Hi, I have been a sole trader for the last 10 years and need some advice. Everything is fine with my business but I want to start another company and register the name. The earnings are way below the VAT threshold. Am I allowed to register the new company (i.e. CC LTD) then leave it dormant and still trade as ( CC ) ? Also will there be a problem that is 1996 I was declared Bankrupt. Thanks JJ

Hi - i'm hoping to get some advice? I've just received the fantastic news today that I have have got a job !!! after being out of work since October- this is really great news:whoo: The job is based 35 miles away- and I will need to travel as part of my role - but I'm wondering if I could get any help from DWP re travel costs till I get my first wage as obviously this is going to be a struggle - I have read online re getting a bus pass, but nothing about using your own car? also- clothes eeeekk !! after being out of work for 6 months- I'm not sure I will have enough 'smart clothes' for a full week:oops:( my previous job had a uniform). Obviously I will be trawling through charity shops/supermarkets/cheaper clothes shops and washing things through to wear again- but is there anything i can claim to get me through till that first elusive wage packet?? last question ( honestly ) when do I let the JC know about my start date? obviously I need to claim right up till the last momment - but want to get this right? many thanks for any help-----off to skip round the garden in sheer happiness:whoo:

Hi all, We moved out of our property about a month ago. Within the 10 days the landlord requested 200 pounds worth of deductions, and we've been given the rest back by the agent. We've repeatedly asked him for what these deductions are, and so far he's only mentioned some supposed damage to a sofa which he says will cost 60 pounds to clean, then if that can't be done, more may have to be spent on repairing it. We wish to dispute this, as we absolutely did not cause this damage, and will do so with the mydeposits dispute service. However, we still don't know what else this 200 pounds is supposed to cover. We've asked for a list a number of times and all we get is the mention of the sofa. I guess he's just hedging his bets in case it costs more. I want to dispute this, but my concern is this - we need to submit evidence with our dispute, so how can we do that if we don't know what the majority of the claim is for? If we only submit evidence about the sofa, he could then change his counter claim to add in 140 quid's worth of other issues, which we'll have no chance to submit evidence about. What's our best move here? Should we demand a finalised list before we dispute, or would the fact he hasn't given us one yet count against him in a dispute? Or will we be given a chance to counter with evidence if he brings up stuff we haven't been notified of yet? Thanks in advance for any help with this. Louis

Hi there, I thought i would ask on here as everyone was so helpful before when i had a problem with my bank. I had PPI insurance on a credit card from Bank of Ireland starting from around 2007 for about 3 years. I do remember at the time as it was my first credit card i had no clue and i recall on the phone the lady being very pushy about me taking it out and of course i was that desperate at that time to get the card that i agreed to it. I do remember it was a hefty amount over the years as i held quite a large balance on the card. I had another with Aqua credit card which again i felt pressurised into but besides from that if i had have been out of work my employer would have paid me adequate sick pay anyway so it was pointless money i was paying. I did try and cancel it on the phone a few times as i was entering into a debt management plan. This never happened and it was maybe the third time on calling that i got it cancelled. Again it was quite a hefty amount every month. I am considering now trying to claim this back from both Bank of Ireland and Aqua. I know there is so much information on it here and apologies for coming on to ask something so trivial but i wanted to know is there much information i would need before starting this claim. i do have both account numbers and a rough estimate of when i took them out. Is this enough to use to send a letter or should i be sending the questionnaire initially. I dont have any policy details etc only the account numbers of the credit cards and i know there was defnitely ppi on both. Has anyone any advice on where i should start with both of these? I do know that as i am on a dmp at present that the money if was successful would go off that but i wouldnt mind that. I really just want to get the ball rolling and im not great at these types of things so i would be very very grateful if someone wouldnt mind helping me out. Thanks very much in advance

Hi all, Currently looking into starting my own business and had a mentor meeting at JCP with a guy from chamber of commerce who raised a question of legality. I am planning on running a computer repair service from home and offer a same day service for customers who drop off the computers rather than me picking them up. This guy I spoke to yesterday stated that I wouldn't be able to do that, I would not be able to have customers dropping off their computers/laptops etc.. I have looked online and cannot find any information regarding this other than the council regarding the change of the property usage. This isn't an issue since the room I will be using as a workshop is the cellar which I am in the process of fitting out and was never used for any purpose. The vehicle traffic would not be much higher and I have parking for at least 4 vehicles off the main road. Anyone know who I need to contact to find out more information, Is it the Council regarding the business? Regards George

Ok so got a letter in the post of friday saying that as i ignored a letter from the council dater **th July my HB and CTS have been suspended, grrrrrr. I was furious, I never even got a letter from the council in July, Good job im self employed and saw the letter early enough on friday, i drove the 12 miles to the councils head office, filled out the form (self employment income form) and then handed it in, I was told it may take 2-3 weeks for it to start being paid again but it will be backdated so in effect i wont loose anything, just hope the HA dont mind 3 weeks with no/little rental payments. Anyways i spoke to a on duty adviser and pointed out i never received a letter in July and asked to see there proof of posting, which of course they dont have. I then pointed out that out of the HMRC the HA and the LC i only ever, ever have trouble with the LC, the adviser said 'well you can always move' , if you as a council were not so incompetent at your jobs then there not would be a issue. This is not the first time the LC has been a bunch of idiots either, grrrrr, they make me sick

Hi, I started working for a large energy supplier on the 3rd June 2013, on the 3rd July I received an email asking me to complete some pre-employment checks, which I found strange considering both myself and the company signed my contract of employment in May. I have a poor credit history and can almost guarantee that I will fail a Credit Check, which they are carrying out on me. Where do I stand on this if I do indeed fail the check and I lose my job? I am still in my probationary period with the company, but whilst there has been no performance issues, I feel they may use the credit check result to terminate my employment. Cheers Gary

Okay here goes, One tends to read small print 'after' events as these days you reckon people treat you fairly [sic]. Anyhow for some reason (and at the time 'not' lack of funds my Direct Debit (monthly payments) with Hastings Direct was returned unpaid. I spotted this on the day and called them in the evening. The gentleman said it was showing as 'pending' and I requested he leave a note that I called. Now let's face it that Hastings people are like well spoken so I guess ex recently left Uni. students with good backgrounds. They want to charge me £20 for the returned item when I pay circa £38 per month. I felt this somewhat unfair because their automated service probably costs the a couple of quid to expedite. The attitude is 'Oh we'll allow you to spread this £20 payment over your remaining payment period' (and I suspected PLUS excessive APR too!). I asked if they'd consider on this occasion wavering the amount however after asking some senior person (which I doubt they did in reality) came back and ran off this 'fairness' policy they run. Absolute rubbish reply is all I can say. Heck, never will I insure with them again and apologise on here for not reading various negative posts about them before committing to a second (and absolutely final) year no matter what quotes I get next January! It seems that this company have an additional charge for every minute 'extra' - not so professional in these days when people want your business. Now to sort the bank out who want to charge me a tenner! LOL Michael

Hi, Just some advice/suggestions needed regarding the Section 360(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 - 1(b) The bankrupt is guilty of an offence if - (b) he engages ( whether directly or indirectly ) in any business under a name other than that in which he was adjudged bankrupt without disclosing to all persons with whom he enters into any business transaction the name in which he was so adjudged. Part 1a is understood. With regards part 1(b) we can't seem to find any clear definition of what business transaction means and if it includes retailing/selling my goods. I appreciate/understand the business has be "MY NAME trading as LOGO BUSINESS NAME" but can't make out if it needs to be like this on every bit of the website / logo / packaging /email etc. Seems a bit draconian if this is the case......? I am willing to put my name on all invoices and contact details, but I am looking to sell items of clothing / jewellery etc with my logo..... so do not want to add my name in the logo or the title of the website...? Hope this query makes sense

I am embarking on a journey to reclaim PPI (if it was ever mis-sold to me or my wife) would like to publish my experiences to help others from start to finish, and accept advice and experiences from others. Myself and wife had heard all sorts of stories regarding PPI and initially thought we wouldn't have taken out any on past loans or credit cards as we are both self employed / Limited company and have been for years, however having discussed this subject one evening over a few lagers and a bottle of wine, I recalled buying a car from Fords of Windsford at the age of 25 (Now 41) and distinctly remember the salesman telling me that without the PPI I would not qualify for the finance, what a fool I was to listen to him. Anyway we started to have a think about what financial products we had taken out in the past and decided that we would look back to see if we had any PPI and would be eligible for any legitimate claim if we felt we may have been miss sold. I thought the best course of action would be to issue SAR's to all the companies we remembered having financial products with, this may jog our memories as to our circumstances at the time. Here is our list WIFE ME LLOYDSTSB - CAR LOAN 199? MBNA C/C 1995 -2003 LLOYDSTSB - C/C DATE ?? GE CAPITAL WOODCHESTER CAR FINANCE 1995 - 1999 BANK OF IRELAND - MORTGAGE 2000-2007 RBS C/C 1996-1999 CAR LOAN - SEARCHING FOR PAPERWORK SARS sent 20th Jan 2013 see below for standard letter, which my help others. NAME OF BANK Date XX FEB 2013 RE: SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST OUR REF XXXXXXXX Dear Sir/Madam Please send me ALL data that your company holds relating to my entire account history. INCLUDING : Agreement number: XXXXXXXX 19xx TO 20xx Previous address other than above, if there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. (My D.O.B. is XX/XX/19XX) PREVIOUS IMPORTANT ADDRESS DO NOT SEND ANY PREVIOUS IMPORTANT ADDRESS CORRESPONDANCE PREVIOUS IMPORTANT ADDRESS THIS ADDRESS Please include details of all transactions, and a copy of the original contract by which this account is/was governed at the time it was opened including all amendments made to the contract terms since opening the account. I would also like a schedule of all charges & interest applied to my account(s) including details of any instances that required manual intervention. If you are unable to provide this specific information, copy statements will suffice. All data, including data held on a microfiche must be provided within a reasonable timescale, a maximum of 40 days. In light of all the recent publicity regards the reclaiming of bank charges, some Banks appear to now only be providing a breakdown of charges in response to all and any Data requests. For the avoidance of doubt I do actually require all information held by yourselves. It seems a lot of banks are also wrongly interpreting the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 as a requirement to only disclose six years worth of personal data, and this is also wholly wrong. The DPA clearly states that all information held must be disclosed and it has no correlation to the Limitation act 1980 at all. If you no longer hold data beyond 6 years however, I would like a signed declaration from your data controller and a copy of all documents pertaining to its proper disposal. Whilst not exhaustive and for the avoidance of doubt I shall list what I require: * Full copies of all contracts that exist between myself and your organisation; including copies of any documents you hold in support of same. * Copies of all statements relating to the above accounts. * Copies of all correspondence, including all letters, faxes, emails and memos sent and received between ourselves, and any other third party in relation to any of the above accounts. * Copies of any telephone recordings and/or transcripts of these recordings as well as any logs or journals that relate to them. * Copies of all documents which include any of my personal information including copies of any contracts or invoices, emails or computer records containing my personal information, or any records which pertain to this information. * Full details and copies of any documents upon which you relied when you have provided my personal or financial information to any individual, organisation or third party. * Full copies or transcripts of any computer logs or database records kept in relation to myself or in relation to my financial or personal information. *Details of all systems you currently have in place to ensure my personal or financial information is kept securely, including details of those officers who currently have control of same, and at the time it was held or provided to a third party. * Where any previous information or records held have been deleted or disposed of, the methods used to do so, including dates, reason for deletion, certificates or references confirming details of destruction. Where you are unable to provide such certificates, please provide a declaration, signed by an authorised officer of your company, confirming the dates and methods of destruction of this data. I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties or charges which are invalid under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations against me, then I shall be reclaiming them together with any interest charges which you have levied on them. You have 40 days to comply with this request. If you fail to comply fully I shall enter a formal complaint with the Information Commissioners Office / FSA which could result in a fine and prosecution. Yours faithfully, Stuart Tudor Lets see what happens - watch this space.....................

Hi there, I have searched high and low for information on whether my DRO would be stopped if I got a maintenance loan and grant when I start university this year but to no avail. i've tried to get to the bottom of whether these loans and grants are classed as income and would it affect the dro but there is nothing. Basically just this month I got my DRO through and it has dawned on me about income in general (i'm still shaky on the idea of getting a part time job whilst i'm in my current study at college) and since i have had my offers to numerous universities that means without my loans/grants I can't move and study at my preferred choice of university as the the loans and grants would be helping me with rent and living expenses. anyone had a DRO and still got loans/grants from student finance? or anyone know anything about maintenance loans affecting someone's DRO? I don't want to find myself in a flat miles from home living on little and having my DRO stopped on top of that! Surely if it's for higher education means this should not affect it right?

Hi all, I've previously used this site myself to successfully claim back all ppi owed to me. My partner now wants to claim back all ppi owed to her from Barclays on various loans dating back to around 1999-2000. She doesn't have the paperwork for any of these loans now so am I right in thinking the first thing to do is send a SAR to Barclays to try and obtain all the account numbers etc ? It's been a while since I claimed back all my ppi so any advice on what we should do first will be very much appreciated. My partner wants to go through one of these ppi reclaim companies but I've told her I can do it myself using this site !

Hi everyone, The company I was transitioned into four years ago has different grades for each role. When I was transitioned in I was started on the bottom grade. The company did not tell us about these grades until the beginning of this year (nor is the information available on their intranet). I have managed to get myself promoted a grade which resulted in a salary increase. It is only possible to get promoted a grade once a year and certain pre-requisites have to be met first. The company is now recruiting new employees at a higher grade (and so at a higher salary) than I and my colleagues. It will not be possible for us to get to this grade for several years. Can anyone kindly give any advice as to how I should approach my employer about this? It seems unjust that we weren't told about the grading structure or been given the opportunity to apply for a job at a higher grade. Many thanks.

Hi, Over a year ago now my teaching career was brought to an abrupt Holt as what I can only say, an ex partner, and her gang of friends decided to target me as I was moving away for a new teaching job I had worked hard to gain. As I returned from my first week away I was confronted by my ex, of which I told her I was calling the police, she then hit my, so I called the police. I just reported the incident then thought that is then end, later I was visited by the police; she reported me for assault and it was then apparent that her and her male friend had alleged I had beaten her and she had actually marked bruised herself. Two weeks later I was suspended from my new job by the principal, then on returning back home was arrested on suspicion of rape of my ex girl friend, and sexually touching of a 15 year old, of whom I was not even in the same vicinity of at the time of the allegations. During the police interviews I gave a full and honest explanation of what had happened as my solicitor explained "No Comment" is more applicable if I had done something wrong. My new employer suspended me whilst I was on bail and when the cases were dropped they let me return to work but under intense supervision which is understandable but upsetting. I lasted a week and then resigned. I still had the matter of the original assault she had made up, of which I went to court and was found "NOT GUILTY" even though she had witness statements and pictures of bruises her stories did not match up. Almost just after I had won my case it was then made apparent that the boss at the job I resigned from, whether it was out of anger because they had paid me fully for 6 month or just out of procedure, referred me to the ISA to try and bar me from working with kids and vulnerable adults. After all the information had been passed over from the Police and place of work and careful deliberation they found no problem with me working with any groups and DID NOT bar me. The education board then contacted me saying the case is dropped with no action taken. I then got a job working in computers, of which is my primary career aim, teaching was always my fall back job. They did not ask for a CRB. The job is going really well now, I am over the worst, have a new start but wish to climb the ladder and apply for bigger jobs and other companies - no work with children or vulnerable groups. My question is, if I get asked for an enhanced CRB, although, due to my own peace of mind, have chosen never to work with children or vulnerable groups, what do I do about explaining these arrests. Reading what I have already entered above it looks quite clear, "I was arrested due to malicious allegations of which I protested my innocence through out and gave a full and honest explanation to, the sexual offences were dropped and I won my case of common assault as I was completely innocent. Afterwards all information was passed to the ISA of whom decided to still allow me to working with children and vulnerable adults without restriction." I know this is a pretty difficult thing to post on here but I am a hard working, law abiding citizen who is working very hard at this career and want to be completely ready for this situation if it arises. I have a clean criminal record by the way, anyone could be arrested in my experience if somebody makes up a story.

hi - I have recently been offered a new role which I accepted and duly signed a new employment contract and handed my notice in at my current employer (1 month). However since then (about 1-2 weeks ago) my personal circumstances have changed and therefore I wish to remain with my existing employer. I have spoken to them and fortunate enough that they are happy to retract the notice and let me continue working there. However, I know I have signed a new employment contract with the new employer, so how do I handle this without actually starting the new role in a few weeks time? I have only 1 week notice period during my probationary period. What do I need to say in my cancellation letter to the new employer? Thanks for your help.