Anyone who has had a DMP with Payplan, advice needed.

MyLastFiver

Payplan are far from perfect, and their service at times is shocking.

If there is a lesson to be learned from this, it's to keep on top of where you are with each creditor, each month. You can't just set up a DD to Payplan then drop everything. At best, Payplan are nothing more than a service to distribute your money to creditors. But often they can't even get this right. You cannot rely on them to negotiate effectively with creditors, and you need to do that part yourself.

I have no idea why they've told you they won't write to your creditors to stop interest. It sounds to me like you've been speaking to one of the many muppets who answer their phones. Always ask to speak to a manager.

You have been paying all your spare income off these debts, for 8 years, and now you're being told you still have 4 years to go. I would find out how much you have paid to each creditor, and compare this to the starting balances. It may be that you would have paid in full by now, had it not been for interest charges. Once you have this information, you can decide whether continuing on this DMP is the right thing to do. It's your decision, but if it were me, I would have decided there was no point in continuing with a repayment plan that seems designed to keep you perpetually in poverty.

Look - don't take this the wrong way, but you do seem to get fobbed off a lot, by your creditors and by Payplan. It may be that arguing your case isn't your strongest skill, and if so, that's nothing to be ashamed of, but is perhaps a good reason to keep all correspondence in writing in the future.

Good luck.

wuzzypoo

Hi all,

thanks again for all of your replies and taking time to help me.

I have been asking PP for years for info on what they are paying to whom etc. it was only about 2 years agon that I got a response from Paragon (my biggest creditor who won't stop interest) and they finally gave me a list of what I had paid and what I have been charged since i took out the loan, it was in this letter that i found out I was still paying PPi all of this time. i had requested info many times but not got a reply. I wrote to tham and Fin Ombs about getting the money back for the PPi as I didn't know I was paying it, and I certainly didn't know they were still charging after i defualted, but both said I cannot claim back as before 2006. I have a look at the link you've posted amesall. I'm sure I do still owe money, but this is totally interest and PPI as I have paid back a lot of money as I was with the dreaded Baines & ernst for a few years before I went with PP (please dont shout!! i didn't know about debtline, PP etc in those days), but this is destroying me as like yo've said, I'm just paying and paying and will never be free of this debt.

As I said PP have refuse to talk to my creditors until a certain time, I have been told this by the folk who have run my accout, I'm on about the 10th person to be looking after my account now, so get told alsorts when i ring. ive asked to speak to managers but refused and told I can only speak to my account manager. I have paid good amounts for all of the years I've been with them, I've never missed a payment.

My Last Fiver: When you said not continue with a DMP what else can I do? I've tried to reason with the biggest creditor and they are refusing to stop interest, give me my money back for the PPI so I'm always gonna have this hung over my head.

Thanks again for your help.

Jinx

You could stop using Payplan altogether if its not working for you and deal with your creditors directly. Many of us debt free wannabes have done it and its just a case of keeping in touch with the creditors and responding to some letters.

For example with your biggest creditor that refuses to stop the interest, if you were managing yourself they still might not freeze the interest, but you could state your case in writing again and again and most of the creditors do eventually give in for a time at least. (in my case I used to state Im committed to paying off debts etc and if you dont free the interest it will take me xx months to pay you off ie never or lots of years and they all froze the interest and charges).

amersall

When was the loan taken out, and who was it with? if it was before 2005 then you can go for mis sell with the insurer, you need to find out who the insurer was and put a mis sell claim into them.
If they come back and say "no" then you can pass this over to the FOS.
if you need anymore help just go on this thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1460775
as this is off topic to your thread here.

MyLastFiver

wuzzypoo wrote: »

My Last Fiver: When you said not continue with a DMP what else can I do?

It depends very much on your precise circumstances.

1. You have been paying them everything you can afford for the last 8 years.

2. Despite this, you haven't cleared much of the balance.

3. You have spent the last 8 years poor and miserable, and this looks likely to continue for several more years.

Yours is a very exceptional case. Your creditors have a responsibility to deal with you fairly, and it would appear from the info you have given that they have not done this.

If it were me, I would have stopped paying them by now. They may take you to court. But given your payment record a judge is likely to look favourably on your case. No one is expected to spend a large portion of their life in penury in order to pay interest to banks.

As I say, it depends on precisely how much you owe and how much you have paid.

fluffyboots

I'm sympathetic to the OP plight as I too have concerns re Payplan.I use their justabank and have a DMP of £500 a month over about the last year. Their estimate as to when my debt is clear is about 2016 on a debt of approx £30k. I have been lazy ( well not really had a lot of other problems and working hours) and not checked my Payplan Justabank estimates of the remaining debt against the statements received monthly from my creditors but I noticed one definitely shows more than Payplan show.
I think everyone is right to say check your creditors and make sure the interest is frozen.I do think Justabank is good and I have had no big problems with Payplan yet other than changes in case managers. I will check mine in the next couple of days and report back.

dancingfairy

Have you dealt with Payplan in writing? You need to get their complaints procedure and put all your complaints in writing and get them to start taking you seriously.
If Payplan can't/won't resolve the problem then it is likely you will need to go further - I believe the financial ombudsman service? may be the place to go on this?
You also need to get all the info from Payplan regarding who has been paid and when and if interest has been stopped etc.
I'd then sit down and start getting things in writing to your creditors - ie I started owing this much and now I owe this much. I want interest and charges cancelled etc and refunded back to my account. If they can't/wont' oblidge and you feel they are being unreasonable - it will vary on a case by case basis and how much you have paid etc and how much correspondence they have had from Payplan but if all else fails you will probably need to take it to the Ombudsman. Another option would be to sort out full and final offers, taking into account the length of time you've been paying etc.
A lot of letter writing I'm afraid and it's going to be a bit of a process. In the meantime you could of course write to your creditors, explaining that you have been regularly paying Payplan since x date and that you are now conducting an investigation into the state of your account with each creditor them and that you will be in touch with them when you have sorted out with Payplan what's going on. This will give you an opportunity to save a few months worth of payments whilst you get all the info from Payplan and plan your next move ie requesting all interest and charges since x date cancelled/refunded or whether to offer full and final settlements etc.
I think given as you've come so far that bankruptcy etc might not be your best bet but you need to get all the facts and figures first. I do believe that you with enough force (depending on the amount they've received) that you can get your creditors to refund all interst/charges or sort things with a last ditch full and final settlement.
df

Payplan_company_representative

Hi,
I just wanted to try and provide a few answers to the comments that have been made so far…
First of all, we really do take our client service and all feedback very seriously, and we will do everything we can to help a client.
Your Justabank account balances are put on at the start of your arrangement, as payments are made the balances will decrease based on those initial figures. As and when we are updated on a balance we will amend our records which then appear on a client’s Justabank account, however creditors do not necessarily write to us.
We give you an estimated date of completion at the beginning of your arrangement, this date is based on all payments being made and no interest and charges are added to the debts. Unfortunately some creditors will continue to add interest and charges which means that the date of completion can change.
We send letters to all of your creditors every 6 months when in a DMP requesting that all interest and charges are frozen. Unfortunately we can never guarantee that your creditors will do this as a DMP is of course an informal agreement, however we will still try.
If anyone has any serious concerns with their plans, then please speak to your case officer. I can assure you they are there to support you in becoming debt free and will do anything they can to help. Might it help to write down the points you wish to discuss with your case officer before you phone them, so when you do phone you can refer to your notes and make sure all your concerns are logged?
In the meantime, to Wuzzypoo or anyone, if you would like me to chase up your complaint, please email me on [EMAIL="lizzy.snow@payplan.com"]lizzy.snow@payplan.com[/EMAIL] and I’ll do everything I can to help.