DMC's - whats the opinion?

KRUMBLES · 29 July 2005 at 8:42AM

Hello, I am brand to this and would like some opinions! I currently have a debt management programme through Harrington Brooks, my debt is large and they are charging me £40 per month to deal with it for me, i have been with them for two years and they have estimated that it will take another 9 to pay off all my debts. i currently pay £280 per month in total to them. Is this the best way forward or is there something else i could be doing to speeden up the process?

Thanks for any advice

KRUMBLES

martinpike · 29 July 2005 at 9:37AM

Krumbles,

You'll need to post full information about your situation before anyone can offer you an informed opinion.

Please also include details of the terms of any contract you've signed with HB.

Cheers.

idiot_3 · 29 July 2005 at 11:42AM

i would say that going with HB or any others that charge a fee is not the best. you can contact companies yourself directly, or use a free service (payplan, cab, cccs et al.) the reason is that £40 you pay them could go to your creditors, paying off the debt faster.

Malestrom · 29 July 2005 at 11:04PM

So over the nine year period you are paying HB £4320 to 'deal' with your affairs, when CCCS, PayPlan or National Debtline will do it for nothing. Check the terms and conditions of your agreement with HB to see how much notice you need to give to cancel. Then go to one of the above mentioned companies and tell them you want to change over. Time it just right and no payments will be missed. I did this last year as I was paying £79 a month to a commercial debt managment company. Now i'm with CCCS, all the money I pay goes to my creditors which shortens the repayment term. Since swapping there has been no noticeable difference in service.

mattp_3 · 1 August 2005 at 9:28AM

It is a shame that the non-fee charging companies are unable to match the huge advertising budgets of Harington Brooks, Gregory Pennignton etc

It does mean that the general public don't always hear about the free debt management companies, but Payplan claim that 60% of their DMP's are set up for people who have changed from a fee-charger........................

http://www.payplan.com/debt_management_company_fees.html

Thats a heck of a lot!!

ninarehman · 9 August 2005 at 5:27PM

Hi there,

Just to let you know i was with Harrington Brooks for 2 years, and recently i checked with all my creditors and my debt had gone up. I was flabbergasted. I also received phonecalls on a regular basis from them complaining payments were late etc. I was so fed up because the reason I hired them was to stop letters/phonecalls/the interest being charged.

i was also finding negative stuff about them on the net, and they never returned my emails/calls, except for when my payment was late (once).

And they never told me the first payment was a fee till after I had paid it.

So i went to the Citizens advice Bureau and they gave me payplan's number.

I am in the process of changing over, but i literally wrote HB an email telling them I was firing them as I was unhappy with their work and i had found somehwere cheaper. They just said Fine, and i got a few phonecalls but that was it. Payplan said there was not a lot they can do.

HB also quoted me something like 8/9 years, but remember my debt was going up, so it would probably have been a lot longer - and with payplan it is a bit less, about 6-7 years. Also whenever the creditors hear they are dealing with payplan, they seem more than happy to do so.

So basically after my long boring story, get rid of HB immediately, and get in touch with Payplan. They are so helpful, brilliant, efficient and they don't charge a single penny.

Anyways, good luck

Weena

KRUMBLES wrote:

Hello, I am brand to this and would like some opinions! I currently have a debt management programme through Harrington Brooks, my debt is large and they are charging me £40 per month to deal with it for me, i have been with them for two years and they have estimated that it will take another 9 to pay off all my debts. i currently pay £280 per month in total to them. Is this the best way forward or is there something else i could be doing to speeden up the process?

Thanks for any advice

KRUMBLES

Turning_into_scrooge · 9 August 2005 at 10:20PM

You may also find that if you are with a fee paying dmc that not all your creditos will accept the payents being made or freeze the interest.

Bobbedazzler · 10 August 2005 at 3:00PM

Just a quick q about dmc's.........if you set up this sort of arrangement - would you struggle to get credit in the future ie/ if you wished to move house and get a new mortgage or change your current mortgage provider?? Thanks

mattp_3 · 10 August 2005 at 5:07PM

if you set-up any debt management plan then you will be making reduced payments to your creditors and this will mean that you default on your accounts.

therefore your credit rating will be affected and your ability to get credit in the future will also be affected for up to 6 years.(this includes mortgages)

there is no way round this really - the best thing to do is make sure you deal with a FREE debt management company such as:

Payplan - https://www.payplan.com (0800 085 4298)
National Debt Line - https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk (0808 808 4000)
CCCS - https://www.cccs.co.uk (0800 138 1111)

Good Luck!

Bobbedazzler · 10 August 2005 at 5:16PM

Brill - thanks for the info.

jen_jen_2 · 10 August 2005 at 6:44PM

debt management companies are not better because you pay them, most creditors prefer the non fee charging advice agencies because the offers are more realisitic and all of the available income is going to creditors - they get more overall, non fee charging are better for you too because you are getting advice that isnt based on the agency making money out of you.

free doesnt mean bad and in this case doubly so...make your move

DMC's - whats the opinion?

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