DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

suze72

Hello everyone

I haven't checked in on here for a while so thought I'd give you an update on our DMP journey.

We started our DMP at the beginning of this year with a total amount of £16,000 owed, mostly to HSBC plus 1 Barclaycard. We were only in a position to pay a relatively small amount at the time so our DFD was 2019.

Barclaycard stopped charges and interest almost immediately, and after a few months of being hounded by HSBC they passed the debts on to Metropolitan who have been excellent.
We had our first review 2 months ago and were able to increase our DMP payments by £100 per month, bringing our DFD down by almost 5 years! It finally felt like we were getting somewhere:rolleyes: - hmmm, I should have known better!

My OH set up a business together with someone else some time ago which unfortunately didn't work out. They ended up owing a hefty amount (£28k) to Lloyds for an overdraft. The ex business partner was made bankrupt a couple of weeks ago so the whole debt has now been passed to my partner (and me now I suppose).
I phoned CCCS earlier today and they have added the debt to our DMP. My OH has, thank goodness, been offered some additional work so we have been able to increase our DMP payments by another £100 per month, but it has still taken our DFD back up to 2020 - I am gutted, but have to admit also a bit relieved that we now have some help in dealing with Lloyds.

Despite all this I am still feeling a whole lot more optimistic than I was at this time last year, and CCCS have been absolute stars.

Right, off to update my signature now!
Hope you are all doing OK,
Sue.xxx

munkiemunkie81

I'm up to 3/7 creditors accepting the payment proposals with CCCS now and stopping interest! Great relief to know what i will be paying wont be null and void because of interest!

I think Marbles are probably going to be fiesty. Has anyone had dealings with them on a DMP?

I have a C/C balance of £10,100 maxed out and for the last year they have been taking minimum payments of £252 and then charging me £275 in interest and making charges on top. The interest ended up at something like 36%!!! Thats the one I think is going to be the hardest to deal with - probably one to ask for a CCA on to counteract any nastyness?? Although prob need to do some reading up on those first so i'm not talking out my rear end!!

Not sure how well my keeping in budget is going - especially with the pressure on this weekend to spend for my mums 50th!

Twit_Head

Apologies everyone but posting for a moan as I'm feeling very sorry for myself at the moment.......
Am off work with an extremely painful slipped disc. Bumped into my ex the other day, just back from his latest jolly who informed me I really must go to Venice (yea right- got £37-00 to last the rest of this 5 week month)
I can't claim back any charges (was never in arrears) neither can I claim PPI (always refused it as didn't think it worth the money) so I really am in for the long haul.
Sorry to be such a misery today -am going to take some more very strong painkillers and lie down in a darkened room and hopefully recover my sense of humour!

the_tooth_fairy

Aw Twit Head I've only had a bad back once - it's enough!
I had a cocktail of Diazepam and Cocodomol off the doc, it really helped.
Something to consider maybe.
Get well soon - we all need a moan on here now and again x
ttf

saskia1

twithead - you go ahead & moan & have a bad day -you are ok & most of us have been there!! sending you hugs for the bad back.

Q - (should PM geoff) am about to send off my letter to request CCA agreement - can i send them a cheque for the £1.00 fee or is this a no-no??

feel like i'm firing on all cylinders now - if lloyds are gonna get stroppy v-then so am i!!!!!

hope we are all having good evenings

sas

moneybuster

Don't send a cheque as it will have your signature on it you can send a cheque from your other half if the debt is in your name only and Vi's versa.

Most people send P Orders.

MB

suze72

Has anyone on here had dealings with John Collins & Partners Solicitors? They are the solicitors acting for Lloyds who are dealing with my OHs old business overdraft debt, which has just gone on our DMP.
I have tried Googling them and it seems they are an independant firm, not part of Lloyds so I'm now worrying that Lloyds have already taken the decision to take OH straight to court rather than accepting DMP payments - in fact does anyone know how solicitors acting on behalf of companys operate? - I mean are they in the business of negotiating payment terms or are they used purely to take court action?

Sorry to rant but after my initial refief yesterday at getting this debt added to our DMP I am now having a mild panic attack!!

Any advice would be very gratefully received:D

ladyday

munkiemunkie81 wrote: »

I think Marbles are probably going to be fiesty. Has anyone had dealings with them on a DMP?

I have a C/C balance of £10,100 maxed out and for the last year they have been taking minimum payments of £252 and then charging me £275 in interest and making charges on top. The interest ended up at something like 36%!!! Thats the one I think is going to be the hardest to deal with - probably one to ask for a CCA on to counteract any nastyness?? Although prob need to do some reading up on those first so i'm not talking out my rear end!!

I have a Marbles card on my DMP and they've been ok so far after slapping on their 36% interest in the past. At the start they rang a few times and when I plucked up the courage to answer and explain about the DMP I was told to ring their Specialist Team and the phone calls would stop. I rang and they put a hold on the account for a month while the DMP was being sorted out. I was told that it depends on the percentage of the payment of the debt whether they suspend interest or reduce it to a lower rate, my debt was £5700 at the time and I was paying about £65 to them on the DMP and all interest and charges were suspended, I was told this suspension was for 6 months initially and they would review it again. I've now had to reduce my DMP payment from this month and Marbles seem to have accepted the reduced payment so far but that might change if they are reviewing the account this month. My account was opened about 10 years ago so I sent a letter to request my CCA, I don't know if that had any effect on their decision as they couldn't provide it for several months, when they did find it last month what they sent me was unenforceable so I feel in a stronger position if they ever do decide to be awkward.

geoffmr1

saskia1 wrote: »

twithead - you go ahead & moan & have a bad day -you are ok & most of us have been there!! sending you hugs for the bad back.

Q - (should PM geoff) am about to send off my letter to request CCA agreement - can i send them a cheque for the £1.00 fee or is this a no-no??

feel like i'm firing on all cylinders now - if lloyds are gonna get stroppy v-then so am i!!!!!

hope we are all having good evenings

sas

What moneybuster said is very true & as always it's your own decision. However I used to be a bit sneaky here, I did send £1 cheques for copies of CCA's but I used to sign my name differently on purpose. Barclays (my bank) never once queried why my signature was different but I used to do that in the hope that actually the creditor I had requested it off would try & forge the document, that way when/if it got to court I could actually prove the document they were providing was a fake as I have endless copies of my real signature on documents from over the years. The only creditor to ever question my signature was Nationwide & then I quoted the data protection act at them & asked why they had been communcating with me under that signature if they didn't believe it was really me, I refused to give them a genuine copy or go to one of their branches to verify my details & it was them who relented pretty quickly.

geoffmr1

suze72 wrote: »

Has anyone on here had dealings with John Collins & Partners Solicitors? They are the solicitors acting for Lloyds who are dealing with my OHs old business overdraft debt, which has just gone on our DMP.
I have tried Googling them and it seems they are an independant firm, not part of Lloyds so I'm now worrying that Lloyds have already taken the decision to take OH straight to court rather than accepting DMP payments - in fact does anyone know how solicitors acting on behalf of companys operate? - I mean are they in the business of negotiating payment terms or are they used purely to take court action?

Sorry to rant but after my initial refief yesterday at getting this debt added to our DMP I am now having a mild panic attack!!

Any advice would be very gratefully received:D

Independant solicitors will negotiate, however they do on the whole seem to be less flexible than DCA's etc. The problem when it goes to solictors is that they usually look to secure the debt somehow (obviously depending on your circumstances & what assets you hold). Looking around online this firm seem to deal mostly with property deals rather than debt recovery, there doesn't seem to be much information about them going after debtors so that must be a good thing, usually you get a whole raft of information about how diabolical & underhand a solicitor is.