DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

[Deleted User] · 9 July 2017 at 10:17AM

Feeling a bit down this morning:(. It doesn't take much where my debt situation is concerned. I wish I had the confidence to shrug off minor setbacks just as many other posters manage to do:o.

Keep getting letters from Link asking for a revised I&E and the tone has become more 'threatening'. I sent one when I went self-managed and then two payments afterwards (probably bad timing)I wrote to tell them that I'd had a 'family emergency' and had to just send token payments until the end of the year.

I had never had a definite acceptance of my self-managed payment rate (although it was within £5 of what they were getting when SC were managing my affairs, well over £100 a month to each of the debts they are managing). I assumed they'd accepted it as the payments were made by SO and not returned/refused.

Since telling them about the tokens of £1 which started this month I have now already had 2 letters per each account asking for a new I&E and the latest says:

...only once payments are maintained on a regular and agreed schedule are we able to remove your account from the collection cycle and prevent further recovery action being taken.....

It's not a case of not wanting to send another I&E, I just feel they are hassling me unduly. I know other posters say they just ignore these letters but I'm too scared to in case they escalate things to the next recovery stage.

Their letters just start 'thank you for your recent letter', not the date I sent it, so I have no idea which of my proposals they are referring to. They are not the quickest to respond to letters/emails and I dread having to phone them to get it sorted.

Sorry to have a moan on a lovely Sunday morning especially as lots of other people have much bigger worries to concern themselves with.

Puzzcat · 9 July 2017 at 10:42AM

SpamTomorrow wrote: »

Hello All,

Quite some time since I last posted but have been working hard at the self managed DMP and making good progress.

It has made a huge difference to my life and feels great to be in control and dealing with the problem.

To anybody who has just started, it will get easier so don't worry! The help and advice available on this forum is invaluable.

I have a couple of questions I hope somebody can help me with. Over the last couple of months I have been looking at the Noddle report with a view on improving Credit rating in the future. Of the various debts, with the exception of 2, they have the status you would expect.

The first of the 2 is 'Hoist'. This is an old Marbles credit card that was handed over to Hoist and subsequently Robinson Way for collection. The account shows going from in arrears to 'arrangement' to pay and for the last six marked as paid s normal. The account also shows that the credit limit is still as per the original. I plan to write to them and ask why it has not been defaulted but thought it might be an idea to see if anybody else has similar experience? Am I correct in assuming they have to default the account if it has been passed to debt collection?

The second account is similar, American Express which has been passed to 'Regain'. I am correct in assuming that Regain is an in house facility and not really a 'true' debt recovery agency. This account is also now marked each month as in order.

Any insight gratefully recieved.

SpamT

Hi,

Unfortunately no the debt doesn't have to be defaulted before being sold as I complained to the FOS about mine and they said all was perfectly in order.. I am now trying to get the bloomin thing defaulted through ICO.. still waiting to hear....

Puzz.

Puzzcat · 9 July 2017 at 10:45AM

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Feeling a bit down this morning:(. It doesn't take much where my debt situation is concerned. I wish I had the confidence to shrug off minor setbacks just as many other posters manage to do:o.

Keep getting letters from Link asking for a revised I&E and the tone has become more 'threatening'. I sent one when I went self-managed and then two payments afterwards (probably bad timing)I wrote to tell them that I'd had a 'family emergency' and had to just send token payments until the end of the year.

I had never had a definite acceptance of my self-managed payment rate (although it was within £5 of what they were getting when SC were managing my affairs, well over £100 a month to each of the debts they are managing). I assumed they'd accepted it as the payments were made by SO and not returned/refused.

Since telling them about the tokens of £1 which started this month I have now already had 2 letters per each account asking for a new I&E and the latest says:

...only once payments are maintained on a regular and agreed schedule are we able to remove your account from the collection cycle and prevent further recovery action being taken.....

It's not a case of not wanting to send another I&E, I just feel they are hassling me unduly. I know other posters say they just ignore these letters but I'm too scared to in case they escalate things to the next recovery stage.

Their letters just start 'thank you for your recent letter', not the date I sent it, so I have no idea which of my proposals they are referring to. They are not the quickest to respond to letters/emails and I dread having to phone them to get it sorted.

Sorry to have a moan on a lovely Sunday morning especially as lots of other people have much bigger worries to concern themselves with.

Morning cbc,

I would just write to them again stating your are paying £1 until ?? month?? and that you will send a revised i & e with your proposed payment at that time. I have to say when I got a similar letter from Lowell's I just rang them, they were very nice and more than happy to accept my paltry £5 a month for the next 6 months. Just don't get drawn into further conversation with them, I certainly won't do an i & e over the phone...

Puzz. x

sourcrates · 9 July 2017 at 11:02AM

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Feeling a bit down this morning:(. It doesn't take much where my debt situation is concerned. I wish I had the confidence to shrug off minor setbacks just as many other posters manage to do:o.

Keep getting letters from Link asking for a revised I&E and the tone has become more 'threatening'. I sent one when I went self-managed and then two payments afterwards (probably bad timing)I wrote to tell them that I'd had a 'family emergency' and had to just send token payments until the end of the year.

I had never had a definite acceptance of my self-managed payment rate (although it was within £5 of what they were getting when SC were managing my affairs, well over £100 a month to each of the debts they are managing). I assumed they'd accepted it as the payments were made by SO and not returned/refused.

Since telling them about the tokens of £1 which started this month I have now already had 2 letters per each account asking for a new I&E and the latest says:

...only once payments are maintained on a regular and agreed schedule are we able to remove your account from the collection cycle and prevent further recovery action being taken.....

It's not a case of not wanting to send another I&E, I just feel they are hassling me unduly. I know other posters say they just ignore these letters but I'm too scared to in case they escalate things to the next recovery stage.

Just like National Debtline has a variety of template letter samples, so do debt collectors.

They just send the one that the 19 year old tea boy deemed the most appropriate one for the inquiry !!

The only "tone" there is to them is the one you perceive in your mind, you know, i know, and they know, that you are not obliged to respond to any of there correspondence in relation to income and expenditure, if you must keep interacting with these people, write and tell them they have already had the information they are requesting, you will not be providing it again.

The worst thing they can do is take you to court car boot, not going to happen whilst your paying them, these different levels of recovery action you mention, whats next, pencils up the nostrils ?

Seriously, its all rubbish chitter chatter, half of it made up to sound frightening, some one last week was worried because they'd received a "formal demand" for payment, as a pose to what, i asked, an informal demand ?

There is no such thing as a formal demand, its made up jibber jabber, the sooner you realize these people literally make stuff up to sound scary, the better.

Ignore the idiots and enjoy the sunshine !!

January2015 · 9 July 2017 at 11:26AM

Hi CBC :wave:

Try not to worry about letters from DCAs. Easy said than done I know. If you really feel you cannot ignore the letter (which is really what I would recommend doing), then write back and put the ball in their court. Write and say,

Thank you for your letter dated dd/mmm/yyyy in which you thank me for my recent letter to you. I have written to your company a number of times recently and therefore I would be grateful if you could confirm which letter you are seeking a response to. To clarify, I have written letters to you dated:

dd/mmm/yyyy
dd/mmm/yyyy
dd/mmm/yyyy

In future it would be helpful to me, as I do get confused, if you could clarify in letters to me which letters I have sent you are are referring to. This would assist me greatly and ensure my response to you is relevant to your questions.

Make them work for their money :rotfl:

sourcrates · 9 July 2017 at 1:22PM

I know that debt can be a very serious subject, and the servicing of it causes a lot of stress, anxiety etc etc.

I always try to inject a little humor into the equation, it helped me deal with it, i hope it helps you too, some of the things DCA `s come out with, although not so much nowadays, can be so funny, in any other context you would laugh your socks off at them, but as its about debt, we British in particular, tend to either be very stiff upper lip, or we crack up completely, the key is to find somewhere in between, the very bottom line is they cant take what you dont have, so why worry.

I know its been said 1000 times before, but non of these companies you are currently dealing with have any more power than you or i do, to recover these debts.

They have access to the same courts system, as you do, you may owe them money, but that does not mean you have to bow down to them.

Many of them try to exaggerate there powers by sending official looking letters, and asking you to do this or to do that, its all rubbish, you dont have to do anything they ask that you feel is unreasonable, if they do, write back saying No, you are not prepared to do this, as you think its irrelevant.

People say there scared of what the creditors reaction will be, this point i have never understood, creditors only thoughts are for the bottom line, although they now have to take affordability into account, thanks to the FSA clamping down on them, i know i`ve said this before, but if their not happy they simply sell the debt on, even if they do take you to court, thats not always a bad thing, as long as you can live with the CCJ, you admit the claim, fill in your budget details, make your offer of payment, all the court does is rubber stamp this.

You then have a court approved payment plan which both you and the creditor have to stick to, so no more creditor hassle !!

I dont know about you, but that would certainly work for me.

You should not be scared of debt, or how creditors react to you, deal with them in a business like manor, let them know you wont take any rubbish off them, and they will deal with you in the same way.

timeforachange85 · 9 July 2017 at 8:16PM

Hi guys I'm a long time lurker here over two years and never posted before, I just want to say thank you to everyone that has posted advice, it's because of this advice I've bitten the bullet written out the letters to now move away from my crutch of Stepchange DMP and go self managed.

My first task is to start saving an emergency fund and this is something I've never done, and real need to start considering my car is on its last legs, though Stepchange were amazing things were very tight and I've had very little money for anything other than priorities.

So thanks again everyone

Time for a change x

[Deleted User] · 10 July 2017 at 9:21AM

January2015 wrote: »

Hi CBC :wave:

Try not to worry about letters from DCAs. Easy said than done I know. If you really feel you cannot ignore the letter (which is really what I would recommend doing), then write back and put the ball in their court. Write and say,
Thank you for your letter dated dd/mmm/yyyy in which you thank me for my recent letter to you. I have written to your company a number of times recently and therefore I would be grateful if you could confirm which letter you are seeking a response to. To clarify, I have written letters to you dated:

dd/mmm/yyyy
dd/mmm/yyyy
dd/mmm/yyyy

In future it would be helpful to me, as I do get confused, if you could clarify in letters to me which letters I have sent you are are referring to. This would assist me greatly and ensure my response to you is relevant to your questions.
Make them work for their money :rotfl:

I love it, January:T:j:j. Thanks so much for it, you're a star as always:A

To be honest, I feel such a wimp for getting wound up about anything that is out of the ordinary in debtland:o. Things were so clear cut when SC were handling my DMP, I felt totally at ease with my situation. I don't think I'd be so anxious about things now myself but it's the dread of OH finding out, albeit accidentally, about my debt situation after all this time that is making me so twitchy:o.

StopIt · 10 July 2017 at 9:34AM

SpamTomorrow wrote: »

Hello All,

Quite some time since I last posted but have been working hard at the self managed DMP and making good progress.

It has made a huge difference to my life and feels great to be in control and dealing with the problem.

To anybody who has just started, it will get easier so don't worry! The help and advice available on this forum is invaluable.

I have a couple of questions I hope somebody can help me with. Over the last couple of months I have been looking at the Noddle report with a view on improving Credit rating in the future. Of the various debts, with the exception of 2, they have the status you would expect.

The first of the 2 is 'Hoist'. This is an old Marbles credit card that was handed over to Hoist and subsequently Robinson Way for collection. The account shows going from in arrears to 'arrangement' to pay and for the last six marked as paid s normal. The account also shows that the credit limit is still as per the original. I plan to write to them and ask why it has not been defaulted but thought it might be an idea to see if anybody else has similar experience? Am I correct in assuming they have to default the account if it has been passed to debt collection?

The second account is similar, American Express which has been passed to 'Regain'. I am correct in assuming that Regain is an in house facility and not really a 'true' debt recovery agency. This account is also now marked each month as in order.

Any insight gratefully recieved.

SpamT

Alas, while you can request Defaults to be registered or backdated, the guidelines for these are indeed guidelines. The ICO sometimes, not always assists. It's a pain as it penalises those in DMPs more than those who run away from debts but alas, that doesn't change these lenders minds sometimes.

However, if any account is in "green", then frankly that's better than a default, although AR flags should be fought.

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Feeling a bit down this morning:(. It doesn't take much where my debt situation is concerned. I wish I had the confidence to shrug off minor setbacks just as many other posters manage to do:o.

Keep getting letters from Link asking for a revised I&E and the tone has become more 'threatening'. I sent one when I went self-managed and then two payments afterwards (probably bad timing)I wrote to tell them that I'd had a 'family emergency' and had to just send token payments until the end of the year.

I had never had a definite acceptance of my self-managed payment rate (although it was within £5 of what they were getting when SC were managing my affairs, well over £100 a month to each of the debts they are managing). I assumed they'd accepted it as the payments were made by SO and not returned/refused.

Since telling them about the tokens of £1 which started this month I have now already had 2 letters per each account asking for a new I&E and the latest says:

...only once payments are maintained on a regular and agreed schedule are we able to remove your account from the collection cycle and prevent further recovery action being taken.....

It's not a case of not wanting to send another I&E, I just feel they are hassling me unduly. I know other posters say they just ignore these letters but I'm too scared to in case they escalate things to the next recovery stage.

Their letters just start 'thank you for your recent letter', not the date I sent it, so I have no idea which of my proposals they are referring to. They are not the quickest to respond to letters/emails and I dread having to phone them to get it sorted.

Sorry to have a moan on a lovely Sunday morning especially as lots of other people have much bigger worries to concern themselves with.

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I love it, January:T:j:j. Thanks so much for it, you're a star as always:A

To be honest, I feel such a wimp for getting wound up about anything that is out of the ordinary in debtland:o. Things were so clear cut when SC were handling my DMP, I felt totally at ease with my situation. I don't think I'd be so anxious about things now myself but it's the dread of OH finding out, albeit accidentally, about my debt situation after all this time that is making me so twitchy:o.

Hey, you were telling another poster that bravery was needed to help get out of debt, and now you need to tell yourself it too!

Don't let these things get to you. They're designed to make you feel bad, so take their intent and throw it where it belongs; filed directly under B.

Remember, the next "recovery stage" is a euphemism for "We might do something", which if you've already notified of the length of token payments means not much action will be taken.

Even IF you receive a Letter Before Action, by the time you receive it, So long as you can just get back onto your scheduled DMP payments and they'll call it off, so long as the DMP payments are accepted, which I think they will be in this case.

Anything letters that no not mention those magic words mean nothing as these guys must deliver the Letter Before Action before taking any court claim forward. They can't hint at anything, they must state clearly once that stage is reached. until then, they can use all the funny wording you like but all can be dealt with in the same way.

As Sourcrates said however, even a CCJ isn't exactly the end of the world! It just formalises a debt payment schedule, so long as you go through the process correctly.

heavenlyharry01 · 10 July 2017 at 3:47PM

Wow!
Just received a letter from PRA Group, who have bought our MBNA debt, to say that it's currently unenforceable!
I understand that there are mixed opinions on just ignoring it or offering a 10% settlement figure.
I'm currently paying just £1 per month on this.
Can someone kindly advise if I should continue, offer a 10% settlement (which I am able to) or cancel the standing order and wait to see if they find the documents in the future.

Also I have another question regarding making settlement offers. I have an amount of money which I have split fairly between my creditors, using the calculator on the NEDCAB website.
Should I include the other offers I am making, and the full amount I am splitting between the creditors or just the offer to that creditor? Is it better that they see the full amount of money I have to offer and how it is being split or not?

Many thanks

DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

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