The MoD has published its Strategy for Veterans, a 10 year plan around how support for veterans should be formed.

The Credit Today Awards 2016 was held two days ago and the Best Vulnerable Customer Strategy Award was given to Marston Group. The Credit Today Awards is the largest awards ceremony in the industry. Marston Group received the award for a range of vulnerability initiatives established throughout its business, in support of customers that are potentially in need.

Hi Everybody, I have a local cafe business which I am looking to relocate to a better, more prominent area of my town. At present, I have been trading for less that 1 year yet the business has seen significant growth and customer footfall is increasing despite it’s current location within the town’s local market (which has seen better days!) Recently, a rare opportunity to rent a shop on the main busy high street has presented itself and I am very eager to move my operation to this new premises. The shop is smaller than my existing premises, however I would be looking towards providing ‘food to go’ rather than offering a seated menu. Furthermore, I would be keen to carry on renting my existing kitchen facilities to produce the ‘food to go’ for the new shop, with the existing cafe operation being reverted back to how it was before I took over – moving my branding etc to the new shop. I have a 2 months waiting period before the occupiers of the new premises move out. What would be the best strategy to help me pull this off successfully? All advice and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated

Just Released Do the "www dot" - gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/499432/BIS-16-8-student-loan-repayment-for-sustainable-higher-education-strategy-February-2016.pdf if I cant post this i think an admin should upload for further information to group

Hi All, There are some debts that I'm trying to deal with, some of these debts have been going on for some time now.However I have a copy of my credit report and a sizeable warchest of around £15k promised. HSBC: Credit card balance: £3,500,Unenforceable CCA,Defaulted Loan: Balance = £4,000, defaulted Bank account = 900, defaulted Lloyds Loan1: Balance = £6,500, Defaulted, taken out in 2004 Loan2: Balance = £7,500, Defaulted, taken out in 2007 Bank account = £2,700, defaulted Credit card: Balance = £6,300, Defaulted, taken out in 2007 Halifax Loan: £6,500 balance, defaulted, pay £1 token sum I have had all the debts passed onto DCA over the years, but now I'm thinking of writing to the actual banks with a F&F, I have done this to the DCA but none has since accepted. Also, there is often confusion on which DCA to deal with as it seems to be getting passed over and over again. Any ideas anyone.

A big thank you to everyone on this site for giving so generously & freely of their time & knowledge. It is invaluable, and has helped me to go from a position of being helpless & hopeless to one of having a lot of control over my financial position. They say knowledge is power and that is certainly true where debts & creditors are concerned. I hope my request for assistance below is not going stretch your generosity too far:-) I need some help with Blair, Oliver Scott (BOS) (Bank of Scotland DCA). My questions are at the end of my preamble. Here is a brief background to the situation: 2010 lost my job, Owed £20K on five credit cards. Continued with payments on the cards using redundancy money and pension Income thinking I would get another job (I was 63 at the time, now 65). I didn’t and ended up in a financial mess. Took advice from National Debtline, scoured this forum for user experiences and then Set up a DMP with CCCS. Started July 2011, creditors agreed and also agreed not to add interest or charges to the accounts. Everything was fine until Halifax (Bank of Scotland) passed the debt to BOS. At first they agreed the DMP but then began to send the usual ‘ThreatO’grams’ , coupled with 2 or 3 phone calls per day. I ignored them and sent the Standard anti-harassment letter from the forum library. This had some effect but I was concerned about the threats of court action., so I decided to take some action to limit the possibility. NOTE: I am still running the DMP and I intend to continue doing so. No other creditor has caused me hassle, and so I was reasonably confident that BOS would not go to court under the circumstances. The DMP is fully in accordance with the Common Financial Statement used by the courts, and administered by CCCS , who are respected in the Industry. However, just in case, I wanted a solid defence (defences) of some sort. I was sure they would not be able to supply the original agreement with Halifax due to the way it was initially set up in March 2007, so I sent a CCA request with a postal order for £1 (which they used as a payment against the debt !). My thinking was that I might be able to put the debt into dispute and prevent any future judgement, whilst still behaving reasonably myself and thereby showing BOS as being unreasonable if they later went to court. Today I received a reply, posted two days after the prescribed period time limit expired, enclosing a reconstituted agreement which is materially different in a number of ways from the original, they did not include a statement of account as requested and did not include other documentation which I think they should have. Questions:- 1) If the reconstituted agreement is materially different from the original then they have not complied with S78 Correct ?? (I can post all documents on-line if you want me to??) 2) Problem is, how do I use that to my advantage because to do so would mean admitting I have the original. 3) As they have not sent a statement of account does that by itself, put them in a non-compliant S78 position?? 4) Also the OFT guidelines state in relation to the CCA:- ‘Where an agreement has been varied in accordance with section 82(1) of the Act, the OFT considers that, by virtue of Regulation 7 of the Copies of Documents Regulations, the duty is to provide not only a copy of the agreement as originally executed but also either a copy of the latest variation given in accordance with section 82(1) of the Act relating to each discrete term of the agreement which has been varied, or a clear statement of the terms of the agreement as varied in accordance with section 82(1) of the Act. 2.28 Although some creditors have apparently considered it is sufficient to provide a copy of the current terms and conditions (that is, 'a statement of the terms of the agreement as varied'), that does not comply with the requirements of Regulation 7. In Carey v HSBC Bank plc, there was detailed analysis of this issue and it was confirmed that 'include' meant that the documents showing the variations were to be supplied in addition to a copy of the original agreement.’ Halifax only included a copy of their current terms & conditions but there have been several variations of the original agreement. How do I use that omission without falling foul of the problem I raised in question 2 ?? 5) Would you agree that a DPA section 10/12 request is valid in a dispute scenario ? 6) Problem is, I want to make a SAR and the above action would make that hard? 7) If I could legitimately now place the account into dispute, how long do they have to comply with the CCA S78 before they commit offences under other Acts and compound their problems. (e.g. CPUTR ) 8) If at the end of the day I cannot dispute the account, and ‘if’ they ever go to court, can I use the Civil Procedures Rules 4.6, pre-action disclosure ? Is it still the case that BOS would have to produce the Original agreement and not a reconstituted agreement as per CCA S78(1) ? Thanks in anticipation. I have another subject to raise about Blair Oliver Scott but I am not sure where to post it. It is regarding Accounting anomalies & possible trading violations, where would you suggest?

Hello, 1st time poster so sorry if in the wrong place ! My situation is this I have credit card debt of around about 12k which I was maintaining up untill Xmas last and then had to stop.I live in Australia and have done for last few years now so not a UK resident. CC co have sold onto a DCA Crapquest who are writting letters to my last UK address which is my parents address, my folks are getting phone calls asking for me and just saying does not live here and nothing more etc. Last letter was threatening legal action etc . My question is do I contact the DCA tell them I am not UK resident and give them a PO box to write to then ignore ? Obviously I do not want my parents to be hassled any more - I have read various posts etc on this great site which leads me to believe that a CCJ cannot be issued to a non resident . I have checked and I have nothing against my name as yet - OR do I just keep quiet and wait out the next 2 months or so till they give up but risk having them issue a CCJ against my last UK address .........my folks are cool with dealing with the hassle if this is the best strategy . Before the credit card sold the debt on they did track me to Aus via Google search etc leaving a few messages on my business Skype number - so I assume the DCA have this info too. Any comments would be greatly appreciated