Hello. I have had a "Buy To Let" mortgage with the Birmingham Midshires for over 10 yrs and recently fell behind by a tiny amount with the mortgage. Not only have they piled on numerous charges, but the have wrote to my tenant threatening to repossess the property. Needless to say my tenant (for over 7 yrs ) is very worried. Are they allowed to do this? Any Advice would be greatful

I'm writing this on behalf of a friend and her young son who are being told by 'Places for People, a housing provider, that if they do not pay £400 per week until £1500 in arrears is paid off, they will be evicted and that this can be done without any further notice and within 14-days. Last Septemeber she started to fall behind with her rent, she is a single mother working as carer for those with mental health problems. The housing provider took her to copurt and the judge passed a suspended possession order under which she had to pay £10.00 per week off her arrears. She was doing this and all was well until April this year when her 9-year old son was injured in an accident. He was hospitalised for 3-weeks and she stopped working and stayed with him at the hospital for the time he was in there, all the time the £10.00 was not being paid and she was falling behind with the rent again. In all she was off work and didn't pay rent or the arrears for 7-weeks. It came to £1500 in total. Last week Places for People were in touch and told them that they she is in breach of the suspended possession order. That they are applying for an eviction orderand that unless she pays £400 per week from now on they can evict them within 14-days without giving any further notice. The poor woman is desperate, she has nowhere to go, her family cannot help, she has no assetts to sell as such and if she could pay this amount she would have nothing to live on at all, food etc... Can they do this/ Please can someone give some advice on this situation. Any help would be gratfully received as this poor kid does not know where to turn. Thanks.

Hello all, First time posting so take it easy on me Last year I became self employed, and promptly had a deluge of marketing calls offering me advertising opportunities - I researched them and it quickly became apparent that they were all a con (spaces in magazines by the police/fire service etc which would never actually be printed etc). I had one call from a company representing a local theatre (actually on the same street as I live), offering a small ad in the theatres ticket envelope which is given every time tickets are booked in advance (either in person or by post). The cost for this was 3 payments of £93.60, taken over a six month period. After four months (of having NO customers saying they had seen my ad, although that is irrelevant), I ordered some tickets online for a show from the theatre myself, the tickets arrived - lo and behold no ticket envelope was included. I was a bit miffed that as a small business (sole trader) I was paying this money, and it was obviously being wasted. I cancelled my direct debit (leaving one payment outstanding), and when they contacted me, I explained the situation and that I felt aggrieved etc etc, they called the theatre who explained that the reason no envelope had been distributed was that they had run out. I told the lady in the advertising company (a 3rd party) that I was not going to make the final payment until I had purchased another batch of tickets, and seen if the envelope came with them. I waited a few months, went into the theatre bought some tickets - no envelope again! I called the comany again, told them, and they called the theatre asst. manager (who had given me the tickets), and he said he had completely 'forgotten' on this occasion to give me the envelope. I said there is no way I am giving them the final payment, in fact I would consider claiming the payments I made back from them as they had breached their part of the contract. Now I have received a letter from "Credit recovery dept" dated 5th July, giving 'formal notice of legal proceedings to be issued on 12th July in Blackpool County Court'. This letter gives 'potential legal costs', and says that proceedings will commence on 12th July. Am I right in thinking that this is a sham letter from them? There was no other forms included (as I would like to dispute the claim if it does go to court), and they've only given 7 days from the day the letter was sent. Also, if it does go to court, am I within my rights to request it be held at MY local court (I am in South Wales) as I am a sole trader, not a ltd company? Apologies for the long post, appreciate any help and advice. Thank you.

I have just been visited by a person from Moorcroft Debt Recovery, I told him the name of the debt management company, I thought that by law I didn't need to say anything else to him. He replies, "you know the law living in a street like this" well I saw red went to grab by phone because I wanted a photo of this person so I could conplain, he then hit me with his clipboard (witnessed by neighbour) in doing so knocking my phone out of my hand. I managed to get a photo and took another of the number plate of his car He then said "People will be coming to see you" "You will be visited tonight". I phoned Moorcroft, who made me even more furious as they had head from the Debt Management Company and were just awaiting my Income & Outgoings, they saidf they would stop anymore doorstep callers but didn't know if they would be able to do it for tonight, I explained about the threats but they didn't really appear to care. My question is, who can I write to with a complaint, was thiking of calling the police but not sure if my stress levels will be able to cope. Any advice would be so gratefully received.

Finally The OFT is clamping down.

I have been contacted by credit solutions ltd. on behalf of the Department for work and Pensions demanding a repayment for a debt i do not owe. They have sent me two letters, one checking if they were contacting the right person which i did not reply to(in this letter they had me registered as living at my previous address) and a second letter demanding a repayment with threats of home visits to collect them. I think that someone now living at my previous address has used my name to run up this debt because as i far as i know i do not owe any money to this department, they also have my national insurance number. I need advice on how to proceed and want to know if these threats are real?

I posted on a thread a couple of days ago, and it struck me that the OP was most of all paralysed because he didn't KNOW that the DCA was in fact powerless, and the forum is so big now that it takes a lot of searching to find the gold so to speak. So.... I want to create a guide to DCAs, and make sure that when people Google any of those names, the thread is at the top of the search, so that first of all, they can be reassured. If they're not afraid, they can start thinking logically and then fight back, but first they need not to be scared anymore. So, I want to name them all, so I am going to post here the ones I can think of, please add to the list. Also if you see one on the list and there is no documentation, could you please post a copy of their template letters (washed of all info, but you knew that, right? ). Ultimately, I want someone to type "Lowells" in a search engine, and they will see their MO, a copy of their threatograms, etc... and so, once that thread is live and going, I'll be asking every one of you to help publicising it, but that's in the future, obviously. (I'm away all next week for starters, so I won't be able to start compiling until after that, but in the meantime, all info is welcome. PLEASE TRY NOT TO DUPLICATE THE INFO, SEE WHAT OTHERS HAVE POSTED FIRST!!!! Thanks, BW