Insensitive? And the award goes to...

milliejon

Just caught up with this thread because of a call today. I've been doing my own DMP for two years, and although MBNA have been useless at finding my letters etc, they always accepted my offers without a question - until today. I've written to all my creditors to explain that my incomings have gone down, so my payments have to and I made offers.

I must have had the "newbie trying to impress the boss". She questioned my clothing allowance which is the amount advised by the National Debtline. I explained that this hasn't changed in the past two years and she said that they didn't have any old expenditure forms(!). I also explained that all the other creditors had agreed to their amounts.

She then said that she could accept £30 less a month for clothing because I couldn't possibly spend the amount I had. Then I explained that I have two young children who need shoes very regularly. She then said she could accept £10 less than I was suggesting for the children. Then I said OK but what about me and my husband? She then agreed to the amount I'd suggested.

Then she had a go at the housekeeping allowance. She said it was steep. I explained that this is not just food, and she agreed that it was for groceries. I then went on to say that it also included incidental payments that crop up and that I don't have any money put aside of emergencies, birthdays, hair cuts etc. She agreed to this one too.

I explained that if I treat MBNA differently to my other creditors, then that wouldn't be fair. Then she asked "How would they know? They don't see your bank statements". I then explained that I have, in the past, been asked to forward copies of my bank statements to one of my creditors. She then went on to say that she understood where I was coming from.

Don't they realise that if we could pay more we would? Who wants years of debt ahead of them? I certainly don't, and I can't wait for the day when I can take my kids on holiday and pay for the holiday, transport and spending money in cash!

Sorry this is a bit long but I needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for reading!

MinnieSpender

I wonder if this beats the Halifax hospital call.

Oh! And it's the Halifax again... this time their "bereavement" line.

Following the death of her husband, a relative of mine telephoned this bunch of charlies to request an appointment with her bank to sort out the finances. The call centre put her onto their bereavement line where a total charmer told her she couldn't be seen for at least a month.

Unbelievable.

Still, it only took me three phone calls to set set things straight and get her an appointment for that week. When she arrived for the said appointment, they hadn't bothered to book her in.

I'd better go before I type a hideous expletive.

Energised

I'll do it for you.

!!!!!!

(it began with C)

artic_fox_2

i liked it when my debts were passed on to the dmps and they ask "can you pay the whole lot off?" i replied "if i could do that, do you not think i would have paid the minimum monthly payment" sometimes they do defy logic

still think the halifax hospital call beats all

JGWT8M

Horsham County Court get's my vote.

imagine this: "Ah yes Mr JGWT8M, you are £60000 in debt, overdrawn at the bank and have no assets, the Claimant has refused your offer of payment at £XX a month and so you are therefore ordered to pay the full amount of £6000 to the Claimant (who is the smallest creditor!) within the next 14 days".

dohh, am I supposed to rob a bank or get another loan for this?
Do you think we would actually be in Court if I had the money to pay them?

Bank of Scotland and MBNA come a close second.... but that Halifax thing, utter !!!!!!s!

madduck

There is always Natwest. When my sister took her own life a couple of years ago they 'insisted' that I travel 30 odd miles to come into the branch in person to deliver the death certificate in order to prove that she was dead.

They kept us waiting for over an hour in the middle of an really busy student branch before they saw us.

When she died my sister had several debts, including a fairly large overdraft to Natwest. The subtle 'idiot' that we saw went on to ask us about any assets my sister had. Well she hadn't worked for a while because of health reasons, so there were none. Loads of debts we explained, but no assets. "But surely she had life insurance?" Well I explained - even if she had, it wouldn't have paid out would it! Took several minutes of staring at her for the penny to finally drop!

I used to be quite a patient person. Dealing with some of these numpties has really made me quite sharp.

JGWT8M

madduck wrote:

I used to be quite a patient person. Dealing with some of these numpties has really made me quite sharp.

Same here, I have no time for them now, even resorting to leaving a message on my phone basically says if you're from a bank !!!! off, if anybody else you how to get hold of me.

madduck

I keep thinking about the revenge that I will have when I am debt free and putting all of that lovely money that currently goes into my DMP into some form of constructive savings vehicle (sounds very posh doesn't it). I think that I will audition financial institutions to see which is most suitable. Will have to develop some form of questionnaire which covers their social/ethical responsibility, etc.

Well that will exclude Northern Rock, HSBC, GE, Natwest - any other suggestions of who else I should exclude from investing my money in?

Maz

JGWT8M wrote:

Same here, I have no time for them now, even resorting to leaving a message on my phone basically says if you're from a bank !!!! off, if anybody else you how to get hold of me.

“The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.” Money: Whence it came, where it went - John Kenneth Galbraith 1975.

A good case for reading the small print, non?

Ashamed to admit that my very first job after leaving school was in a bank and the injustices I witnessed made me cringe! Almost extortion!

Softstuff

madduck wrote:

I keep thinking about the revenge that I will have when I am debt free and putting all of that lovely money that currently goes into my DMP into some form of constructive savings vehicle (sounds very posh doesn't it). I think that I will audition financial institutions to see which is most suitable. Will have to develop some form of questionnaire which covers their social/ethical responsibility, etc.

Well that will exclude Northern Rock, HSBC, GE, Natwest - any other suggestions of who else I should exclude from investing my money in?

I think if you're going to exclude all financial institutions whose ethics you don't like you are left with one option and one option only....

The International Bank of Mattress - DMP account (dust mite protected) :rotfl: