Just when I thought things were finally sorted...

Sugar_Coated_Owl

In February of this year I started a debt management plan with Allclear Finance (biggest mistake ever!). Anyway, I cancelled the DMP in early May. I decided to have my own DMP. I telephoned all my creditors (11) and received up to date balances. I then worked out how much money I had left each month for my creditors (£200). Payment to each creditor was worked out on a pro-rata basis. I used a template letter from the National Debt Helpline website and sent letters to all my creditors with an offer of payment. This took a lot of time but I was determined to get myself sorted.

Problem no.1 GCC debt recovery. I have two catalogue debts with them (Choice and Kays). They responded to my letter that I sent in May agreeing to my offer of payment. Great I thought. So I made my first reduced payment to them at the beginning of June like they asked. A couple of days after paying I received a letter saying that my offer was now too low!

Problem no.2 Beneficial Finance. I telephoned them and made an offer of payment. The lady accepted an offer of £20.66 for a period of 3 months and then it would be reviewed. I offered to write a letter and include an income and expenditure form. She said there was no need as they already had one from All Clear Finance. The payment was debited from my account on the agreed date, no problems. Saturday morning I received a letter saying that they now wanted £47.00 and would accept this for a period of 6 months.

I don't understand why they are accepting offers and then suddenly changing their mind. Can they do this?

The whole debt situation is frustrating enough without someone keep !!!!ing it up when I thought I was finally sorted.

All I'm doing is telephoning creditors and writing letters every week. It's driving me crazy.

What can I do?

Jo

nrsql

Get in touch with cccs or payplan and let them sort it out - at least discussing with them will help.
I guess they will do the same as Allclear Finance but won't charge for it.

I would assume that you are paying your creditors more than before as you don't have the fees to pay so I guess they are just trying to see if they can get you to pay more than you can afford.
Have you told them that you are paying all creditors on a pro rata basis and the total is all you can afford as you have already shown?

Good luck - sounds like you are having a hard time of it.

You might also want to post your soa and debts /plan here so people can advise / give support.

jellycat40

Poor you, it is very frustrating when you think that you have done the hard work and then the creditors do this to you.

Just tell them that you have the original amount to give them each month and that you will reveiw it each year on the anniversary. as the debts are cleared you will have more money to distribute. They are just pushing their luck. Send them a copy of you SOA anyway when you write. Keep making the payments you agreed to in the first place and they have to accept what you tell them if you enclose you SOA.

Good Luck

Louise

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Thank you both for replying.

Well I received another letter today from HFC Bank saying that they will accept £6.00 a month which I thought was weird because I offered £8.35 and this was accepted. I telephoned HFC Bank and the reason behind Beneficial Finance and HFC changing the payment required is because AllClear finance had sent them an up to date income and expenditure form on the 14th June. I'm not even with AllClear anymore as this was cancelled on 2nd May and I even informed all of my creditors about this.

I'm so annoyed right now.

beanielou

Just keep battling on, hopefully it will all come right in the end

milliejon

Hiya Jo. Keep going. I'm doing my own DMP by using the National Debtline website and package they sent through to me. if you request a pack, they send it to you with a reference number, then if any of the creditors ask for a reference you have one. They can't check it with ND because of confidentiality.

Sorry, going off track a little. When you write to the creditors I would include an updated income and expenditure form so they can see the most up to date figures. Also, ask them to pay no regard to any correspondence they've had from Allclear since your cancellation date. Have you got a letter from Allclear addressing the cancellation.

Just keep writing using the template letters on the website, and just say you'll pay your offer amount as a gesture of goodwill, and then just keep paying. As long as you have made your offer with the figures set out, and pay them, there's not much they can do.

I think (as somebody mentioned earlier) as you've given them a new figure, they're just seeing what else they can squeeze out of you. They are just hoping you don't know your rights.

Best of luck with the battle with them. Like I said, I started setting mine up around 20 months ago, and it took about 4-6 months for all the creditors to agree to my offers.

I write to them now when my circumstances change, or they contact me for a 6 month review.

moozie_2

I am sorry to see that things are not running smoothly at the moment. I haven't any constructive advice to offer but just wanted to say keep up with it, things will get better.

:grouphug:

Wonder_Girl

Hiya Razorbladekisses,

Don’t worry about this, these collection companies are notorious for asking for “just a bit more” if you give in once you become a target as they assume you are soft and will give in to demands.

unfortunately they can change their mind every five seconds, they do it to us sometimes too, so don’t take it personally, most creditors will agree to a 3, 6 or 12 month “freezing” period where they will accept a lower payment so long as you can support It with a budget.

The best thing to do is sent them an updated budget every 6 months and a list of creds, with the balance and pro rata offer i.e

Bank1 £1000 £30pcm
Bank2 £1500 £45pcm
Creditcard1 £3000 £90pcm

This lets them see they are being treated fairly and they are more likely to accept for the longer 6 or 12 month period. Hope that makes sense.

If at any point you feel you need a bit of help give CCCS a ring, you don’t have to be on a DMP to have access to the advice, but if you do want a DMP that is free then we are the peeps to call*

*is not working on a commission basis, honest!

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Thank you all for your supportive replies.

milliejon, Thank you for mentioning the pack that you can get from the National Debt Helpline, I will definately get one of those. I've found the website to be extremely helpful, the template letters are great.

I've never received a letter from AllClear Finance confirming the cancellation of my DMP. However, I have received back all the letters from creditors that I forwarded to them and also a refund of my last payment because it was never distibuted to the creditors.

It's so frustrating though getting every creditor to agree, you only need one to decline and it messes it all up.

I guess I need to be a little more assertive. I seem to always give in to creditors even though I know it's more than I can actually afford. I guess I feel guilty.

It's only been about a month/month and a half since I personally wrote to all my creditors so I suppose I should expect some difficulties until it's all properly sorted out.

Wonder_Girl, I understand what you mean about the budget. Before I started doing my own DMP I didn't even know what pro-rata meant. I was just randomely alloctaing £5 £10 and then realized that this was totally wrong because it wouldn't have been a fair offer. So I found out what pro-rata meant and how to work it out and then made my offer of payment. Most of my creditors have accepted the offer without any problems but as always there has to be the odd one or two.

Do you actually set people up on DMP wonder_girl?

Thank you all for your help, it really is appreciated :grouphug:

Wonder_Girl

razorbladekisses wrote:

Do you actually set people up on DMP wonder_girl?

I might do

Tells you in my profile where i work.......:p

spud30

Oh wow Wonder_Girl !!!

You and your colleagues do such a great job - my appointment is next week !!!!