Without a paddle... support for anyone starting a DMP in 2010 (part2)

mikon

Professor_Pat_Pending wrote: »

Ahhhhhhhhh......................those were the days Mikon!!!

Look at how far we have come and also how much we have paid. How much knowledge have we gained. We should be government advisors. Get us off to Portugal.

Professor_Pat_Pending

mikon wrote: »

Look at how far we have come and also how much we have paid. How much knowledge have we gained. We should be government advisors. Get us off to Portugal.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mikon

********************************************** NOTE FOR DMP NEWBIES ********************************************

Hi everyone

Here is some advice but first ask yourself this question "Where would I be if I did not embark on this DMP, how could I have continued to pay all my creditors"?

Firstly get a copy of the Lending Guidance see the link http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/docs/lendingcode.pdf

Now you can see what the guidance and rules are for lenders and also more importantly what they need to do when someone is in financial hardship ie stop interest or reduce interest. I have read that some of you are worried that embarking on a DMP will mean that interest charges will spiral out of control. Well initially this will happen with some creditors but the majority will either stop or reduce interest and comply with the lending code of conduct. I have used this several times when I have written to creditors and this is my bible. So save it to your hard drive and refer to it.


Now read the following and follow it.

1. Do not sign anything any new credit agreements.

2. Do not sign any letters you send to creditors.

3. Write to your creditors asking them to contact you in writing not by phone also ask them to remove all telephone numbers from their records.

4. If a creditors uses threatening language such as we will ring you at work remind them that it is offence under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988
·to harass of debtors with a view to obtaining payment including the issue of letters which convey a threat or false information with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

5. Enusre that erverytime you contact your creditors that CCCS or Payplan are authorised to deal with your finances and therefore they should speak with them and give them your refrencence number.

6. If you get letters from creditors that your not sure about contact CCCS or Payplan and send a standard letter stating point 5.

7. Keep a diary of all contact with creditors and ensure you also make a note of when your reviews with each creditor is due.

8. Please note that some creditors will notify you of acceptance and others will not.

9. Please be sure to check your monthly statements and by law your entitled to one per year.

10. Watch because some creditors such as Barclaycard will stop interest and charges for the first 6 months and for some reason will then restart interest at a low level.

11. Remember all the letters you get from creditors always use the word may "We may take you to court, we may pass the debt on to a third party, you may incur charges etc." Remember the majority of letters you receive will be computer generated and just need to be filed.

12. Keep all correspondence from your creditors.

13. Unlucky for some but most calls stop after about 2 months and some creditors stop immediately but things do settle down.

14. If a creditor or Debt Collection Agencies (DCA) threaten to come to your house to collect debt. They will be breaking the law if you receive a letter from a creditor informing you that they will be calling Do not worry write a letter to the creditor or DCA

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Sir / Madam

Re your reference:

With reference to any possible Home Visit you may be contemplating, I would advise you that OFT rules and regulations clearly state that you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I can advise you now that I have no wish to make such an appointment either now or at any time in the future. Further, there is an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc. (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore, take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives, to visit me at my property. If you send "doorstep collectors" to my home you will be reported for harassment and be liable for damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be liable for conspiring in a tort of trespass by acting in defiance of my instructions and sending someone to visit me nevertheless. Should it prove necessary, I will obtain an injunction.

Yours Sincerely

I hope these cover some points that you all have queries about. Remember

I hope these tips help you.

I started my DMP eight months ago and if you read my last post you will see I experienced the worry, nightmares and tortured myself with what happens if this happens or that happens but eight months down the line its the best thing I have ever done. I am not ashamed of my situation I am addressing it and facing up to my debts. Together we will get each other through this.


15. If you receive Default Notice do not worry it is protocol. The creditors follows this protocol and the default is registered for 6 yrs from the date it is served. If the creditor sells your debt the DCA cannot issue a further Default Notice you can only have one Default notice per debt. This is the document that wrecks your credit rating.

I have been on a DMP now for a year and just yesterday had to reduce next months payment because of unforeseen expenses but I am in control of my debt now and entering a DMP has allowed me to live within my means it has also opened my eyes to how much the banking system fails people by pushing credit there way.

This time last year I was a newbie never ever had I fought the system. I had never heard of a DMP but now I like to think I am quite knowledgeable on the subject and that is all down to me doing research and this forum. I now challenge what my creditors do, I also ensure that my debt is being repaid under my terms and not there terms. Admittedly I have days were I worry but I always go back to the question I asked you to ask yourself at the beginning of this post the answer is Bankrupt or in court being served a CCJ and being forced to make payments. The DMP has allowed me to work with my creditors and come up with an agreed payment plan.

Next month i will be reducing my monthly payments to CCCS due to the increased cost of living, but thats what a DMP is about its about allowing you to live again but also paying your debts off.

I hope this pot helps some of you newbies and if you have any questions just drop me a line or a post. Also I have letters I have used over the year that I am happy to share with you all.

Best wishes for the future

Mikon


Mikon

eyeopener2

Nice one Mikon, nice one.

Professor_Pat_Pending

Interesting that Barclaycard come up regularly on the interest front, especially as I and a few on here I suspect have Egg cards which are in the process of being bought out by Barclaycard, Egg froze interest immediately, will Barclaycard reinstate it when they take over?

On the F and F front, MBNA and I are in a kind of Clint Eastwood / Lee Van Cleef stand off at the mo, I have offered £1450 on a £4.7K balance, they are offering £1900 and refusing to budge. Who will blink first? PP

mikon

Professor_Pat_Pending wrote: »

Interesting that Barclaycard come up regularly on the interest front, especially as I and a few on here I suspect have Egg cards which are in the process of being bought out by Barclaycard, Egg froze interest immediately, will Barclaycard reinstate it when they take over?

On the F and F front, MBNA and I are in a kind of Clint Eastwood / Lee Van Cleef stand off at the mo, I have offered £1450 on a £4.7K balance, they are offering £1900 and refusing to budge. Who will blink first? PP

I am hoping they blink first and take your money and get out of town because they are a bunch of cowboys or as Clint Eastwood said "make my day" accept the money.

Mikon

Professor_Pat_Pending

mikon wrote: »

I am hoping they blink first and take your money and get out of town because they are a bunch of cowboys or as Clint Eastwood said "make my day" accept the money.

Mikon

TBH I might save it and try Egg with a sneeky one, as they are selling to Barclaycard they might take an F and F before they are sold?

the-money-muppets

Mikon - Some great info and advice given - the stuff you posted to stop the phone calls and stop the threats of debt collectors certainly worked for us when we first started this journey so many thanks for that, We just get letters now which we can deal with much better.

The stage we are at is as follows:
We owe approx 80k between 9 preditors, and pay a sizeable sum a month into our dmp, tough going but managing to keep our heads above water.

Lloyds Loan - sent us letter confirming repayment plan til june then want an updated income/expend, only get annual statement so not sure about interest/charges :cool:

Next - keep sending us new credit agreements, statment continues to show service charge - we have simply filed these :cool:

HSBC Master card - accepted repayments - to be reviewed in sept, reduced interest to 16.9%

HSBC overdraft - metropolitan collection accepted reduced payment subject to periodic review

Alliance Lester overdraft - applied suspension of recovery action whilst dmp in place :T

NRAM loan - letter accepting reduced payments for 12 months

Mint Card - lots of messing around with debt collectors now managed to get back on track with cccs paying them direct, interest/charges have stopped appearing on statements, but no letter of explanation??

Mint Loan - contacted cccs stating they do not accept reduced payments :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Barclaycard (everyones favourite) - because the money we/cccs pay them meets their minimum monthly they will not stop the interest/charges, :mad: :mad::mad::mad: but will reduce interest to 14.9%:cool:

Any advice/letter templates to try and reduce interest/charges some more would be of great help. I think Mephisa - was it you who said to keep sending them letters to do this, if we dont do it no one-else will? and if you dont ask you dont get???


5 payments down, many more to go...any advice gratefully received.

Enjoy the sunshine :beer:

The Muppets xxxxxx

PS - we bought a second hand renault scenic - ace for camping - had to fix sun roof as it got stuck but through the wonders of the internet and forums we found out how to wind up back manually and is now working fine. What would we all do with out the web???

gabriella90

Hi all,

Fab advise Mikon for the newbies! hi E2, PPP,HH, Teds and money muppets and mephitsa.

Thought i'd give you my latest Barclaycard saga. I took the bull by the horns and gave them a call. They'd received my letter asking them to reduce interest back down to 0%. the chap i spoke to was helpful but like a robot its policy as the payment your making meets the requirement and we can charge 3%. He asked me if i understand and i said NO because the interest your charging me is now being paid by my extra £10 per month:mad:. He said its policy again. So he says i'll put you through to one of our complaints manager -
Manager again explains why, is very empathetic etc and will make a note on my file. she explains i won't be defaulted as i am not in arrears and my payments haven't been late just less. ( i'll come back to this)

So what she says she can do is refund my £10 interest this month:T:T Hurrah G -1 BC - 0:T:T

It's a small victory as they can obviously see its backwards! The only problem now is i'm not sure what to do about being defaulted etc any ideas chaps. Also as Mephitsa mentioned reducing my payments to BC back to what they were do you think CCCS will agree to this?

Sorry for the long winded post, a small victory even if it is for one month. Maybe if i send a letter every month and complain they'll get sick of me, offer me a stupidly low F&F and get rid of me :rotfl:

Another thing, have any of you done the repayment calculator? I did it for the above card, and if i continue paying this amount with interest it will take me 37 years to pay off and £11000 interest niceeeeeeeeeeee!:eek:

Cheerio - x

gabriella90

Hi money muppets,

I've had a quick scan through your post and the main one that stands out is your Mint loan, if i'm right Mint is or was part of RBS? - i may be wrong? How have you left it with CCCS, regarding this? I think the normal course of action would be to send another letter, national debtline have fantastic letters and take a few minutes to draft out. CCCS should also be sending letters out. It may be that you have to hold fire until they pass you through to collections.

Keep us posted and keep your chin up, it may just be a longer journey for some creditors than others.

x