Advice please on CCCS and DMPs?

jaytee99

Hi, I'm a newbie here...

Apologies this is not relevant to this particular case, but I really don't know where to post this for help and info - and everyone helping in this case seems so knowledgeable. I started it is a thread, but without any answers...

Hi All,

I am new here, and after a serious downturn in my business I have a ton of credit card debt. Nearly all of it is credit card debt - many different cards - and pretty much all have been deemed as non-true copy accounts. IE: not had true copies despite requests/payments for these well over a year ago. One debt is a loan, with £thousands in mis-sold PPI due back on a £16K balance. Even this has been deemed to have a flaw in the APR wording making it unenforceable, although not as strictly so as the NTC credit cards.

I've stopped paying everyone - entered into a DMP, and was paying into this nicely - but the company went out of business - hence I lost money, as they took first 2 months payments as their fees. I now know this was dumb, but didn't know about CCCS etc... at the time.

Phone calls and threatening letters died down and pretty much stopped, after the DMP was set up, but as I understand, only partial payments were made first time (after two months of paying), and only once.

(SORRY THIS IS RAMBLING ON...)

I was only made aware of the DMP company's demise when I was contacted by a DCA demanding money. But now the letters, texts, phone calls have all started again. Even had texts saying ipads for sale etc... Idiots actually expect me to fall for this...?

I don't take the phone calls - I've suggested they contact me by email, or letter only. MY FIRST QUESTION - IS THIS CORRECT...?
If I do take a call by mistake, can I terminate the call, politely, without putting a 'black mark' against me...?

I've not paid for several months now 6-9 months), and have been threatened with doorstep collectors (I'll kill them...!) and with CCJ's etc... NEXT QUESTION - HOW LONG WILL THEY WAIT BEFORE THEY RESORT TO THIS COURSE OF ACTION...?

I believe all Credit cards in question are non-true copy, so they cannot technically enforce the debt against me - IS THIS CORRECT...?

I am happy to pay into a DMP - but it would be 10 years minimum before I could clear the debts, and only assuming they freeze interest and stop adding charges. NEXT QUESTION, WHAT CAN I DO TO ENSURE THEY WILL FREEZE INTEREST...?

I have to give serious credit to American Express, who were first off the mark, froze interest and charges and froze the account - hats off to them - very professional. Unlike MBNA, Barclaycard, Capital One etc... The all refuse to accept the NTC argument, but haven't provided any original copies of agreements - despite, as I said, these requests dating back way more than a year.

I intend to use CCCS to set up a new DMP, so hopefully they will successfully negotiate this in my behalf, BUT WHAT CAN I DO TO ADD WEIGHT TO THIS...? I'd like to pay as much as I can for a few years then hopefully negotiate greatly reduced full and final settlements. However, next question - DOES IT HARM YOUR CHANCE OF A FULL AND FINAL NEGOTIATED DISCOUNT SETTLEMENT IF YOU HAVE BEEN REGULARLY INTO A DMP...? The card companies are much to blame for my situation as they piled interest up and up, despite, at the time, I was not in arrears, never had been, had never missed payments, and was always on time with payments. As such, they have more than had their money back from me, so if I could pay 25% to them and walk away I would - but is there a best way to go about this...?

Lastly, I think (!) - I have several thousand pounds claim for a mis sold PPI on a loan. If I claim this, it will be paid to the loan company/DCA. However, I'd like to keep this aside and have it claimed and paid at a later date - so that I may use it in negotiating a full and final settlement. IS THIS POSSIBLE...? Or can the loan company force me to settle it now and have it paid to them...? PPI is thru St Andrews - although I never knew they existed until the DCA told me this.

Any and ALL advice as to my TRUE rights and the rights of the DCA's is very welcome guys... Hopefully I'll be in a position to help others out with other stuff too...

Cheers in advance...

eyeopener2

Hi Jaytee 99, you might want to start your own thread, this could get lost otherwise. People can advise you rather than getting caught up here.

jaytee99

eyeopener2 - thanks.... but I started as a thread and didn't get anywhere :-(

Any suggestions...? 'cos I do think there's a lot of things that I need answered will be of great help to others,and in turn I can bounce some advice back, I hope...

discodriver

Hi! First thing, don't panic! Go thru National Debtline and CCCS, at least they are free so all your input will be going towards sorting your debt rather than on fees. They are also very helpful and non-judgmental when working out your budget, circumstances etc, they have guideline figures as to what is likely to be acceptable to creditors and can discuss exceptions to this if necessary e.g. we live in a rural area so our car costs are relatively high, but we were able to set this off against some other budgetary items where we do not spend much.
As regards the cc companies, they definitely take more notice of proposals made via CCCS than they would if we tried to negotiate direct, probably because they can't use their bullying tactics. Once the DMP is up and running you can expect the calls and letters to drop off, although they do occasionally have another go... I suppose they still have their job to do! CCCS put us wise to a lot of their tricks, for example many of the so-called bailiffs and solicitors who keep sending intimidating letters are actually just different departments of the one bank! Barclays/Mercers is a common example, and Lloyds TSB have a list of aliases too. They also advised us that doorstep collection is an empty threat 99% of the time, although it is an alarming prospect.
You can certainly insist on letter-only communication, see the guides and tips throughout this forum for your rights. I tend not to answer the calls at all if I can help it (you can always hang up when you answer and get the pause due to their automatic dialling systems) or I take the line of "polite but firm" and refer them all to the DMP.
Good luck with the various claims for mis-selling etc, haven't tried those but hey anything you get back is a bonus. I haven't noticed that any "black marks" have stopped them making us f&f offers - we've had a couple of quite good ones (40%-ish) already in our first year, just haven't had the readies to take them up on it.....:(