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dizzybee · 3 January 2013 at 9:05PM

Hi,
sorry if posting in wrong place but i have just contacted step change and have received the paper work today but have missed putting my biggest debt down is it to late to change things.
also can anyone point me in the direction to the template letter to send them to my creditors to let them know i am going on a DMP.

mum2one · 3 January 2013 at 10:57PM

dizzybee wrote: »

Hi,
sorry if posting in wrong place but i have just contacted step change and have received the paper work today but have missed putting my biggest debt down is it to late to change things.
also can anyone point me in the direction to the template letter to send them to my creditors to let them know i am going on a DMP.

Just ring stepchange - ur have the numbers on the documents, and tell them about the debt, generally u get a follow up phone call to go through the documents and see if everything is ok, think at that point is when you get the downloads and then you print the letter off for your creditors.

ur be fine, xx

Hurley_ · 3 January 2013 at 11:11PM

Hi all, i have been meaning to post this for a while now but i couldn't as i was chasing the amounts owed to various companies.

I got myself in a spot of both about 4 years ago and i have managed to get my debt down to just over £7k, it took me a while to get there with alot of sticky moments and with the help of Ashley Park Debt management (although they have probably taken alot of money from me....)

They have split the money i pay them to go to 5 different people every month. The breakdown owed to these 5 is roughly as follows:
Company 1: £1k
Company 2: £2k
Company 3: £500
Company 4: £500
Company 5: £3k (Tesco Loan)

I have just come into about £3k inheritance money and i am unsure what to do with it. What is the best way of using this money to pay people off?

I havent spoken to each company to get an early repayment agreement but i have spoken with Ashley Park. They have told me that they start of by trying to get the total amount down by 50%, then by another 50%, by 50% so forth... but they want a 25% payment fee(this might not be correct?!)

Should I speak to the other companies individually to see i they would take a heavily discounted settlement fee? I hope they do!

Also, i was told by Tesco bank that i was/or have been paying PPI when i took out the loan with them, has anyone had any success with PPI recently, especially with Tesco? And will claiming PPI effect any dealings with Ashley Park? the last thing i would want is for Tesco to get !!!!ed off and up the monthly money owed to them.

Can i also get out of my agreement with Ahsley Park and pay these companies direct? I currenty pay £370 to AP and that gets distributed across all 5... it will take ages to clear!:mad:

StepChange_James · 4 January 2013 at 10:22AM

dizzybee wrote: »

Hi,
sorry if posting in wrong place but i have just contacted step change and have received the paper work today but have missed putting my biggest debt down is it to late to change things.
also can anyone point me in the direction to the template letter to send them to my creditors to let them know i am going on a DMP.

Hi dizzybee,

Mum2one's got it spot on. Just give us a call and we'll update your details. If it's quite a big debt then we'll look at your finances again and check that a DMP is still your best option.

If it is then we'll send you updated paperwork (including a template letter to send to your creditors) if not we'll talk you through the other solutions and work out what suits you best.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James · 4 January 2013 at 10:33AM

Hurley_ wrote: »

Hi all, i have been meaning to post this for a while now but i couldn't as i was chasing the amounts owed to various companies.

I got myself in a spot of both about 4 years ago and i have managed to get my debt down to just over £7k, it took me a while to get there with alot of sticky moments and with the help of Ashley Park Debt management (although they have probably taken alot of money from me....)

They have split the money i pay them to go to 5 different people every month. The breakdown owed to these 5 is roughly as follows:
Company 1: £1k
Company 2: £2k
Company 3: £500
Company 4: £500
Company 5: £3k (Tesco Loan)

I have just come into about £3k inheritance money and i am unsure what to do with it. What is the best way of using this money to pay people off?

I havent spoken to each company to get an early repayment agreement but i have spoken with Ashley Park. They have told me that they start of by trying to get the total amount down by 50%, then by another 50%, by 50% so forth... but they want a 25% payment fee(this might not be correct?!)

Should I speak to the other companies individually to see i they would take a heavily discounted settlement fee? I hope they do!

Also, i was told by Tesco bank that i was/or have been paying PPI when i took out the loan with them, has anyone had any success with PPI recently, especially with Tesco? And will claiming PPI effect any dealings with Ashley Park? the last thing i would want is for Tesco to get !!!!ed off and up the monthly money owed to them.

Can i also get out of my agreement with Ahsley Park and pay these companies direct? I currenty pay £370 to AP and that gets distributed across all 5... it will take ages to clear!:mad:

Hi Hurley,

Trying to use the inheritance to settle the debts sounds like a good idea. Giving 25% of the money away in fees doesn't sound so good though, as that would only leave £2250 to clear debts.

Again, trying to claim back your PPI could help your situation too. Lots of people have received refunds on their insurance. You'll find everything you need to claim back yourself here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance.

I don't know Ashley Park's policies, but generally speaking fee charging DMP companies don't have any exit fees (because the set up fees are usually paid up front). So you should be able to cancel your DMP without any fees.

We can give you advice on full and final settlement offers and we also do free DMPs if that's still a good option for you. You can get advice from us online (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or over the phone (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx).

Hope this helps.

James

poppy217 · 4 January 2013 at 5:05PM

Hi, I wonder if you would be kind enough to share some advice with me?

My husband and I have been in a DMP with Payplan for last 5 years and this has worked well despite payplan pushing IVA's which we cant do due to husbands job.
Recently a family member offered us what would be about 35% of the total debt and we have asked Payplan to go to creditors with this and get settlement figures from each creditor. Payplan seem to be refusing to do this as they have declared offering 35% of the debt as a final payment is too low despite previously telling us that this is more than possible on a few other ocassions.
We know that a 35% offer is low and creditors are more likely to settle at 70% of total debt but this has been known to happen with other people we have seen clear debt with very low offers.
So, my point is not to moan about Payplan even though I dont understand why they are telling me differing things. It is to ask what other peoples experiences are of paying off debts with smaller settlements?
Should we let Payplan tell us that they are not willing to offer the creditors 35% final settlement offers? Would we be better off coming out of payplan and trying to settle the debts ourselves?
Please let me know any advice or experiences others have had regarding this?

Many thanks

poppy217 · 4 January 2013 at 5:06PM

Hi, I wonder if you would be kind enough to give me some advice?

My husband and I have been in a DMP with Payplan for last 5 years and this has worked well despite payplan pushing IVA's which we cant do due to husbands job.
Recently a family member offered us what would be about 35% of the total debt and we have asked Payplan to go to creditors with this and get settlement figures from each creditor. Payplan seem to be refusing to do this as they have declared offering 35% of the debt as a final payment is too low despite previously telling us that this is more than possible on a few other ocassions.
We know that a 35% offer is low and creditors are more likely to settle at 70% of total debt but this has been known to happen with other people we have seen clear debt with very low offers.
So, my point is not to moan about Payplan even though I dont understand why they are telling me differing things. It is to ask what other peoples experiences are of paying off debts with smaller settlements?
Should we let Payplan tell us that they are not willing to offer the creditors 35% final settlement offers? Would we be better off coming out of payplan and trying to settle the debts ourselves?
Please let me know any advice or experiences others have had regarding this?

Many thanks

StepChange_James · 4 January 2013 at 5:21PM

poppy217 wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if you would be kind enough to give me some advice?

My husband and I have been in a DMP with Payplan for last 5 years and this has worked well despite payplan pushing IVA's which we cant do due to husbands job.
Recently a family member offered us what would be about 35% of the total debt and we have asked Payplan to go to creditors with this and get settlement figures from each creditor. Payplan seem to be refusing to do this as they have declared offering 35% of the debt as a final payment is too low despite previously telling us that this is more than possible on a few other ocassions.
We know that a 35% offer is low and creditors are more likely to settle at 70% of total debt but this has been known to happen with other people we have seen clear debt with very low offers.
So, my point is not to moan about Payplan even though I dont understand why they are telling me differing things. It is to ask what other peoples experiences are of paying off debts with smaller settlements?
Should we let Payplan tell us that they are not willing to offer the creditors 35% final settlement offers? Would we be better off coming out of payplan and trying to settle the debts ourselves?
Please let me know any advice or experiences others have had regarding this?

Many thanks

Hello,

It's always very hard to predict how much a creditor is willing to reduce a debt by if they are offered a full and final settlement.

If someone has been generous enough to offer you a lump sum to sort the debts out then I'd say it's probably worth contacting your creditors and having a chat with them about it.

Like you say yourself, 35% is a fairly low percentage but people do manage to get agreements for less. Every company has there own way of looking at these offers, so you won't know until you try.

It usually helps your offer a bit if you can give them information about anything about your situation that suggests taking the money now is better than waiting for the full payments (such as reductions in income in the future or health issues, etc).

Also, you don't need to cancel your DMP with Payplan until you know for sure you've got settlements agreed. Just so you've still got it to fall back on if you can't get settlements sorted out.

Kind regards

James

poppy217 · 4 January 2013 at 5:25PM

Thanks James, I really appreciate your reply.

I will perservere with obtaining settlement figures. Is this something that I am allowed to deal directly with the creditors about without jepordising my DMP with Payplan?

TeaUK · 4 January 2013 at 10:45PM

Is it legal to sell on a non-defaulted debt within a DMP? I read on the CCCS website that is isn't?

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