Could someone please offer me advice for the following situation: Had initial mortgage through broker with GMAC House repossessed following divorce £1000’s added in fees: missed DD; late payments etc Spent six years with ccj but now with A++ credit Paratas now coming after me for £5000+ repossession shortfall after selling the house In fact I have to appear in court in the next week or so to face a money order claim for the shortfall. My question is this: is there anyway that I can make a counter claim in 2018? I understand that several years ago people where making claims against GMAC but is this still possible today? Another question relates to mortgage arrears capitalisation. What is it and is it likely to affect my counter claim? I’m feeling rather desperate at the moment with the thought of finding £5000 to payout in the next few weeks. Thank you in advance...

Hello there, I have recently been away from my rented flat as I have been looking after a very ill family member. It was very stupid of me, but I never gave paying my council tax any thought. I have been out of a job for awhile, and have only just started to apply for benefits. When I returned to my property, I was greeted with a lovely notice of enforcement letter from Marstons Holdings, stating I had until the 10th April to pay. Well I did not get back to the property till the 12th. I have tried to contact Marstons directly, having no help whatsoever. I have contacted the council recovery team at Leeds City Council, and they have put my account on hold for 14 days. My question is does this stop the bailiffs from being able to attend my property for 14 days also? If not, has anyone else had dealings with Marstons, and how long did it take for them to attend your property after the due date on the notice of enforcement letter? Thank you for taking the time to read my dilemma. I look forward to reading your responses!

my UC payment was due, logged on to check all was ok like I do every month. They're paying me £24. I usually get around £700. They've said it's a system error and they can't give me a timeline just probably after Christmas I'll get it. I'm due it in 2 days. I have no food gas electric or money. Civic centre can't help me, disability means I can't go out right now so can't get to a food bank. And to top it off I was just finishing paying my overdraft back I got to clear rent debt from the initial 6 weeks of no payment. Now my bank said if it's not paid when I was due to be paid my account will be closed and there's nothing I can do about it. I've sold everything I have. (It's in cex to pick the money up tomorrow they had to test it all) so I've made about £150 but I can't even pay rent now. UC said it's a Computer error and they don't know when it'll be fixed, just not for a while. Social worker couldn't help me, support worker couldn't, both said they have 0 access to funds at the minute and told me to beg family . I don't have any family. I haven't done anything wrong it's UCS fault. What the heck do I do, it's absolutely freezing I haven't eaten in a couple days and I can't afford to take my medication. (Has to be taken in specific drinks I have to pay for which is £100+ a month ATLEAST, very rare issue) And the £150, I have to give bank £100 or my account will close I only really have £50 now. Sorry unsure how to edit but just to add due to medical condition I have to follow a STRICT no gluten no meat no dairy 10g of fat a day diet , if I don't I'll be very ill so foodbsnks are pretty out of the question anyway :/

We are being threatened with EDF getting a Warrant to disconnect us and wonder what the timeframe is for this, do they go to court, can we appear and appeal this decision as we are in a vulnerable position? ..serious financial issues over past few years, arrears in region of £5k! Emailed and been in contact with Exec complaints, they are hearing none of our problems and only want to execute the warrant. Have applied to EDF Energy Trust, but told to expect 6-12 weeks for processing, EDF not budging on the deadline of 31st August 2014, say they are being responsible in not letting our account grow any more. , it was mentioned about there needing to be a CCJ in place for arrears BEFORE a warrant can be applied for, does anyone know if this is true either? Many thanks for any help / guidance / advice anyone can offer, we are in the position of EDF giving us only until 31st August 2014 before kicking everything off David

2007 stepdaughter and her husband took a secured loan (against house) for £10k. They subsequently separated and daughter was left high and dry to pay mortgage, loan and bills etc. Inevitably she fell into arrears but managed in 2014 to pay off all the arrears and has continued to pay monthly. The loan term ends in April 2017 and she has now been told she must pay £32k in further interest and legal charges. If she doesn't pay they will repossess. This would bring the total cost of the loan to over £50k as she has already paid them in excess of £23k. Ombudsman has investigated but says her claim against them is out of time according the paperwork she has seen from Swift. I was thinking of writing to the company and asking them to extend the term and freeze the charges and perhaps to offer to pay a lump sum to reduce the cost - but we can only afford a couple of thousand. Would they be obliged to accept an offer to continue payment? We fear the only alternative would be for her to sell the house but she has three children of 17, 13 & 12. Would paying a debt solicitor for legal advice/intervention be likely to help in any way? Finally although permanently separated she and her husband are still legally married but has not even contributed child maintenance. Would it be reasonable to give Swift his contact details and ask them to serve proceedings on him also? As you can tell - we are in turmoil and need advice urgently on what steps we can take to prevent my stepdaughter and her children being made homeless.

Hi All, im looking for advice. On Monday 13th March a bailiff came to my door saying he had a warrant to enter and search my home with the intention of removing goods. I asked him why and was told that my son had an outstanding court fine for running a red light last summer some time and that it had not been paid so he was here to collect the debt in full or recover goods to the value of. He said he had a locksmith, removals van and the police on route but if I let him in peacefully and paid the outstanding amount he could cancel the police and locksmiths presence. I refused and said I would try to get hold of my son but he said it needed to be paid straight away and said if my son or myself could not the full amount of £561 within the next 10 minutes he would proceed with forced entry. After 15 minutes of trying to reason with him whilst also getting my granddaughter ready to go out and get my nephew from play school I said that if I found him in my house when I got back that I would call the police myself. Eventually he left leaving a card that said notice of intention to enter @ search your premises -removal notice and told me to ring him later that day to arrange payment. I told my son all about this later that evening and he says he knows nothing about any court fine and has not received any letters r notices in the past. On my return from the play group I did some research on line and found that he did have the right to force entry and remove my goods unless I could prove none of it was my sons, I tried to message him to find out which court the fine originated from and the exact date of it. He didn't reply. He came back yesterday morning with the same intention of removing goods, bringing a van, locksmith and police but this time he was able to get hold of my son on the phone and insist he pays the debt there and then or he would again proceed with entry. My son said that he had no knowledge of the debt, what it was for or when it was issued but to keep the bailiff away from my door he tried to negotiate a payment plan of half today (yesterday) and half next Thursday. This was refused he told the bailiff he would get back to him. The bailiff left after 10 minutes but said if the debt was not settled by 8pm he would be back before 9pm. Later my son told me that he had phoned the court and find out what he could do, he was informed that as he had no previous knowledge of the fine that he could apply for a statutory declaration and have the case reheard if he pleads guilty. What can I do in the mean time to stop the bailiff entering my home and taking my possessions whilst waiting to get the declaration and the court date. The bailiff as informed of my sons plan of action but insists he will be back today at some point to make an actual enforcement as he has already wasted 2 days here. What am I to do, im at my wits end, I have my 2 year old granddaughter here during the day and my 27 year old son who has a severe learning disability. Can some please advise thank you

Hi, I'm just wanting a little advice please. I could have the opportunity of a part time job of 10 hrs per week which is over 5 nights which is 2 hrs and the wage would be £72 per week but paid monthly. Now my partner claims ESA for both of us as he is unable to work.. we receive £115 a week ESA and Carers Allowance of £62 per week which I receive to care for my partner. my partner also receives £450 month DLA. we receive housing benefit of £89 per week but that is paid direct to council. Now would I be better with the part time job or would we lose some of the money. would we have to pay rent/council tax etc. all I was told is that we would lose £30 ESA per week but not sure if we'd have to pay rent and more council tax. Thank you in advance.

Hi all, Hoping someone can advise. I am claiming tax credits for myself and 3 children. Up till April 2015 I was single separated from my husband but still married. I lived in my own rented house, In April 2015 my landlord gave me a notice to quit and I couldn't get another property as I wasn't earning enough and they didn't take hb. My husband had just bought a house in his own name. he decided to let me and the kids stay there as he off shore most the time anyway. I called tax credit's to say that my husband would be using this as his postal address and staying here occasionally but in a separate bed. They advised as I am single it should be fine. All ok till today when I receive a letter to say they have information that another adult is connected to this address and they would like more information. they want proof that we live separately. Now I pay now bills except the sky and phone/internet and have my own bank account can provide them with no issues. But what else can I give? Shall i provide the mortgage statement that's not in my name? what else. Am i gonna get prosecuted as everything i read says its illegal to claim this way but Financially i have no choice. I am on very good terms with my husband and had no reason to file for a divorce and if i am honest would like to work it out one day but that's another story. I am so scared I am gonna go to jail and lose my children. please help what should I do? will I go to jail? Please dont judge me I just need some advice please.

Hi I know its Sunday so may be quiet but Im making myself ill just thinking about it. Here goes. Ive worked for my employer for almost 7 years. Our department is made up of what we call permanents and term time workers. Until July I was a permanent but due to the ill health of my husband i changed to term time. In our department 1 permanent and 1 term time work together. As i changed my role I would then swap to a new partner. I was placed with my new partner in July. All happy and no problems. I finished work in August and Im due back tomorrow. On Friday I received a call from my department manager to say that as another working couple weren't getting along (they'd worked together roughly 4 years) the term time lady has refused to work any longer her partner. I understand why she doesn't want to work with her. She's always off sick, gets away with anything and is a thief. This was reported to our department manager last year but she chose to ignore even though there were several witnesses. She still continues to steal but we'd given up reporting her as it was pointless. Ive now been told to keep the other term time lady happy I have to work with her partner and she is getting mine. Im gutted and have cried since Friday. Im not sure where to turn. I don't want to be associated with such a person. I respect my boss a lot but I just can't go back knowing Im the one who now has to be miserable. Our big boss is aware of the friction between the 2 ladies but is not aware of the thefts. If i were to go to her it would cause a lot of trouble for my boss as although she knew of the thefts she didn't do anything or report it to the big boss. Can anyone advise me what to do. Im making myself ill just knowing I'm due back tomorrow.

Help....worried sick mum here....and a newbie to this site, please tell me if I've forgotten anything on this post..... My daughter (age 16) was really stupid in July and tried to shoplift from Boots, she was stopped (thankfully - believe me lesson learnt - why does it always have to be the hard way?), the police were called who in turn called us. They had a 'discussion' with my very distraught daughter in front of me but said they wouldn't charge her and that this would be the end of the matter (before I got there they had already tried to calm her down telling here there would be no further action as she was falling to pieces).... As soon as the police left the security guard said that RLP would be making a claim (he didn't mention this once when the police were saying that there would be no further action taken and waited for them to leave), he pulled out a piece of paperwork and worked out what the amount would be (the goods taken were under 19.99, undamaged and recovered), so it was about £130.00. That evening I looked on your site and discovered the delights of RLP's reputation and waited for the letter. It has now arrived.... The amount they claim she attempted to take is way more than reality therefore the compensation cost has gone up (I believe they are set in brackets of value?). They have written a letter in a very 'you need to take responsibility for what you did' naughty girl way (believe me the police and we have utterly made sure she has taken responsibility) The letter is very much worded aimed at a juvenile, my guess is they got rapped on the knuckles for sending out scary letters to minors??? Otherwise the rest of it is pretty much what others have said in the past that they got from RLP, the problem though is that I can't find any recent threads. . is the advice still the same as in, write to them and say 'any liability to you or any company that you represent is denied' or have things changed? She would pay it off (slowly - she earns a pittance), I n fact she says that's what she deserves for being so stupid and disrespectful but I am worried that if she does it could show on a DBS check which she needs for work as well as me really being disgusted with the underhand way in which they dealt with this.. .(make no mistake I am totally disgusted at what my daughter did in the first place - just felt I needed to clarify that)

Hi, Back in December of last year i received a Contractual Breach Charge (fancy name for parking ticket) in a FREE hospital car park, £100 or £60 if paid within 2 weeks) The conditions of the car park is that you get a permit to put in windscreen, the first day that was fine, i collected it from reception and that was that, the second day i visited was the Sunday, reception was closed, no sign to say where to get permit from, just signs that say you needed one. I went in (couldn't ask a member of staff what to do for a couple of reasons) went out and bam.. ticket on car. The next day i went to the hospital i asked lady at reception and she said, you are meant to collect permits from the building next door when reception is closed. I appealed the ticket.. refused as expected. I then appealed to POPLA and that was also rejected. Them saying that regardless of the circumstances that i gave for not having a permit, the fact i parked there i entered the contract and so they have to refuse the appeal, they also stated that on the car park sign that stated you needed a permit (but not where to get it from) there is a helpline i should have rung.. That is all well and good but the helpline was closed at the time i parked. Aswell as all this i was also suffering badly from mental illness so wasn't completely thinking straight anyway. A couple of weeks ago i got a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd saying that the debt is now £160 and that failure to pay will result in another letter and an increase in the charge cost. I just tried to ring to ask if a freeze could be put on the fine for a couple of reasons, including that i don't currently work as am off work sick with mental health issues and the bloke on phone had a go at me, said i shouldn't have parked there or i should have just paid the initial charge. Which has left me crying and shaking, I don't feel i should pay this fine as i feel it is extremely unfair but i am scared witless about the charge getting bigger and having people turn up at my mums house to collect the fine. But i also don't have the money to pay it. Does anyone know for a FACT what will or can happen and what i should do please as i am desperate

Hi all. I am a single mother with three children aged between 4 and 10. I worked in a London law firm up until I was made redundanticon in 2007 and then my husband and I decided I should stay at home with the children while he went out to work. In June 2012 my husband and I suffered a very messy separation, he moved out, and we haven't been on speaking terms since and he hasn't been interested in seeing his children for quite some time. After my husband moved out I informed HMRC of the change and was awarded Child Tax Credits which have been paid to me until August this year when I received a notification that due to the fact there was the belief my husband had never left my Child Tax Credits had been stopped and I was asked to repay all the Tax Credits I have received since June 2012 which amounts to £13,000. I DO NOT have this sort of money. I am also no longer entitled to benefits such as free school meals for my children since I am no longer in receipt of Child Tax Creditsl I objected to these claims and so was asked to send a bunch of documents which I duly sent immediately. I then waited months for a decision to be made and last week I received a lettericon to say their opinion hadn't changed and I am still therefore not entitled to Child Tax Credits. However, the letter did state I could send in further documentation for their consideration, which I immediately did, and am now awaiting further correspondence from them. Could anybody give me some advice please? I am 100% entitled to those Child Tax Credits. Alongside this issue I am now being refused income support and housing benefit due to the fact I co-own properties in another part of the country. Since my separation with my husband I have been living on a chunk of money received from the sale of a property. However, the balance of my bank account had dropped very low and so I decided it was time to put in a claim for housing benefit and council tax deduction and to claim income support. However, I have been informed I am unable to claim these benefits due to the fact my ex-husband and I own properties in another part of the country and because I cannot give them much information about these properties because he always dealt with the properties (I just signed on the dotted line and provided the cash) and he took all the paperwork with him when he left and kept control of all the properties including receiving all income from rent. I have given the addresses of the properties and rough estimates of how much I believe them to be worth but I don't know anything about the mortgages or the tenants or any other details. My bank statements prove I haven't been benefiting financially from them at all and am not receiving any rental income. There is absolutely no way for me to obtain the information required due to the fact my husband despises me and absolutely refuses to speak to me. I have asked a solicitor but was told there is no way to force him to provide this information. I would really like to sell the properties in order to buy my own house but my husband refuses to sell. He also refuses to divorceicon me and therefore I am unable to sell the properties through that. I am so worried about what will happen if I can't claim ANY benefits. I have properties to sell but I am not in a position to sell them. I cannot live in them because they are so far away and our life is here. Besides, they all only have one bedroom. In two or three months I will have no money left in order to pay my rent or to survive in general. Please can somebody advise me whether I should be entitled to income support, housing benefit and council tax reduction even though I own properties in other parts of the country? Or is the expectation that I move into one of those properties, even though they aren't suitable and are far away from our life here? It would mean all the children changing schools and living in a cramped 1 bed flat. As I have already stated there is no way I can sell the properties. Or can I? Is there a way to force my ex-husband to sell the properties? I am EXTREMELY worried for our future. The ONLY income I have currently is £190 per month child benefit. That is ALL. I have £2,500 in my current account and once that runs out I have not a clue what I am going to do if I cannot claim the benefits and the Child Tax Credits I require in order to pay my rent and survive. I have terrible visions of me and the three children ending up homeless on the street. We have no relatives to help us out. The only option for the children would be to live with their father but considering he is mental and has frequently threatened to kill us all I couldn't bear for that to happen. He took me to court earlier this year to try to obtain residency of the children but thankfully his case was not successful. However, if we lose our home it would be our only option. I am so worried. Please can anybody offer me some advice in this thread on how I can go about proving to HMRC that my ex-husband no longer lives at my address and therefore claiming the Child Tax Credits to which I am fully entitled? Also what can I do about the fact I have no money to live on or to pay my rent and yet I cannot claim any benefits? Thank you so much in advance.

Hi this is my first post to the group- My name is paul and live in york. Back in 2004 i took out a home inprovement loan via safestyle uk for the sum of 2171 over a priod of 120 months and i took out payment protectection at a cost £471. Shortly after taking the loan out as i was contracting my contract wasn't renewed, upon trying to claim againt my payment protection i was informed i wasn't covered as i was classed as self employed (shame they never told me this when charging me £471) i had a dispute with them as i wasn't working and wasn't covered after months of haggleing i got them to agree to a pro-rata refund which would go onto my account to clear the arears. I started and work shortly after and started to make full payments since then never missed a payment and i thought my payments were up to date. Then about 3 years ago i started to get your accounts in arrears calls to cut a long story short the payment protection refund never appared on my account and once again in dispute but i continued to pay. Last september 2014 my loan should have finished but was informed i actually owed more 10 years on than my actual loan amount. I have exhausted all ppi possibilities they claim they don't have anything on the pro-rata refund despite me signing a form in their york office. the FOS say as its pre 2005 theres nothing i can do, welcome say it was sold via safstyle so they wouldn't be responsible even though i thought i was dealing with Welcome in their office. currently despite paying for 11 years my £2171 loan stands at £2852.77 i told the lady at welcome i had just had a stroke and couldn't deal with this at the moment. she turned round to me and said well as long as you relise if you die the debt gets passed onto your familly. This has really upset me i don't know what to do Surely they cant charge me for 11 years on a 10 year loan and actually owe more money. This loan if continues will never be paid off ? Please if someone can help i don't want this debt hanging over me or if i die want it passed on to loved ones. Apparently i have already paid 7000 on this loan.

Hello all from this forum, Lets start back from 2012, on september 2012 I was going to complete 14 year living in this country and for the ones who think I am another foreigner trying to reach the easy life, i can assure you that I have done more to the english elderly than a lot who has bourned here and I am very well documented about that. but the matter is not that yet. Two months before I completed the 14 years life in the UK which would give me the right to apply to the ''leave to remain'' the prime minister, Mr Cameron changed the rules of 14 year to twenty two years, but gave the right for the ones close to complete the 14 years, we need to prove our good character and that we lived in this country 14 years or ''close'' uninterrupted and also be able to pass from the test life in the UK which I done, so with all my homework done and a dossier made by myself explain everything I had done in this country during these 14 years and with all photos you can imagine sustaining my claim, it was a matter of time as it couldn't be any better application as far the home office were concerned, so got all together with the solicitor application and I issued two cheques, one of four hundred something for the solicitors fee and another of nine hundred something for the home office fee, my account had all the funds in it just waiting to the cheques to be presented and one day before the closure for the applications to the home office, I had mine sent by my solicitor. After one month got a letter from the home office confirming the receipt of my application and that I should keep waiting until their decision, by this time I had all the monies laying on my account ready to cover the cheques I issued, and then first come the four hundred something cheque cleared without any problem whatsoever and strangely the home office cheque was taking too long to be presented until after a month I got the letter from Barclays stating they had refused to pay my cheque to protect my money as I didn't have a mandatory signature and making things worst the letter from the home office saying that my cheque bounced and my application was not considerate, it was like the impossible happened, i couldn't breath, I couldn't react to that news and after proving the solicitor it was not my fault we agreed to sent the home office another cheque with a explanatory letter from barclays proving i had enough funds on my account and after a couple of months I had my entire application sent back to the solicitor office still saying that my application it was refused because my cheque bounced and that was their final decision and since then my live become a hell, after spending so much with solicitor and having to move due to the home office threat of deportation and many other events related drove me and my partner to contemplate suicide every single day until now, we are suffering from a very bad depression which make us fell really numb for anything and wanting to die, everyday I think about taking my life, it is so bad that I got phobia to answer and make phone calls and also having depraved sleep. So if anyone could help me with some advice I would really appreciate and please believe me, if I had done nothing for this country I would really leave without a question, but apart of learning to love this country I gave my bit for some guys life which really made a difference on their lives and would again and again if needed. Thank you all SM

Hi there I am new to this site but I really don't know where to turn at the minute. A few years a go I took out a business loan for around 140K. Due to a series of issues I had to walk away from the business which naturally left me with a considerable amount of debt that I haven't been able to pay. The loan was secured against two properties (one commercial and one my home). The bank repossessed the commercial property last year and until today I have had no contact from the bank at all when today they sent me bank statements for the business loan account and my overdraft account. I was absolutely shocked and now extremely worried to see that since February 2013 they have charged me £5,880 in interest on this. Also there is a deposit of 46K. I haven't paid anything in so I can only assume that this money has come from the sale of the commercial property. I just don't know what to do. I have had to correspondence from the bank. Surely if they have sold the repossessed property I should have been told about it and I am disgusted as prior to repossession I had the property valued at £110K. I need to write to the bank and raise these issues as a matter of urgency, they have dealt with the whole issue very badly. Can anyone please help with this. I don't know where to start or what my rights are. Can I try and regain some of the interest they have charged. Naturallly if they are going to continue to charge me over £600/month interest I'm going to get nowhere with trying to make any repayments. Also should I not have been notified about the sale - what is the normal protocol, I've never been through anything like this before and me and my family are now suffering considerably. We are now left with a shortfall of over£100K and they will be after the house next -what should I do, anyone, please???

Hi to all on your forum, i came across it by luck and i must say i am very impressed how helpful you all are. Firstly can i say i am doing this for my mum she is 82 years of age and im knocking on a bit myself. me and my partner Kathy look after mum. Im not very good with grammar or spelling so i hope you can forgive me. Here we go. early September 2013 we decided to think about having a single story extension built onto mums house, mum had not been that well and we recognised that at some point we may need to move her bed downstairs to make things easier. Anyway we asked a builder, family friend of 20 years to give us a price on the work. we felt we could trust him and he would be sypathetic to mums situation. He emailed us a quotation and then popped round to finalise the details, the pice was what we could afford and the time scale of 8 to 12 weeks was fine. The extension was to add to what already existed and open the house up. The price was £20500 to include some sliding doors and roof windows, the builder had valued these at £4000. A deposit of 5K was paid via bank transfer and work started on about the 7th of october. The doors and windows quoted for were not that great so i decided to help mum out, we paid for the better doors 6K (fitted) roof windows 2K and a kitchen 4.5K. Over the following weeks mum paid 2 more payments of 5K each, the last payment was on the 21st november 2013. She had paid 15k in total. I will try to cut the story down. The builder told us that it was permitted development and did not need planning permission and he would get building control involved. This never happened. On 2nd december the sliding door team arrived to fit the doors. They said the level of the 6m span that the builder had made was 30mm out of level, at this point i started to realise that things were not good. Work trickled on till the xmas break so on the 27th dec i rang the structural engineer who had done some drawings for the work to ask questions. The engineer had done the drawings for our builder and had worked for him before. He lived near us so popped in to have a look, i asked if he thought we needed planning permission. he said he thought we were right and contacted his architect and they both came back on the 28th dec. The architect said we needed planing permission, he immediately drew up the plans and submitted them. The building inspector turned up first week of Jam 2014, he's said the footings dug by the builder were too shallow and dangerous and made the builder underpin everything. unfortunately mum had had 2 mini strokes late sept 2013 and thankfully we had moved her out before xmas when the back wall was removed. When the back wall was removed we had to sleep downstairs as the house was unsecured, we are still sleeping there now and mum is still having to live away. we have been told the he has broken the law by removing a wall mounted gas fire, although the gas has been turned off with a small tap, left electric cables for lights and sockets hanging from the roof and walls, removed an asbestos pipe and left it on the drive. On the 17th jan the state of the house was, 2 rsj,s in back wall removed no roof on the extenuation, the builder walked in and said. Mums money was spent and that was that, took his tools and left. we have had a report done by the architect and it is not good, wall cavities are too small so not insulated, un level and unsightly brickwork, no cavity trays, soil pipe no access, damp proof coarse runs below ground, bi fold doors threshold is 2" lower than floor level, needs moor steel work to support badly fitted RSJ's, the list is endless and supported by the building inspector. we have sent him letters to ask for a refund or to tell us what his intentions are, we have told him we are getting 3 quotes to determine how much has been spent up to press, cost of remedial works and to finish the job. Early quote are showing: estimate of works and materials so far 6.5K estimate of remedial work 6K estimate to complete including remedial works 20K He has sent me an email saying i am been libellous towards him and has offered a goodwill gesture of 2.5k saying he thinks 5k will finish the job. I have said he is in breech of contract and did not even give us a 7 day cooling off notice and that we are protected under the Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 (As amended). We are now getting no replies from him, i have sent him a letter stating that. Dear xxxxxxxxx, Just to let you know formerly that we are getting 3 separate independent quotes to assess. 1. cost of build to present state excluding roof tiling. 2. cost of remedial works to put right all building works substandard or not up to current building regulation. 3. cost to finnish the build. We have been advised to give you the same opportunity to get your own 3 quotes and you may want to get an expert report on the current state of the build. There is a deadline for this as of 28th Feb 2014. Please make sure your Builders and or inspectors are here before this date as works to make parts of the build safe as outlined in our mitigation letter will start on 3rd March 2014. We are waiting for a visit from Gas Safe people and waiting for a call from trading standards. This is where we are, please can you tell us were we stand. we are still sleeping on the floor in the lounge and have been since before xmas. We are honestly at our wits end. regards K

I am one of 4 adults living in a house provided by Birmingham City Council. I hope you can help Almost 3 weeks ago our combi-boiler broke leaving us without central heating or hot water. The council attended promptly after reporting it (but beyond their 24 hour promised call out) and said that a total replacement would be advised. The boiler has been fixed on average 3 times a year ever since it was fitted and is in a terrible state. After many phone calls, failed promised visits, we are still without heating. They claimed they have to fit scaffolding before a replacement could be executed, but they have not turned up on the two promised days to fit it. As far as we know, no scaffolding means no boiler. The council have said that the job will be done by 3rd Feb which means we will be over a month without heating and hot water. They gave us two tiny fan heaters to heat a 3 bedroom home. Our house is on a meter and one room consumed £7 of electric in a 14 hour period. Heating water via kettles and pans to wash in a bowl with a jug is costing us dearly and my mother is becoming ill and depressed thanks to arguing with the council in a bid for cooperation. We are becoming quite desperate. We are a working household and the council promise to call before turning up without notice, they fail to call leaving us to come home to 'We missed you notes'. They threaten to charge a £40 call out fee should we not be there when they visit without notice. If we take days off work, they don't turn up. They have ZERO comprehension of how much this is costing us. We have no date for repair and are becoming quite distressed. One occupant in the house has a heart complaint, the other diabetes. We have contacted the higher management of Morrissons (the company who do the councils boiler repairs), the council, and our local MP, we are getting nowhere. How do we sort this. Can we be compensated for the electricity? Should we have to pay full rent for no hot water or heating for a month? Thankyou NB: The council told us that a partial repair had been noted at our home on the boiler. This is lie. When confronted the council worker said that he actually didn't do a partial but posted a 'Missed' note through our door - he did not. We feel our home is being used to process claims for repairs that are not happening. Another visit at 9.30 in the morning was logged as an 'out of hours visit' according to the council. We are not receiving the service that they think we are.

Hi everyone, New to all of this so don't understand too much of the jargon as of yet, but hope someone can offer some advice for my situation as I am clueless! My situation: 21 year old University student Debts: £2200 - Nationwide credit card £500 - HSBC overdraft unpaid £500 - HSBC credit card £1400 - Co op overdraft unpaid So I'm consistently receiving letters to my parents house threatening court action however I now live at university where they don't have my address and I have completely ignored contact with all of them. These debts were all 1 - 3 years ago when I really was a silly young boy with a terrible spending habit, a gambling addiction and a desire to not work. I also did lie on some of these application forms to obtain credit (not all but on some saying I had an income when I didn't) Not pleasant I know. But I really have changed things around tho, I'm at university studying a course I love, focused on being successful in my future career now, budgeting the money I do have, never gamble, infact rarely buy anything I don't need and Now I'm wondering the best plan of action is for my debts. With the small amount I do get from my student loan and Saturday job I would still have nowhere near enough to even be able to consider making minimum repayments to these debt collectors. At this moment in time with 5 days a week at university, 1 day a week working I simply think adding an extra day of working to make small insignificant payments to these collectors could jeopardise my potential for being successful at University. Does anyone know roughly how long I can expect until I'm issued a CCJ from one of these companies? What I'm really concerned about Is that to all these companies I always put down my address as the one at the time, being my parents house, can this affect them in any way? If I wasn't to keep up repayments could they take assets from my parents house? This is my worst nightmare tbh! Would anyone have any advice for the best course of action now?

Hi, I need some advice please, am worried sick. Letter came yesterday from hmrc compliance saying I did not respond to their request for info regarding child tax credits award for 2012-2013 tax year in November. This letter I genuinely did not get so need to ring them tomorrow. I am not definite about what they want, but have to admit here that I've been overpaid because I did not declare all my income. On checking P60s (frantic trawl thru bags of paperwork) I can see I have also claimed for 2011-2012 when I wasn't entitled. I'm not attempting to hide what I've done, initially my income estimate was genuine for 2012 but I worked more hours than usual and got paid more. Didn't have P60 when I renewed and again guesstimated, thinking I could fix it later. Just kept putting it off, rubbish with organisation and then became too scared to ring (stupid I know). Now what I want is it all to go away. I plan to ring Monday, tell them I've made a mistake and didn't fix it, and own up to the year they've questioned and the previous year (2010-2011 was accurate). My life has just been a disorganised mess and I honestly didn't go into this deliberately, but admit I've been a fool to let it go on this long, just got worse as time went on. What are my chances of just being asked to pay it back (with or without a penalty, don't care) or is it likely I'll go to court? Intend to offer to pay all back. Very scared indeed, what an idiot. Please help.

Hi all. I am in desperate need of some help & advice, so after spending some time trying to find info off the net have ended up at the CAG forum. my car insurance was due for renewal on the 23rd of this month & I received an email from the insurance company saying that they would automatically renew my insurance & that I didn't need to do anything & it would all be done for me. Well the renewal quote was completely ridiculous (even though I was apparently getting some sort of huge loyal customer discount) so I shopped around & got a quote that was £200.00 cheaper & paid in full with the insurance to continue on the 23rd of this month when my old one ran out. I tried to contact the insurance company on a few occasions when I got in from work but the office was always closed by the time I got in, as I didn't want them continuing my insurance on the renewal date I requested "call back" from them, this call back never materialised, so I tried again, this time using their "contact us" page I was able to leave a message explaining everything to them & also had to include my Name, policy number, phone number & email address. At the end I received a generic message saying thankyou & someone would be in touch IIRC within 24 hours. I didn't hear anything back, so after a couple of more days I once again requested a "call back" from them & this time At last they called me back, I explained everything to the guy on the phone about trying to contact them & giving them the info etc & he passed me on to another department, I explained it all again & the guy said its too late now because the money was taken from my account on the 17th of this month I told him that it wasn't to late as I had not requested this & in fact had requested the opposite, & that I was already insured with someone else from the 23rd of October, he said would I like to cancel it then & I said Yeah Of Course! he then said he had cancelled it & he would refund the £549.19p back to my bank account. I asked if it would be straight back into my account & he said it could take up to 3 working days to show in my account but I would get it back (I had to explain the situation to a friend & borrow some money as I didn't have enough left in my account to cover my mortgage & other direct debits) Well that was all said on Monday 21st October, today is Friday 25th October & still no money refunded to my account. I contacted the bank & was Shocked at the (none existent) help I received from a sarcastic girl on the phone, I was told that because it was a card payment & Not a direct debit they couldn't do anything about it & nearly all insurance companies do it now & I would have been made aware of it when I renewed my policy last year (I certainly was not as I would have refused to allow them to automatically renew it without my permission) & was told that I should have cancelled it before any payment was taken & she also said if I did cancel any future payments from insurance companies, to realise that I would never be able to get insured with them ever again because the cancelation is permanent & cant be reversed. she said that she would contact the insurance company, & if they say that I did cancel it & they were supposed to pay me it back they would take it back on my behalf, HOWEVER... if the insurance company says it hasn't been cancelled & they weren't supposed to be refunding me, then there is nothing she can do about it & I would have to just sort it out myself with them???????? She couldn't give me any sort of timescale of when I would have the money back in my account or anything. And after the experience I have had & reading the horror stories on here about insurance companies ripping other people off, I now have serious doubts about them handing my money back to me anytime soon & it appears that if they ever do hand it back it isn't anytime soon & certainly without putting up a battle first. I seriously think that insurance companies should be set stricter rules on how they operate because it seems that a Lot of them are only a stones throw away from crooks/thieves. I'm ranting on when what I really need is some good help & advice on where I go from here in getting my money back, I just simply cant afford to lose £549.00 & the only reason I pay my insurance in one go is because I save it up over the year to save on the extra costs making monthly payments. any help or advice you can give is greatly appreaciated. Darren

Hi everyone, Fantastic forum with lots of great advice. I have been researching things relevant to my situation but I think the best thing would be to post my queries and hope that some of you can help me clear things up. I am beside myself with worry, and I'm constantly feeling down and really don't see how I can get a proper life back. I fell into arrears with a vanquis credit card when I fell into money troubles through my business not doing very well for a few months. I did contact vanquis to explain my situation and request that they froze any charges / interest etc... .those requests were ignored and the letters demanding payment continued along with the constant phone calls.. .the phone calls really get to me, so much so I have now taken to leaving my phone on silent. I am in no way trying to escape my debt, I just wanted them to understand my situation and agree to some "fair" repayment plan. I received a notice of default from vanquis dated 16/7/13, then a confirmed resident letter from impact a few weeks later, and in the last couple of days a letter from resolvecall stating they are acting on behalf of vanquis and they have been instructed to collect any outstanding balance... .the letter also states that if I fail to contact vanquis within 3 days then a doorstep visit will be made. I am unsure if I have jumped the gun slightly but I decided to send each of these companies a CCA request letter which also included a section regarding doorstep visits and how I wasn't granting permission. I received a response from resolvecall with them stating that they were confirming my CCA request along with the £1.00 postal order I sent. ..but if I wanted a copy of the agreement then I should contact vanquis directly, and in the meantime they will continue with their actions as per vanquis's instructions. The p.o was returned also. Where do I go from here, I feel like they have dismissed my CCA request. I'm not very good at dealing with people at the best of times due to lack of confidence in subjects I in all honesty don't know much about, but I am feeling totally intimidated and scared of what the future holds. I would really appreciate any advice anyone can offer....letters to send, dates and timelines etc. Thanks.

Hi, I am new here and have read some advice about debts being statute barred. I took out a loan with welcome finance approx 2004 (can't remeber exactly), and as far as im aware, I haven't spoke to them or paid in 6 years. I went through finance problems and ignored them as well as informing them that this person had moved out. I know its daft I was desperate at the time as had no money. I recieved another letter via a debt agency last week saying I now owe them and if I don't come to an arrangement then they 'may file legal proceedings'. I don't currently have a ccj, and desperately don't want one as I have worked hard these last couple of years to improve my credit file and finances. What I need to know is if I can contact this company only via template letter stating it is statute barred or not? I am almost certain that I have been in touch or made any payment in a good 6 years, but have no way to absolutely confirm this as haven't dealt or spoken with this account for so long. Is it worth sending the template letter stating I refuse to pay as it is statute barred? I know not to sign it though too. Please, any help would be great and what possible reply they might come up with

Hi, Another newbie here, and I never thought I would become this desperate but having thoroughly read through a lot of people's own issues I get the sense that I am in the right place. I really need help to understand the options I have - So I will give you a bit of background. I lost my job in September 2012 and it has taken till June this year to start a new job. In between that time being on benefits for the first time in my life, all my bills became a nightmare - I have the following debt: LloydsTsb Overdraft £1224 - which I have a reducing overdraft payment of £13 per month LloydsTsb Credit Card £17,471 (was £15,000 but couldn't pay the minimum and it has stopped at £17,471) LloydsTsb Loan: £14,977.33 unsecured - now with Wescot as of today 20/07/2013 as a letter has arrived with the 'instructed by our client to collect the outstanding balance on their behalf' When I lost my job I went to my bank manager to see what she could do and it turns out she joins the same foreign call centre queue I would have - after 30 mins we agreed the reducing overdraft payment of £13 - but the rest they wanted £200 for the loan £200 for the credit card - and I was on JSA of £307 per month so that was never going to happen I wrote to the LoydsTsb Credit card and loan sections saying I would come to arrange when I had employment - they have never written back until Moorcroft got involved - I filled in their online Income/Expenditure sheet and of course being on benefits it didn't help them - that was in March 2013 since then nothing until today with the same loan but Wescot - I have got a very good job now (in 2nd month) and would be happy to be in some arrangement however my brilliant landlord has rent arrears with me of £1,800 and I have given him priority as well as my retired parents picking up the slack from benefits of £3,000 over 8 months so I wish to pay them off first. I really do not want to put my new job in jeopardy as my new employers are brilliant but they would not take any CCJS or debt letters well in fact I know that if they felt I couldn't manage my debt and it came to their notice I would loose my job. I rent my my house - I have had to open a monthly paid ThinkMoney account as my all my (empty!) accounts are with LloydsTsb and they originally notified me that if I had any money in any of their accounts they could take it to pay down my debt. I really would appreciate advice on how to reach a satisfactory conclusion keeping my debt within my control rather than it going to court and having my employers involved - I have no real assets except for bits of furniture and a 12 year car - and I earn £1,800 per month net as of last month's first paycheque

Hi - I am completely devastated. I received a call today from a HCEO who advised me that I owe them £1945 for a debt. I was unaware that there was a debt and have never received the letters from the courts - the call today was the first I had heard of it! In any case i dispute the debt entirely - the original debt is for £600 which i allegedly owe to a former business partner. To cut an excruciatingly long story short, i went into business with two individuals whereby i was MD and the only employee who actually did any work. They paid £500+VAT legal fees to a lawyer to allow me to work for them. It was to negotiate out of my non-compete with my previous employer so whilst it was not a company debt it benefited the company. There was never an arrangement made to pay back this debt or even that it was a debt. in any case an individual paid this money. I am not sure how an individual can secure a high court writ for £500+VAT. I did not get a chance to put forward my argument and want to take steps to get the judgement set aside Having browsed through the forum i see people have mentioned asking for a stay of execution. I do not owe this money Can someone advise whether or not I need to file both N244 & N255? BTW i am on JSA so will be filling in the EX160 - can that be used for a N244 and N245 or just the N244? i need to take action asap btw CCJ was made at Northampton court MArch 13 and then high court in May 13 the bailiff called me today and alledges he attended my property on 30th May. He did not because I was in

Hi there , second time i've done this as somehow I cant find my other thread, so hope this works. If anyone could help me completing my statement on the N244 form. I have an eviction notice/ warrant of possession on 13th Jan and need to get this form in by Fri latest to try and get eviction stopped by next week. I am wondering do you keep it short and sweet or should I go into great detail of how the last time I went to court the judge ruled at 450 per month and when I used to phone them GE MONEY they wouldn't except payment and wanted 600 PM instead. This resulted in me paying off other debts. My loan was for 22'000 in 2007 after having a previous loan with them for 11'522.50 (this includes ppi 1522.50, which I am asking for back) and being encouraged to consolidate to get a bigger load ( I opted out for ppi on second loan). To cut a long story short over the next few years GE money didn't write to me and then a year later bombarded me with around twenty missed calls throughout the day, payments were irratic, sometimes missing couple of months but then always trying to give lump sums to cover the missed payments. I have had several agreements in place, in june 2011 was set at 900 pm to which i paid on time for 5 months but then christmas came and couldnt afford it. I have problems with car breaking down on me, loss of 2nd and 3rd jobs ( bar work, sandwhich shop), son going to uni and getting kicked out of flat - resulting in him needing deposit for somewhere else to live, loss of tax credits and so on.. there is more. Due to this situation I have now begged my managers for more hrs and have achieved this giving me a wage of 1400 instead of 900. I also have small income from job at sandwhich shop and bar work two nights per week. And now my parents and son know my situation, my son is now going to stay with his grandparents when he's home and I am renting his room out at 70 PW to a friend., which will help with my outgoings to my mortgage. I have paid over 17'000 over the years but with agent costs at 90 pound a go, as well as interest charges GE are now saying I owe 36'000. I have 14months left on the loan and have just paid them 3000 through my internet banking. Will probably have another couple of hundred before i go to court. if I get the form in on Fri, I am hoping to have a court. There is prob equity in my home of about 10'000 after my mortgage so that is all GE may get. Are all these points worth mentioning on my statement to the judge? Also what type of judge will I need? Please please any information is much appreciated. Ive not stopped wretching all week.