Had it with Baines & Ernst!!

NannyOgg

This is a bit wordy so please bear with me...

I posted a while ago about problems with B&E but life got in the way and I didn't actually take any action

Have been given a well-deserved kick up the rear by the arrival today of a letter from SMC Solicitors who are 'instructed by Lloyds TSB Bank' and are demanding full repayment of a debt which is supposedly being managed by the aforementioned B&E. It threatens all sorts of horrid stuff and really stressed us out this afternoon as we've never yet missed a payment on the dmp, and as far as we were aware everything was in order with the creditors.

So OH rang B&E (as it's his dmp)... he raised all his concerns re. poor management and apparent failures on their part to communicate with his creditors (this letter is just the latest in a number of examples), and was assured he'd be called back by 'an account manager'... needless to state we're still waiting for a phone call :mad:

Now, I've done an SOA (can post if you really want to see), and we can manage to scrape together an extra £100 on top of what we're currently paying B&E. This, added to the saving on the management fee if we ditch their dmp, means we can proportionately increase payments to all the creditors and hopefully give us a bit of a breather from all the nasty letters and phone calls.

I think I can cope with sorting out the dmp direct with the creditors - we've spoken to one or two already and they've been really helpful so far. As far as I can gather, it's just a case of agreeing a new (slightly higher) payment figure with each one, then setting up the standing orders in time for December. Next job after posting this is hunting for template letters...

What I do need some advice on is the debts with LTSB. One is an old current account overdraft which appears to have doubled since we started the dmp. We did initiate a claim for charges a while back but we're in the hold pen until the test case is resolved The other is a credit card debt, which is the one the solicitors' letter refers to.

Both are significantly higher than we were expecting them to be and we think it's because they've been adding charges to the existing debt while we've been on the dmp Can anyone advise on how I start handling this?

Please help!!

RAS

Hi

I am not the biggest fan of B&E but the letter from LTSB has very little to do with them and a lot to do with the fact the LTSB are in deep doo doo with the GOvernemtnand under presure to secure as much bad debt as possible. People will be getting bonuses for pressuring you and others.

There are a number of things you need to do NOW.

1. HAve you ever requested CCAs for the CCs and loans in your DMP?
2. Do you have the default letters and termination letters (have they defaulted this debt already)?

NannyOgg

Thanks for the speedy reply RAS.

I don't think we've requested CCAs for any of them tbh We did send a SAR to LTSB for the bank account charges, but didn't get round to the others... I was under the impression we wouldn't get anywhere until the test case was resolved

We don't have any correspondence as we sent it all to B&E as it arrived (as we hads been instructed). According to the solicitor's letter, a Default Notice has been issued in the past but if we received it it's gone to B&E

Where does trhat leave me?

RAS

That was slow by my reckoning - when I am on-line anyway.

One at a time

NannyOgg wrote: »

I don't think we've requested CCAs for any of them tbh

You would be well advised to do this immiediately for the LTSB CC and then do all the others.

Once legal action commences you cannot do a CCA request. If they are faulty (not very likely for a major bank but.. you can prevent successful legal action.

We did send a SAR to LTSB for the bank account charges, but didn't get round to the others... I was under the impression we wouldn't get anywhere until the test case was resolved

Do you have the paperwork from the SAR? If so the default and termination letters will be there. You need to remove the personal details, including any bar codes and psot them here for us to check. If they are faulty, you can defend legal action.

Regarding the test case, you still need to get the claim in as you can only claim the last 6 years charges, and the longer you leave it, the more charges fall beyond the legal limit.

You can claim the charges on the CC, however.

We don't have any correspondence as we sent it all to B&E as it arrived (as we hads been instructed). According to the solicitor's letter, a Default Notice has been issued in the past but if we received it it's gone to B&E.

What a ratbag situation. Can you ask B&E to retun the paperwork urgently? Alternatively do an urgent SAR on the CC this week.

We need to see the default letter and termination letters ASAP.

Do you have PPI on any accounts? Reclaim that too.

NannyOgg

Is this the CCA letter I need to send?

The paperwork that we got in response to the SAR was just a set of account transactions. TBH I think the SAR pre-dates the account falling into disrepute, as the last correspondence from them (to tell us we were on hold until the test case was resolved) was in September 2007.

I'm working tonight so I'l have to start claims on the credit cards tomorrow night.

I guess I'll have to do an SAR for the CC - B&E are as much use as a chocolate teapot and probably wouldn't recognise urgent if it bit them on the proverbial! Can you point me to a template please? I'm not being lazy, but I am about to be late for work!!

Thanks again Ras, will check in later...

RAS

Yep that is the CCA letter - loans, ccs and catalogues - not bank accounts.

Will find SAR letter tomorrow - got to go.

NannyOgg

Thanks RAS. One question regarding the CCA request: can I really state at this point that I do not acknowledge the debt - we've been making payments to it for a while now so isn't this statement contradictory

And I'm assuming I need to send this via Recorded delivery. Do I just send it to LTSB or should I send a copy to B&E and/or the solicitors as well?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm obviously not as clued up as I thought!

RAS

Essential for legal purposes, even if you are paying.

Send it registered post, so you can prove it has been recieved - it is cheaper.

Are the solicitors acting for LSTB? If so, they are probably in-house, so send the CCA request to LSTB.

If it has been assigned to a DCa, then send the CCA request to the DCA.

NannyOgg

I don't 'think' it's been passed to DCA and, according to this thread, the solictors are in-house.

So I'm addressing the CCA letter to the address given on the back of our October card statement.

Incidentally, the October statement shows that the usual dmp payment has been credited to the account and no interest has been added... so I'm puzzled by the penultimate paragraph in the solicitor's letter:

"If you are unable to pay the full balance, our Client may be prepare to accept a reduced sum, together with realistic proposals for regular monthly payments. You must telephone our Client on receipt of this letter on xxxxxxx should you wish to discuss such an arrangement."

Anyways, letter is going tomorrow via 1st Class Recorded Delivery as I've left my chequebook at home and won't be home from work in time to catch the post office

Am I right thinking I've then got 12 workings days' (from delivery of letter) worth of breathing room on this?

Charco_2

All important posts ongoing so far but there was another issue in the original post that deserves a mention... Maybe TWO!

1. Why would you take the burden of organising your own DMP when you should really be able to get CCCS to run it for you (at no fee) and instead of taking the driving seat in the running of the plan you could just be the passenger watching over thier shoulder making dure it's done right! CCCS will run the costs of postage and other communication and you just chip now and again making sure everything that can be done to feeze interest and charges is done!

2. Have you spoken to anyone about longer term solutions? IF you're trying your best and your creditors are still threatening legal action, would you not consider looking into a more formal solution that provided you with legal protection too...

Just things for you to consider!

***now duck your head to avoid the clamour of the anti-IVA brigade***

Also worth noting that since you ARE doing your level best by paying all you can into a DMP then even if a creditor does threaten legal action you'd need to be awfully unlucky to get a judge who insisted you have to do more... if you've an asset you might want to avoid court to protect it but otherwise let the banks do their worst! They're not going to fancy the expenses of a court trip only to be told they can't take blood from a stone!

NannyOgg

Why would you take the burden of organising your own DMP when you should really be able to get CCCS to run it for you (at no fee) and instead of taking the driving seat in the running of the plan you could just be the passenger watching over thier shoulder making dure it's done right!

A fair question I have filled in a Debt Remedy with CCCS but I couldn't get their figures to balance with mine as their expenditure categories were a bit arbitrary. And I think my OH is feeling a bit wary of debt management companies in general after the monumental clock up that is B&E :rotfl: I gave up on it t'other day but may yet go back to it - I made a note of my reference number

Have you spoken to anyone about longer term solutions? IF you're trying your best and your creditors are still threatening legal action, would you not consider looking into a more formal solution that provided you with legal protection too...

LTSB are the only ones playing hard to get tbh - according to B&E they're just ignoring correspondence (although I'm inclined to doubt the amount of effort B&E have expended). The rest of the creditors seem to have accepted the dmp as it stands at the moment and I really can't see them having a problem with being offered slightly higher payments :rolleyes:

If I'm right thinking that the CCA request buys me some time, and I am still able to do so, I'm going to start a claim for unfair charges on the card account anyway. I believe this would put the account in dispute for the duration of the claim? In which case, they won't be able to do much with it anyway... more for me to pay off the other debts with in the meantime ! And considering the problems OH was having with this account pre-dmp, the charges probably make up a significant portion of the current debt :T

I did the math yesterday and we're looking at 3-4 years for DFD if I manage to swing finances the way I want them and also up my hours in my second job... I don't think that's too unreasonable really:beer: