after many months of anguish we reported our next door neighbour to the council for noise as she has 4 Chihuahua dogs and they are constantly barking and yapping for extended periods of time on a daily basis. About 2 weeks letter we get a telephone call from a Social worker saying that my next door neighbour has reported my 15 year old son to the police for exposing himself to her 2 young daughters who are 5 and 7 years of age during mid summer. The social worker stated that the police will be coming out to our home to speak to us and our son regarding the allegation. We have questioned him and he denies it outright we have warned him of the seriousness of the allegation and the potential consequences yet he still is adamant he has done nothing, my son is one of those who finds lying incredibly difficult so we are convinced he is telling the truth. My question is what should my next course of action be? Can we ask the police for the interview to be recorded? should we need it later down the Line. Can we arrange for it to be done at the Police station instead of our home?

Hi, I had some outstanding arrears on my gas bill with Southern, which was around £80 for the previous quarter and then a second quarter bill of around the same amount just came in. I got some reminders to pay, but they were the usual ones mentioning disconnection, which I have had in the past and of course have paid my bill up to date just after This last time I got a visit without warning where a letter was put in my door, and nobody knocked. I was here all day, and have a dog which would have barked if anyone had actually knocked. Clearly no one did. I have now been charged a sum of £49.87 onto my gas bill for having a piece of paper stuffed through my letterbox. I am wondering is this charge, fair, legal and enforceable? I am now pretty much all electric anyway at this point. I have always paid my electric straight away and had done on this occasion, so they knew I was paying. I use duel fuel with them, through Ebico/ Equigas which was a non profit organization for fuel supply. they are supposed to be supportive of people on low incomes. I've been with these suppliers in this manner for over seven years, and have always paid a little late, but always paid, no major arrears. When this second gas bill came in I was about to pay it when this person supposedly turned up, but clearly didn't bother. So do I have any options over this? Any way to challenge it? £49.87 seems pretty outrageous, and I noticed an older thread on here where the same utility company only charged around £25, so it seems to have shot up and I'm wondering does it have to be fair and is there any legal basis to this? I'm up for a fight over it. As I say I may pay late but I always pay and debts with them never are big. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. D. PS I should say, I paid the full arrears on seeing the 'visit' letter, and have just paid my new gas bill excluding this charge. Gas bills will likely be virtually nil for me from now on.

Had a visit from Equita this morning regarding 3 years arrears amounting to over £7k .. The demand was to pay in FULL immediately this sum, he showed me that he had scribbled down the registration no's of our two vehicles, one being mine the other is in my wife's name. My questions are ... The council tax is solely in my name does the bailiff have a 'levy' over my wife's car? but more importantly can I get this account sent back to the council by applying to the court and try to negotiate some sort of payment plan? What do I do with the bailiffs as they threatened to return at 5pm if I don't contact them. I will of course not be allowing them entry into my home...Thanks

Hello there, I am posting this for some advice please. This morning there was a mighty knock at the door and a man built like a brick s*** house was asking for money. After my husband spoke to him (Lucky he was there) we had a chat about what had happened we are behind with our council tax payments, although to be fair i paid them every month via internet banking, as i had already spoken to them about a payment plan. I made a payment on the 26th august for £160 which i have been doing every mth, and it went as normal, however, when we were checking the statements at the end of the next mth (Sept) it showed that the money had come straight back into our account. Now i assumed that there was something maybe wrong on our account we called the council to ask if they had received the payment, and they advised that they had not, and they had now passed the debt to a bailiff and said we needed to speak to them and gave us their number to call. My husband was left with sorting this out as i work funny shifts (12hrs) and was not going to be in to do this. He called the bailiff directly, now after reading this forum i am now aware that we should not have done this but the council lady gave us the number to call. The man then said that he had to come to our house to sort out a payment plan and made an appointment to come around the next week.! i was at work so was not there to deal with the man but Steve showed up and my husband let him in (I know again from reading the forum that this was probably not the best thing to do) they sorted out a payment plan for £25 a week starting from the next week and gave him a letter with the details and what they would take if it all went pear shaped (Which it has). the 1st week hubby went to them directly and paid the 25 and has a receipt 2nd week done via phone 25 (with the dc fee goes to 28) and the 3rd wk 28 again by phone he has however and not to my knowledge missed a week (which after checking turns out to be 2!) He went to see them yesterday to ask if we can pay them monthly as it would be easier as we owed £50 and he only had £30 on him which they refused to take as it was not the full amount. Steve said that he would have to pop to the house again and coud sort something out.# Which brings us back to today Mr Big polish guy said you have missed payments and now it has been passed onto me, Steve has nothing to do with it and you need to pay £500 by Friday or we will come into your house with a locksmith and take your stuff. My husband looks like he is going to have some sort of heart attack and i don't know what to do, i have tried speaking to the council but they will not do anything as it is with the bailiffs and i have read about just paying them directly but the payments will no go as they are bouncing back. How does 50 turn into 500 in 1 day, i know my husband was stupid to miss weeks a nd we have spoken about it but it was a genuine mistake he just completely forgot. I asked him to get all of the paperwork so i can look at it and come on this forum to ask you guys. This is the paperwork i'm so sorry for the length of the post Dated 3-10-13 Notice of seizure of goods and inventory. Amount for which this distress is made Arrears due to authority £611.50 1st attendance fee £0 2nd attendance fee £0 Levy fee to scale schedule £67 Attending with a vehicle with a view to removing £200 !! (he cam in a car) Walking possession fee £11 (Again he came in a car) Close possession fee per day £0 Removal fee / where no sale takes place £22.50 Amount paid £0 URGENT ARREARS NOW DUE £1912 Now i am no Carol Vorderman but doesn't that have to add up ? Letter left today Enforcement action We attended at your property today with a view to removing your goods. You have incurred further costs as a result of the bailiffs attendance. If full payment is not IMMEDIATELY paid to our head office we will re-attend your property with a view to FORCING ENTRY AND REMOVING YOUR GOODS in accordance with the terms of the walking possession agreement. They will attend this Friday at 10 It also says If our bailiff has to re-attend you may incur further costs as a consequence of the re attendance. Please note a locksmith will also be in attendance and you will be responsible for any costs incurred as a result of our bailiff having to force entry and replace locks. Total now due £1837 where has that figure come from ??? Please help, i know what we should have done, however it has been done and i need some guidance please??

hello all, we had an agreement to pay arrears off on gas/electric at £100 for electric, and £20 for gas, we paid both on time except for this month we were two days late, but we paid £100 off both so reduced gas debt to £85 electric is now £300 (the arrears is due to having a years worth of estimated bills) However today a 'rep' (doorstep collector) turned up about the gas arrears, obviously I told him to go away, however for them coming round they have charged us £50, now not being au fait with energy companies is this charge legal? do we have to pay it? If not is there a letter in library we can send them to tell them to foxtrot oscar with their charge? thanks all

hi guys was looking for some advice i have moved to a new area with a friend we are both sleeping on couches at her mothers untill i can find somewhere to live she was already claiming jsa and has moved her claim to this area and i have just started a claim for jsa we have both recieved a letter from the dwp saying we are to receive a visit from a compliance officer i understand this may be due to the fact they think we are a couple. we are not we are both single and have our lives separatley we buy our own food and do our own things will they see us as being a couple because we live in the same household? any advice would be greatly appreciated

i had a letter pushed through my door when i got home late yesterday saying about a final notice for 373 and he would be returning later this week i think its for the remainder oof a court fine for tv license which i thought had been paid 2 years ago i have had no thing from court before and no final steps notice etc or any letters from marstons can i get a stat dec from court how do i go about getting one of these am worried sick i have a mentally sick husband 2 children under 5 and a pregnant daughter as well helppppp

hi, just joined up to hopefully get some information for anyone who has been in the same boat as me. my partner claims ESA but has just been declared fit for work so is going through all that mess on to decide against it like she has done many times before. we have just a got a flat together so i have just been added onto her claim, i was on jsa before that. my partner received a letter this morning and when she read it through it said that dwp were going to do a home visit and the reasons were for " to help complete claim forms for benefits she may be entitled to and more information on other services" so she gave them a call to ask what it was all about and they said it is because of missed appointments, now i will not lie she hasnt delt with this well, she suffers from anxiety and depression so she has been fighting them for the past 2 years and she was coming on leaps and bounds. she managed to start staying at my house which was a hour form her home so this was a big step and they gave her an appointment to come in and see her as she is in the work support group or something like that. anyways she ended up missing that appointment and every time they rang her father would give a poor excuse such as "ohh shes out with her mum" well she finally gave them a call and sorted it out, then the next appointment came though when she was away again and when she was about to ring up, she then got a letter for a missed appointment she then rang up and this got sorted out. when she called DWP about the visit they said she missed an appointment on the 18th of october, but we have had no letter,call or message about this appointment so did not even know about it, but apparently because of missing that a woman from DWP is coming out to see her about this. now i am very worried what they are going to say or do, i can talk my way out of anything but she cant do it aswell as me and the biggest problem is the fact that her excuse for not attending the other appointments its she forgot all about them, which is true but it is a very poor excuse to use. when she asked if we would loose our money the person on the phone said "not yet but we will have to see how it goes" so that is a big worry as we have a flat to look after now. so my questions are will they stop our money and would i be able to go off her claim back on a JSA then sign the flat over to my name. sorry for such a long first post but thank you for any help

Hi, Whilst I was out this afternoon, I had a visit from a baliff the left me a letter. Arrears of council tax £397 In accordance with the law, your possesssions will be seized if payment is not made within 5 days. I am asked to contact the baliff directly. I have an old car in my drive which has no tax or mot and wouldn't want the baliff to take this away when I am out. I haven't the funds to pay the baliff in full and any advice would be greatfully accepted.

Hello everyone. I have a doctor visit on Saturday about a DLA claim. Does anyone have any experience or advice regarding this. I have heard people say don't sign things but surely they will need some kind of signature at some point. I'm really looking for what to expect and what to look out for. So any help at all would be really appreciated.

I've been wandering around the site, and have a question/s and they kind of cover various subjects Statute barred debts do not appear on CRA's - is that correct? Only debts that are currently enforceable should appear on CRA's. When they become statute barred they come off CRA's When someone has DWP overpayment debt, do they appear on CRA's? - I know there is this whole thing of whether they can be statute barred, or not, or that they can behave different to other statute barred debts.. as they can take money from you when you next claim any benefit. But surely, if it can be statute barred, then the DWP when using DCA's should be obeying to all the rules.. not harassing people, make threats, being misleading etc.. as in what DWP is one thing (being a government department and what DCA can do is another).

My wife has applied for pension credit. The idea being that what she gets will replace what I get in unemployment benefit, thus enabling me to sign off and tell Ingeus where to go! She is also to apply for Support for Mortgage Interest to replace what I normally claim for, which is due to end this December. She received a phone call from a woman from the Pension Service and said what we would be entitled to, and asked if we still wanted to go ahead, which we did. She also said we would receive a visit from an officer and she is coming this Friday. Is there anything we should be worried about with this visit?

Hi there. Ran into difficulty paying my t-mobile bill, which has now ended. Contacted by a company called Buchanan Clark and Wells demanding payment of £155.21. I checked my t-mobile account, and am still able to pay off my balance on their website, which comes to £140.21. I emailed BCW saying if I can pay them, why should I pay a DCA? I then to be safe set up a payment agreement at BCW's website, and paid on the 14th September by bank transfer. Received however a letter today stating that they would be making a home visit as the agreement has not been honoured, despite having my own evidence that I sent the bank transfer. Despite this, the balance has not been changed to reflect this. I have sent an angry email along these lines to ask why a payment has been ignored. I refuse to communciate with them by phone, only be letter or email. I will soon have enough money aside to pay off the tmobile bill, shall I just pay tmobile directly and tell BCW where to go? Thanks!

Hi Well yesterday a Bailiff visited my flat, posted a latter through the door and disappeared. the letter (attached) stated that they had attended to seize goods, except they never even knocked on the door, they just posted the letter, they say they will return in 48 hrs with police if necessary. please note, they have never attended my property before, neither do they have a walking possession. I contacted them 2 weeks ago after the 1st letter, and offered them £130 p/m to clear the debt of what say £445. they refused and wanted all the money in 1 go. so i told em, it's tough luck. i have contacted the council who refuse to take the debt back from the bailiff, even though the debt now is actually less than £100 apparently. please note. i have paid a total of £670 in the last 2 months to the council, yet they still refuse to help. the initial liability was for £533 they sent some payments i made to the council to the bailiff, but not all of them it seems. either way though, where do i stand? I offered to pay, I have actually paid well more than i would have been forced to pay if i had stood in court. am i being unreasonable in wanting to only deal with the council & not the bailiff? as far as the council are concerned, as I say, they say i owe less than £100 on the liability order now. but the bailiff is still wanting £445. attached are the copies of the letters from the bailiff. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45990[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]45991[/ATTACH]

Looks like MMF have taken on a PDL balance I have, they ring, text and email. now they ay they are sending someone to the property even thought i have emailed them saying I will consider it trespass. What can I do here?

My husband received a letter saying that he had a ccj back in may that we didn't know about. We don't dispute the debt, we have had a lot of difficulties recently and have other ccj's that we pay £1 a month to. If we had received the court notice we would have asked to pay the debt in installments like our other debts. I can only assume the court letter went to our old address (we left 5 years ago) where we were when the debt first became a problem. However the creditors, dca and solicitors etc have been communicating to us at our current address. Yesterday an HCEO left a note while we were out stating intention to seize goods. It is one of the ones that starts TAKE FORMAL NOTICE. We have until 3rd september to find £3000+ which is obviously impossible. I have been looking into submitting a N244 form and have spent all last night and today researching and stressing. We have children aged 8 and 3 and we really don't want to be locking all the doors and windows, plus explaining to the children why we are ignoring the doorbell but I guess needs must. So far the HCEO hasn't come back. I have a couple of questions if anyone could help. 1. Is the HCEO likely to come back before 3rd Sept? 2. Can they take my car if the CCJ is for my husband (car is in my name)? 3. If we go down the N244 application what do I put on it, and can we take it to a local court? Does it have to be a high court? 4. I looked up the bailiff on the register linked on here but could not find the name, though did find the company (high court enforcement group) Is the register accurate? 5. I have found the ccj court reference on my husbands credit report but is this what I would refer to on any applications etc as I don't have any reference details for the writ of fifa etc? 6. Clutching at straws but is it possible this is just a scare tactic and they actually have a writ of fifa? Thanks in advance

My support worker filled out my old ESA claim over a year ago & I hadn't communicated with ATOS since missed appointment in Feb. Now magically as I send in updated ESA claim form, I get home assessment letter from ATOS. As if they are really desperate to be able to work off the older inferior less detailed claim form. I feel it would be a mistake to go ahead, as my updated form was only sent off a week before ATOS letter received. The ATOS letter makes no note of my request for any assessment to be recorded by the assessor using official professional recording equipment. Plus I'd put that a symptom of my Asperger Syndrome is that I can't answer the phone, yet the ATOS letter says I may phone them if I have a problem! Plus it says the assessor will phone me to arrange a time to visit. I never answer my phone to anyone apart from my Mother, so they will be unable to do that. I think they tried to phone several times a few weeks ago & have proof I don't answer! I'm not sure what to make of this. Are they ignoring my ESA claim form & should I respond by ignoring them? In my ESA form I explained that I'd be unable to answer the door to an assessor & that I have no one able to help me. Also as my ESA keeps being stopped when my 1 month sick note runs out & GP is late to respond, I have to live off my DLA & therefore have never been able to feel secure enough to get a proper carer who I can rely on to help me. I never have visitors & am housebound. This is really making my blackouts & absences worse, I really feel like punching ATOS now. I can't even see my GP & he refuses to visit me, receptionist explained last year the GP only visits the very ill/ housebound. I explained that was me, but they still refused! So I haven't seen GP in getting on for a year. But to be honest if everyone else's GP is as useless as that one, I don't know how he has any patients left- I can't get any meds because he will not communicate with me. He knows I can't change surgery because a new GP will not issue a sick note without allegedly seeing me or getting to know me! I would say my GP knows nothing about me anyway, even though I've tried. He will only communicate via face-to-face & I can't do that. I've used voice recognition technology to write to him several times & explain numerous problems (which he ignores & just sends invite to see him!). I don't know anything about what is normal regarding how to deal with GPs, I have no idea how anyone copes- GPs seem rather useless. I don't know why people rave on about GPs, if this is suppose to be someone on my side, I fear to think what ATOS will do.

My son who is single has had a letter from DWP to make a compliance visit to him at the address where he is currently living. Not claiming any other benefit so why should they do that. Any ideas anyone please.

received a letter last thursday saying a home visit has been arranged for a medical assessment today. i rang the doctor on friday and left a message to say that appointment wasnt convenient as i want my partner to be available. He/she didnt get back to me and because of the bank holiday i rang Atos office this morning to confim that he was going to rearrange, and gave them a list of dates when my partner could be available. They told me to send him away if he still comes today, i told them i would be in bed.... little bit anxious that he will still come.. should i just not answer the door? Also can anyone advise me,what to expect and how best to tackle a medical assessment? will i be examined, will i need to undress? I have heard allsorts about the doctor snooping round the house and making assumptions, are they allowed to do that? I even read somewhere that i should hide the dog, because they will assume that i can walk her ( my partner does this btw)... thats not really possible. when they write the report, do you get a chance to see it and challenge things that are inaccurate or assumed? trying not to be too anxious, but not doing terribly well atm

I have been struggling with the last 11 payments on my 25 year mortgage for the last few years and have not been been able to make a payment for 15 months. I self employed and every month I say I must contact them and make an arrangement, but there is never any money available after I have paid everything else. I'm probably a nine (out of ten) on the CA debt scale. I received a letter from the Halifax a couple of weeks ago to say they were arranging a home visit and charging me £125 for this and £100 if I am not there. Last Friday I received a letter from their agent saying to email or ring them. The same day an agent called while I was our, and on Monday an agent and my wife answered the door requesting I call him. I have not done anything yet, as I feel making contact would be to condone their fees, which I certainly do not. I feel I should write to the Halifax with a payment plan, but have I left it too late? Can I refuse their visiting charges? Thank you for any advice. Tom

Hello, this is my first time using this website and forum but I read some previously in regards to my own question - the "DWP" people - and struggled finding one directly relevant to me. So here I am, writing my own. A week or so ago I got a call from these people, requesting a visit to my house to speak with my 15 year-old (soon to be 16) son. He has Asperger's Syndrome and I have been claiming an enhanced parents allowance because of it for a few years now, which, I assume, is what the whole visit is about. I was worried about this due to current financial problems, and so I was wondering - are they here to assess whether we are still eligible for the benefit? Are they here to cut what they can? It does seem that way, especially do to their vague reasoning's for the visit. Just to "assess" how things are going with my son. This is the first time anything like this has happened in five years. So, to cut this short, all I'm wondering is what their intentions are. To cut my benefits, to alter it, or any of the like. Furthermore, I heard my son is even eligible for some sort of claim of his own? This whole process confuses me - I didn't even set up the enhanced benefit scheme in the first place, nor did I ask for it, it was suggested to me by schooling a long time ago - but now I'm on my own on the subject, and any help or further detail I would value immensely. Thank you.

Ii, I recieved a letter yesterday to say I am having a visit on friday from a compliance officer this friday. I called due to having a doctors appointment first thing on friday, I asked if somebody has reported me and she said yes. I just wondered howmmuch information they need to act on the report. I am a single mum to 3, youngest 19 weeks. I am on IS and have been since june 2011 after my maternity leave ended on my now 2 yr old. Do they visit for just recent or old issues? I am just worried has I dont know what they can be coming to see me for. Also do you kjow how many days a week you can have somebody stay with you, has my mum sometimes stays at weekends to give me some rest, has my youngest 2 childrens dad doesn't see much of them, and her place is too small to have them there. Any help would be appreciated, as I am a worrier, and scared incase they stop my benefit,0.

hi im just hoping to get some advice abit of a long un but will try to make it as quick as poss so i split with my ex about 18 months ago things just wasnt working out and he moved into his own house ( he pays rent council tax and all bills at his own address and works full time) for a long time afterward we dint really get on but he came to see the kids at mine regulary and have them every other weekend at his. i had a letter about 4 months ago of compliance team i rang them up to find out what the problem was and she said about ex partner living with me (at that point we wasnt even hardly talking) anyway it all got dropped and she said there was enough to say where he lived and had no visit in the end then i got another letter a month later and rang up again this time was told there was a cross over and that it was sorted. and case closed. about 2 months ago me n the ex had a really long talk and have suggested getting back together but at this moment even now we aint together we have been spending a sunday together as a family and he still comes to see the kids 2 nites during the week etc he has stayed over approx 3 times in the last 2 months but thats it.anyway a month ago i got another compliance letter again i rang up and asked what was what they was asking all sorts of questions about my ex. i was open and honest and said that if we got together n he was to move in id inform them told them when he came etc. he then said that there was enough to suggest he lived at his own house but that its coz he is an ex partner. anyway yet again he made his report and that he wudnt be coming out to visit and wud again make sure the case was closed. so we just carried on sunday and 2/3 nites a week visits (but no stopping over always gone by 9pm)... again he doesnt stay over its like once every 3 weeks so since last letter he stayed over once. i then this morning got another letter saying a compliance officer wants to visit im at my wits end its every month at the mo...ive got through to the man today and he said he is investigating a claim of fraud he wasnt intrested in anything i had to ask and he made me real upset with his mannor he said someone has reported us living together. he wasnt very nice on the phone at all and seems he had already made a judgement stressed out now any advice or expirances wud be great thanks x is there anything stating you cant get back with an ex partner?? at the min we are no were near the point of living together and we have not decided to get back together eaither it just seems for some reason im been harrased by the compliance team and i dont really get why? any help wud be greatful x

Ive been away on holiday and came home to find a card posted from above company saying to get in touch to sort a repayment plan etc with the agents name and phone number. Its a debt form Capital one for £794 a nd having looked on my credit file i defaulted on this in 9/2/2008 is that when i made the last payment? Being in Scotland can i have the debt Statue Barred as its 5 years and i have never written to them to acknowledge the debt.

Hi Again Guys well another day, another issue that bites from my previous life.... I have today received a letter, diverted from my old personal address, from Marston Group Limited. The letter is in reference to a "high court writ" against a company i used to own. I had no knowledge of any court action against this company. The letter was threatnig to gain access to my property (my previous property) to collect goods. The letter is addressed to the company name, but at a personal residential address. The company is currently non trading and hasnt traded since june 2012, and there is an application into companies house to have the company struck off. The creditor who has issued the court action against the company was aware of this 12 months ago and has received a letter stating such. Anyway, I have called Marstons on receipt of the letter to inform them that I dont live there any more and the person who does had nothing to do with the company. I also informed them that that address was a personal residential address and that it never was associated with any business or traded from there. I also explained the status of the company. The lady, awfully rude, then asked me for my new address, which I refused to give. SHe said she would trace me, find me and attempt to remove goods from my new home. I explained that this was unacceptable and that the business had no assets and everything in the house was either mine, my childrens or my new partners. She said they would still send the baliff anyway and attempt to collect and that I had to prove, with receipts, that the goods in the house were not that of the business and would have to provide receipts. Any advice on where I stand with this? I havent seen any court paperwork or dont know who to speak to to stop this harassment.