Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_Pavan

mr777 wrote: »

Hi, need a little help and guidance please!

I'm currently 4 years into a DMP with Payplan and have had no problems at all with any of my creditors since, i have not missed a single payment in 4 years and thought everything was going great until the other day.
I received a letter from Payplan about 2 weeks ago stating that NATWEST (my biggest creditor) had advised them of the balances of my accounts with them, some were different, and so they wanted me to verify them before anything was changed.
The 2 balances which were different were overdrafts i had with NATWEST.

Payplan estimated balance No.1 - £1000ish - NATWEST balance - £5500 !!
Payplan estimated balance No.2 - £400ish - NATWEST balance - £2700 !!

after getting up off the floor i have since found out that NATWEST have been slyly (IMO) adding interest and charges to the 2 accounts over the 4 year period, so basically my balnces have been rising rather than decreasing as i thought. I had actually reached the halfway point of my DMP and paid nearly £16000 off my debts up to this point. Obviously now i'm stunned to see that i've actually been increasing some of my debts.
I sent NATWEST a letter yesterday (recorded, signed for) asking them to remove the interest and charges over the past 4 years and also freezing them from this point onwards. I Wondered if you could advise me on what to do next if they disagree to do so?
Also, have you had any experience of this before and whats the usual outcome?

Any help/advice much appreciated...

Hi Mr777 and thank you for your post.

A DMP is not a legally binging solution, so unfortunately DMP providers can never guarantee that interest and charges will be stopped.

You have already done the right thing in contacting your creditors and asking them to remove all the charges since the start of your DMP. Hopefully they will see that you have been paying regularly for four years and take this into consideration.

We usually recommend that our clients keep their balances up to date, because unless you have regular communication from them, there is no way of knowing whether the balances are decreasing or not.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Tech_Noir wrote: »

Hi,

I'm facing up to the fact that I can't pay off my debts every month. I've been in touch with Payplan today and they've opened a case for me and have told me to set up a new bank account which I'm in the process of.

Strangely my current bank where all my debt is has been in touch with me today and want me to go in for a meeting next week to try and help me. I told them I'd been in contact with Payplan and they said they'd like to see me first.

I'm not sure what to do I dont want to be offered any more loans by my bank i already have 2 and I cant cope with anymore.

Is it wise to visit my bank or should I let Payplan deal with it on my behalf? They sounded like they genuinely wanted to help me at my current bank.

My total debt is about £7,500 made up of overdraft £1,900, loans £3,300 & £2,100 and a credit card £400. My credit rating isn't good.

I can afford to pay back about £150 a month at the moment based on my wage and all other outgoings.

My husband doesn't know of my debt and i'm scared he might find out and leave me. I'm getting desperate. Nobody knows about my debt I feel so alone and ashamed of myself. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi Tech Noir and welcome to the forum


Firstly, please don’t feel ashamed and you are by no means alone. There is lots of support available on this forum and if you have a look around, you will meet lots of people in very similar situation.

I’m not sure what your bank will say to you when you go in to see them. You could go just to see what they have to say as they may offer you some help.

However, don’t be pressurised into agreeing anything there and then – make sure you take your time and work out what’s best for you. It could be a good idea to compile a realistic income and expenditure beforehand so you know how much surplus money you have available each month. It sounds like you already have a rough idea of your budget but it’s best to make it as accurate as possible.

It’s probably still a good idea to open up a new account like Payplan have suggested, no matter what the bank says.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

michelle45 wrote: »

Hi

I am in the process of getting my statements ready to send off to the CCS, however, when I looked at my wage slip I earn 3.00 more than I put down on the application form. Should I go through filling in the forms again on line, or just increase my bankers order by the 3.00.

Also, I have missed off a credit card should I just send that statement.

Your advice would be helpful.

Cheers
Michelle

Hi Michelle and thanks for your post.

This shouldn’t be a problem – I’d recommend that you put a little note in to explain the differences and if there are any problems, we will get in touch with you.

Obviously the extra debt will increase the term of your DMP, but like I mentioned if this affects the advice we will contact you.

If you’d prefer you could always give us a call.

Kind regards,
Pavan

michelle45_2

Please could somebody advise me what to do next.

I am having financial difficulties at the moment and have several payday loans. I have tried contacting their customer service departments but cannot get through (plus I want everything in writing as I have heard horror stories regarding their customer services) so I have sent numerous emails requesting their bank details in order that I can make payments until such time I can arrange a DMP.

All I get are computer generated emails saying they have tried ringing me and I owe so much and could I ring them asap. Its not that I dont want to pay even 10.00 (is better than nothing) but they are not supplying me with the details I need.

What can I do, if it gets passed to a DC it looks as if I have ignored these debts it doesnt look good for me but if I cant make a payment or an arrangmenet what else can I do

Moneymash

Hi,
I have a few questions that I have sought help with on the main forums but sadly no joy, lots of views a a couple of responses but no concrete help.

I defaulted on my Capital One card in March. They sent me a letter saying that their nominated representative would be in touch but didn’t confirm who this would be. I then got phone calls and a letter from a company called f.t.c saying they were the managing agents for Capital One. However, I have received nothing from Capital One actually confirming this. F.t.c have a website you can make payments through called Capquest. To begin with I made two payments of £50. Which have been reflected in my outstanding balance at the top of the f.t.c. letters I have so far received? I agreed over the phone to make payments of £74.00 each month via the Capquest website. I got a letter from f.t.c. confirming this arrangement. I have paid the last two months.

My questions are:
How do I confirm that f.t.c are actually the managing agents for my debt?

Also, how do I get a statement/receipt, proof of payment, and any charges, or interest added and what my outstanding balance is (on a monthly basis if possible)?

Is it right that if you are in default you can no longer be charged interest ?

Also is the owner of the debt obliged to provide you with details of the debt e.g. payments made, any charges etc and what the remaining balance is, or is the third party you are making payments to obliged to provide this information?

I have seen in other threads that you can post an SAR and CCA and links to templates (at the time however I didn’t think I needed to do this so didn’t make a note of the information) Having now read that people have paid off debts to a third party that have nothing to do with the owner of the debt. Also that they have paid off the wrong debt I just want to be sure.

I fully intend to pay this debt off; I just want to put my mind at rest that I am actually paying the right people, what if any are the charges and what my balance is each month.

cezilxx

Hi,

i am currently in a lot of debt with credit cards and finance approximately £16000. i have been making the payments and the debt is gradually reducing although it seems at this rate it will be about 15-20 years before it is all paid off. I pay approximately 550 a month off them but they are going nowhere.

anyway i have applied for a couple of loans to consolidate my debt and the repayments would half my monthly repayments and i could be debt free in 5 years, however they always get declined. i currently do not own my own property as we live in one of my father in laws properties. my mother has said she will act as a guarantor on a loan if this is possible but they all seem to have a maximum loan amount of £3000. i am going off on maternity leave in 3 months and will struggle to live off what i have left at the end of each month. i dont want an IVA please help.

wunder_2

Hi all,

I am new to this forum so please bear with me

Ok here goes, I had an old Barclay card debt, I never paid for over 6 years and it was in my maiden name, All of a sudden HFO find my address and start contacting me. Then Turnbulls lodge proceedings and I receive a claim form, which I return with a defence re statute barred defence.

Turnbull forward me copy statements from Barclaycard, no logo, no stamp, just typed in some software, in my maiden name and say the last payment was made in 2006.

Am I able to dispute the debt, re;

1. Authenticity of the documents
2. Name of debtor
3. Non production of CCA

Also am I able to request a copy of the CCA at this stage? I have requested copies of documents relied on under CPR.

They are saying they are going to apply to the court for a summary judgment, I have asked the court to stay the claim until the documents are provided.

Please help I have young children and cannot be dealing with this hassle. I am sure I did not pay anything since 2004 and they somehow have these plain paper printed statements in my maiden name. Any advice will be appreciated.

elsiepac

Hi there

I am currently on a DMP with CCCS and have been since January 2010. In mid May I managed to reduce some costs and have quadrupled what I am paying on DMP each month, from £111 (last one on 1 May) to now £476 (first one paid 1 June so not yet showing on my statement).

I am obviously pleased that I have managed to do this, and whilst my budgets are now extremely tight, quite frankly I'd rather be debt free quicker than having luxuries!

By my reckoning, this means that my last payment will be slightly lower amount, but I will pay it on 1 November. So when CCCS pay my creditors on 25 (ish) November I will be debt free.

Fantastic!

One issue, I haven't been in touch with any creditors since a couple of months after it all started. Until I've started coming on these forums, it never occurred to me that the balances shown may not be accurate. I have no problem contacting them to get updates - I have proof that a couple of them definitely stopped interest and charges, however I, perhaps somewhat naively, believed that the rest of them would have as well. In the last month or so, it's dawned on me that this may not have happened and so I may not be debt free in November after all which is a huge blow.

The reason I have not phoned them is because I moved addresses last year. I am staying with my parents at the moment and am scheduled to move out in December this year. Whilst CCCS have my new address, I most certainly have not told my creditors I have moved, as I can't receive any communications to that address about debts. My fear is that by phoning them and asking for balances, they will make me tell them the address, and I just can't. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place as I will happily ring up once I've moved out, but by then if it turned out there is still money owing, then a, I wouldn't be able to afford to pay it at the rates I am now - I will have precisely £150 a month spare when I move (but the point was this was going to be savings!) and b, I would have missed a payment by that point.

I'm starting to get really worried as I want my debts to be sorted once and for all, but I can't have letters to my parents house, I REALLY can't. Any suggestions for me? Starting to lose sleep over this, worrying about it all.

Sorry for huge post, couple of things I thought of was
1. When I changed my address with CCCS would they have changed it with the creditors and thus I'm worrying about nothing as they haven't contacted me at my parents house, maybe because my DMP is going really well?
2. Is there perhaps a way that CCCS can get my current balances on my behalf somehow? I really want to get this sorted, I'm just so worried about it all.

Thank you for your help

LC

StepChange_Pavan

michelle45 wrote: »

Please could somebody advise me what to do next.

I am having financial difficulties at the moment and have several payday loans. I have tried contacting their customer service departments but cannot get through (plus I want everything in writing as I have heard horror stories regarding their customer services) so I have sent numerous emails requesting their bank details in order that I can make payments until such time I can arrange a DMP.

All I get are computer generated emails saying they have tried ringing me and I owe so much and could I ring them asap. Its not that I dont want to pay even 10.00 (is better than nothing) but they are not supplying me with the details I need.

What can I do, if it gets passed to a DC it looks as if I have ignored these debts it doesnt look good for me but if I cant make a payment or an arrangmenet what else can I do

Hi Michelle45and thanks for your post.

I hope you found my previous reply useful.

Because you’ve mentioned that you’re in the process of getting your statements together for a DMP, you must be close to starting it. For that reason, I’d recommend that you send your information to us as soon as possible so that you can start making payments through your DMP and you won’t need their details for this.

In the time being, you may find their payment details on previous statements or you could send them a cheque through the post.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

michelle45_2

Hi Pavan

Thanks for your reply. I am in the middle of getting my uptodate statements, the rest come out at the end of the month so they will all be set up and hopefully in August things should be on the way.

However, I wanted to pay these a token payment like the other creditors but even though I sent them the letter telling them what I am planning on doing and would like to pay a token payment in good faith (dont want anything on the phone just all in writing) they are not issuing me with the bank details. Unfortunately, everything was done automatically with my bank card so I dont have the detaisl.

Well, for whats it worth I have kept all the emails asking for their bank details so theyll have to wait for a payment.

Michelle