Parsley the Lion and the DMP

Parsley_2

Well, nothing more from the bank today but that could be because of a very strange thing.

About 10 days ago we got a letter from BT saying "sorry to hear you're changing your provider" and giving a number to phone if we didn't actually want to change our phone provider. The change was supposed to happen on 10th Sept (today).

Me and my husband phoned them seperately to say that we did not want to change provider and had no idea why they would think we would. We also got them to fill in the ofcom fraud form as it turned out that onetel were taking over the phone line.

We have had absolutely no contact from onetel (talktalk) and have no idea how this happened, especially as our phone number is ex-directory.

They said it was all sorted and we were happy.

Today I tried to phone home from work and got a message saying the number was not recognised. This was a bit worrying to say the least as I have no other way of contacting my husband once he's left his work as he doesn't have a mobile.

Got home and tried phoning BT to report a fault and got a message saying that our phone was not longer with BT so they couldn't help.

My husband then got on the case and 13 people, 3 disconnections and an explanation to each person later (1.5 hours) he finally got a Scot who was the only person who actually tried to help and didn't immediately pass him on to someone else. The person in the Indian call centre refused to transfer him to a british or irish call centre and that annoyed him even more.

Anyway it turns out that our phone number has been changed to a different number and taken over by another company, we assume it must be onetel but we have no paperwork from anyone to tell us this. The Scottish guy suggested phoning someone else and then getting them to 1471 the numer to see what the new number was so we did that to my mobile and got it. He was also the 1st of the 13 people to suggest that the number might have been changed.

Someone will hopefully phone my husband tomorrow to tell him what is happening as we are very happy with our phone provision and the costs (get free calls through internet provider and don't know if that still applies). They have said that it will cost to get re-connected and change the number back but I doubt that that will happen once he's had his way. Don't see why we should pay for something that we didn't request and also cancelled as soon as we knew about it anyway.

I think he scared the poor guy as he asked to speak to his supervisor and then started being very placating and saying that he just wanted to tell the supervisor how helpful he had been and how he was the only useful person after over an hour of calls and hang ups. Poor guy!! Still not sure he believed it but it was actually true. I was worried that I'd have to grab the phone at one point as he was about to go ballistic but I reckon speaking to a fellow Scot calmed him right down.

This is a bit of a long post but it was a very strange thing and I don't know when it'll get sorted. Doesn't help that I'm waiting for a phone call about my terminally ill uncle and also from my brother who's emigrating to Australia soon. I'm sure the BT people thought we were making it up as an excuse to try and get them to sort the phone out quicker but it's actually true. I need the phone so my family can contact me. I'll have to switch my mobile on just in case.

Such a strange evening.

Night all

p.s. checked the CCCS DMP bit and they've finally got my first payment showing so now waiting to see how it all gets split up and sorted. I've gone in and amended all the totals as each card has now got charges and interest added to the totals I gave in July.

Parsley_2

Found out last night that BT were supposed to migrate our downstairs neighbours phone to TalkTalk not ours. I think it's TalkTalk that's done it wrong though. Neighbours are annoyed as they don't have their phone number and we're annoyed because we do have it.

Phoning BT again later to see what is happening as no-one phone DH at work today like they were supposed to.

Interestingly I checked BOS account today and they have taken off the advised interest at the normal date but also re-credited it to the account. I wonder if this means they've accepted the DMP and stopped the interest. Will have to see what happens with the credit card.

Got my grey letter from Lloyds today so getting everything together ready to send for each credit card.

Situation currently as follows:-

Mint card - Defaulted and terminated as at 04.09.08
TSB Me - Defaulted and grey letter as at 11.09.08
TSB DH - Defaulted and grey letter as at 28.08.08
TSB other DH - no correspondance. (other card not other DH)
Egg - no correspondance
Halifax One card - Late payment letter but no default yet.
BOS account - recredited interest but no correspondance.
Preference account - no correspondance.

It looks like it's going to be a really long process.

The_Dragon

Parsley wrote: »

Found out last night that BT were supposed to migrate our downstairs neighbours phone to TalkTalk not ours. I think it's TalkTalk that's done it wrong though. Neighbours are annoyed as they don't have their phone number and we're annoyed because we do have it.

Phoning BT again later to see what is happening as no-one phone DH at work today like they were supposed to.

Interestingly I checked BOS account today and they have taken off the advised interest at the normal date but also re-credited it to the account. I wonder if this means they've accepted the DMP and stopped the interest. Will have to see what happens with the credit card.

Got my grey letter from Lloyds today so getting everything together ready to send for each credit card.

Situation currently as follows:-

Mint card - Defaulted and terminated as at 04.09.08
TSB Me - Defaulted and grey letter as at 11.09.08
TSB DH - Defaulted and grey letter as at 28.08.08
TSB other DH - no correspondance. (other card not other DH)
Egg - no correspondance
Halifax One card - Late payment letter but no default yet.
BOS account - recredited interest but no correspondance.
Preference account - no correspondance.

It looks like it's going to be a really long process.

Grrr at TalkTalk! um I may be stupid here but what are the "grey letters" you are talking about?

Parsley_2

The_Dragon wrote: »

Grrr at TalkTalk! um I may be stupid here but what are the "grey letters" you are talking about?

The grey letters are from Lloyds solicitors. They talk like they're from a completely different company but the phone number is the same as the one for the collection teams. They're on grey paper, hence grey letters. I think they're the last ditch attempt to get a payment before looking at the DMP but I'm still sending them the budget and creditor summary.

Phone is sorted and broadband seems to be unaffected. :j Also 1571 has gone so I won't be charged for using it any more. (Disadvantage of using another call provider)

Bank of Scotland statement is in and no mention of interest to be taken off next month like there would usually be. (Fingers crossed on this one)

The smallest TSB credit card keeps taking money out of the up and running TSB account which is being used for the business currently. DH insists on keeping it open even though I've told him they'd do this. It's not exactly legal using it for the business but it's only for the paypal transfers and direct payments in from customers. Money usually taken out same day to cover bills.

Halifax credit card trying to get me to contact them even though I know they have the DMP info and am waiting for them to contact me about whether they will accept it. I think I will send them the same as to Lloyds in the hope of stopping charges and interest while they sort it out.

Other than that fairly quiet. Hoping that the problem with the phone will have made TSB take the number off their system as it was unrecognised for 3 days. They were phoning every day so this could happen.

Parsley_2

TSB have written to accept the £5 per month on the smallest credit card. It's been accepted for 6 months with 0.482% interest. They do say that it is a one time offer and will then go back to the old terms & conditions but they've accepted it once so odds are good they'll accept again.

Haven't heard from the other 2 TSB cards yet. Have letters to go to them in response to the grey letters but forgot to send them on Saturday.

Have statement from preference account with BOS and they don't say anything about the agreement. In fact they've charged me £5 for unauthorised overdraft and £25 for late payment.

Will ask on DMP board what to do about this.

Still at least one creditor has accepted and I think BOS have accepted on the main account since interest seems to have stopped.

News that TSB have bought BOS is very bad. I've had so many problems with TSB over the years and was doing pretty well with HBOS up til now. Hoping that they will still keep seperate identities.

Happytogetdebtfree

hey parsley it is meee hope you can recognise by the sig but i changed name i didnt want people to recognise me i feel abit vulnerable laying the debt out you know things are good lost 8 pounds so far at slimming world well on track for wedding next year things are going nice for debt plans just paying ontome and saving for wedding etc etc xx

Parsley_2

Hiya,

Are you still keeping up your diary?

Nice going with the weight loss. Mines creeping up again but I'm away to work on it this week as I'm away to Yorkshire.

Going to Mr Moos on Sunday so that will be a day of many calories but I'm really looking foward to it. Hopefully my sister will share the great big ice cream dish with me as it's too much for one person but neither my mum or Aunt can manage it either.

My big problem is, do I tell them all about the DMP or not. I can tell my Aunt but my Mum & sister can be a bit judgemental as I'm sure you can understand. They care but they don't understand. They've both always managed and not got into the debt I have. I'll see what happens when I'm down there.

Keep up the good work.

Happytogetdebtfree

well i may start a new diary a little later, i dont really want mine on the front page because well i dont want someone to find it lol ......... im plodding along and keeping to dfw journey, gettinga 50 pound voucher from m and s for recommendinga friend to sky, yay for me we bothe get one so that will be nice, plus in a few more weeks we will get 100 pound from the bank for opening an account so thats 150, we are trying to save a little for some house things aswell as pay debt and save for wedding so we are learning to be sensible sensible sensible hehe.... anyway working late shift so i better toddle off xxx speak soon xxx

Parsley_2

Well, lost the internet connection for almost 3 weeks thanks to the problems with talktalk and have finally got it sorted. Really missed this place while I couldn't log on although I did spend some more time with my DH.

More news for credit cards:-

TSB £500 - DMP accepted previously
TSB£11500 - have refused DMP but no interest on this months statement
TSB £15000 - have refused DMP but no interest on this months statement
Egg £8000 - DMP accepted and interest frozen.
Mint £10000 - No word yet
Preference account £4000 - Passed to DCA who have accepted DMP and interest is frozen. (Not in writing yet though)
BOS overdraft £3000 - heard nothing but no interest last month
Halifax One card £5300 - Keep writing saying not heard from me but they have the DMP info as I confirmed it over the phone with them ages ago.

Some good things happening finally but it's really been a weight off just being able to spend necessary money without worrying about where it's coming from. Any disasters will be difficult to deal with as no savings but planning on sorting that out soon.

Pay increase has now been put back to May so I doubt my payments will be able to go up at my first 6 month review since my costs have already increased with travel increases and electricity increases and I think I underestimated food costs as well. Still once I get to May things will be able to increase.

A good day today.