PayPlan

ashden

Smile is just the Co-Op and I don't think they're linked to anyone else.

Eupho

:: Phew :: talking to you guys/gals Is helping me alot here. I hope its the same for you.

As for the cards.. I was only wondering because a friend of mine went bankcrupt sometime ago, and she only has an Electron card. Which shes seems to be struggling to use at all. She always came to me to ask me to pay for things over the phone and online for her (then gave me the cash- which I promptly managed to spend)

As for the Co-op smile card.. Can i apply online for one now? oh.. and.. did you get a visa/debit because you already have an account with them? Or we would get one when we set up and account now?

Hmmm does that make sense?

alemted

Hi ash

We seem to be in a similar situation, we have managed to pay our minimum payment bills every month by using credit cards! Now they're at their limits, we too are about £500 short every month for the bills.

After doing our SOA with payplan we will have around £600 per month for creditors (currently paying about £1500 per month just on creditors bills). Our debt is bigger than yours though - £57000 !!!! (Definitely not bragging)!

Need a plan in place asap.

Eupho

alemted wrote:

Hi ash

Our debt is bigger than yours though - £57000 !!!! (Definitely not bragging)!

.

hahaha .. sorry to laugh.. it just sounded funny..

and its better we laugh than cry isnt it

Mines about 38.000 though i may be in for a shock :eek:

alemted

Go here:

https://www.smile.co.uk

Click apply on the left side.

After the smile & smilemore page, there's a list of 6 or 7 accounts to apply for.

You get the normal questions, plus extensive security questions for online login like 4 digit number, first school, last school, memorable name, memorable date, etc.

Don't forget to write down the enrolment number when you finish to check your application (I forgot and had to phone up - only took 5 mins though)

My account was complete 24 hours after applying.

Hope this helps

ashden

Eupho, it says on the smile website that you get a Visa Debit card so I guess whether or not you get a full debit or an electron card will depend on your credit rating, but I'm not sure.

alemted, we've only got just over £100 for our creditors, so I've got my fingers tightly crossed that they'll accept the repayment offer!

alemted

Eupho wrote:

hahaha .. sorry to laugh.. it just sounded funny..

and its better we laugh than cry isnt it

Mines about 38.000 though i may be in for a shock :eek:

And ours doesn't include a car on PCP (182.88 p/m for another 2 years) and the mortgage (£120000 - 20 years left)!!

Thanks to this site, we have finally faced up to the problem - and it is a massive problem.

alemted

ashden wrote:

Smile is just the Co-Op and I don't think they're linked to anyone else.

Just to confirm, payplan told me on my first contact to use smile/co-op and they are definitely NOT linked to any other bank/creditor.

alemted

Had the full phone call with Payplan last night, it went very well and we now feel relieved, they are sending out the paper work for us to check and sign, everything should be up and running in about 2-3 weeks. On phone for 45mins. I had all our account details and outstanding balances ready which helps the process (when you have a list of 12 creditors like we have).

Guy on the phone was really friendly, explained all about DMP and IVA even though I knew a bit about them. Advised against IVA as we have a good amount for creditors each month, told us on an IVA we would still end up paying off 85% of the debt over 5 years. Our DMP pays it all off over 7.5 years maybe sooner, it's more flexible and there's less risk to our assets.

You have to list every single creditor even if you only owe them £50, you can't leave any creditors out of the plan (unless you pay it off and close it before the plan starts). If you do, your other creditors in the DMP could check your credit file and see you have credit with other lenders not part of the plan.

He changed some of the budgeting in our favour - he said he was using the creditors/banks own guidelines for housekeeping, etc.
(You can only claim £40 p/m for phone - which includes BT, mobiles & broadband)!! That was not in our favour!!

He mentioned they have very good relationship with our bank who most of our debts are with, advised co-op/smile account and move everything over asap.
When we confirm everything moved over they then inform the bank as part of the plan (all other creditors will already be informed).

I was planning to claim bank charges back and didn't know if this was a good move or not, he said to go for it but wait until the DMP is in place and running. It is still our money they unlawfully took.....

There was no judgement or questions about debt, we blamed the banks (and ourselves of course), for always advising us to juggle loans into bigger loans - and he agreed - more debt is not the solution!!

He said it was totally free and all money goes to creditors. Their service is paid for by the banks and other lenders, the banks are happy to fund Paypal (and CCCS) because they know the DMP will be correctly done and workable!

Anyway, very happy we went with payplan, will be so relieved in 2 or so weeks when it's all in place.

Eupho

alemted wrote:

Had the full phone call with Payplan last night, it went very well and we now feel relieved,.

Thats brilliant.. Im really pleased for you! (my turn on saturday)
Thankyou very much for such an informative post :beer:

:eek: about the phones! I have a £35 per month (18mth) contract with Orange.. I pay line rental to BT (£15?) and Im getting RIPPED off by AOL and Broadband with *Aol talk*. Which gives you free anytime local calls.. and STILLLL seems to come out at about £50-60 per month. Hmm tho i have heard i can have FREEEEE Broadband with orange because i have a more than £30 per month contract.

Anyway.. off topic there haha sorry.. Thanks! for all that.. and Im glad you are both relieved.. thats great :T