Payplan experience

marklar_2

Hi people,

I have been in touch with payplan for help as one of my creditors sold my debt and I was struggling to go through the process of arranging a payment plan again.

After calculating my SOA I have a surplus of just over £107 a month. What has concerned me is that after talking to my case officer I was suggested that I could go for a DMP or IVA.
I am a bit distressed that they seem to want to push me into an IVA when I have read on Martin's guide that it should be only an alternative to bankruptcy (which I do not want to do). I guess it has just given me a bit of a negative image of them as it did sound like they were trying to suggest this as the better solution.

My total debt is around £14,000 so at the current rate it would take 12 years to clear, however I should see a rise in income over the next 2-3 years and I hope to raise my payment to £200-£300 per month which will clear my debt much faster.

Any advise greatly appreciated!

Ames

someone who knows more than me will be along soon, but I thought that IVA's could only be done for £15k or more of debt. I've not had dealings with Payplan but they're talked highly of on here so I don't know why they've suggested IVA.

notenoughcash

How about posting up your SOA? There are so many people on here with loads of experience who will be able to give you some great advice about repaying your debt and even ways to free up more cash each month to get it all paid off sooner!

rayday2

It is only advice if you prefer the DMP route just tell them that you would like to start your DMP for now and if or when the time comes when an IVA would be something you would like to do then you will consider it.

I think that sometimes the best debt solution on paper is one like bankrupcy or IVA, but if you are happy knowing you could (if your income does not increase) pay for a longer time period then there job as advisors has been done and you have made an informed decision.

I am with you I would rather be on my DMP for years than an IVA.

marklar_2

Thanks for the kind replies.
Yes I think I will go for the DMP and increase the payments as and when I can. I just don't like the extra responsibility that an IVA brings and the potential for further proceedings if it all goes wrong. I would rather just live with paying it off, I think I can be debt free in the next 5 years anyway, based on what I project I will be able to pay.

I have one other query that I hope someone will be able to help with. When one of my debts was sold on, it took 8 months for Lowell to inform me! during which time I had been making my payments to the previous owner of the debt. It looks like this money hasn't been going towards paying the debt, so where is it?! Is there a procedure for recovering it or having it go towards the debt payment?

Thanks once again for the wealth of advice (not sure how we would cope without this forum)

rayday2

How did you pay the payments? If you can prove it with a bank statement or copy of cheques then write to the company who now deal with the debt and prove the payments asking them to amend the balance which was paid to the other company.

I have had this with one of mine.

Deep_In_Debt

Mmmm. Payplan seem to recommend a lot of IVA's. They recommended one to me when it wasn't suitable. I went for a DMP in the end with CCCS (who recommended it and not an IVA) and I've increased my payments twice in the 6 months I've been on it so you will probably find it won't take as long to clear your debts as originally thought.

I've had a similar thing with mine too that one of my creditors (DCA actually) weren't receiving payments. The original creditor had been receiving payments and not knowing what to do with the money kept it. Luckily I had proof of payment and after a bit of a battle, I eventually got them to pass the money to the DCA.

Good luck.

marklar_2

Thanks again for the replies, they are calling me back tomorrow so I am going to go for the DMP - feel more comfortable with this.
Best get chasing up my missing payments too (they were made by standing order so I have statements to back them up), thanks for pointing me in the right direction with that rayday2 and deepindebt.