DIY DMPers - What do you do when a creditor will only deal with a DMC?

earthmother

I seem to be hitting a brick wall right now with Nationwide Debt Recovery (Littlewoods et al).

I am DIY DMPing, and they refuse to accept any payment offer unless it is backed with a reference and handled by a debt management company.

Any suggestions? - these guys control (or will soon) three of our 11 creditors (the others haven't been any problem, except Cap One, but that's another story, lol) so I really would like to get it under control sooner rather than later, especially as they also refuse to stop charges etc for the same reason.

:mad:

MrsTinks

I would personally send them letters advising them of the payment offer and attach a cheque for that amount. I will bet you a whole quid that they will cash the cheques and probably they will eventually fall into line Keep copies and records of the payments so that IF they try to go through the CCJ route you can show them that you have consistently offered them x payment and they have cashed these payments - this will stand you in very good stead and it is unlikely the judge will entertain the thoughts of CCJs so long as you keep at the payments and have clearly documented every thing

brightonman123

would try a letter along the lines of 'in view of my circumstances, most other creditors have kindly accepted my (temporary?) payment offer, in line with the income and expenditure statement that is enclosed'.

'as you you can see, our finances are fully committed; we feel that using an intermediary (sp?) will only add delay to any payments, and also that their commission reduces any amounts you may receive'.

or in other words, like it or lump it!

while they waffle on, make the payments you can AFFORD, to show willing..

earthmother

Thank you both.

I am already doing/done all that (although admittedly Brightonman, your suggestion has not been put in writing) - they've had SOAs and pro-rata offers, they (or the original creditors at least) have been accepting the payments since June, and I've tried explaining until I'm blue in the face that I'm DIYing, but without a DMC reference, they won't set up a proper plan and they won't stop the charges (£36 a month max!). They've told me to carry on making payments 'while I get a DMC on board' - totally ignoring what I've already told them. One of them even tried to tell me it was illegal for them to deal directly with me, and that it had to go through an intermediary, and another tried to say the only way I could do it without a DMC would be to transfer the debt onto an interest-bearing account with them (none of these debts attract interest at least).

One glimmer of hope they offered was a comment that if this went on for too long, the debt would be passed to another agency - I can only hope that they, whoever they are, will be more reasonable.

Leixlip1

I had this once with MBNA and wrote back that I had taken advice from National Debtline (which I had) and quoted my client reference number. I also listed all of my other creditors who had accepted my self managed DMP - the result was my offer of payment was accepted, interest and charges stopped etc

earthmother

Thanks Leixlip - I have taken advice from National Debtline and CCCS too, but can't recall being given a reference (I perhaps didn't keep it as I wasn't intending to use them). Maybe it would be worth my while getting back into contact with one of them, even if it's just to generate a number I can quote to these guys.

Leixlip1

I've always contacted them by e-mail and that's where I picked my ref' number up. I'm sure they will have one for you from your initial enquiry.
Is the Red Cow still open in Mkt Harborough??!!

churchrat

earthmother wrote: »

Thank you both.

I am already doing/done all that (although admittedly Brightonman, your suggestion has not been put in writing) - they've had SOAs and pro-rata offers, they (or the original creditors at least) have been accepting the payments since June, and I've tried explaining until I'm blue in the face that I'm DIYing, but without a DMC reference, they won't set up a proper plan and they won't stop the charges (£36 a month max!). They've told me to carry on making payments 'while I get a DMC on board' - totally ignoring what I've already told them. One of them even tried to tell me it was illegal for them to deal directly with me, and that it had to go through an intermediary, and another tried to say the only way I could do it without a DMC would be to transfer the debt onto an interest-bearing account with them (none of these debts attract interest at least).

One glimmer of hope they offered was a comment that if this went on for too long, the debt would be passed to another agency - I can only hope that they, whoever they are, will be more reasonable.

did they put all that in writing? I'm pretty sure that there is no requirerment for you to use any other person to assist you with your affaires, and as someone has already stated, so long as you keep evreything in writing, and keep making payments, they are unlikly to go to court.
NEVER EVER make arrangements or discuss details on the phone--if they say someting dodgy they will always deny it. By the way, I also run my own dmp and some companies think that all of us are fools.
good luck, keep posting

earthmother

Leixlip - yes, it's still open, although I've never been in


Churchrat - no, everything has been verbal - just various CSAs trying to get a payment out of me. I always confirm any agreement in writing anyway - I know how slippery some of these guys can be.

You're right that there is no legal requirement to use an intermediary - I actually spoke to CCCS this morning about it and they confirmed that for me.

I also did their Debt Remedy again (last one was 6 months ago) just to make sure I wasn't wildly off of acceptable figures on my SOA, in case this was another reason the creditors were playing up. As far as CCCS are concerned, because my husband is disabled (and hence we have higher costs than average in some areas), I'm quite probably offering the creditors too much as his DLA should be discounted from calculations. Tempted do as the creditors wish and hand it over to CCCS after all - don't think it would go as they obviously hope though, after all, it wouldn't be them getting more money out of the deal :rolleyes: