Creation being a pain with interest.

How old is the account?

If taken out before April 2007, send them a CCA request to see where you stand. If they don't have it, on a debt from before this date, they are a tad stuffed regarding court action.

This helps your negotiations.

Bit harsh. Never used a debt charity, but I guess they have to use their resources wisely. They have said what you can do and if you asked I am sure they would help with a complaint to the FOS, which by the way, you don't need a letter for as you can ring them to lodge your complaint.

If you are confident dealing with creditors, then could you not run your own DMP?

Iwanttobefree wrote: »

As I've said in my other thread, I am concerned about how DMP charities work.

While of course I appreciate the work these charities do, they do not really help those of us that don't get the interest frozen but don't know what to do next.

I am the sort of person that would happily stand in court facing the might of a large business and represent myself, a lot of people are not.

Many people receiving the letters I received from creation would simply feel there's nothing they could do. So they contact their DMP charity, and they receive the following (quoted exactly with just names removed)



To me the tone of that letter implies I should be thankful they have reduced it to what they have.

How many people at their wits end with their debts, receive that sort of reply and feel there's nothing they can do. I know full well with a few more letters I will get them to reduce it further but I do feel these charities should word their replies better and give better advice to those seeking it, as I feel many would mistakenly simply give up at this point and simply pay it.

I would have preferred (for the benefit of others) the reply to concentrate much more on how they can help draw up a template letter to try and get Creation to lower the interest rate further. How to draw up a letter to the Financial Ombudsman, maybe explaining the process, how it's likely Creation wont hold up the complaint but usually when they go through this process, even though they don't uphold it, they do normally reduce charges further etc.

When I came to MSE I did not even know such a thing as a DMP existed, I thought there was no possible solution to our debt and we would take into retirement and finally to the grave. Because I thought you had to, I started our DMP with StepChange (then CCCS) but a few months down the line realised I could do this on my own so went self managed.

Your debt is yours, never forget that. You may hand over the money to be distributed to your creditors each month but that's all StepChange will do for you, if you want interest stopping, you will need to fight for it.

You say "I am the sort of person that would happily stand in court facing the might of a large business and represent myself, a lot of people are not", so why do you need a middleman for a DMP? Go self managed, when creditors don't play nice with you, play hardball with them. Yes you get hassle but it's empowering to deal with it and win.

Everything you need is found in 4 places:

1) This forum, particularly the DMP & Mutual Support Thread, found here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4988866
Read back through this thread and go back to earlier ones. Join in the thread, ask what you need to know, people there will help, advise and support you.

2) NED CAB DMP - award winning self managed DMP with everything you need online, found here: https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

3) National Debtline website template letters, found here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/default.aspx

4) The FOS for back up when you need a bit more "umph", found here: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

You will get help and you can help others in return, it feels really great showing a newbie how to do it, when you had no idea yourself a couple of years ago. I am not boasting but the proof of my method is in my signature, you can do it too but you need to take action yourself and do it NOW.

Good luck

TTFTM x

Hi,

If running your own DMP is going to be too much then how about looking at your budget to make sure that it is leaving you with enough to get by on, maybe transport and medical expenses mean that you need to be paying less in the short term...

If Creation are anything like Barclaycard then they will be charging you a reduced but still hefty interest based on %age of the balance being paid each month so a smaller monthly payment will obviously mean a lower %age going to them...

I believe that SC require a minimum of £5 per creditor to continue to manage your DMP, if your outgoings were increased to this point then Creation will likely either freeze the interest or sell the debt on even if what you are actually doing is saving the additional you are keeping aside each month to build up an emergency fund...

Hope this helps

MB