In deep trouble

Swishter

Hi and big hugs, the benefit thing really annoys me. I agree that the goverment should not be helping people puchase their houses but if someone has had a mortgage for x number of years and no claims they should be allowed to claim.
My only advice can be register with every temping agency shop etc you can and do try shift work which can at least tied you over. If you got a job at min wage for 30 hours a well thats a lot more money than you get now and you could claim tax credits.
Do you think you would be able to do something like chatline? You need never put in on your CV or even tell a soul bar the taxman (just tell the jobcentre you have a job) and the hours are up to you. If you want to know more PM me.
Also have you checked your Tax for last year? When you are PAYE you get allowances get split over the year, if you leave mid way through the year with no new job it often means you've paid too much tax. Last time I did this I got over £700 back. A quick way to work out is look at what you earned and tax you paid last year and confirm the figures with a calculator wuch as https://www.listentotaxman.com. The tax office/employers never though to tell me this and it was two years before I found out and claimed it back. It could be a nice chunk to pay of your mortgage for a few months and give you breathing space.

oojakapipi

Thanks for reminding me about the student union tomterm8 I had totally forgotten about them!

Great tip on the tax Swishter, I had just been running around the house trying to find p45/p60's, I am sure I could claim back some of my tax, can't quite work out how to use the calculator, will have a play with it this evening. How far back can you claim? I think I may have paid too much at a previous employer too.

I am wondering if it would be a good idea to ask for a crisis loan to pay the mortgage for a couple of months. It is after all a loan so the government would not be helping me buy my house and I think it is 0%. I looked on the jobcentreplus website at the rules for what they will and won't approve a loan for and mortgages are not mentioned. They will loan for rent payments though.........

oojakapipi

Great news,

I went to an agency this morning (I have been registered for 3 months - lesson to everyone go in and keep bothering them) and they have given me 8 weeks work (3 days per week), It doesn't quite put me out of danger as it is £650 (before tax, and I will be paying a lot for travel), but much better than jobseekers. I don't know how I will stand with jobseekers, as if they make me sign off and treat it like a new claim 8 weeks later I will be worse off with the mortgage. I will go and speak to them on monday.

Another great bit of news, a job I applied for a while back (which I really want) has contacted me today inviting me for an interview in 2 weeks! Only problem is, they will not employ anyone with ccj's so what do I do about the uni debt?

Best to be honest I think, but I am doing the 'small woman against the big uni' thing, how is this best approached without looking like a vigilante?!

Thanks very much to everyone who has helped me on this thread, you are all absolute stars!

Lesley

tomterm8

Do you have a copy of the original agreement?

I've PM'd you, BTW. (Should appear in the welcome oojakapipi box).

tomterm8

This advice is given with no liability, to be used at your own risk. I am not a lawyer:

(grrr... typed in letter 1, and the computer turned off on me for no reason! )

Right... first you don't have a CCJ, you don't even have a court action yet... a CCJ is a county court judgement and is issued by the court after a long and winding process that has not even started yet.

I would suggest you need to get a copy of the contract, so I've included a DPA SAR (letter 2). You need to send £10 with this - staple it to the letter, and take a photocopy of the cheque and the letter together. Then send it to the data protection controller of your university. If you don't know who it is, call their head office to find out. If they can't supply the contract, then there is no legal debt.

Letter 1: a formal complaint in to the university, also notifying the university you are in dispute of the debt. Send this to the archchancelor

and letter 3 (include a copy of letter 1) a notice of dispute of the debt in to the DCA, so they must refer the matter back to their client without further action until the dispute is resolved.

check all the letters for spelling, I am dyslexic and normally have a few errors per paragraph:) send registered post.

LETTER 1 -

YOUR ADDRESS

DATE

UNIVERSITY ADDRESS

Dear X,

I am writing to make a formal complaint under the universities complaint procedure. Since I have never received a copy of the complaints procedure, I write to you in the first instance and ask you to investigate my complaint and keep me informed of the results of your investigation.

During [DATE] I enrolled as a student with your university. At around the same time I was made unemployed, and placed under severe financial hardship. I asked for advice from student services, but they did not suggest any solution.

I was therefore unable to pay any money, and the university refused to allow me to start my course.

I received no further communication from the university, until the [DATE] of this year, when [ DCA NAME] wrote to me. They demanded payment of the entire course fees immediately and threatened to start court proceedings if I failed to comply.

Since I am unemployed I have no ability to make payment in full.

I understand that threatening or putting pressure on a debtor to pay in full, or to pay more than they are able to, is against the OFT guidelines on debt collection that you subscribe to as an organisation with a consumer credit license.

Further to this, your agents threat to start court proceedings is a very serious one for me as I am only qualified to work in positions where a CCJ would prevent me being employed.

It is my belief that demanding payment in full for a course that I was unable to attend as a result of financial hardship is in breech of the universities own policies.

In any case, it is my view that since I did not receive any goods or services from the university the charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the university; exceed any alleged actual loss to the university in respect of any breaches of contract ; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the university which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic v New Garage [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963.

If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that the entire cost of a years tuition THAT I DID NOT RECIEVE really do reflect your costs in this matter.

I ask that all further correspondance on this issue be conducted in writing to the above address, and that no agent of the university calls me in relation to this issue. I ask that the you remove my telephone number from the records that you store on me.

Yours Sincerely,
XXX.


LETTER 2 - to data protection controller at your university


[your address]



[their address]


[DATE]




Data Protection Act 1998
Subject Access Request


Dear Sir/Madam


ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx (or multiple numbers if more than one account)


Please supply me all data you hold on me in all relevant filing systems, expressly including :

1. Copies of all correspondence we have had
2. Copies of any contracts we have entered into, including but not limited to contracts regulated by the consumer credit act, and any documents that form part of these contracts,
3. transcripts of all recorded phone conversations


In addition I ask you to supply me with a complete list of transactions , payments and charges relating to my history with your organisation.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you.

If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me, then I shall be reclaiming them, and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 Data Protection Act subject access request fee.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

In addition I request that you will in future correspond with me only in writing to the above address, and that you remove my telephone number from your database. This request shall constitute a request under section 10 of the data protection act.

Yours faithfully,


[signature]


[name]




LETTER 3 - to your contact at DCA and to data controller.

YOUR ADDRESS


DATE

DCA ADDRESS

Dear Mr X

RE: ACOUNT NO

I write to inform you that I am in dispute with [UNIVERSITY NAME] over the above referenced account.

As a goodwill gesture I include a copy of the following correspondence [LETTER ONE – Date, person]

I ask that:

1. You hold action on this account until the dispute is resolved
2. You investigate this matter fully, as you are required to do by the OFT debt collection guidance.
3. You do not distribute data to third parties with relation to this account until this dispute is resolved, since such data may not be accurate and so may be in contravention of libel and data protection law. This letter shall constitute a section 10 notice under the data protection act 1998 until such time as the dispute is resolved.

In addition I request that you will in future correspond with me only in writing to the above address, and that you remove my telephone number from your database. This request shall constitute a request under section 10 of the data protection act.

Further to this, I notice you have never sent me a notice of fair use of my data, and therefore I ask you not to further process my data until you have complied with the relevant legislation.

I have sent a copy of this letter to the data protection controller so he/she can comply.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

XXX.

lynzpower

oojakapipi wrote: »

Great news,

I went to an agency this morning (I have been registered for 3 months - lesson to everyone go in and keep bothering them) and they have given me 8 weeks work (3 days per week), It doesn't quite put me out of danger as it is £650 (before tax, and I will be paying a lot for travel), but much better than jobseekers. I don't know how I will stand with jobseekers, as if they make me sign off and treat it like a new claim 8 weeks later I will be worse off with the mortgage. I will go and speak to them on monday.

Another great bit of news, a job I applied for a while back (which I really want) has contacted me today inviting me for an interview in 2 weeks! Only problem is, they will not employ anyone with ccj's so what do I do about the uni debt?

Best to be honest I think, but I am doing the 'small woman against the big uni' thing, how is this best approached without looking like a vigilante?!

Thanks very much to everyone who has helped me on this thread, you are all absolute stars!

Lesley

in terms of your JSA i understand they can suspend your claim as opposed ot closing it, as you wil be working temporarily.

Also, do bear in mind you may be entitled to working tax credit as a top up.

Also in terms of your house, you shouldnt have to sign off HOUSING BENEFIT due to your low income at this stage. So, it should continue on as normal.

Seek advice from DWP on this one, and call shelter for a 2nd opinon

full-time-mum

If your letter to the uni doesn't work then try the student union - they might organise a protest on your behalf.

Are we talking big red brick uni, smaller uni or old poly-turned-uni?

full-time-mum

oojakapipi wrote: »

Another great bit of news, a job I applied for a while back (which I really want) has contacted me today inviting me for an interview in 2 weeks! Only problem is, they will not employ anyone with ccj's so what do I do about the uni debt?

Surely, if they haven't taken you to court yet, you don't have a ccj so no problem (yet).

oojakapipi

Hi,

No, there is no CCJ yet, but their solicitors sent a County Court claim form, which I took advise on and was told that I had to admit the debt as I had signed a contract (the registation forms), so returned the County Court forms admitting the debt to the solicitor, asking them to stop the court action which will result in me getting a ccj on my file, copied the letter to the uni debt collection dept. Uni debt collection dept wrote back to me saying my offer was unacceptable and they have instructed their solicitor to continue with the court action, and to inform the court they want £30 per month. I don't really know what the court time scales are, the County Court claim was issued on 3-4-07, I sent the forms and letter to solicitor signed-for 17-4-07, don't know how many days they have before actual court date, for all I know it could have already happened:eek:

All this was done before I found this site, and I am a bit green about the whole matter as have never really been in trouble which will result in court action before. I then wrote a letter to the Head of College complaining about these events. The college is part of a larger (new in the last few years) uni, consisting of a group of very famous london art colleges, I don't really want to out them on here by actually naming them.

tomterm8, thanks for the letters, is it a good idea to send letter 1 even though I sent a letter to the Head of College?

Thanks.

tomterm8

PM'd you. At this point, I would say the advice you recieved was shockingly bad.

I'm not qualified enough to give you further advice, past what I said in my PM.