DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

ianmak

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

First thing you should do is request ALL contact be by post only with all your creditors and ask that they remove your telephone number from the database. - This should stop these calls even after the 6 months.

Secondly any calls you get in the meanwhile should be told immediately to refer to your DMP provider with your reference number then hang up.

Good luck - it is so wonderful not to dread the phone ringing.

There are those who say answer the phone and explain your situation at the beginning. Three (three!!!) years in and fingers crossed (maybe I was just lucky), I really do think that being open and honest with my creditors at the start helped a hell of a lot.

I was mostly at fault for getting myself in this position, and it is only fair that the creditors should be able to approach me for their money.

Just my opinion of course!

DevonGirl

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Evening all i was updating my CCCS details online earlier and thought i'd go through the figures to make sure the statements from creditors matched what the cccs have. Anyways, whilst doing this i realised that one of DH creditors (A$qua) have resumed charging interest. We'd already had a big thing with them a few months ago *sigh* lots of phone calls, from us & cccs, eventually they agreed to hold off all charges, interest for 12 months. They have however just reduced the interest and are charging us again. We called them up but they said that we had to call the cccs..which we did and they in turn told us they had sent all relevant paperwork and it was up to the creditor to decide if they wanted to stop the charges.

Has anyone else had an agreement the creditor has then gone back on? And if so can I get it taken off somehow? I.e with a letter to them again, explaining our situation? CCCS suggested sending another letter but i don't really know what to put. As it stands we pay them £20.20 and they charge us £35 interest/late payment charge every month so we will never pay it off

If anyone has any advice i'm all ears

Hello DFW

I don't have any experience of any creditors who went back on an agreement, so I can't comment there. As you know, DMPs are a voluntary arrangement, not legally binding as far as I am aware and basically you are on your creditors' good humour to try to stick to what's agreed.

What you CAN do, and I think you should in your case, is to write a letter as CCCS suggested and make some noise about the fact that they are making your debt problems worse by effectively increasing your debt by £15 per month, despite your efforts to pay. Creditors are expected to play fair with debtors who are making genuine efforts in financial hardship. See links below for Financial Ombudsman Service (you don't actually have to make a complaint but could threaten to do so),
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/financial-hardship-unaffordable-lending.htm

and also to the Lending Code.
http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/docs/lendingcode.pdf
(see point 224-226). Point 225 states:
"It is inappropriate for interest and charges to continue to be taken where the result would be that the repayment period for the customer becomes excessive."

Maybe you could quote this to the lender. If you tell them that you are aware of your rights and point out bits of the Lending Code, which I presume they subscribe to, they may consider your case again.

I hope this works out for you. Good luck!
DG


Also found this on point 225 of lending code which applies in your case, I think -
"Subscribers should consider reducing or stopping interest and charges when a customer evidences that they are in financial difficulties. Such reduction/suspension decision should be based upon an income and expenditure statement indicating that they are unable to make repayments sufficient to meet contractual terms. Where a customer is able to make only token payments, their debt should not increase as a result of interest and charges levied."

selinaw001

Hi hope someone can help me am just about to start DMP and have sent all my letters to creditors except to my bank HSBC for overdraft and also my husbands LLoyds bank also for overdraft. Am not sure where to send these, do i sent them to the account holding branch or a main office somewhere? Thanks in advance to anyone who can advise me

DizzyDizzy

ianmak wrote: »

There are those who say answer the phone and explain your situation at the beginning. Three (three!!!) years in and fingers crossed (maybe I was just lucky), I really do think that being open and honest with my creditors at the start helped a hell of a lot.

I was mostly at fault for getting myself in this position, and it is only fair that the creditors should be able to approach me for their money.

Just my opinion of course!

We very rarely get calls now, so I am quite happy to answer the phone. After a year of being with CCCS I am confident our dmp is running well and it will be finished in early 2014. So I would rather answer the phone and get things like this sorted out immediatly.

But in the early stages you can request all communication in writing, yes.

On a completely different matter, just had my Natwest CC statement through and all interest has been frozen! Yay !!!:j

DizzyDizzy

amy662 wrote: »

Hi there

Just a quick question. Im currently in a DMP with CCCS since March 2011. I checked my credit report last week and found that I was defaulting each month on a Natwest Loan. After speaking to CCCS, they informed me that as I was out of the origional contracted agreement, I would register a default on every payment made, which will stay on my file for the next 6 yrs. Im concerned as my DFD is 2015 and my partner and I was thinking of saving up then to apply for a mortgate but at this rate I will have defaults on my file until 2021! Is this information I have been given correct?
Thanks

I could be wrong but I always thought you only get ONE default that then stays on your credit file for 6 years from the date of default...

zoey86

amy662 wrote: »

Hi there

Just a quick question. Im currently in a DMP with CCCS since March 2011. I checked my credit report last week and found that I was defaulting each month on a Natwest Loan. After speaking to CCCS, they informed me that as I was out of the origional contracted agreement, I would register a default on every payment made, which will stay on my file for the next 6 yrs. Im concerned as my DFD is 2015 and my partner and I was thinking of saving up then to apply for a mortgate but at this rate I will have defaults on my file until 2021! Is this information I have been given correct?
Thanks

Hey,

My understanding is that you can only get 1 default notice per account which will last for 6 years - this severly affects any credit you apply for in those 6 years.

Notices of default sums (i.e £12 late payment fees) can be issued monthly, these will stay on your credit file for 6 years also, but will not affect your credit rating as severly as a default notice.

Hopefully I'm right and you are getting default sums and not default notices each month (well not such a good thing as there are charges being added to your balance, but better for future mortgage applications).

Zoey

debtfreewannabe321

DevonGirl wrote: »

Hello DFW

I don't have any experience of any creditors who went back on an agreement, so I can't comment there. As you know, DMPs are a voluntary arrangement, not legally binding as far as I am aware and basically you are on your creditors' good humour to try to stick to what's agreed.

What you CAN do, and I think you should in your case, is to write a letter as CCCS suggested and make some noise about the fact that they are making your debt problems worse by effectively increasing your debt by £15 per month, despite your efforts to pay. Creditors are expected to play fair with debtors who are making genuine efforts in financial hardship. See links below for Financial Ombudsman Service (you don't actually have to make a complaint but could threaten to do so),
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/financial-hardship-unaffordable-lending.htm

and also to the Lending Code.
http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/docs/lendingcode.pdf
(see point 224-226). Point 225 states:
"It is inappropriate for interest and charges to continue to be taken where the result would be that the repayment period for the customer becomes excessive."

Maybe you could quote this to the lender. If you tell them that you are aware of your rights and point out bits of the Lending Code, which I presume they subscribe to, they may consider your case again.

I hope this works out for you. Good luck!
DG


Also found this on point 225 of lending code which applies in your case, I think -
"Subscribers should consider reducing or stopping interest and charges when a customer evidences that they are in financial difficulties. Such reduction/suspension decision should be based upon an income and expenditure statement indicating that they are unable to make repayments sufficient to meet contractual terms. Where a customer is able to make only token payments, their debt should not increase as a result of interest and charges levied."

Wow thanks for the lengthy reply DG some great quotes in there! I'm going to give it another bash then and put some of those in! Surely they can't say no to that huh?! I'll let you know how i get on
DFW x

BevieB

Hi,

Our DMP with CCCS starts 1st October. All seems to be going ok but I am a bit confused about our current account. We have opened a new account and arranged for wages/DD to come out of this account. This means our Halifax current account is £1790od (limit £1800). Should I write and close the account or wait for it to default?
Thanks

DizzyDizzy

BevieB wrote: »

Hi,

Our DMP with CCCS starts 1st October. All seems to be going ok but I am a bit confused about our current account. We have opened a new account and arranged for wages/DD to come out of this account. This means our Halifax current account is £1790od (limit £1800). Should I write and close the account or wait for it to default?
Thanks

I don't think you will be able to close the account unless you pay back the o/d and the account is back at zero. Is this account included in the dmp? They will probably freeze the account so you can't use it and then default you.

Mrs_Arcanum

ianmak wrote: »

There are those who say answer the phone and explain your situation at the beginning. Three (three!!!) years in and fingers crossed (maybe I was just lucky), I really do think that being open and honest with my creditors at the start helped a hell of a lot.

I was mostly at fault for getting myself in this position, and it is only fair that the creditors should be able to approach me for their money.

Just my opinion of course!

Unfortunately some creditors are not prepared to listen and have an obvious script they are sticking to. Others tell out and out lies and are truly nasty and threatening. When you are at an emotional low over debt neither of these are helpful scenarios.

So yes it is undeniably wise to face up to things, but not always by phone.