DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

tinkerbell12

Hi Toffee Penny - we are 2 years into our DMP and all our credit card companies send monthly statements still (with the LARGE print addition of WE HAVE FAILED TO MAKE A MINIMUM PAYMENT every month - yes I know!!)

Our loan companies send a statement every 6 months as they say they have to by law.

The only ones we don't hear a thing from is Moorcroft Debt Recovery who Halifax sold their debt to. A few awful letters in the beginning then silence (which is golden!!)

recoveringshopper

Hi there
Am hoping for a bit of advice from the more seasoned pros...

I am just starting out on a DMP and, on the whole, after the inital 'icky' bit, most creditors have been fine. I believed this to be the case with Littlewoods, who said they would accept my reduced payments and freeze charges....great eh?:T

Except they haven't been..

I received a letter from them a few days ago informing me that, because my payment was 'late', I would be charged £12. I assumed this was a mistake - after all, they know I'm on a DMP right? so called them up and spoke to a very unhelpful woman who informed me that, because they bill every 28 days, rather than every calendar month, their payment due dates was always moving around, and there was nothing they could do about it. So, I asked her, 'despite my making a payment to you every month, you're going to charge me £12 every single time because it will technically be late?' ....'yes' she says. 'and there's nothing I can do about this?; apparently it's company policy or something, and depsite my attempts to point out that this was crazy (why freeze interest etc if you're just gonna try and charge another way!?) she wouldn't budge!

Any advice please? I know I should be grateful for the whole interest freeze etc but to be honest and now thinking it'll take me so much longer to pay the deby off if it keeps racking up each month!!!

recoveringshopper

nat87 wrote: »

I am currently on a DMP with Payplan a few of the creditors have accepted but received a letter on Staurday from solictors on behalf of HSBC demanding the full amount really worried sick about this as they said they will take me to court if I don't pay. Has anyone had a similar experience I could have some advice off please. Thanks x

Hi there

I had exactly the same thing from HSBC and they are apparently NOTORIOUS for this kind of bullying behaviour. I had the nasty letter and the 'SPELL IT ALL OUT FOR YOU IN CAPITAL LETTERS TO MAKE YOU FEEL TOTALLY STUPID' letter too threatening court etc. On each occasion I took them on and rang them, trying to get it sorted out and reiterating what my offer was and would they accapt yes or no, but they would never tell me. Then a week later I'd receive another later saying 'since we have not heard from you...' and making some more threats.
Eventually, they said in one of my last phone calls they had accepted it, and then promptly I received a letter from Moorcroft Debt Recovery saying the debt had been passed to them.In other words, with HSBC they'll scream and yell, scare the poo out of you, and not give you a straight answer, but if you ride it out it'll be ok. When I spoke to the CCCS about them and the fact that they had sold the debt on, the lady told me I'd be better off once it had been sold on as the Debt Recovery companies are much better to deal with and, on the plus side, I never have to have one of those frustrating 'going nowhere' phonecalls again!!

Hang in there and ride it out - and remember that they can send nasty letters and so on but they won't act on it - just pass it onto someone else who'll be better to deal with...

Twit_Head

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

A big warm welcome to all the newbies :beer:



Can I just ask, is everyone receiving regular statements from their creditors after being on a DMP for a while? We only ever get regular statements from Barclaycard and Next now, no one else seems to bother and hasn't done so for a few months now.

Surely creditors are supposed to be providing regular statements?


I know I could just request a regular update but I wondered if it was the same for others?

Hi Toffee Penny
Six months in to my DMP and likewise only regular statment I get is from Barclaycard. I've been having trouble with one creditor adding interest and over the credit limit charges so it was a bit worrying not knowing how things stood. Just checked my credit file on-line (thanks all for your suggestions) - a good way to see exactly what the current situation/balances are.
I have a feeling legally you must receive a statement at least once a year.

'Twitty'

Triggles

Yes, I think I've read somewhere that they have to send one statement per year - probably saw it somewhere on this site. LOL

We finally are at a point where we can pay slightly more than the £1 per month token payment. I will be setting up standing orders today, to go in once per month. I will follow it up with a letter to each of the creditors, including a copy of our monthly budget showing exactly how much we have available to repay debt at present. The letter will have to include another request to stop charges and interest, as well as the only-contact-us-in-writing-by-post stuff, and we'll finish up by saying that we don't anticipate any changes in our budget until possibly end of July, so we will be reviewing our budget in July and get back to them with any changes. Hopefully, this will go over alright with them, as we're trying to keep them in the loop.

We're still waffling on the overdraft. Trying to decide if we should attempt to put the £100 in to get it out of unauthorised (and extra charges) and then pay about £15-20 per month in order to pay interest and a small amount towards paying it off each month, since that's the only bill with my name on it. I wonder, though, if they will then dip into it to take money for DH's loan & credit card from the same bank, as it's a joint overdraft. Don't suppose they will take one of our names off it..... That one bill just makes everything more complicated.

mummum2

An update from me re Lloyds, they have sent me a default notice for my credit card after 2 years and 3 months, the ba%%ds....:mad:. Of course all the usual threaths came with this, stating that I have made late payments etc. etc, incurring late payment charges so now hope this will pass onto a DCA. Hopeing and praying that they do not go to court for a CCJ or worse Charging order on my home.

On a brighter note my loan with them have PPI on and finally after a year and a bit have agreed that I have been mis-sold and will credit my loan with almost £6K :j:j. Overdraft all interested stopped and this seems to be ticking along nicely, don't understand how one institution can vary so differently with different accounts. As previously mentioned will never ever touch Llloyds again nor have an credit cards, cash is now my new best friend. Going into 3rd year of DF and another 4 to go, but hopefully sooner, awaiting PPI outcome from N/R, although they have been excellent and accepted DMP, received a letter from them stating that they will accept reduce payment for another year, but if I can get PPI of almost £12K paid back, then loan is cleared, hopefully making DF date nearer.

Good luck to all for a happy debt busting 2010.

MM2

maxmax

hi everyone.....just a wee update for you all:j......here goes......we were accepted by payplan onto a dmp:j....extremely happy on one hand but not looking forward to the next bit, worrying if the creditors wil accept etc.....:eek:,but we feel we are doing the right thing,just have to be strong now and i guess thats where you guys come in lol

we would just like to thank everyone for their advice and encouragement:beer:
we will keep posting and in no doubt will need some more,
thanks
maxmax

suzib1981

After many months of burying our heads in the sand over our debts and after me reading your helpful comments on this forum i have just completed our CCCS Debt Remedy which recommended a DMP for 8 yrs for a debt of £24000. I just have a few questions if you dont mind me asking for your advice.

1) What do i do now i have applied for the DMP online, with regards to those i owe money to??? (one of our debts is a loan with the abbey whom we also hold my bank account with, we have another bank account with RBS which was a requirement when we took out our mortgage with them but we have never used the account should we take our money from the abbey - the little we have - and put it in the RBS account now??)

2) Will this DMP affect us renewing our mortgage in July when our 2yr fixed rate term ends????


Feeling quite scared just now about what we are about to do but we want to do this for our daughter and our other baby girl who is due in may. Plus the lack of sleep from worry about debt is starting to affect my health which worries us with me being pregnant.


Any advice or reassurance much appreciated.


Suzi

ianmak

Hi Suzi, with regards the 2 yr fixed mortgage, I finished mine, went onto a SVR for a couple of months, then went onto another 2 yr fixed with the same company (who I have a small OD debt with). So, I had no issues with another FR with the same company, not sure how that'll work with a different one...

Gpuk

Manmax I am with Payplan and owe about £34000 ish I pay them £108 a month and all have accepted the payments and stopped interest apart from Barclays bank but I am still dealing with them at the moment and hoping they will stop soon!

A question for all DMP'ers. I don't have a mortgage as our property was left to us by my late father in law. But how does a DMP work when you have a mortgage, i'm asking for a friend of mine who is really struggling with debt and has a young child and another on the way! She works with me 2 days a week so probably earns in the region of about £420 a month but will go down when the baby comes and her OH is self employed and takes home around £1600 a week. I know their mortgage is about £700-750 a month but they also have quite a few CC's and have defaulted on these and their mortgage, council tax etc quite a few times they also struggle to pay gas and elec bills . I have told her all about DMP's but she is very scared about doing this especially how it would work with a mortgage, but I couldn't really answer any of her questions in this department.

Do you put your mortgage into your DMP? or do you have to keep paying the full amount? Also what happens when you come to re-mortgage? will anyone give you another one??

Thanks