DMP - Anyone had problems with creditors responding to letters?

Moustacheman

I am in the process of informing all of my creditors that I am in financial difficulty and making offers of payment but some of them have not responded to my letters and when i phone them up they are denying all knowledge of ever recieving them. And then they are sending me letter saying that I have missed payments (even though I am making regular contributions)

Anyone got any ideas on the best thing to do is?

Xbigman

Classic situation. These companies do this all the time.

You should send all your letters out recorded delivery or registered post. When the phone calls/letters start from creditors you should stay calm and keep repeating that you have written to them and you are paying all you can afford. Lots of calls/letters are computer generated standard letters/calls designed to scare you. Most can be ignored.
Whatever your creditors do or don't agree to, just keep sending regular payments and copies of your income and expenditure details. As long as you have a realistic budget they can do very little over unsecured debts.

If you need specific advice over any issue just ask. The more detailed the information you provide the better are replies can be.
Regards



X

rainbowseeker

Hi moustacheman,
I gather you're embarking on a d-i-y dmp, join the club!
I just sent out ten letters yesterday to creditors by registered post. (99p each letter!)
Sent off budget sheet and accompanying letter offering pro rata payment and stating that's all I can afford to pay at the moment. From being a regular reader of this board, I just thought it was a sensible thing to do despite the cost, (also four of the letters were mbna creditors, they asked me to cut up and send back the cards, the others I actually enclosed a cheque for pro rata payments, because payment was due on them), so at least I have a record saying I definitely sent them.
Just got my mbna statement this morning actually, and even though they said they would waive the overlimit fee of £25 even though they wouldn't freeze interest or accept reduced payments, they have slapped that on - not surprised really.
But I have found Xbigman's advice on different threads pretty sound, so I would just follow his advice.
Xbigman: your response to someone's question of whether it's possible to go it alone:
It is possible to do it yourself but you need a tough hide - you're not kidding!! Last two months have been so stressful, but I've come to the point where I can let the burden of it cripple me, or just develop some sort of immunity to it, so I've chosen the latter.

originally posted by xbigman
When the phone calls/letters start from creditors you should stay calm and keep repeating that you have written to them and you are paying all you can afford. Lots of calls/letters are computer generated standard letters/calls designed to scare you. Most can be ignored.
Whatever your creditors do or don't agree to, just keep sending regular payments and copies of your income and expenditure details. As long as you have a realistic budget they can do very little over unsecured debts.

Basically, this is all you can do.
Good luck!

headchef

Hi rainbowseker
i have done the same - mainly because CCCS and CB were enagaged all the time and I couldn't take time off work to queue outside office of CB!
I found CCCS pack very useful and copied all the letters and sent them Recorded Del. Was quite fun when they said 'we haven't had it' - 'Oh but you have. I have sent it SD and the online post office internet portal tell me it was delivered XXX'. Oh what joy when they suddenly thought 'oh er'. I think they say 'we haven't had it as a matter of course'. When i knew what my rights were so to speak, and what they could and couldn't do, I felt so much more conifedent in talking to them and hence, as XBigMan says, kept calm and listened and then jsut said again what I wanted to say!!

Tootsie_Roll

Xbigman wrote:

Classic situation. These companies do this all the time.

You should send all your letters out recorded delivery or registered post. When the phone calls/letters start from creditors you should stay calm and keep repeating that you have written to them and you are paying all you can afford. Lots of calls/letters are computer generated standard letters/calls designed to scare you. Most can be ignored.
Whatever your creditors do or don't agree to, just keep sending regular payments and copies of your income and expenditure details. As long as you have a realistic budget they can do very little over unsecured debts.

If you need specific advice over any issue just ask. The more detailed the information you provide the better are replies can be.
Regards



X

Whilst this advice is sound it in reality makes little difference. Think of the post room in a huge lender. Mail comes in (recorded or not), payments get applied there and then and letters get sent off to the right department (hopefully and assuming you have made it clear which department it has to go to!). I would say that most correctly addressed mail gets there in the end but sadly not all of it. Remember we are talking about tens of thousands of letters each day.

It is imperative that you include an SOA with your letter and offer of payment and make sure that the SOA is realistic (no £41pm on Sky or £80 gym membership), otherwise the whole thing is meaningless. You CANNOT ignore the letters, yes they are automatically generated but only if there is no satisfactory arrangement in place. So if you receive letters it means that possibly yours has got lost somewhere or your offer isn't realistic for some reason - you need to find out why, don't just assume that as you have written everything is OK.