DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

alianza · 13 March 2017 at 2:34PM

sourcrates wrote: »

There were instances were application forms also doubled as credit agreements, but not always.

You asked for a credit agreement, not an application form.

Depends what it says on it, and what date is on it.

Well the photocopy says (priority request form' and then 'credit agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974' at the top the it does have my correct name address the date of 6/3/02 and a lot of clauses about the use of credit cards and a chart showing all the interest rates for retail transactions and balance transfers for various credit limits. I guess thats ok, at least i got a result on the other one.

Woody26 · 14 March 2017 at 12:30PM

This thread looks so helpful...I'm not sure if anyone could help me.... I started a debt management plan in December 2011. As a consequence of this I received a number of defaults which will likely fall off of my account early next year.

However, there were a few accounts (Barclaycard, Vanquis, MBNA) who instead of defaulting me, added a note to my credit file stating 'debt management programme' with a start and finish date (most of which are incorrect dates).

I have spoken to a mortgage advisor who has stated that some mortgage companies require you to wait until 3-6 years after the DMP is completed as opposed to the date you started the DMP before they would consider you for a mortgage. Does anyone know if this is correct?

Also, is there any likelihood that if I wrote to the companies these notes would be removed, the debts with these companies has now all been settled.

I find it hard to believe that a default drops of 6 years from start date however a note on a file regarding a debt management plan stays on for 6 years until this has been satisfied.

Thank you in advance

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere · 14 March 2017 at 9:08PM

Hi all,

After MrsSammyB's advice I am going to write to the Co-op to see if I can get them to default our account. I was going to send them the following letter:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing to raise a formal complaint is respect of the loan account (number xxxxxx) which we have with your bank. This is currently being managed via a debt management plan through StepChange Debt Charity.

The Co-operative Bank has now known about our financial difficulties since we commenced our DMP in October 2014 however, despite two letters stating the account would be defaulted last Autumn, our account is still showing as 'late payment' on our credit report.

We feel we are not being treated fairly as the delay in issuing a default will have a continued negative impact on our credit score.

As a resolution to this formal complaint, and in line with the recommendations set out by the FCA to treat customers who are in arrears fairly, we request that a default is applied to our account and backdated to the start of our DMP in October 2014.

We look forward to your prompt response.

Does this sound ok??? Should I use more direct quotes from the FCA handbook??

Any advice/alterations greatly received

BDFSH x

DancingUnicorn · 14 March 2017 at 9:49PM

Thank you so much for the support! SC made out to me that token payments were required and since this was only £6 a month I kind of went with it.
But that's all over now. I got an email today saying my DMP is all set up and my first payment will come out on 1st April. So excited! I'm assuming everyone agreed to 0% but I'll keep an eye on everything and check this is the case.
Slowly working my way to reading other things going on round here and hopefully I can be some help to others as I learn throughout the process

motivated · 14 March 2017 at 10:16PM

DancingUnicorn wrote: »

Thank you so much for the support! SC made out to me that token payments were required and since this was only £6 a month I kind of went with it.
But that's all over now. I got an email today saying my DMP is all set up and my first payment will come out on 1st April. So excited! I'm assuming everyone agreed to 0% but I'll keep an eye on everything and check this is the case.
Slowly working my way to reading other things going on round here and hopefully I can be some help to others as I learn throughout the process

Well done for getting your DMP all sorted. My first payment is also 1st April. Ill meet you at the starting post. I'm actually excited about getting started too

Good luck with your journey and keep reading, I have learnt so much on this site especially this thread. The support and advice is amazing.
M

January2015 · 14 March 2017 at 10:33PM

DancingUnicorn wrote: »

Thank you so much for the support! SC made out to me that token payments were required and since this was only £6 a month I kind of went with it.
But that's all over now. I got an email today saying my DMP is all set up and my first payment will come out on 1st April. So excited! I'm assuming everyone agreed to 0% but I'll keep an eye on everything and check this is the case.
Slowly working my way to reading other things going on round here and hopefully I can be some help to others as I learn throughout the process

Don't assume all predators agreed to 0%. Check your statements/letters and keep chasing until they do agree to zero interest.

Barclaycard refused to zero interest on one of our accounts because we were paying 0.03% above the minimum 1% they set as a bar for zeroing interest, i.e. you have to pay 0.99% or less. So we moved to £1 payments. Been at this rate for over a year now. They stopped interest and we got all interest charged refunded (back to start date of DMP) but it was a battle of multiple letters and threats from us. We got there eventually though.

StepChange won't let you play tactically like this - which is why, after one year of being with SC we went self managed.

Fingers crossed for you that you don't have any problems - but do keep an eye on all accounts.

January2015 · 14 March 2017 at 10:53PM

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Hi all,

After MrsSammyB's advice I am going to write to the Co-op to see if I can get them to default our account. I was going to send them the following letter:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing to raise a formal complaint is respect of the loan account (number xxxxxx) which we have with your bank. This is currently being managed via a debt management plan through StepChange Debt Charity.

The Co-operative Bank has now known about our financial difficulties since we commenced our DMP in October 2014 however, despite two letters stating the account would be defaulted last Autumn, [STRIKE]our account is still showing as 'late payment' on our credit report.[/STRIKE] credit reference agencies still report this account as 'late payment'

We feel we are not being treated fairly as the delay in issuing a default will have [STRIKE]a continued[/STRIKE]an unnecessarily extended negative impact on our files held at credit [STRIKE]score[/STRIKE] reference agencies.

As identified in the Information Commissioner's Office 'Principles of the Reporting of Arrears, Arrangement and Defaults at Credit Reference Agencies' a default should be registered when a customer is three months in arrears. It was clear at the point we needed to enter a debt management plan that we were unable to meet contractual payments on this account, and that we would be in a DMP for several years. We therefore feel a default should have been recorded at the point we entered the DMP.

As a resolution to this formal complaint, and in line with the recommendations set out by the FCA to treat customers who are in arrears fairly, we request that a default is applied to our account and backdated to the start of our DMP in October 2014.

We look forward to your prompt response.

Does this sound ok??? Should I use more direct quotes from the FCA handbook??

Any advice/alterations greatly received

BDFSH x

My two pence worth in red above :beer:

Link to where I quote ICO

Edit: I changed bit about credit score - no such thing really. It's just a score the credit reference agencies generate. Lenders make their own decisions and a CRA score is pointless in that respect. It's the information recorded on your CRA files that is important...not a ficticious score.

sourcrates · 14 March 2017 at 10:57PM

Woody26 wrote: »

This thread looks so helpful...I'm not sure if anyone could help me.... I started a debt management plan in December 2011. As a consequence of this I received a number of defaults which will likely fall off of my account early next year.

However, there were a few accounts (Barclaycard, Vanquis, MBNA) who instead of defaulting me, added a note to my credit file stating 'debt management programme' with a start and finish date (most of which are incorrect dates).

I have spoken to a mortgage advisor who has stated that some mortgage companies require you to wait until 3-6 years after the DMP is completed as opposed to the date you started the DMP before they would consider you for a mortgage. Does anyone know if this is correct?

Also, is there any likelihood that if I wrote to the companies these notes would be removed, the debts with these companies has now all been settled.

I find it hard to believe that a default drops of 6 years from start date however a note on a file regarding a debt management plan stays on for 6 years until this has been satisfied.

Thank you in advance

Hi,

That is the problem with arrangement to pay markers unfortunately, they stay on your file 6 years after the debt has been settled.

It's an awkward situation, because if you ask them to default you, there could be further issues with the default date, however you could write asking them to :

(A) default you
And
(B) backdate the default to the start date of your DMP.

According to guidelines, they should default you after 3/6 missed contracted payments.

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere · 15 March 2017 at 12:23AM

January2015 wrote: »

My two pence worth in red above :beer:

Link to where I quote ICO

Edit: I changed bit about credit score - no such thing really. It's just a score the credit reference agencies generate. Lenders make their own decisions and a CRA score is pointless in that respect. It's the information recorded on your CRA files that is important...not a ficticious score.

January you are an absolute star :starmod:

Thank you sooooo much

xx

alianza · 15 March 2017 at 9:29AM

sourcrates wrote: »

There were instances were application forms also doubled as credit agreements, but not always.

You asked for a credit agreement, not an application form.

Depends what it says on it, and what date is on it.

Upon further perusal of the photocopies i have a question. (Had to take a photo and blow it up on my screen just to read them, I know they call it small print but it was miniscule.)

On the first photocopy under data protection it tells me to read section 11 in the terms and conditions provided. In the second photocopy I have been given only sections 1 and 2 of the terms and conditions. No sections 3-11 and beyond if there were any. I would hazard a guess that they have not sent me the full information. What would be the next step?

DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

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