please help,am having a nightmare!

jooge_2

Hey there! I am new to this site and in need of advice!!!

I am currently with Payplan, have been paying them for four months and it has been such a weight off our shoulders! But the last month things have gone sour and I feel completely let down by them. We have had to take matters into our own hands and call creditors ourselves after recieving default notices and suchlike, to try and get them to reduce interest and charges and even accept payment offers.

The last straw was this morning when I received a letter from a creditor to inform us that they have transferred out debt to a collection agency, which was no suprise. What did suprise me was the outstanding balance and after checking my paperwork, I discoverd that it had grown from £54 to a massive £508! I have been through all the balances now and it turns out that we are over £1000 more in debt than when we started. We have paid nearly £1000 to payplan and it has got us more in trouble! We were even going to start paying them an extra £55 per month but now I don't know.

We were so relieved that we were finally on track and decided to try for another baby. Now at 17 weeks pregnant I relly don't need this and am in a complete rutt.
Please can someone advise me what to do now? Am considering just getting rid of payplan and doing it myself?!

Help!

Welshlassie

Having never dealt with Payplan myself I'm not sure what they are like, but have heard great things about them on here. If I were you I'd call them and not get off the phone until they explain exactly how this has happened and what they are going to do about it.

tyllwyd

Hi Jooge. Sorry, I've never been in your situation so I haven't any advice - but could you explain a bit more about what the problem is? Has PayPlan been passing on your money to the creditors? Where has the extra debt come from - is it interest and fees? Have you spoken to anyone there about it?

moozie_2

Hi there and welcome

We really need more details. I know you are stressed and upset but we can't advise without knowing what has gone wrong

Did payplan not pass your payments or is there another issue? Have you tried talking to them? That might help.

Try to keep calm for you and the baby's sake.

livinginhope

Hi jooge and welcome to DFW,
Not really sure you are having a problem with Payplan.We are with them and I'm afraid that default notices and passing the debt on IS NORMAL practice.
If you pay a reduced amount to a creditor,less than they want,you are defaulting,therefore a default notice is issued.This is nothing to worry about as this then means the creditor can do more to help you.Passing a debt on to a DCA happens when a monthly amount is not enough and the creditor then decides to sell the debt to get something back,this can sometimes be for the best as the DCA normally accept lower payments.
Your debt has increased I would think because the creditor hasn't frozen interest or stopped charges,no organisation,fee charging or a charity like Payplan,can guarantee that this will happen,it might be worth phoning Payplan again to get them to ask your creditors to get this stopped.
I hope you get things sorted.
LIH

jooge_2

Thanks for getting back to me.
I have spoken to them countless times and they are basically telling me that these things happen. They can't stop companies from charging interest or putting charges on our account, which I understand, but after talking to creditors myself it turns out that some of them haven't even been asked! They have been making the payments, but a couple of creditors were returning them for some time which I was not informed about, and consequently one company sent us a default notice. I know that you should expect these but the company said that they would have agreed the offer if only payplan had sent them the paperwork.
There just doesn't seem to be any communication between them and us and them and our creditors. For example, one company requested another copy of our financial statement and our offer in writing, they did not hear from payplan in 3 months and our outstanding balance has grown by over £200 from the charges they slapped on in the meantime. It took us to call the creditor ourselves in order to find out the problem.
I don't know if it is just me overreacting but it just seems that the £1000 we have paid them has gone to waste.
We don't want to go bankrupt, but trying to pay back what we owe is getting us nowhere!!!!

james32_uk

Not necessarily defending Payplan as I know nothing of what they are like with DMPs. However the trouble I've had with creditors claiming 'not to have received communications' from both myself and Payplan is immense. ie it can often be the creditor itself failing to record corrispondence on their system correctly which is to blame.

gravitytolls

I'm with James. Basiclaly, what happens is, you (or Payplan on your behalf), make an offer of what you can afford, you send income and expenditure paperwork, and request an interest freeze, and no more charges.

You get letters and phone calls whilst this is going on, after a number of missed payments, you get sent to another department. But your paperwork doesn't. So you start the whole route again. In the meantime interest and charges are being added, and bills continue to rise.

So, you continue to pay what youc an afford, they continue to say you're not paying, because your cheques are going to a different department, and are not being forwarded/credited in some cases.

Tehn you are told you're being passed to an outside agency, and a default entered against your name.

Although you use Payplan, they can only do what you can do. Though, because they are a recognised charity some creditors seem more willing to work with them than others.

I suspect your money has been delivered to your creditors, but you have been passed through various departments in the meantime, so your cash is ending up with the wrong person - but it should have been credited.

jobbingmusician

I am lucky enough not to be in debt or have had any personal dealings with PayPlan. BUT I do know about how charities work, and I know that as with any employees, there can be bad apples in the barrel.

You have told us (if I understand it correctly) that PayPal have told you that they have contacted all your creditors, but the creditors are telling you otherwise. So the possibilities are

1. PayPal is telling you lies

2. Creditors are telling you lies

3. You have misunderstood.

It sounds as if you are well informed about what's going on, so the most likely is 1 or 2.

I do think that the poster above are probably right, and it's option 2 that is the problem - right hand not knowing what left hand is doing, in the bigger companies that you owe money to. But your post #6 above worries me a bit, and you must be worried too that it's PayPal getting it wrong.

Are you regularly dealing with the same person at PP - perhaps a case worker? If so, ask for a copy of their complaints procedure, and put down your concerns about what is happening to them in writing. If you're not regularly dealing with the same person there, I think it's less likely that they are getting it wrong, but there's nothing to be lost by putting your concerns to them in writing

Hope this helps!

Zulu_Dawn

I don't believe anyone is telling lies. This sort of thing usually happens as a result of insufficient communication.

My honest opinion is that debt is too important to leave to someone else. By all means get help where you can. However the debts are legally yours and it is therefore up to you to sort it out if Payplan are not. I would start by contacting every creditor on your list (by phone and then in writing) and get clarification from each of them of what is happening (in writing from them as well if you wish) and ensure that they all understand your position (i.e that you are with Payplan and are paying them as much as you can afford each month). I would make notes of all these conversations and then send that to payplan. i would also then send a letter detailing your conversations

For what its worth I would not overpay. stick that money in a savings accoutns in case of emergencies. The most important thing at the moment is to honour your commitments - no more no less.

I would also plead with them all regarding getting interest and charges frozen. They will get nothing if you go bankrupt and not much with an IVA. They will also get no interest with a CCJ It is therefore in their interest to sort this out as well as yours. As a guide I have a self administered DMP and have now had interest frozen from all my fifteen creditors. It took from one phone call to a dozen and from one day to three months. In some cases they were not able to freeze interest until after the default notice had been issued.

Please do not bury your head in the sand or rely on anyone other than yourself. It is a huge relief when you get this all sorted I can assure you and is well worth the effort.

Good luck


ZD