Payplan problems

huliojulio

Hi all, been a lurker here for a while and find the board very helpful. Hoping that someone can point us in the right direction with some of the following problems.

My girlfriend got into some financial difficulties whilst at university, and has been paying everything off via a DMP with payplan.

She was expecting to have paid everything off by September this year, all of the totals on the justabank website where coming down, no problems so far.

When we contacted payplan to confirm that she was debt free, we found that despite never having missed a payment, payments to a mobile phone company had ceased some months before, with £60 still remaining to be paid. An amount for which they issued a default notice.

The main problem however, lies with the student loans company. At the start of the DMP, she owed £950. She made 28 payments of £43 a month to service this debt. Far from clearing the debt however, they say that she now owes £1111.38 made up of Arrears: £995.07 Charges: £116.31.

Far from helping Payplan couldn't have made things worse if they tried. They've been taking monthly payments and not passing them on to the creditors, and not monitoring balances. Personally, I smell fraud and would like to involve the police. Despite numerous phone calls, nobody is ever available and calls are NEVER returned.

She got a letter from the student loans company this morning, saying that they won't freeze interest.

They also say that they have passed the account onto Ultimate Credit Agency in Glasgow. Am I right in thinking that they have sold this debt? If so, how can they still be charging interest? (Charged at 2.4% per annum) Interestingly, this debt doesn't appear on her credit report. They also don't have a current address for my girlfriend, would it be possible to just ignore the debt? we're really at our wits end and would advise everyone to steer well clear of payplan.

Anyone able to advise the best course of action? Cheers in advance.

jet77

I would contact the local citizens advice bureau and see what they've got to say about it all. They should be able to help. Do NOT ignore it - she has paid everything she should have and has done nothing wrong. Ignoring it will mean that she is penalized in the future e.g. with mortgage appliations.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on,

Luv Jxxx

huliojulio

We'll get our paperwork together and contact them. Don't understand who the third party in all this are though. Has the debt been sold or not? The student loans company told my girlfriend on the 8th of this month that as Payplan where dealing with her account, that they where the only people that they would talk to about the debt. They weren't even willing to discuss things with my girlfriend. Payplan won't talk to us however. You can see our frustration?

Today, we find Ultimate Credit Services thrown into the equation. Who the hell are they?

The buying a house thing has already bitten us in the !!!!.

We found out about the default notice when we applied for my girlfriends credit report prior to applying for a mortgage.

We were rejected by two companies as a result and ended up settling for First National. Payplan's incompetence has directly resulted in us only being able to get a very inferior mortgage.

Why do people get away with such incompetence?

dexters_mum_2

PayPlan have also made some errors with my husbands plan with them, they didn't pass on 2 months payments...
He wrote to them, they apologised and are trying to sort it out now.
Interestingly, they never once said to my husband they could stop defaults or CCJ's being issued, it would and could happen.

huliojulio

Sure, but surely you'd expect things like that to happen at the beginning of the DMP?

If your husband gets a new default within a couple of months of his expected debt free date, due to payplan not passing on money that you paid to them in good faith!!! Well, I just hope it doesn't happen to him.

dexters_mum_2

It already has huliojulio! I do really feel for your girlfriend though but the one thing I can say is..speak to Payplan..ask for the name of the superior to your girlfriends case worker and speak to them directly and then back it up with a letter, you never know, if they have made error they may be able to speak to the company that issued the default to see if they could put an amenedment on to your girlfriends credit file?
With regards to Ultimate Credit....don't try and hide from them, write (don't phone as they try to get you to agree to allsorts!!) and explain the situation and enclose a token payment of whatever you can afford, enclose a statement of means and say you are trying to work out a repayment plan and you'll be in touch.

In the interim, pop to the CAB and get some more advice xx

madduck

I'm not on a DMP with Payplan, I'm with CCCS, but I'm sure that they operate on a fairly similar basis. First of all, there is no guarantee that an organisation will agree to freeze interest/charges when you enter into a DMP. Whilst your girlfriend has made sufficient payments to clear the initial debt, perhaps this has increased due to these charges still being made? Did your girlfriend get anything from the student loans people at the start of the DMP to say that they wouldn't be charging interest?

Secondly, I know that CCCS tell clients that it is their responsibility to check statements, balances with creditors?

This aside however, there appears to be a major !!!!-up in terms of your girlfriends payments. Hope things get sorted out asap. Will you keep us advised?