Debt Management Companies??

MrMaN_3

I signed up with http://www.smoothfinancial.co.uk about 6 weeks back, purely because no one else would take me on as i'm unemployed.

Anyway the problem is I paid £250 and I think I've been scammed. The company involved said they had sent 2 letters to all 6 of my creditors with offers of repayments and also 2 statements to me to show where my £250 went. The problem is none of my creditors have received anything and neither have I. Instead of helping me they have made matters worse, I am receiving default notices, being tortured by phone calls and receiving solictors letters.

What should I do?? Any advice much appreciated. Should I trust this company. Who insidently have about 3 telephone numbers and anytime you phone you are guaranteed to get this one guy which also makes me worried. It seems like a one man company.

PS: I wouldn't have used any agencies but I wrote around my creditors with offers of repayments but they either declined or apparantly never received my letters dispite sending about 3 to each creditor on different occasions.

Northernbird_2

Regrettably, I think you may have to accept that the £250 is gone, and look at other options. Don't worry about the default notices, that would have happened anyway on any DMP. From your post it sounds like you've tried CCCS and Payplan?? If not, give them a go.

If they can't help, all I can suggest is put together your own DMP. List all of your income that you receive, and list all of your essential outgoings (basically everything except the debt). Whatever left is what you can pay to your creditors. List your creditors with the amount that you owe and the expected monthly payments, and pro-rata your surplus amount you have to pay across all of them. So if one creditor is 50% of what you owe, they receive 50% of your surplus and so on.

Send this to each of your creditors, explaining how much you can pay them each month. Explain that you have gone through everything (and you've sent it to them so they can see it), and this is all you can afford.

Do go through your essential outgoings (and people can help on this site to get your outgoings down), as creditors often have what they deem acceptable amounts and outgoings. So for example, they probably won't accept Sky, and if you tell them you spend £400 a month on food (for one person as an example), they probably won't accept that.

Send the letters Recorded Delivery so they definitely get them. Also, don't wait for them to reply, start making the proposed payments so they know you intend to pay them.

If you don't have any surplus, prove this, and pay them nominal £1 for example. You could also ask if they would freeze interest and charges.

Other people here will probably have better (and more accurate) advice, but this is what I would do. There are still no guarantees that they will accept the offers, but if it gets to Court, they would look at affordability anyway.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

MrMaN_3

Yes I tried CCCS and Payplan but they wouldn't take me on. I am really annoyed at loosing that £250. Is there no one I can complane too?? Its totally unfair that this cowboy is allowed to pray on the likes of me. I mean they look genuine enough, I even did a search on the company number and credit lisense number and all match up.

Northernbird_2

It depends on the company you gave the £250 to. Are they licensed, registered with anyone, are they authorised by the FSA? If they're not a member of a body of some kind, I'm not sure you have much leverage. The only thing I could say, would be contact the Office of Fair Trading. By paying the £250 they were agreeing to providing you a service which they have failed to do. Give them a ring.

In the meantime, you still need to sort out your creditors with payment offers.

Good luck.

MrMaN_3

It says this:

Licensed under the 1974 Consumer Credit Act.

Company Registration Number: 5346052

Consumer Credit Licence: 567290


I have my letters ready to be posted. I will send this recorded delivery so there's no excuses.

Beccal_3

Aggghh you have me really worried now. My b/f, who I have lived with for three years, has just got invoilved with Gregory Pennington, who work through the Bank of Scotland - are these reputable? are they going to rip him off?

Clumsy_Girl

Not sure if it helps but according to Companies House website smooth financial were previously known as Smile Financial Consultants Limited. They changed their name at the end of November.

IN_LIKE_EVERYONE_ELSE!

This from the website,



. You lose control of your assets.

. You cannot obtain credit for over £250 without the permission from the lender.

. You cannot act as a company director.

. You cannot take any part in the promotion, formation or management of a limited company (LTD) without the permission of the court.

. You cannot trade in any business under any other name unless you inform all persons concerned of the bankruptcy.

. You may not practice as a Charted Accountant / Lawyer

. You may not act as a Justice of the peace (JP)

. You may not become an member of parliament

. You may not become a member of the local authority.

. Your credit is affected for many years after the annulment.

. You may be publicly examined in court.

Ooh er missus.

ralphy

about 4 years ago, i was in about £6500 of debt and around that time 'Baines & Ernst' were around advertising on tv offering to take on your debts reduce your monthly payments and all that jazz.

Anyway, i decided to apply with them because i was struggling with my monthly outgoings. i had to pay a couple of hundred pounds to them for various fees, etc; and they told me to cancel all my monthly direct debits which were due to go out, and they would take over, send out letters to my creditors like they were supposed to do with you and hopefully that would be that and i would just pay B&E some money each month for the next 3 years or so and they would in turn pay all my creditors.

...or so i thought, i began getting letters and phone calls from my creditors still saying they either hadn't received no money or they had rejected B&E reduced monthly payment offer but B&E continued to pay them at the reduced rate.

This got to a head when i received a CCJ in the post from one of my catologues, i was absolutely fuming! i rang B&E and all they said was 'we're sorry, there's nothing we can do, blah, blah, blah'.

I decided to call the National Debtline (i really wish i done this in the first place), they were fantastic i must say, i was on the phone to them for over an hour, they talked me through my options and advised my to take out an administration order with the Court. This was a lesser version of being bankrupt, but i'm so glad i did it.

With an Administration Order the court takes all your debts on (a bit like these debt companies), you have to tell the court all your incomings and outgoings and they will decide a reasonable amount for you to pay them who in turn pay back the creditors. This worked out so much better and only took a couple of years to pay back. I had no other outgoings every month, just the one to the court and i had no more worries of any creditors calling me as this was all legal and official and the creditors had no choice but to accept!

I finally finished the Admin Order early 2004, and haven't applied for any credit up until a couple of months ago because i was worried about my credit rating but i applied for an Egg loan in October and was accepted!

I've really learn't my lesson over the years about getting into debt, but although i have an Egg loan i won't be making the mistake of applying for anything else unless i can afford it, but i don't need to anyway.

If i was you, i'd seriously call the National Debtline or even your local CAB and weigh up your options before things get worse. Believe me it worked for me and its the best decision i ever made.

These Debt management companies are all a big con and should be banned if you ask me.

Good luck.

shelagh_wilkinson

i think i have "boobed" BIG STYLE STARTED A DMP IN SEPTEMBER NO FURTHER FORWARD STRESSED++++

System

MrMaN wrote:

Yes I tried CCCS and Payplan but they wouldn't take me on.

Hi MrMaN
Re the CCCS - Do you mean they wouldn't take you on for a DMP administered by them? Did they send you a Self-Help Information pack? That would have had all the relevant forms for you to use to contact your creditors yourself. If in any doubt or you didn't get this pack, call CCCS again for further help.

I am really annoyed at loosing that £250. Is there no one I can complane too?? Its totally unfair that this cowboy is allowed to pray on the likes of me. I mean they look genuine enough, I even did a search on the company number and credit lisense number and all match up.

I can understand you fuming over losing £250, but don't lose sight of the more important problem here - ie. contacting your creditors. Concentrate on getting that sorted first, or I'd imagine you'll get charged hundreds more in costs and interest on the debts you're trying to resolve.

When that's under control, go back and sort out Clint Eastwood! For legal advice try https://www.clsdirect.org.uk

If he's FSA registered, complain in writing to them.

You may also get some satisfaction by contacting Office of Fair Trading or Trading Standards.

Write to the guy, complain about his poor or non-existant service and ask for a full refund first though.


For anyone else reading this thread in a similar situation, all services offered by Debt Management Companies are provided FREE by the CCCS. If you're not suitable for a DMP, they can still guide you thru everything you need to do to contact your creditors and arrange regular payments.

You are wasting your money - and taking longer to reduce your debts - if you pay a Debt Management Company to administer a DMP for you.