Whats the worst that can happen?

tda1301

Hi all,

new here but have been looking around for a while!!

i have a DMP with gregory pennington for 6 different creditors:

Virgin
Barclaycard
Halifax CC
Blair oLiver Scott
Natwest
Egg

My management fee is £65.55 per month and i am now thinking that this money could be better spent if i deal direct with the creditors - i have allready sounded out egg and halifax who both responded positively to me doing this.

my question is as my thread title says - what is the worst that can happen - once dealing direct - could i be forced to pay massively more if they think im earning more that stated etc? Would GP cause problem if i advise them that i will be moving away from them?

anyone had any other experiences of this?

Cheers

Tixy

Hi

Sounds like a very good idea.
GP I think will require 4weeks notice of you intending to leave them.
Your creditors are likely to be happy not to deal with GP as you should be able to afford a little bit more to them all each month once you are not paying that fee.

Worse that could happen - well nothing worse than being on a DMP with GP, they could still choose to take you to court at some point but its not that common on a DMP and not more likely to happen than if you were with GP.
You could find creditors call you a bit more and hassle you a bit more - but we have template letters you can send to stop this.
They could try to ask for proof of income - you would not give this. If they got really difficult you could consider using one of the charities who run free DMPs, but most who switch from an established managed DMP to a self-managed one have few problems.

GP might hassle you to stay and say they are getting you a better service but in reality its just sales pressure with no backing.

Tixy

You also might want to look at national debtline website which has lots of guidance and template letters that can be useful.

tda1301

many thanks for your reply -

because my situation has improved so much from 2 years ago - i can double the payments i am making to the creditors - so i shouldnt really get any hassle at all.............should i?

saltnvinegar

Hi TDA

PS Tixy I am not stalking you I promise

I'm on a self administered DMP (but got help from CCCS setting up figures etc).

Look at the financial aspect first. That £65.55 a month you are paying is £786.60 a year that could be used to reduce the balance of your debt. Thats not an insignificant chunk of money!

There will be very little GP can do that you can't do yourself. The only value they bring to the table is dealing with your creditors directly (if you are not confident doing this).

However this is nothing that one of the free services (CCCS, Payplan etc) won't do for you too.

In fact you may have noticed on the news the last couple of days that the OFT is cracking down on over 100 Debt Management Companies for their shoddy practices. I don't know if GP is one of those but it says everything you need to know about the industry.

The simple fact is that your creditors are not obliged to freeze interest or agree to your DMP no matter what a Debt Management Company may tell you, and, if they choose, can still conduct collection activities.

For these reasons alone I would look to put that £65 a month towards paying off your creditors. You will be in debt for a shorter period of time if you do.

Best

SnV

saltnvinegar

tda1301 wrote: »

many thanks for your reply -
because my situation has improved so much from 2 years ago - i can double the payments i am making to the creditors

Fantastic news - even more of a reason to get away from GP!

tda1301 wrote: »

so i shouldnt really get any hassle at all.............should i?

Again not guaranteed (some creditors may take a view of 'There may be more money in the pot we don't know about') so you may get some threat-o-grams.

The simple way to respond is that you have informed them promptly of a change in circumstances, this is still the most you can afford, but you will inform them if your circumstances improve again.

The majority of your creditors should have no problem accepting higher payments

BTW a big round of applause for tackling your debt and it seems like things are looking good for you

:T:T:T:T:T:T

SnV

tda1301

Just to let you know that i called GP and told them i was leaving them - basically was honest and said i was doing it myself (i had allready spoken to my 6 creditors - who had all been happy to deal direct - with double payments!) GP were a bit like - "why do you want to leave us etc etc etc" but i just advised that the £68 fee could be better used

should be debt free in 12 months!

yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

dazzler123

Thats wonderful TDA I'm about to do my own deals with creditors too, I hope they are as receptive as yours!!

winner12

Hi dazzler123
Hope you are sucessful with your own DMP I am also going it alone and found National Debt Line a big help and all the great people on here too after 7 months of wrangling only waiting for Capital One but the other 4 all accepted no charges or interest added since April I have not had any calls or letters lately either so it does ease up good luck and stick with it

mummum2

I to went out on my own in May this year, after paying DMC for 2.5 years, rang all my creditors and all were fine with me taking this on and thus to date have had no problems as such, but Lloyds still send letter now and again saying that I have not kept up with timely payments (This goes out to all creditors on 1st of the month....why if all others receive you don't?), when I call them for explaination, always get "just ignore letter" they are the pits....hate them, and to think I was a loyal customer for almost 25 years with these!!! :mad:

Good luck and I think in 12 months you're be df.