this initial payment, they also confirmed that as far as they are concerned our account will be active until the 27th of September. The guy on the phone said that I send them a letter along with a proof of payment of this cancellation fee. Should I set back up a payment for next month and go with it, along with firing of this letter with proof or is this the beginning of being mucked around by this company? All it says on my bank statement is "www . supanet . com" I'm not sure if they will admit that it is a mistake on thier part and drop the fee, from what I read of them and past experience they are a bit of a bully and a set of cowboys. I just want rid of this company to be honest and move on to somebody else... Who can I go to for advice with this kind of thing? I know they haven't done anything strictly out of order yet but cannot help but get the feeling from past experience this is the beginning of trouble with them.

For anybody who doesn’t fully understand the Euro situation , it is explained very simply in the picture below... and the following info. Pythagoras's theorem - 24 words. Lord's Prayer - 66 words. Archimedes' Principle - 67 words. 10 Commandments - 179 words. US Declaration of Independence - 1,300 words. US Constitution with all 27 Amendments - 7,818 words. EU regulations on the sale of cabbage - 26,911 words

My problem relates to a very old defunct current account that I once owned with Natwest. It was closed 7+ years ago to my knowledge with full settlement. In recent times whilst trying to secure a mortgage, I have discovered an entry on my credit files from Natwest stating that I have a rolling balance of between £500 and £700 which is defaulting each month. I say between 500 and 700 because the amount changes each month, sometimes up, sometimes down - sometimes even back to £0 and then £500 again the next month. It smacks of a computer error to me. Natwest were first contacted over a year ago and to this date refuse to speak to me on the basis that I am not a recognised customer and cannot be found on their systems. None of my records exist, and they cannot find me by address, sort code or any of the details that were previously valid. They have also searched their archives. I am advised that Natwest purge their systems after 7 years. The problem is that if, for example, then the 7 year expiry on my credit file would have expired by now and the record should have disappeared. Because however they've logged it in such a way that it appears to be a live account being defaulted each month - the entry will never disappear. I logged a case with all three credit agencies who contacted Natwest. Callcredit received no response so they have "suppressed" the information from my file. Experian and Equifax however were both contacted by Natwest Telford at the 11th hour and told that the information was genuine and not to remove the entry. They gave a reference number. Over two months later, having suffered the insanity of the RBS/Natwest computer crash, Natwest have told me that the reference they gave is not a valid one and they STILL cannot find me on the system. I've made it clear that at this stage, I don't even require them to prove the debt is correct. I am happy to pay it just to clear my file - however with no account to pay it against they will not accept a payment either. Because of the 100s of thousands of complaints logged over the RBS computer crash, they say that it will be many many more weeks before they can process my case, even with it flagged as top priority. Meanwhile, I am still trying to secure a mortgage having found a perfect house. I am being refused purely on the basis of this defautl - much to the extreme distress of my family. Experian and Equifax (both of whom I'm paying the premium account service) are hopeless! A month between every email, as thy refuse to keep the case open, and each time they say that the information "belongs" to Natwest and ergo they can't do anything without express permission from Natwest. For some bizarre reason, they cannot accept Natwest's silence on the matter as a clue that the entry is wrong. Last point - I've also logged the whole case with the Financial Ombudsmans' office twice - once through my accountant and once myself. Neither of us have received a response despite the first case being logged over a year ago. Extremely desperate situation from which I feel there is no escape! I'm in dire need of any good advice. Eliot.

I've made a mistake!! I wrote to a creditor last week, assuming that the assumed debt was statute bared, however, this seems not to be the case... I received a response from the creditor saying that the statute bared hasn't come to pass as yet. It doesn't until September 2012!! Four months time...sheeesh The original debt is from 2001, however, it seems that a payment had been made in sept 2006. Which means it's still active. I received a print out of three previous payments made around that time, September 2006 being the last one. My question is, what might be the best way forward with this situation, and as I have now contacted them, does that mean that it's another 6 years? I was considering asking them to prove that this debt is actually mine? I have pasted a copy of the letter I have sent, along with some details of their response...HELP I don't want to mess this up! this is the letter i have sent... Dear Sir/Madam, You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself. I would point out that under the limitations act 1980 Section 5 “an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.” I would also point out that the OFT say under their debt collection guidance on statute barred debt that “it is unfair to pursue the debt if the debtor has heard nothing from the creditor during the relevant limitation period”. The last payment of this alleged debt was made over six years ago and no further acknowledgement or payment has been made since that time. Unless you can provide evidence of payment or written contact from me in the relevant period under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, I suggest that you are no longer able to take any court action against me to recover the alleged amount claimed. The OFT Debt Collection Guidance states further that “continuing to press for payment after a debtor has stated that they will not be paying a debt because it is statute barred could amount to harassment contrary to CPUTR 2008” I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed and that no further contact will be made concerning the above account after that last letter. I look forward to your reply. Yours faithfully, This is a brief of the reply they have sent... Upon our own investigations, we have confirmed this not to be the case. The last payment made on the account was 19th September 2006 or the sum of £10.00, please find enclosed statement confirming this. the original default was registered on the 20th November 2003 with the original credit grantor **** and the account was opened on the 14th January 2001 As the sis year time limit as dictated by the Limitation Act 1980 has never expired, the matter is not considered statute barred.The current balance is therefore due and payable. Any constructive advice would be greatly welcomed!