DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

artyfartyem

Hi Jc,

No expert here just a couple of questions/ideas...

Did you send letters recorded delivery so that you can prove that you have sent the information? If you have this would help your case if you wee thinking of making a formal complaint due to them ignoring your letters when you are trying to sort the situation? (we have had an absolute nightmare with a tsb loan & cc and we found the complaint was the only way we got anywhere)

From what I have read on the forums it could be a good thing that the debt is being passed on as they are more likely to accept terms as they usually 'buy' the debt for less than the original amount. The letter you have quoted sounds quite positive, maybe it will be better if metropolitan arent dealing with or anymore.

I'm really sorry to hear about the situation for you and your oh. Just keep on mind that it CAN'T get any worse, they can't take what you don't have and you're dealing with it now. I know it's difficult (I really really do) but try and keep positive and look after each other.

Hope things get sorted soon x

Growurown

jasperconran wrote: »

We have written and written to them giving them the same details as CCCS (we are now doing our own dmp) and OH gave them the authority to speak to me.

Anyway everytime I ring, I get never received the letters time and time again. Ive lost count!:mad:

It is useful to keep a record with inefficient companies like this. Note time and date of calls and most importantly who you talk to - so get a name. Is it possible to fax paperwork to them? I got so fed up with one creditor losing stuff I faxed it over whilst I kept them on the phone so they could then confirm they had received the document. Getting it signed for too is a good idea as has already been suggested.

trainergirl

Hi

I'm new to all this, so i would really appreciate some help. Have finally faced up to the absolutely dire state of my finances. Altogether i owe about 17K. Have spoken to CCCS today and they suggest a DMP.

Am a bit scared about this all -especially the flack i'm going to get from my creditors. Any advice on how to deal with this?

Also CCCS recommended I open a new current account at a different bank (am currently with Lloyds TSB) as I have a loan and CC with them - any recommendations? Could I use Barclays if I owe on a Barclaycard??

Mort

trainergirl wrote: »

Hi

I'm new to all this, so i would really appreciate some help. Have finally faced up to the absolutely dire state of my finances. Altogether i owe about 17K. Have spoken to CCCS today and they suggest a DMP.

Am a bit scared about this all -especially the flack i'm going to get from my creditors. Any advice on how to deal with this?

Also CCCS recommended I open a new current account at a different bank (am currently with Lloyds TSB) as I have a loan and CC with them - any recommendations? Could I use Barclays if I owe on a Barclaycard??

Being on a DMP was a positive thing for me, it took a while for the creditors to accept reduced payments but they did eventually. Just stand your ground and when they ask for a token payment over the phone politely turn them down.
Here's an MSE article on basic accounts http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ban...gn=resourcebar

and here's an article on why you should open one with a bank you don’t owe money to
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/setting-off

When setting up an account if you are offered an overdraft turn it down.

Jvic28

To all the Newbies.

Please do not worry about "getting flack" from your creditors. Write to them all and tell them to no longer call you and only communicate by letter. If you get any nasty letters/threats/charges, just inform CCCS. By all means back that up with a letter to the creditor confirming the position (ie. I am on a DMP, ref number, etc etc).

They will try to scare you with all sorts of threats but they can't have what you haven't got. Simples!

And any question, please come back here. It's a great source of information and support

Jvic28

Oh and with regards to charges. I still get them every now and again. A creditor seems to conveniently forget the situation and start charging late payment fees etc but on quite a few occassions I have written to them and got it refunded. I have even threatened the FOS and had the charges refunded along with an inconvenience payment so worry not all is not lost if this happens. x

Lewby

Hi everyone. First I'd like to say a huge thank you to this thread as it has helped me so much over the last 6 weeks! My OH packed his job in voluntarily on 23rd Feb without me having a clue he was going to do it. I knew he was under pressure but not to the point of halving our income over night!

It certainly focuses the mind when you have a crisis like that to deal with and without this thread I think I'd have lost the plot!! I have now managed to set up a self-administered DMP and so far have been lucky that all of our 17 creditors are willing to play along. That may be because it's early days and there is a good chance that OH will find another job in next few months but I have been pleasantly surprised at the responses I've had.

I think it helped that we'd had the accounts for a long time, not missed any payments and I was phoning them before we actually missed one to say that I could only make a reduced payment. They all have departments set up to deal with financial difficulties and I think that it is a very common problem right now so maybe their willingness to help and accept any payments is due to that.

Barclaycard surprised me most. We have 6 cards with them, 2 of them with balances of £10kish. They have put the cards together and have offered us a reduced payments plan, frozen the interest immediately, not put any charges on the account and are willing to accept a quarter of the usual payments by standing order for 12 months, at which point we'll review it.

Most of the others have stopped the interest and charges and have given us a 3 month window to sort things out before looking at the long term. I accept we may end up with defaults but the piece of mind knowing we can live and still pay something far out weighs that issue. I don't think we'll ever want credit again anyway. My only worry is that if we ever need to move and need references it may go against us but we've been here 15 years so hope it's not an issue. Also do worry that kids may be affected by our defaults but again, no point worrying about that right now.

Thanks again everyone for the knowledge that is within this thread. Totally invaluable!

There is life with a DMP .... I hope xx

secretshopper75

Well done, BC are the bain of our life..they will not freeze the interest and say it's their policy to continue to charging....mmmm

Lewby

I hardly dared believe it after my initial phone call as it sounded too good to be true given what others had said on here about them. I dreaded making the all as over half our debt is with them. I only believed it when I got it all in writing. I think it is amazing and unfair how the same CC treats people differently. Sorry you are having a nightmare Secretshopper

Bring_It_On

Hi all

Firstly just want to say that this time last week I was worrying myself sick about the fact that I had just entered into a DMP with CCCS then I found this forum/thread and I feel so much better about the whole situation, I was not answering the phone, dreading the post, worried about creditors taking court action etc., now I feel empowered to deal with my situation and thats thanks to you guys and all the stuff I learned on here, so thanks . My husband thinks I am addicted to this site and its not good for me but I have explained it is helping me so much.

I have constantly over the years been consolidating debts into mortgage, loans other cards etc. thinking I could solve the issue but in fact it just kept making it worse.

For the last 2/3 years we have been paying credit cards and then using them straight away to live on. We never missed payments but had no money at all left. Some cards I made my minimum payment (£175) and the same amount was charged in interest so I could see no way of clearing it. I had never heard of a DMP until end of March when I was searching for help out of our mess on the internet and come across CCCS debt remedy, liked it because it was annoymous and I was so embarrassed about our whole situation.

It suggested a DMP and we thought about it for a week and decided we had no other option. Now it is all set up, we changed our bank account and our first payment goes to CCCS on 10th May, CCCS and us have wrote to all our creditors and arrears calls and letters have started.

Our debts are with Natwest (OD, Loan & CC), RBS (CC), Santander (CC & 3 Store cards), Barclaycard (2 CC's), MBNA (CC), Littlewoods, Next & Simply Be Catalogues/store cards & Tesco (CC). Total debt is £50,574 eeek.

Now I have started to answer phone calls Santander have agreed to freeze interest and charges for next 30 days on all accs and Barclaycard have agreed to do the same on the 2 acc's. MBNA have wrote to say they have put a restriction on my account but thats it so far. So not as bad as I thought so far.

I am really worried about Natwest as I have read a few things on here and other sites that they can be difficult and they are our biggest creditors owing approx. 20k.

Anyway just checking in and saying hello as I will be sticking around for the long haul and hope by sharing my progress I can help others like you have helped me xx