Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

freedomfromdebt_2

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi MJ and thanks for your post.

It looks like you’ve already had some helpful advice on another thread.

In the first instance I’d recommend that you speak to your DMP provider as they may speak to Halifax on your behalf.

Unfortunately there are never any guarantees that a DMP will stop any interest and charges, but you can write to them to explain your situation and ask for their consideration.

Like you’ve mentioned, if they still won’t help you could consider making a complaint.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Hi Pavan,
Thanks for your reply. I have followed advice initially given re Lenders code and emailed Payplan asking for them to assist. There response was an email to say nothing they could do as they cannot get involved in a dispute with a creditor!!! I have also called Halifax and they will not budge. I have rung numerous places for advice - National debtline, Consumer Direct etc etc and all have said unable to advise. Hence my post to you.
I would really appreciate it if you could advise me what the best course of action is for me to take next as I seem to be banging my head against a brick wall.
Are Halifax within their rights to charge 23.9% interest thereby extending the period of my repayment to 44years???
Is their a template letter I can send to Halifax that might get them to reconsider??
If interest continues to be applied what happens at the end of DMP in 2014???
HELP. All suggestions gratefully received. Thought DMP was reasonably on track and this is a massive shock.
Would I complain to Halifax, Payplan or Financial omnubdsman
Kind Regards
MJ

saintads

Hi,
I was contacted tonight by a nice lady from gregory pennington with regards to helping with a DMP. all seemed fine but my wife was(quite rightly) concerned with the fact that they made a charge for this service. so a bit of searching on the web found out about cccs. I went through the process< filled out the forms and now have to print and sign the forms. I wanted to know what happens now? do i have to find out exact balances of the debts or is this done by the cccs? what can be included? me and the wife have a couple of debts with the council and DWP for benefit overpayments for a mix up when we got married and moved in together, can these be included??

many thanks in advance, the cccs has given us a little light at the end of the tunnel

Adam

StepChange_Pavan

freedomfromdebt wrote: »

Hi Pavan,
Thanks for your reply. I have followed advice initially given re Lenders code and emailed Payplan asking for them to assist. There response was an email to say nothing they could do as they cannot get involved in a dispute with a creditor!!! I have also called Halifax and they will not budge. I have rung numerous places for advice - National debtline, Consumer Direct etc etc and all have said unable to advise. Hence my post to you.
I would really appreciate it if you could advise me what the best course of action is for me to take next as I seem to be banging my head against a brick wall.
Are Halifax within their rights to charge 23.9% interest thereby extending the period of my repayment to 44years???
Is their a template letter I can send to Halifax that might get them to reconsider??
If interest continues to be applied what happens at the end of DMP in 2014???
HELP. All suggestions gratefully received. Thought DMP was reasonably on track and this is a massive shock.
Would I complain to Halifax, Payplan or Financial omnubdsman
Kind Regards
MJ

Hi again,

I’d really recommend that you write to Halifax and you can use the advice given on the previous thread. Hopefully if you can explain your situation (which is personal to you) and that you’re doing all that you can to repay the debt but they’re really not helping.

If they don’t agree to stop or you’re not happy with their response you can follow this up with a compliant to the Financial Ombudsman.

Your DMP with Payplan won’t end until the debt is repaid in full. So although you expect it to finish in 2014 this will continue until there is no debt remaining.

Unfortunately there may be something in your original agreement with Halifax that states they are allowed to charge this amount. However this doesn’t make it right and hopefully with your persistence they will agree to reduce it.

They may at some point sell the debt on to a collection agency and they could be more willing to reduce or completely freeze interest and charges.

Kind regards,
Pavan

System

saintads wrote: »

Hi,
I was contacted tonight by a nice lady from gregory pennington with regards to helping with a DMP. all seemed fine but my wife was(quite rightly) concerned with the fact that they made a charge for this service. so a bit of searching on the web found out about cccs. I went through the process< filled out the forms and now have to print and sign the forms. I wanted to know what happens now? do i have to find out exact balances of the debts or is this done by the cccs? what can be included? me and the wife have a couple of debts with the council and DWP for benefit overpayments for a mix up when we got married and moved in together, can these be included??

many thanks in advance, the cccs has given us a little light at the end of the tunnel

Adam

Hi Adam and welcome to the forum.

You would need to find out the exact balance of the debts and provide us with recent statements.

I’d recommend you give us a call in regards the Council and DWP as these need to be included somewhere but we would need to look at your situation in more detail to see if these needed to be treated as priority debts.

Our contact number will be in your advice booklet. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

freedomfromdebt_2

Hi Pavan,

Thank you so much for your advice. I will draft a letter to Halifax quoting Lenders code and see what response I get. Fingers crossed.
Kind Regards.
MJ

seastar_2

Hello! Can’t believe I am here and attacking my problem. It’s been fuelling depression and lethargy etc etc. But hopefully fixable - I owe £34k - credit cards and loan.


Think this is my plan…
Cash in endowment (from 1st mortgage - now on repayment) = £17k (would have matured in 2024 at £50k ish and would have been a nice little nest egg but I need the cash now) - so that takes a chunk off the debt.
Then for the balance - consolidate in a loan. My bank - Barclays started questioning my big monthly payments when I called them about another matter (so glad they did!!) - they suggested a loan with better terms/interest rate and put me onto ‘Freedom Finance’. I spoke to them and they can offer me £12k over 5 years paying £300 per month. Leaving me a smaller balance on cards to clear. This should be affordable with commitment to a proper budget. (I have never budgeted before.)
FF assure me they are a reputable broker and since Barclays referred me I feel like I trust them.


My questions…

I just did the CCCS Debt Plan and not sure if I should do the DMP route instead as per their advice? (It didn’t reference the endowment cash in even tho I noted it as possible incoming cash)

Is it better to sell the endowment than have credit problems (due to DMP) for the next 6 years? (I had never heard of a DMP until today)


Are ‘Freedom Finance’ an ok option?


Thanks in advance.
Feel so much better to be planning and posting etc.
Seastar.

mum2one

At last I have finally filled in the on-line form, - do need to recheck figures, for accurate from statements, - it gave me bankruptcy, (don't want to go down the route), or dmp and thats estimated 10 years... but I want to have another twiddle with the figures and see if I can cut back any areas. But feeling really positive.

One quick question, (sorry), if I wanted to do a self managed dmp, would I need to copy the figures across, just wondering how I would work out the pro-rata payments. xx

System

seastar wrote: »

Hello! Can’t believe I am here and attacking my problem. It’s been fuelling depression and lethargy etc etc. But hopefully fixable - I owe £34k - credit cards and loan.


Think this is my plan…
Cash in endowment (from 1st mortgage - now on repayment) = £17k (would have matured in 2024 at £50k ish and would have been a nice little nest egg but I need the cash now) - so that takes a chunk off the debt.
Then for the balance - consolidate in a loan. My bank - Barclays started questioning my big monthly payments when I called them about another matter (so glad they did!!) - they suggested a loan with better terms/interest rate and put me onto ‘Freedom Finance’. I spoke to them and they can offer me £12k over 5 years paying £300 per month. Leaving me a smaller balance on cards to clear. This should be affordable with commitment to a proper budget. (I have never budgeted before.)
FF assure me they are a reputable broker and since Barclays referred me I feel like I trust them.


My questions…

I just did the CCCS Debt Plan and not sure if I should do the DMP route instead as per their advice? (It didn’t reference the endowment cash in even tho I noted it as possible incoming cash)

Is it better to sell the endowment than have credit problems (due to DMP) for the next 6 years? (I had never heard of a DMP until today)


Are ‘Freedom Finance’ an ok option?


Thanks in advance.
Feel so much better to be planning and posting etc.
Seastar.

Hi Seastar and welcome to the forum.

We don’t usually recommend taking out further lending and we can’t comment on or recommend particular lenders.

As you’ve already done Debt Remedy I suggest you give us a call (the number is in your booklet). There could be a number of possible options open to you which we can explain in detail.

In regards cashing in the endowment you might also want to seek independent financial advice regards this.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

mum2one wrote: »

At last I have finally filled in the on-line form, - do need to recheck figures, for accurate from statements, - it gave me bankruptcy, (don't want to go down the route), or dmp and thats estimated 10 years... but I want to have another twiddle with the figures and see if I can cut back any areas. But feeling really positive.

One quick question, (sorry), if I wanted to do a self managed dmp, would I need to copy the figures across, just wondering how I would work out the pro-rata payments. xx

Hi Mum2one and thanks for your post.

The calculation for working out pro rata payments is – Individual debt divided by totals debts x available surplus.

You would need to duplicate the figures across if you wanted to manage your own plan.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Katy_83

I have found myself to be in a little debt, it's only £500 so nothing really major but was around £100 i've also now found myself to be on income support of only around £64 a week. A big drop from what was coming in. I've just paid off a £400 debt and a £180 debt but now I have 3 that also need paying. One of the creditors has said that I can start a payment plan with them after I have finished paying of the debt i'm paying at the minute but the other if demanding £40 a month which on top of everything else i'm having to pay out for I cannot manage. A debt worker at the local CAB told me that as it is not a priority debt i can offer them as little as £1 but they say I have no right to do this and they are still demanding the £40. Where do I stand in regards to how much I can offer them a month?