DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

Northstar68

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

Definitely Mrs! :beer:

Banks, loans and credit card companies have had their knuckles wrapped over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance especially to the self employed. They could only successfully claim on it if they either died or went bankrupt! No kidding, the clauses in the insurance policy meant that it would hardly ever pay up resulting in the masses asking for their money back.

It is a hard fight cause no one wants to give any money back to you but if you can prove you were mis-sold then yes you have a very good chance of getting your money back, might not be in your pocket but it will come off the debt. I only found out from this site about the whole ppi mis-selling thing and used it to fight our own creditors, we have successfully claimed back ppi and some cases are still with the Financial Ombudsman but it has helped to bring our debt down a good few thousand over the past year.

Don't take too much on though, you will burn out and that is no good for your family or your personal well being. When you have time give me a shout and I will help all I can by showing you the letters I wrote on behalf of OH to creditors to give you an idea what to put etc if you like.

Martin also has template letters on here under the 'Reclaim £1000s' button at the top and there are some lovely people in the ppi reclaim section on this site who will go out their way to help you.


Just noticed you wrote you were out of work for 4 years and you had ppi on a loan and credit card. Now if this was a joint application, usually only one person was covered; OH being self employed meant he wouldn't have had full benefit of cover due to his employment status and you wouldn't have been covered for losing your job etc because you were unemployed. If it was just in OH name he was self employed, if it was in yours you were unemployed, see where I am going here with mis-selling?

Just picked this last bit up......er I think I'm with you, LOL, got to get my head round that one, I cant remember dates and things and what was taken out and when. As I work my way through my boxes I am sure I will find the answer.

Northstar68

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

Northstar added to my post in case you haven't seen!

woo hoo party time for you :beer:

Fingers crossed eh! if I can get some money taken off the debts that would be great, at the mo it's 17 years 9 months until we are debt free, if I can get a few years off that then that would be amazing! :T

OMG, I have only looked at 8 statements so far (for 1 credit card).....the overlimit/late payment charges already add up to £74!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got an incentive now, will keep going until morning if I have to!!!

Toffee_Penny

I started reclaiming in December last year after checking through posts on here, we are still fighting Barclaycard, MBNA and I'm still waiting to hear from Lloyds about my refund from August this year.

It all takes time, I was so stressed last December I thought I'd need to see a Dcotor, I felt that low about the debt and all it's paperwork, creditor letters demanding payments etc. OH didn't really have a clue and left it all to me so that was added pressure it wasn't because he couldn't be bothered, it was just I suppose I was better than him at sorting the letters, replies and stuff out.

OH's attitude to creditors was 'fluff 'em' and still is, he couldn't give a toss whether it would take five years or fifteen to pay it all off. The pressure of finding over £1000 per month for cards and loan payments has now gone. Our debt free date at one time was December 2023 , our debt at its highest was 53k. After a year and half DMP payments and ppi reclaims our debt free date is now September 2017 and the total now stands at £39kish. I am hoping MBNA, Lloyds and Barclays hurry up to get our total and date down even further.

Take one step at a time, get your DMP set up and running and remember baby steps! It can all get too much and it can take its toll on your mind and wellbeing so one step at a time, sorry hope I am not being patronising here!

One thing I love about this site though is it gives hope to the little people to be able to fight the big people and there is no greater feeling than when a little person wins!

Northstar68

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

I started reclaiming in December last year after checking through posts on here, we are still fighting Barclaycard, MBNA and I'm still waiting to hear from Lloyds about my refund from August this year.

It all takes time, I was so stressed last December I thought I'd need to see a Dcotor, I felt that low about the debt and all it's paperwork, creditor letters demanding payments etc. OH didn't really have a clue and left it all to me so that was added pressure it wasn't because he couldn't be bothered, it was just I suppose I was better than him at sorting the letters, replies and stuff out.

OH's attitude to creditors was 'fluff 'em' and still is, he couldn't give a toss whether it would take five years or fifteen to pay it all off. The pressure of finding over £1000 per month for cards and loan payments has now gone. Our debt free date at one time was December 2023 , our debt at its highest was 53k. After a year and half DMP payments and ppi reclaims our debt free date is now September 2017 and the total now stands at £39kish. I am hoping MBNA, Lloyds and Barclays hurry up to get our total and date down even further.

Take one step at a time, get your DMP set up and running and remember baby steps! It can all get too much and it can take its toll on your mind and wellbeing so one step at a time, sorry hope I am not being patronising here!

One thing I love about this site though is it gives hope to the little people to be able to fight the big people and there is no greater feeling than when a little person wins!

Absolutely to your last line there, in a matter of days I have already toughened up a lot.
Same with my OH exactly, I'm the one who can deal with the letters/phone calls etc so it's left up to me. Like now, hes watching the football highlights and Im going through statements LOL
Our biggies are with MBNA, Lloyds and Barclays too!!!
Back to checking the statements......

Toffee_Penny

Also if you have £12 late payment fee and £12 overlimit fee on one statement it means they charged too much. I think the standard charge of £12 is accepted but not 2 x £12 in the same month if that makes sense?

Look I best stop as your head is going to blow off with all this info, you'll fall asleep under all those statements tonight and it will be my fault!

Anyway I'm off to bed, hope you are too soon don't rack the brain too much with paperwork as I'm quite sure you children won't fully understand the meaning of a lie in tomorrow morning!

If you need a hand give me a shout, I might not post every day but I do read the thread.

Take care xxx

Northstar68

MBNA did the double charging thing quite a few times, making a note of them all.
No worries about not sleeping LOL, this is something productive and Im very happy to do it!
Thx again for all the advice :beer::j

Twit_Head

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

But you can do it, even if you have to cut back on things you have always bought like expensive brands and swap it for a cheaper version. It can be done without anyone noticing much although I did buy Tesco value loo roll once and the family complained of sore bums that week so watch what you swap! :rotfl:

Hi Toffee Penny
Had this very same conversation with a friend the other day - combined wisdom was the same as you - value toilet rolls are c**p!
BTW love the way you refer to me in a later post as 'Twitty!' As some members of this thread know my user name was a reflection of my emotions at the time I subscribed. I find it always fascinating to read the varied names we have choosen - some upbeat, some obviously related to our financial distress.

Twit_Head

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Hey Twit Head! Glad to hear the back is much better!
Like you, I'm sort of dreading Christmas, OH is due a back-dated payrise (about £300) which we were hoping to get end Nov. Now it looks like the New Year so I might have to borrow funds from my Dad. I really hate to ask him, and I pay back every penny he ever lent me, but with 13 neices and nephews, all wee kids, I can't see any other way. I'm just relieved that we entertained the in laws last year and it's not our turn! Isn't that bad?
I would love to hear if anyone has had any brainwaves re; Xmas, certainly can't jeopardise the DMP so early in!

Further to my anti-retail rants and Christmas advice from yesterday, would also say look to E-bay, car boot sales, charity shops etc. Also for those new to living on a tight budget great money saver tip= always buy your cards,wrapping paper, etc in the sales after Christmas. Much,much cheaper and no one will know!

yellowpinky

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

Also if you have £12 late payment fee and £12 overlimit fee on one statement it means they charged too much. I think the standard charge of £12 is accepted but not 2 x £12 in the same month if that makes sense?

Thanks for that info! I thought there was nothing much to do as most of my charges were coming to the £12 (though Egg's charges are £16). I didn't realise you had a case if they charged you twice in one month (which various creditors have, frequently). I'll wait till things settle a bit then look into reclaiming :beer:

Re: Christmas I've exhausted all my stash of cards, wrapping and bits and bobs from previous years so will be making use of all the pound shops round here!

Hope everyone is well.

YPx

muddlemess

Hi all new and old... I've not posted for a while but have been trying to keep upto date reading....although I need to read a few pages after being away for a while!

I've come back to a lovely letter from Lloyds saying contact us now...thought what the h*ll and rang to be told by a recorded message your account has been passed to our comsumer recovery department and please wait until a representative contacts you....pooping (yes again!) any advice please...they should have all received my first payments by now!

I also plucked up the courage to answer my multiple daily wake up calls etc from citi and necer guess what...there was no one the other end! Grrr I was ready and armed with my you are in breach of the telecommunications act etc...

So hope you are all well and helloo to all you newbies!

xx