please help things getting worse

badmoneytimes

Hi I am on a dmp and all my creditors except one have frozen or reduced interest and stopped charges. I have one who are refusing to put me on a plan and requesting nearly 3x what cab have advised me to pay a month. Obviously I am not going to do this as I would be favouring them over other creditors and I simply cannot afford to anyway. They are charging me interest higher that my monthly payments and charges on top so my balance is going up each month. This has been continuing for 4/5 months now. My question is how can I get things sorted if my balance is increasing my situation is not likely to change as I am limited to how many hours I work with 3 young children. I feel this company is being so unreasonable yes I got into debt but when times are bad they are no help at all. Feel stressed out and like im trapped. Any ideas?

Hovel_lady

Just bumping this for you .

red_scorpian

Hi badmoneytimes, there are a few things you can do such as sending them a letter asking them to freeze interest and charges, good template letter on National Debtline site also have a look at https://www.lendingstandardsboard.org good advice on there also, if all else fails you could write to financial ombudsman and complain about excessive interest and charges, on saying this creditors are under no obligation to freeze charges ,most do when they see you are committed to paying them usually about six months in, some even longer I have one creditor who is still charging me and I'm two years in.Whatever you decide don't pay them any more than you can afford your family come first ,please try not to feel so stressed ,(I know easier said than done) it will get better the longer into your dmp you are and you become more confident dealing with your creditors . Hope this helps take care of yourself and your wee ones they're the most important thing in your life ,it will get better X

Butti

You pay what you can Badmoneytimes. Don't let them bully you into favouring them. You are completely right......you are legally not allowed to favour one creditor over another, they all have to be treated the same.

Stick to your guns and follow the advice given above.

B

Tixy

It is disheartening to see a debt keep going up. Certainly sometimes writing yourself and asking them to reconsider does sometimes have an impact, or if that doesn't work sometimes even asking them to reduce the rate of interest.

Aside from that you sometimes just need to wait for them to sell the debt on to a debt collector.

Stick with it.

pure_dead_dopey

You can phone the FO and lodge a complaint that way, I have done this, got found in my favour (within a fortnight) and got all the charges refunded and £25 compo as well, worth doing, when they are just taking the !!!!. The bank i was dealing with were american and thought they could do as they liked, the truth is they can't!

Tixy

pure_dead_dopey wrote: »

You can phone the FO and lodge a complaint that way, I have done this, got found in my favour (within a fortnight) and got all the charges refunded and £25 compo as well, worth doing, when they are just taking the !!!!. The bank i was dealing with were american and thought they could do as they liked, the truth is they can't!

Seriously pdd? - thats great. What did you say to the FO? Presumably you'd already tried the please reconsider option/quoting the lending code etc?

badmoneytimes

Thanks guys for your replys its so nice talking (or even typing) to people who understand. When I try explaining to them they do the whole you got yourself in this situation blah blah which is true but its hard to get out when your given no support. Thanks I will keep paying the amount cab have told me too and hope they sell to dca soon. Cant believe id ever be saying that but cant be any worse than this company!! Do dca charge monthly interest too? Or charges? will this debt ever start going down?
Also is there a point where you advice to stop paying so they take me to court or sell to dca as Im just getting further into debt or is it just tough? hate to think how big this debt could get (currently just under £3000)

pure_dead_dopey

Hi Tixy (sorry for jumping on this thread BMT)

I phoned, explained the situation (on a DMP, Amex would not stop interest and charges, extremely dismissive and rude on phone) and a very nice young man wrote to Amex outlining my complaint, couple of weeks got the reply fom Amex, all refunded and £25 compo), to quote a wee funny animal, seeeples!!

infor below

e

open 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday

• 0800 023 4567
  free for people phoning from a "fixed line" (for example, a landline at home)
• 0300 123 9 123
  free for mobile-phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 or 02

we'll be happy to phone you back, if you're worried about the cost of calling us


Hope this helps

Butti

I think I would also try another approach with them. This has worked for me in the past when I've been in dispute with them. Tell them that you are feeling that they are trying to extole more charges for you than you are able to pay or that you can legally pay in relation to your other creditors. Then tell them you are seeking advice from Brignall & King in the consumer pages of the Guardian (afterall there is no such thing as bad publicity).


B