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Debt management scheme gone wrong HELP!

Smerlin
Posts: 4 Newbie
First of all hello to everyone!
Basically 5 years ago when I was 20 I had around £14k of debt, stupid i know, but anyway - I ended up getting onto a debt management scheme with a company called Easierdebt. At the time they were alot smaller company and the website was barely findable on google and nothing like it is today.
So i signed up and im sure they told me 5 years i would be debt free. 5 years passed i rang them up and said 'so what happens now' and was basically told that infact i had another 18months to pay as i still owed around £3k.
After a bit of quick math I soon realised that they must be taking a cut of what I was giving them and whilst I may have been wrong to assume that it was a free service, i was definately not told of any charges.
To confirm my suspisions that I was not told I asked for a copy of my contract, apprently im not under contract and can leave whenever I want, so my question is do they really have the right to charge me without me agreeing to it?
I was thought the idea of a debt management scheme was that a agreeded time period set out for which to pay all the debt back, which in my case was 5 years, so how can it suddenly change?
Any help on what to do next is appreciated, I have no clue and any help will go a long way. Thanks again.
Basically 5 years ago when I was 20 I had around £14k of debt, stupid i know, but anyway - I ended up getting onto a debt management scheme with a company called Easierdebt. At the time they were alot smaller company and the website was barely findable on google and nothing like it is today.
So i signed up and im sure they told me 5 years i would be debt free. 5 years passed i rang them up and said 'so what happens now' and was basically told that infact i had another 18months to pay as i still owed around £3k.
After a bit of quick math I soon realised that they must be taking a cut of what I was giving them and whilst I may have been wrong to assume that it was a free service, i was definately not told of any charges.
To confirm my suspisions that I was not told I asked for a copy of my contract, apprently im not under contract and can leave whenever I want, so my question is do they really have the right to charge me without me agreeing to it?
I was thought the idea of a debt management scheme was that a agreeded time period set out for which to pay all the debt back, which in my case was 5 years, so how can it suddenly change?
Any help on what to do next is appreciated, I have no clue and any help will go a long way. Thanks again.
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Comments
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Hi Smerlin,
It does seem that lots of these debt management companies have done pretty much what they like with peoples money and have told all kinds of lies to get them on board. I would advise you to cancel the payment you currently send to them and self manage your dmp at this point, by sending a cheque for the required amount as payment each month to each creditor. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon to advise whether or not you can retrieve any money, but you may have to put this down to experience.
Good luck
RedIf you've nothing decent to say, perhaps you shouldn't say anything.
£2 savings jar £300:D
Total credit card debts £1250:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: - Will I ever learn!!0 -
But why has it talen you 5 years to check your debt balance..sureky had you checked it regulalry you could have made a swift exit much earlier or am i missing something here?0
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I havent actually checked the balance but I was asked to raise my payment by £20 in order to meet the deadline at one point, and have asked for record as payments to prove ill be debt free within 5 years for a job i applied for and never once have i been challenged about the time period i believed.0
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BUMP- anyone know if I have any leg to stand on or shall I cut my losses and leave it at that0
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You need to get your balances & then you have an upto date idea of what you owe.Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.0
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I owe just over 3000 now and that is because that is what easierdebt have taken in fees since the start of the program.0
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You have been on a debt management plan (dmp) with a fee charging company. Ie your 'spare' money after bills is divided up and sent to the creditors with a fee for the company that is managing it. There are charities that can offer this service for free so more of your money goes to your creditors each month.
They could not guarantee you would be debt free in 5 years - the aim is that interest and charges are stopped by your creditors but this is not guaranteed and depends on a number of factors such as how much you are paying compared to your minimum contractural payment, how much pressure was applied to them by your managing company etc etc.
At this point in time I would write to your managing company and get statements for all your creditors. I would cancel the plan you are on and take stock of where you are now. I think it is unlikely you will get any charges back from your managing company but you MAY may able to get interest and charges stopped by your creditors now (highly unlikely to get the interest and charges refunded to your account for the past but you can but try).
Once you know where you are now you should approach one of the debt charities and see what your options are - perhaps do a dmp through them (ie fee free to have it managed), do a dmp yourself, or offer full and final settlements to settle with your creditors.
Best of Luck
dfMaking my money go further with MSE :j
How much can I save in 2012 challenge
75/1200 :eek:0
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