DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Bettyboo85 · 4 April 2016 at 12:29PM

Hi redstone

Did you use a free debt company or a company that charged you for their service? I know I'm new on here but I would call step change. They have been excellent with me and are completely free. Any money you pay to them goes straight to your creditors. They do not charge for their service and they would be best to seek advice. As I've never done this before, I'm unsure of the other that are available but I'm sure if you go to citizens advice I'm sure they'd be able to help also.

Xxx

sourcrates · 4 April 2016 at 12:42PM

Bettyboo85 wrote: »

Hi all.

It took me a lot of courage to admit I was struggling with debt. I had missed a payment and was directed to Step-change (who have been amazing!) I have 8k of debt and will hopefully be debt free in 4years.

5 of 6 creditors have agreed to my DMP but this doesn't stop me worrying. I make my first payment 1st May and I'm just hoping everything will be ok. I'm scared of receiving letters and how they work (got my first default this morning!). When you start making payments, do things start dying down? Or do they get worse?! I cannot help worrying that I'll have bailiffs at the door or even worse they'll make me sell my house. I'm worried that I'll have to go to court...the list goes on and on!! I just hope they'll accept my offers. Anyway sorry for rambling, I'm so glad I found this blog, I've been hopping in and out the past few weeks since I started to set up my DMP.

Any advice or reassurance will be appreciated. I'm a natural worrier and do not like change but I hope I'm doing the right thing. I'd hate to lose everything

Liz xxxx

P.s one of my creditors (capital one) set up the agreement for the wrong month. They said they would receive first payment 28th April and not 28th may like step change had arranged after taking payment from me 1st may. When I call capital one, they said they couldn't change the date until 29th April so I made a token payment of £1 for this month and just hope that they don't class it as missing a payment as they got the date mixed. Step change are going to resend the agreement. Will this be ok? Xx

Come on betty, pull yourself together, bailiffs ?, selling your house ?, these are consumer debts, they virtually never involve bailiffs with such things, your mind, it seems, is working overtime here.

Once your DMP is up and running, it will just be like you are making normal payments to your creditors, if you get correspondence, you simply mention your on a DMP and refer them to step change, its that simple.

Letters ? computer generated recycle bin fodder, they should stop when it filters down the line about your DMP, don't worry about things that don't matter, your doing the right thing, just get on with your life betty !!!

Bettyboo85 · 4 April 2016 at 1:41PM

Thank you. I'm just a natural worrier that's all. I was also thinking of reclaiming bank charges but I don't want to upset things now that my bank has accepted the repayment plan of my DMP. I have had an £800 overdraft with them for 9 years and it has always been maxed and I have been charged almost every month. I'm sure if I could claim back charges and interest, I'd be able to hand the money over to step change to disperse to my creditors but like I said I don't want to upset things

lumpyspaceprincess · 4 April 2016 at 1:48PM

Received letters from Robinson Way (IIRC) who have bought my old Tesco balances, both offering a F&F of £1k less on each account. Oh how I wish I could do that!

sourcrates · 4 April 2016 at 1:52PM

Bettyboo85 wrote: »

Thank you. I'm just a natural worrier that's all. I was also thinking of reclaiming bank charges but I don't want to upset things now that my bank has accepted the repayment plan of my DMP. I have had an £800 overdraft with them for 9 years and it has always been maxed and I have been charged almost every month. I'm sure if I could claim back charges and interest, I'd be able to hand the money over to step change to disperse to my creditors but like I said I don't want to upset things

Betty, ahem, with the greatest respect, the bank doesn't know you from Adam, or eve for that matter !!
They are a very large organisation with many thousands of people working for them.

I can guarantee no one will be sitting there waiting for you to complain about your bank charges, just so they can reject your DMP payment.

Again, I fear your over thinking things !!

Get that complaint letter done, mention you are in financial hardship, the bank is duty bound to be fair in its treatment of you,
no boats will be rocked,
time to be a bit more proactive here.

Bettyboo85 · 4 April 2016 at 1:58PM

You are right. It's just I have never done this before and wouldnt even know where to start. Your advice is appreciated though and I guess in a way I have been proactive by seeking help instead of burying my head in the sand and pretending all is ok. Where do I find the letters of complaint? (Sorry for 1001 questions!)

sourcrates · 4 April 2016 at 2:28PM

Bettyboo85 wrote: »

You are right. It's just I have never done this before and wouldnt even know where to start. Your advice is appreciated though and I guess in a way I have been proactive by seeking help instead of burying my head in the sand and pretending all is ok. Where do I find the letters of complaint? (Sorry for 1001 questions!)

I cant find a template specifically for bank charge complaints, however, this National Debtline template is for general complaints, just edit it to your circumstances, head the letter "COMPLAINT".

Be sure to mention your financial difficulties, keep it concise and to the point, ask for a full refund of charges, don't ask, don't get.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Complain-to-your-lender-%28sole-name%29.aspx

any thing else you need help with just ask.

Bettyboo85 · 4 April 2016 at 3:54PM

Thanks for your help!

:):):)

make_the_change · 4 April 2016 at 4:18PM

Bettyboo85 wrote: »

Thank you. I'm just a natural worrier that's all. I was also thinking of reclaiming bank charges but I don't want to upset things now that my bank has accepted the repayment plan of my DMP. I have had an £800 overdraft with them for 9 years and it has always been maxed and I have been charged almost every month. I'm sure if I could claim back charges and interest, I'd be able to hand the money over to step change to disperse to my creditors but like I said I don't want to upset things

Hi,

Can you claim back charges for being in your overdraft? I am interested in this as been making token payments for a while now, overdraft maxed out and has been for a while and interest is massive x

cat1978 · 4 April 2016 at 5:31PM

Good Afternoon,

I've been lurking for a few months, trying to get my head around things. My partner is on a dmp with SC, and has a debt free date of 2056 :eek::eek: no it's not a mistake. Basically we were told that this would be ok because we were doing his house up to sell so that we could clear his debts (which his ex wife agreed with). During this time we have increased my debt as I have funded the house renovations, SC said this was ok as I would have to be paid back before any other debt, and the house value increase would cover this. Fastforward to present day, the ex wife has done a number on him and claimed £12,000 of the house profit from when it sold, plus the £2k in legal fees it has cost us to get to this stage. We now do not have enough money to clear our debts.

My head is spinning from thinking about all this, and I'm not sure on our best path forward. Do we pay off part of his dmp? Or clear my debt and see what's left at the end to put towards his dmp? etc etc.

I know you can't give me answers, but any suggestions would be gratefully received

Thanks

Cat

DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

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