A DCA, Moriarty Law has contacted me over a phone bill from Dec 2012 (so not a 6 year debt yet). It was for £300 and I remember a dispute over the final payment in 2012 that I was unfairly asked for as I had terminated the agreement over the phone, but this seemed to have not been recorded. This debt was obviously “sold on” as I received one letter from a DCA in 2014 at my previous address in Suffolk and then nothing until this one arrived at my new address in Sussex a few weeks ago threatening court action if I didn’t pay from Moriarty. I didn’t respond as I thought they would leave it and it was a new address and I was scared that it could be a trick to check my new address and other debt agencies could catch up with me, if the details were somehow passed on from Moriarty. Well now a court claim has turned up. I am in two minds what to do. At the moment I can afford to pay it (as for the first time since 2010 I have managed to start earning out my way out of poverty for the past 6 years or so), but don’t feel I should because it was unfair charge at the time. However I have alot of stress at work at the moment and don’t want the hassle or uncertainty of making a defence (see my reasons below relating to possible unemployment and further outstanding debts) , so I am thinking of just paying it anyway. But my concern is that the DCA (Moriarty) might think I am an “easy touch” and look for other debts from my previous address (I assume they can look these up on Experian – I have never logged on to this as you have to give your current address and other creditors could find your new address - which has happened to other people I know). I have a few other debts from that time period in 2012 (2 * £500 debts from a bank account overdraft and the same banks credit card) and a different DCA is sending debt letters to my previous address but has not found me at my new address) where I am going to try and negotiate a settlement now I have some money. I don’t want to potentially jeopardize these negotiations by paying up "without a fight" to Moriarty’s claim against me. there are two issues here that that I am trying to resolve: 1. I am worried that if I pay this amount to Moriarty, that they will look up my credit history via e.g., Experian and go after other debts as I am perceived as an “easy target”. Do others on this forum know of this happening? 2. If I defend the claim and ask for proof that I owe this money I guess they have the necessary documents proving the debt from the original phone company. Or maybe not. However if I make a defence and I lose it (because they can prove the debt – is this likely after a previous DCA had passed it on to Moriartys?) , then I may have a CCJ against me and my current contractor will no longer hire me as they have a clause stating they won’t hire people with CCJ’s. _ I will go back to not having money and not being able to pay off or negotiate the debts! 3. Do you get a CCJ if you lose the defence and still pay the amount owed (how much more costs would incur fighting the defence assuming it also done via paperwork and quickly – at the moment the court fees and legal costs on top of the £300 amount to around £100. Any comments or help would be appreciated asap – as I have to do something in the next few days as the clock is ticking. Many thanks in advance.

I am considering setting up an E-petition when its back after the elections calling upon the government to recognise Ergophobia or fear of working as a recognised medical condition. I am interested to know of any experiences from people who may have this condition or know someone who has and gauge peoples perception of how they view people who suffer from this condition. Unfortunately the mental health community does not recognize work aversion / fear of work as an illness or disease and therefore no medically recognized treatments exist. Can you imagine the hell sufferers of this condition go through each day in order to survive, not only do they have to cope with limited finances, hounded by the DWP and stigmatised as work shy and lazy, there is no help available to them should they mention their illness to the wrong person and could find themselves in severe financial difficulties. The quicker this illness is recognised, the faster these people will get treatment.

Hello to everyone. A friend of mine directed me the consumer action group website and from what I have seen so far it is an excellent site. What brings me here is that I have been directed to attend a disciplinary on the 04-12-12 in the morning. I was advised of the disciplinary on the 30-12-12 at around 1600 and was given two copies of a letter advising that a disciplinary has been arranged. As per letter the purpose of the hearing is as follows: "will be to discuss an allegation that I have been by-passing the proxy server in order to access websites which have been banned and watching non work related material on the internet during work hours". I have also been handed a document by the name of "disciplinary procedures" in which under the title "rules covering gross misconduct" comes the following: "unauthorised use of the email and internet" Also in the employee handbook which I and the majority of colleagues I have asked have never received a copy of but potentially have signed a form claiming that we have viewed it, is contained the following statement under gross misconduct: "unauthorised use of the email and internet" To the story is itself. I am going to be honest. I have been going on the internet mainly to listen to songs from youtube, also go on a few other websites. But never no adult sites or any other "dodgy" sites. The internet itself has been locked by the company however another device which was already installed on my computer allows access to the internet. The issues are the following. I don't have a clue if the correct procedure is being followed by my manager in terms of the disciplinary. I was told on the 30-11-12 in the afternoon that I would be having the disciplinary hearing on the 04-12-12. My first question is should there not be any meetings held prior to the final hearing disciplinary? Also,I have not been provided details of the specific allegation itself or any other evidence that they have against me. I requested this evidence however was told this would be made available on the hearing itself? To me this doesn't seem correct as in a court of law all charges and evidence is made available to the defendant before entering court. The only information that I have been given so far is that another employee has caught me going on the net. They are going all out to ensure I get sacked by not providing me with information that I feel I am entitled to so as to disarm me and put me in a weaker position. Another point I have is that many of my colleagues browse the net or listen to music on you tube or even watch video's whilst working however I am the one that has been singled out. I am not sure if records of my internet usage will be put forward by my manager who is conducting the hearing however if this is the case evidence showing usage of my colleagues will also be available. A bit about myself and my situation at work. My manager does not like me. To a former colleague of mine on a night out she described me as a d***head and backwards. I'm a reserved character, quiet at work and this is one of the reasons I feel she is coming after me. On the office floor she has told me to shut up and threatened me with a p 45. In addition anytime overtime is offered as my situation makes it very difficult to take this offer up I have had to decline it on the majority of occasions which has not pleased her. I have also in a polite manner questioned genuinely policies/changes/cases of favoritism which again have not please her. Apart from the factors above which I feel are genuine I have not had a single day off work, am punctual, work hard and have high productivity. My point is I feel my manager has been searching for something to sack me on and this has put the fear of God into me. I fear If I am sacked I will struggle to ever find work again. I am not married yet and fear no one would want to marry me as I would not be able to support them financially never mind myself. Since being told about the disciplinary hearing on the 30-11-12 I have not been able to sleep or eat properly. I am under a lot of stress and am extremely worried. The tag of being sacked is something I didn't ever think that I would have to worry about. This is a terrible situation to be in. I have been at the company for a year and three months and not a single day off sick. My final question is that if i give my notice before the hearing, like tomorrow (03-12-12) would they still proceed with the hearing and potential dismissing? If so what If I called in sick and gave my months notice. IS this possible? I am sorry for all the questions. I have attempted to complete my own research but there is so much conflicting information out there. All of your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Chris

You've all probably heard this a million times before but I'm about to take my head out from the sand and attempt to feel human again. Coming from a living-on-the-breadline family I started university in 2006 and whilst my work was soaring my credit score was nose diving. I felt invincible and having access to so many overdrafts seemed like a never ending pot of money that I could dip into only having to pay it back when I was earning over 60k (I couldn't have been further away from the truth!). Like alot of students being lured into shiny banks with their free mp3 players and customer advisors literally begging you to join up to their bank and give you their cash, they always said the same thing..."you just have to pay this off when you finish university". I applied and received my first student overdraft which was maxed out and received phone calls and letters that I had to pay the amount off in full as I had not used the account in 2 months as my student loan had not yet been paid into my account. The account was closed and passed off onto debt collectors which harrassed me constantly (which I can understand as it was my fault and no one elses). I managed to pay this off in installments using my student loan and another overdraft which is when the cycle repeated 3 more times (stupidly). I moved around a couple of houses throughout the years as students do stupidly thinking my debtors would not be able to find me and just write it off. In 2009 I was contacted by a friend of a friend saying that he knew someone who had been bombarded with visits and letters from debt collection agencies from a previous address of mine, I have never been so embarassed. Knowing that I had messed up my financial status was one thing (a huge thing) but bringing in other people to my situation was something worse. Eventually I was given a CCJ due to my lack of communication and I haven't contacted them out of fear if I let them know where I am they will come and take all my belongings due to me not being able to pay the full amount. My two other overdraft accounts have been closed and I am called regularly to contact them. One of these is Halifax who I also hold a current account with where my wage is paid into, every time I check my account I'm absolutely terrified that they would have closed my account and used any money I had left to pay towards the arrears of my overdraft. I don't know whether to open a current account with no overdraft and have my wages paid into there whilst my debts are sorted out. I've recently moved to a new city where I have a full time job but I'm living hand to mouth, I would usually have £200 spare at the end of every month and wanted to contact my debtors but my girlfriend has recently become unemployed and I am having to pay 2 peoples rent leaving me with hardly any spare cash even after major budgeting. I haven't even updated my details with my bank out of fear. I don't know where to start, I've felt so guilty and irresponsilble for too long. I just want to be normal and not forever in fear or hiding my mobile phone from friends when a 08XX XXX XXXX number rings. Here are my list of debts: £1,400 - Wescot. CCJ £2,500 - Barclays. Closed account £1,000 - Halifax. Closed account (current account is still active) I want to clean the slate (as best as possible) and start my life with a breath of fresh air, no guilt and some money in the bank. At the moment I can't even get credit for a bar of Dairy Milk. Looking back I can't understand how I was such and idiot, so young and now marked with a terrible credit rating. What makes it worse is that all the other posts on this forum are from families struggling to make ends meet and getting into trouble through no other option but mine was due to not using any common sense. I hope someone can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. Apologies for the essay-long post, but I've never told anyone the whole story and thought the least I could do was to post it on here. Thanks for any advice in advance.