Debt Arrangement Scheme - Scotland

pure_dead_dopey

Morning

Good advice, so far no one has offered anything to us on f&F. I won't have the money to later on in the year so plan remains to keep paying any hope they are ripe when the money appears. Don't feel guilty, just think of the huge amount of interest the creditors have soaked you for in the past, the remaining debt is probably just interest and charges. How were RBS with you at the beginning, the kep saying we're not delinquent (their words not mine)enough to stop interest and we have to go through their procedures for them to close the account and stop interest, load of old rubbish I think but I feel we have been penalised by a few creditors because we paid our minimums right up to the start of the DMP, one guy at Lloyds told me it was unbelievable that I could pay one month but not the next!!!
What planet do these people live on???
thanks again for your help

Suffol

My 'dialogue' such as it was, with RBS, was very short indeed. I'd made one payment to them through the DMP, having carried on making full payments to them for months longer than my other creditors - and they handed it straight to their 'Triton Credit Services' people who were extremely matter-of-fact - because my proposed DMP payment was less than 1% of the outstanding debt, they'd go straight to legal action. I'd hear from their solicitors within six weeks unless I upped the payment - and I did hear, just two weeks later, via court papers which were applying for an inhibition on our house (ie turning the loan from unsecured to secured). No offer of negotiation, and they didn't want to hear any excuses or suggestions that we'd be able to increase payments in future. I suspect you're paying enough to your creditors to keep them sweet. I wasn't, and couldn't for at least 9 - 12 months, and they were largely unhelpful.:( It's just a relief that bit of it's over now

pure_dead_dopey

i don't think we are I think its around 0.8% or thereabouts but it is decreasing because they keep adding on charges and interest. I just despair sometimes, where does it get them. I've lready had they do you want us to be bankrupt because then you will get absolutely nothing, but of course they are on commission and don't care, its a terrible terrible system and the government should be looking at regulation in this area. trouble is that its all a big seret cos no one wants anyone to know that they are in debt so these guys can get away with murder, some of the stories on here are truly hair raising!

Suffol

You're right, being in serious debt is a dirty secret for many of us. I hate this - I'm an open person, and have a tendency to 'share' all of my problems (ask my co-workers!) but this one I'm deffo not sharing in real life. I think that's why these boards are so fantastic and successful. It allows sharing without shame, and (mostly) without judgement from others, since most are in the same boat. I know that I've been a poor money manager over the whole of my adult life, and that the money problems that OH and I are now having were all predictable, and that I should have planned better to avoid them. But somehow......I didn't. I feel ashamed that I can be so capable and effective in most of the rest of my life, and such a very poor money manager. However, the thing which has made me feel much better about myself is seeing that the banks are just as bad as I am, only on a humungous scale. And they're supposedly experts!

battlestarone

your das can be cleared off if you have a windfall,you are best asking your local cab adviser about this,a das does not take into accoint any overtime you have worked or a likely to get as over time is not 100% that you will get it every week,intrest and charges are frozen,though they may appear on statements,but are writen off at the end of the das term,you can ask for a variation to your das,this cover thing like if you needed a new washing machine,you have to do this through your money adviser,a das is flexible to a degree,but most of all charges and intrest stop and creditor are not allowed to contact you once they have letters of authority from you money adviser and your appointed distributer(spelling).
creditors do not like this system and will try and tell you they dont accept this type of scheme,total rubbish,they have to accept in in law,it a nice felling know who,s doing the screwing,if you on a das and you get a call from a creditor never ever offer them payment to get them off the phone,take there details,name,department,company,phone number and extension,tell them you wil pass on there detail to your money adviser and distrabuter,dont take any crap from them,there trying to get you to pay up,,but on a das,as long as there on you das list they cant touch you,if they persist in calling threating using a lawyer,and reporting the to the OFT,FSA,DAS, and the golden bullet the AIB,remember no one has the right to cause you distress,if your on a das and your still getting calls from your creditors there in the wrong.

lets name and shame creditors that try to over ride the system and contact customers direct to put pressure on.

i will start

CREATION FINANCE(M&CO)

CAPITAL DIRECT(EGG CARD)

battlestarone

You need to go to a lawyer asap,calling you 12 times a day is harasment,get names of callers,dept,phone number,ext,ask for the mane of there boss,tell them you going to complain,they need a legal slap and reminded of there duty to common law and fsa,das,oft,and aib rules,they cant do this,from now on you must keep a notepad beside the phone a nd note down date,time, etcmi have heard of people being awarded ££££ for this sort of harasment.

Get on top of it,its wearing you down and effecting your health and mental state,you cant carry out you work properly becasue of this firm putting you under pressure,go see your doctor and build a case against them,dont sit and take it,if you know what i mean.,,get my drift.

battlestarone

Oh and they may be breaking ofcom/oftel rules,ask them to stop calling you and put it in writing,send it recorded post!!!!,,,take advise from ofcom/oftel after this,ofcom/oftel give call centres there licence run these call centres and take a dim view of this type of calling to a private number,its your number and you can have it removed from the call firm data base.......

Oh this makes my blood boil!!!!!

battlestarone

The das was best for us,takes a bit of getting used to,you have to ajust,but it does put light at the end of the tunnel and is flexible to a degree if you need a washing machine or something and cant pay next month cause of this.

It will!!!!!take a lot of stress off you,but like i said you will need to ajust,a least you get to keep your home and sleep at night,pay it weekly like we do via dd on the day you get payed,you dont have it,you dont miss it.

Fist post of call is your local cab office,dont let dept boil over deal with it today,beleive me!!!!!!!!!!!!

WorkInProgress

Sorry to hijack this thread but I am in a DAS, have been since November 2009. It was going ok until this month where I started getting some hassle from some of my creditors.

Northern Rock
I have a Together Mortgage and the unsecured loan part of my mortgage had to be included in the DAS. I received a recent mortgage statement and discovered that my payments being made by my payment distributor were going into my mortgage and not towards my unsecured loan. Quick call to NR and discovered they have written off the unsecured loan and have me listed as bankrupt / insolvent!

Bank Of Scotland
I reviewed my credit file recently to find that the Bank Of Scotland had issued 2 Default Notices against me for a loan and credit card. I thought that under the DAS I was protected from this sort of action? I am in the process of challenging this with them.

MBNA / Virgin
MBNA seem to be under the impression that the DAS does not apply to them. I am still receiving letters from them, they are still adding charges and interest and are clearly in breach of the terms of the DAS. They will be reported to the FSA, DAS Administrator, OFT and Trading Standards as they seem to have difficulty understanding the plain English in the many, many letters I have sent them.

The DAS is indeed a good solution for some people but not necessarily for everyone. At this point in time I feel less in control of things than I did before entering my DAS.

Suffol

Hi WIP

While no means an expert on DASs (I've not even made my first payment on my newly-agreed DAS yet), I had a fantastic money advisor setting mine up for me, and she spent a Very Long Time indeed explaining everything to me, sending me weblinks etc. So far as I understand it, the DAS doesn't protect you from defaults or anything, just what they call 'diligence' which is active debt-collection and court actions. Your credit file is still trashed, and will remain so until after the DAS is finished, gradually recovering from then onwards - at that point, defaults should be marked satisfied.
So far as interest and charges are concerned, they can continue to be added to your outstanding accounts, but the amounts will be completely removed at the successful completion of the DAS, so in the end you pay just the amount owed at the date of acceptance of the DAS by the AiB.

You're dead right about MBNA - they accused me of lying at first when I insisted that they'd not be able to take any action against me, but in the end I got someone who had heard of a DAS. All of my creditors have now gone very quiet indeed - I can't quite believe it, but it's very nice, and long may it last.

Northern Rock are completely out of order and you should refer them to the AiB for them to sort it out, if your Money Adviser can't help you out. Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon period, but I'm still a massive DAS fan