DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

debtdawg

Thanks for the heads up HH

antonic

With me, CapOne & Cahoot froze the interest from day one and never charged.

HBOS are another matter ....

They froze the interest for 2 years, then unfroze saying "they had done enough to help me" and then froze again after about 2 years.

This means I have a further £1500 to pay back, and which has delayed by DFD by 6 months till June 2013.

Not happy about it, but I borrowed the money so its my responsibility to pay it back.

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Well done!

Not wishen to dampen the enthusiasm... more to handle expectations...... they dont usually guarantee interest freezes,... sometimes they add on laters.... but do by all means enjoy it whilst you can as better to have them frozen earlier when the debt is at its highest.

HHx

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Pssst GUO .... Mmmm duck cassoulet sounds mighty fine. Did you get the duck from the pond in your local park? :rotfl:

Well you aren't far off TTFTM! A friend of ours does some hunting so the ducks were a free meal but not from the local park I hasten to add.

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

MMMMMM GUO where's the invite,,,, yummy

Bottle of audi red.... oops aldi red (wishful thinking), blanket, children in need and tissues will sort me out for the weekend!

Hope everyone ok

HHx

Well it was so good the week before last that we had it this weekend too. Open invite for next weekend:D

Hope you enjoyed your weekend with the audi, sorry aldi red!

AmyV wrote: »

Haha - there was a pheasant wandering about in my garden the other week .... I was sorely tempted

We've had pheasant too!

Anyway not going to around much to post on the forum as all this rural living means my home internet is up the khyber again:(

Plus OH went way overboard on spending the overtime money that there were no funds to pay for the petrol today. Not a happy bunny.:mad: Why is it that money goes three times further in your head than it does in real life?

Growurown

antonic wrote: »

GUO,

I`m an insomniac !

(Actually I start work @ 7 am each morning and it takes me approx 60 mins to get to work , I also wargame a lot and like to get my moves done before I go to work !).

I admire your ability to get up so early antonic and be awake enough to do anything let alone wargame. At 7am I am still fast asleep and am incapable of doing anything for at least an hour after getting up until the caffeine kicks in.:rotfl:

Enough_Now

Hi all

I have had my first response from a creditor. Virgin MBNA CC has accepted DMP, halved interest and frozen charges, until the next StepChange review. This is my biggest creditor by far and, while I had hoped for a total interest freeze, I am glad that they are on board with the DMP or Reduced Repayment Plan, as they call it.

I phoned to query whether the token payment had been received and asked about the method of calculating the interest reduction and was told they work to you being able to pay off your existing balance within 5 years based on the level of your reduced payment - interest is applied at a rate aligned to this calculation:undecided:undecided. I was assured that I would not get a lower rate or total freeze unless my amount payable changed significantly. Obviously this will make a big difference to my expected DFD but ultimately there's not a lot I can do about it.

The lady I spoke to was very pleasant and not judgemental.

Fingers crossed that my other creditors are as, if not more, co-operative!

antonic

GUO,

When you live the single life, life is easy !

(but I do feel that I need those extra hours in bed @ the weekend !).

Growurown wrote: »

I admire your ability to get up so early antonic and be awake enough to do anything let alone wargame. At 7am I am still fast asleep and am incapable of doing anything for at least an hour after getting up until the caffeine kicks in.:rotfl:

DaveK1971

Thanks TTFTM, much appreciated.

stupid-fool

Hello, it's been a busy weekend using my birthday treat from my Mother-in-Law - a free night in a farmhouse B&B while she had the kids. It was great to spend an evening on our own for a change and the farm upgraded us to a cottage FOC so we were able to stay in and watch a DVD which meant for a cheap evening too. I was nice to have a cheap weekend away and forget about the debts for a short while

I need some help, and started a separate thread to avoid clogging this one, but nobody replied.

I think we are on a good path with our creditors except for Lloyds TSB Bank regarding our overdraft and loans. They have frozen interest on the CCs. My bank is close to the £4k limit, but below. I will be fully moved to my "safe" account on 22nd November once the auto-transfer of the last few DDs takes place, but there are no more payments to go out if things get messy.

StepChange wrote to me this week to say that Lloyds have rejected the DMP relating to my overdraft, but not to worry as they will make regular payments.

Lloyds have now written to me confirming my conversation with them (I guess that was StepChange) to say that they are reducing my overdraft limit by the amount of the DMP payment each month for 6 months and then to zero. Interest (around 19%) and monthly account charges will still apply. Because I still have £200 left of my limit this means that they will be able to run along making their full profit out of me for the next 6 months while I pay off very little of the outstanding amount.

We've now had similar letters about the loans - they accept our lower offer for 6 months but all charges and interest still apply.

I had previously been told by StepChange to wait until my new safe account if fully up and running on 22nd, then contact the branch to request full removal of the OD and closure of the account. The letters were already from their collections department and I've already had default notices (for £0 arrears) on the Lloyds credit cards so the credit history damage is already done, but I can't help thinking that Lloyds are trying to outflank me on the approach recommended by StepChange. They will now get a payment each month and as long as they can keep my bank and loan accounts in order they get to sting me for the full charges.

How can I play this to get the best co-operation from Lloyds regarding freezing charges and interest on OD and loans?

Can anyone help with template letters, or should I try calling first?

Time_to_face_the_music

stupid-fool wrote: »

How can I play this to get the best co-operation from Lloyds regarding freezing charges and interest on OD and loans?

Can anyone help with template letters, or should I try calling first?

Try something like this:

___________________________________________________

You

Date

Them



Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Account No: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your letter/statement concerning the above account. As you are aware, I/we am/are in financial difficulty and have entered a debt management plan with DMP company name, reference number XXXXXXX.

I/we am/are sorry that you feel unable to suspend interest charges on this account. The majority of my/our other creditors have agreed to the offer of payment and agreed to suspend any interest charges still accruing. They have accepted that to continue to charge interest would not assist us in our present financial difficulties, and can only serve to increase our total debt.

As you are aware, I/we have already paid considerable sums in interest to my account. If interest charges continue, the monthly instalments I/we am/are paying will not even cover that interest. Also, the cooperation of my/our other creditors who have agreed to freeze interest already would be put at risk.

I am aware that Bank name subscribes to the Lending Code which states that lenders will consider reducing or suspending interest and charges if these would cause the debt to increase or lead to the repayment term becoming too extended. I would therefore be grateful if you would reconsider your decision not to freeze the interest. This would mean that the monthly payments I make would actually reduce the balance outstanding to your company.

I/we hope you can help me/us with this matter and I look forward to receiving your response. If you are unable to assist me/us, I/we will seek advice from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully

_____________________________________

Give them 8 weeks to look at your complaint, if they do not answer in this time or if they do answer and you are not happy with the response, contact the FOS and get them on to the case.

You know that there is no guarantee of stopping interest on a DMP, some people are lucky, some aren't, the banks seem to have no hard and fast rules on how they deal with this.

From 10 creditors we have 3 charging full interest, 3 charging lowered interest and 4 currently interest frozen. One of the lowered and one of the frozen are threatening to reintroduce full interest as we are reaching minimum payments.

We have made 3 complaints to the FOS. We won one, lost one and one is still being investigated; despite the FOS considering it resolved, the bank are still playing silly beggars.

Lloyds TSB have been one of our biggest problems but other people have had no issues with them. I hope you are one of the "lucky ones".

Growurown

stupid-fool wrote: »

Can anyone help with template letters, or should I try calling first?

Hi SF - Glad you had a nice break away from the rat race.

Here is TTFTM's letter, hope she doesn't mind me pinching it.

Them

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your letter/statement of DD/MM/YYYY concerning the above account.

As you are aware we are in financial difficulty and are currently in a DMP, reference number XXXXXXX. We are sorry that you feel unable to suspend interest charges on the above account. All of our other creditors have agreed to suspend interest charges still accruing. They have accepted that to continue to charge interest would not assist us in our present financial difficulties, and can only serve to increase our total debt.

We have already paid considerable sums in interest to this account. If interest charges continue the monthly instalments we are paying will not even cover that interest. Also, the cooperation of we other creditors who have agreed to freeze interest already could be put at risk.

We would therefore be grateful if you would reconsideryour decision not to freeze the interest. This would mean that the monthly payments we make would actually reduce the balance owing to your company.

If you fail to resolve our complaint within 8 weeks, or if matters are not settled to our satisfaction, we will have no alternative but to escalate our complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully