getting letters demanding money, even though I am with payplan

worried_and_sick

Hi All, since contacting this web site, I have taken advise and contacted payplan, I am now (since november 2008) on a payment plan. I get my money taken out every month to pay my creditors, I thought all was well, but now I am getting more and more letters demanding money or they will send someone round to my house and send me to court or pass my debt on to a third party, from reading some of the posts, I sort of expected it, but Today I have received a very pretty postcard ,saying the following
my name ......... and
I confirm I will be calling you week commencing 13/04/ 2009
if inconvienient please call 01244674515 extn

---

Now I did not know who it was from as there was no visable name and address, very unususal picture on reverse of a flower stems or something,it was a gloosy picture and writing was hand written, all very deceiving, but on close inspection with a magnifying glass I saw it was from MBNA, IT SAID THEIR NAME AND ADDRESS IN VERY TINY LETTERS,running down the centre of the card seperating their message and my name and address.
I have had to change my phone number because of the none stop phone calls night and day, I do not want people coming to my door, this has really upset me, I do not know what to do, I am paying all I can, my payplan case officer has sent them my incoming and out goings months ago. I have been paying this bank and my other creditors for 6 months.
Can anybody help me with what to do, to stop people calling to my house.
Thank you in advance.

Merlinexcalibur

Don't know much about payplan but shouldn't they be sorting this sort of thing out for you if they are acting on your behalf?

Ilovejackbauer

It sounds to me like you are not actually on an arrangement. Payplan might have worked a payment plan out for you but have you had formal notification from your creditors that they are accepting the arrangement.

Payplan will take money and pass it on but it does not necessarily mean that your otp has been accepted. Best thing to do is to call MBNA and see if they have received your documentation from payplan. You might actually find that they have not even received it. If they have rejected the otp then they should have written to you.

Merlinexcalibur

That's what was confusing me TBH.

Incidentally, I think the chances of anyone calling at your home on a Bank Holiday from a DCA are practically nil. If anyone does, then do the sensible thing and simply not open your front door.

craftingqueen_2

Hi ,

We are with Payplan , we had letters like this . We passed a copy of the letter to Payplan and we wrote to the creditor in question and explain we are with payplan and that they needed to deal with them . It worked for us , the letters did'nt stop over night but they do stop after a while .

cq

worried_and_sick

Hi
Every time I contact them they say that this is normal, and that they will try to get it stopped, but to date they have not.
I have never been in debt before, so I have never dealt with this company, and I do not know what they can and can not do.
Thank you for taking the time to write to me.

Merlinexcalibur

This is from Payplan's site on harassment from a creditor. It may be of use:

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/bailiffs-harassment.php

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/debt_factsheets/harassment_of_people_in_debt_by_creditors.php

I think the thing to do now, using some of the information from those sites above, is to make a formal complaint to OFT and your local Trading Standards purely on the matter of your getting this card today if nothing else. That then gives you a paper trail to show, when the time is needed, how this particular creditor has behaved towards eg where they have bent the rules shall we say.

craftingqueen_2

Hi
I know what you are going through , when we deal with our creditors we always write to them as we had proof that we were in contact with our creditors and were serious about paying them their money but over a longer period .

cq

Ilovejackbauer

A lot of people think that once they sign up with the DMC thats it end of story. Unfortunately this is not the case, the creditors will still chase you until an acceptable arrangement is reached. It sounds like in your case this hasn't happened. You will have given Payplan third party auth to deal with your creditors which means once the creditors received the documentation then they can discuss your account with Payplan should Payplan call them. It does not mean they will not contact you to chase your debt.


Here's how it works with some approx figures.

Monthly Income £1000
Monthly Outgoings £750

Disposable Income £250

Credit Card Debt £2360 as a % 29.65 otp = £74.13
Personal Loan £5000 as a % 62.81 otp = £157.02
Store Card £600 as a % 7.54 otp = £18.85

Total Debt £7960 = 100% = £250



Where I work your otp would be accepted on the loan because it would clear within the time we allow. If it went outside the time you would need to increase your otp or it would continue down the collections route.

10past6

Ilovejackbauer wrote: »

It does not mean they will not contact you to chase your debt

Any creditor / DCA that follows that route, must answer to the OFT

OFT guidelines on debt collection clearly state?

Deceptive and/or unfair methods

2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:

c. refusing to deal with appointed or authorised third parties, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux, independent advice centres or money advisers

d. contacting debtors directly and bypassing their appointed representatives

Ilovejackbauer

The problem we find is that the auth letters invariably have not been received or they send in letters demanding int is stopped (which it isn't) or otp of £1.00 which is just a time wasting exercise. Sometimes they have collected a couple of months of money and we still have not received auth to deal. This is usually the case with the fee paying ones though.