This supposed message from PayPal is a SCAM

Warning Notification

Dear PayPal Costumer,

It has come to our attention that your PayPal^® account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.

However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records before May 02, 2012.

Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal^® account activity will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

Click here to update your PayPal account information

Copyright © 1999-2012 PayPal. All rights reserved.
Information about FDIC pass-through insurance

It certainly looks good, but this email is just trying to get you to log onto a BOGUS account so that your security details can be stolen!

Providing Waterless Urinals – McDonald’s

Saving Water and Saving Money

I have to say that I was quite impressed with McDonald’s toilets the other day. Not only were they spotlessly clean, they also had waterless urinals installed. Not only is that environmentally friendly, it also must be saving them a lot of money on the dreaded water bill. I have to say that it is great to see a company like this leading by example.

Whilst testing the urinal in McDonald’s, it certainly made me think as to whether there is anything that I can personally do to save money and help the environment.

Do You Really Want to Lose More Money?

Here is a SCAM e-mail that we received today claiming to be from Barclays Bank:-

“Dear member,

Your account is suspended due to the number of incorrect login attempts.

For your protection, we’ve suspended your account.

To reactivate your account please follow the instructions in the link below:

https://ibank.barclays.co.uk/olb/y/LoginMember.do

If not completed until April 28, we will be forced close your account.

Please remember that this is the last time you will receive this email, please enter the information carefully.

Note: If you receive these e-mail in your BULK/SPAM section please add to your address book notice@barclays.co.uk

Thank you,
Customer Support Service.

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.
For assistance, log in to your Barclays Bank Plc.Online Bank account and choose the “Help” link on any page.

Barclays Bank Plc.Email ID # 1009″

 People are still falling for this!! NEVER fall for this trap. If you are ever in doubt contact your bank first!

It certainly does look realistic:

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Excellent Full & Final Settlement Offer

The enclosed is an excellent offer from Aktive Kapital:

“Aktive Kapital Call us free on 0800 54287329

We don’t want you to miss out!

OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE 75%
£4687.20 DISCOUNT

Dear Mr

Following a recent review of your Aktive Kapital account, we can see that you have been making payments to a Money or Debt Advice agent. They have been forwarding your payment each time so we thank you for maintaining your arrangement.

We sometimes offer our customers special discounts to help clear their accounts and we don’t want you to miss out. You can continue to make payments as you do now, or if you are able to, you can take advantage of our fantastic offer:

You pay £1562.40 by 29th February 2012
The remaining £4687.20 will be cleared

You can settle your account with this substantial discount and you will not have to pay for any remaining doubts over. This is a genuine offer of to settle and guaranteed to save you SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the amount due.

If you would like to accept this offer, payment must be received before 29th February 2012. Alternatively, if you can’t benefit from our offer at this time, then please continue to make payments as you do now.

To discuss this offer, you can contact your Advice agent or call us directly 0800 542 7329

Yours sincerely

Aktive Kapital (UK) Limited”

Fantastic Full and Final Settlement

Okay this is a fantastic deal, but should be treated with caution. We have known a couple of cases where a creditor has accepted a full and final settlement, but only to come back a few months later chasing the outstanding balance!

So if you are going to accept an offer such as this, make sure that you keep any paperwork regarding this. It is also advisable to make the payment via a third party as additional evidence.

Living the frugal life

This become very important lately with the recession the UK has been experiencing and the rise in fuel prices. You can save money during this time, but they have to make an effort to do so. When they make a habit of finding ways to save and get they will find that it’s fun, and they will go on to follow their new habits even when their finances improve. Look around for Low Fuel Prices. High Fuel prices are causing everyone’s wallets to become much lighter and thinner than they were previously. The Internet gives people the ability to shop around for the best prices in town. By typing the term “cheap fuel prices” or something of its ilk into a Google and Yahoo, they will be given a list of several websites that have the cheapest prices for fuel. Make Fuel Purchases with a Rewards Credit Cards. Another way that people can make their fuel purchases more affordable is to obtain a rewards credit card. Some credit cards offer cash back or cash bonuses for every Pound that people spend with these cards. They may need to spend thousands of Pounds inside of a three-month period, but this won’t be hard to do with fuel prices as high as they have been lately.

Make a saving at the Grocery Store with Coupons

Coupons are everywhere on the World-wide-web. People have whole websites committed to making food purchases more affordable. These websites are offering more than just printable coupons because they also give people information on how to make the most of them. For example, they may learn how to look for sales and the best deals that grocery stores are having in their areas. By seeking coupons for items they know are on sale, they will be able to save money on food purchases in two ways rather than only one.

Recycle Clothes

Children outgrow their clothes quickly before they are worn out in a great deal of cases. Parents do not have any reason to throw these clothes away, when they have younger children that will need clothes in the exact same sizes in a couple of years. Parents with just the one child can also make certain that their friends with older children know that they are interested in the children’s clothes once they have outgrown them. This little plan will save parents a loads of money on clothes for several years.

Go to the Charity Shop

The charity shop sells clothes in very good condition for some incredibly low prices, and they are an excellent alternative to the very expensive shopping centres.

Visit the Library

Libraries are known for their books, but they also carry lots of other kinds of entertainment. People will find music CDs and movie DVDs that they can check out of the library at no cost. By using the library, they can save the money they would spend online buying books or for songs from iTunes and on their cable television packages.

Now that individuals have a number of ideas, they will be able to get started  instantly to save money

Here are two examples of debt collection agencies accepting reduced monthly payments for a debt management plan.

These letters were received by one of our associate companies.

Letter from Robinson Way Ltd:

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Robinson Way Ltd Debt Collectors
London Scottish House, Quays Reach, Carolina Way, Salford. M50 2ZY
Telephone: 0845 605 1361
Fax: 0161 743 9409
E-mail: payline@robinson-way.com

REMINDER -PAYMENT DUE

Please note your next payment is due to be paid. Overleaf is a giro slip for your use.

Note: it is free to pay at any Lloyd Bank branch.

Thank you for your continuing corporation and payment.

Payment amount: £1.00
To be paid by: 28/02/12

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Fredrickson International Ltd
P.O. Box 260, Weybridge, Surrey. KT13 0YH
Debt Collection Services

Dear Sir or Madam,

We refer to your clients recent offer to pay and confirm that our client will be willing to accept instalment payments of £41.00 per Month. You must ensure that your first payment reaches us on or before 20 March 2012.

Please note that this arrangement will be subject to review in 12 months time.

Payments MUST be received by the due date. Payments can be accepted by Credit Card in some cases, or alternatively by Maestro, Delta or buy other methods of payment listed overleaf.

The above two letters are just examples of how Debt Collection Companies will accept reduced monthly payments.

How are Debt Management Plans Calculated?

Firstly, a full in depth financial fact find is completed.

From the fact find it is then established as to how much disposable income is available to be distributed amongst all the unsecured creditors on a pro rata split.

The creditors are then given this information to show how much the client can afford to pay each creditor.

Here are a couple of examples of the pro rata split that relate to the letters shown above:

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If you know your going to be evicted – Don’t leave it too long before seeking advice!

Here is a message that we received today:

“Message: what do I write on this form? I just simply do not understand it and it needs to be submitted today. I am asking them to suspend the eviction whilst I sell the property. The eviction is set for tomorrow….help.-”

The above message sent at 11:45 and with an eviction taking place the next day this really does not give us much chance to react.

It would have also helped had we also had a phone number to call them on.

However we have responded and hopefully they are on their way to the courts with the completed N244

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C.A.R.S. Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions Limited Acceptance Letter

Here is an example of how one of our associate companies managed to negotiate with CARS to accept £1.00 per month.

C.A.R.S. Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions Limited. P.O. Box 6520, Basingstoke, Hants, RG21 4UY

OUR REF:
CREDITOR: Vanquis Bank Ltd
Client Ref: 4023…………

ACCEPT OFFER

Dear Sir/Mdm

with reference to the above account and to your recent offer of repayment, on the half of the Debtor, we acknowledge your communication and outlined the term as set out below to underpin our acceptance.

Under the present circumstantially is we are willing to accept repayment at the proposed rate of £1 starting on the 23-03-2012.

traditionally, we receive funds from organisations such as yours, either by Cheque or BACS. Can you indicate your preferred method of remittance utilising the following e-mail address admindebt@linkgp.co.uk and/or the general Admin Office telephone number which is 0844 8800 880.

In the case of your Debtor  – Customer relationship, should the Debtor reach this arrangement by default thing or withdrawing from your services, could you please notify us by e-mail.

Show the default take place on this payment schedule, we will automatically write direct to your ex-customer. We would wish you to relate the consequences to the Customer at the time of commencement of this arrangement, and draw to their attention to the fact that we reserve the right to instruct our Agents to visit the Debtors premises to collect payment(s), upon default.

Excessive Calls from Creditors Can Be Stopped.

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If you feel that the amount of calls that you are getting is excessive, or you feel that the calls from Debt Collection Agencies (DCA) are too aggressive, then they can be stopped!

Very often we hear complaints from people that creditors are contacting them too many times a day. It is also not unusual to hear complaints that some of the calls are rather aggressive. Sometimes the calls can be extremely aggressive towards the debtor.

In this particular case the client felt that the number of calls they were receiving was excessive. In this particular case the company acted very professional and responsible. The following response was received by one of our associate companies:

“Marlin Financial Services

Dear Sirs

I write with reference to your letter dated 20 January 2012.

I note your comment and can understand your concerns. The telephone calls that were made to …………………. were not made with any intention to harass her. The calls were made as we were not having any response to our telephone messages left with your company.

We will continue to make contact with ………….. through your company all the time that you are acting and respond to our correspondence.

I hope this is of assistance to you.

I have been the victim of fraud, my card was stolen and my details were compromised. My overdraft limit was increased and this money was taken, resulting in a debt of £1350.

I reported the fraud to my bank on the 12th September 2011, my case has since been on going, and it was declined and appealed. As of the 8th December 2011, the bank came to a final decision that they would not overturn the debt. The bank is adamant that I did not keep my PIN securely, they have ruled out the fact that I may have been shoulder surfed without proper justification; they are simply blaming me, and are only concerned about getting the money owed to them.

I have previously been contacted by triton credit services on many occasions; on the 4th November, I was contacted again, and the operative had threatened me into setting up a payment plan. I feel that I was forced to set up a plan, although I have no intention of paying this debt since I am the victim of fraud, and also I do not have the money to pay this debt. Since the bank has made its final response, I have to take my case to the financial ombudsman.

Please can you offer me some advice as to how to proceed?