Who do I go with?

HeadInTheSand

I am glad I stumbled across this.

I too am in the same situation. My debts finally got on top of me last month, and the constant phone calls, texts, emails were really starting to get me down.

I decided to look at debt consolidation. get 1 loan to cover all, and pay 1 monthly payment. Then decided that just makes it worse, and came across DMPlans.

First site I arrived at was moneyexpert.com. Spoke to a really nice guy there, who gave me the options, DMP, IVA, bankrupt, etc and after about 30 minutes, we decided a DMP was best, as my disposable income was £100 a month and my total debts we approx £4400.

He told me about his fees, which were 1st months payment goes to them, and then they add takes their fees from the savings / reduced debts they managed to obtain. so if they get my total debt down to about 70%, I would pay 75% of my total debt.

He sent me forms to fill and sign and said a rep would call to collect them from my house. The rep never arrived. (thank god)

Due to this fantastic start , I decided to look around as I still needed the help.

I found payplan.com, and whilst they were extremely helpful, she gave me a debt pack via email which gave me template letters and good advice to sorting it out myself. (I asked how they generate income/revenue to offer a free service and they said from donations and creditors paying them a discretionairy fee)
I spent some hours sorting out my creditor references, my financial statment and some letters and was going to send them recorded delivery today.

But guess who phoned me? moneyexpert.com

I explained what I was now doing and he said, politely, that that was my choice. He understood my doubtfulness regarding paying a fee, but counteracted that by saying that I would be relieved of the stress and hassle from the companies regarding reduced payments, negotiating, refusals etc, and rather than paying 11 small amounts each month by SO, DD or debit card, (with an added risk of charges by my bank for missed payments) I could let him take the brunt of it, and only pay 1 payment, to 1 person.

This was the appealing part for me. not having to deal with the creditors

so, I agreed to use them again......

but now, after reading this and seeing that payplan.com can do this for me aswell, I would rather get thier help. if its as good as they say, and its free, then I would gladly make a donation to their company.

I just want no hassle, and to give 95% of my disposable income to 1 person and know that in 24 months time I will be debt free.

pistelman

befor doing anything i would post an soa.
you might be suprised how much you could cut back on with a bit of advise from some of these guys. possibly bringing things to a managable budget.

ChrisR36

Ok thanks for the replies. I think my mind is made up and I'll stick with Payplan. I'm sorry, I'm not sure what an SOA is? I'm very inexperienced with all of this stuff.

So, if I proceed with Payplan, they've told me that an IVA can take up to six weeks to set up. In the meantime, they've advised me to make a 'token' payment to all of my creditors, and to explain to them that an IVA is being set up on my behalf.

So here is my current situation. I have an account with Barclays in which the overdraft is max'ed out to £1250. There is an additional £500 reserve on that, which I get charged £22 per month if I use it. I have £500 cash in my wallet, and an appointment with Nat West on Thursday to open up a 'Select' account, as originally advised by Harrington Brooks.

I emailed Payplan this morning and asked them what I should do about my direct debits for the coming month. Do I cancel them all now and pay them manually for this month? I see the last poster mentioned cancelling everything with my bank, but I just wanted to absolutely confirm this before I jump in and do it.

I'm very grateful for all of this advice. I am a bit worried about dealing with Harrington Brooks tomorrow - my problem is I can't say no, but I know I have to.

mummybearx

ChrisR36 wrote: »

but it's ME that has to do the work i.e., calling the creditors, negotiating the reduced payments etc., I cannot do this. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person who will shy away and agree to everything, just to get rid of them. If anyone can confirm that Payplan do all of the phone calling for me, then I think my mind is made up.

Taking control of your debt is needed here. This is your debt and you need to sort it out! Post a SOA and see what people on here say. There could be things to help you save money, giving you more money to pay off the debt quicker.

Why do you need reduced monthly payments? Have you got more gong out than coming in? Do you work? Can you get overtime? If you don't work, are you claiming e correct benefits?

Lots of ways to help, just need a bit more info

And you might not need to phone creditors, you might be able to do it via letter, someone who has used cccs might be able to help more than me x

mummybearx

fatbelly has posted above with a link to the statement of affairs

ChrisR36

Sorry about the format, it was the only one that would work. The other two prompted an error message that said as a new user, I couldn't post anything with links in order to stop spammers from using the forum.


[tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1040
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1040

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 380
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 32
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 38
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 810


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Post Office Credit Ca..........1700......41........24
Argos Store Card...............2009......58........29.9
Barclays Loan..................3490......115.......0
Barclays Overdraft.............1250......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........8449......214.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,040
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 810
Available for debt repayments........... 230
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 214
Amount left after debt repayments....... 16

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,449
Net Assets.............................. -7,849

[/tt]

fatbelly

Your rent includes council tax, electricity, gas, water and tv licence?

Time_to_face_the_music

HeadInTheSand wrote: »

I am glad I stumbled across this.

I too am in the same situation. My debts finally got on top of me last month, and the constant phone calls, texts, emails were really starting to get me down.

I decided to look at debt consolidation. get 1 loan to cover all, and pay 1 monthly payment. Then decided that just makes it worse, and came across DMPlans.

First site I arrived at was moneyexpert.com. Spoke to a really nice guy there, who gave me the options, DMP, IVA, bankrupt, etc and after about 30 minutes, we decided a DMP was best, as my disposable income was £100 a month and my total debts we approx £4400.

He told me about his fees, which were 1st months payment goes to them, and then they add takes their fees from the savings / reduced debts they managed to obtain. so if they get my total debt down to about 70%, I would pay 75% of my total debt.

He sent me forms to fill and sign and said a rep would call to collect them from my house. The rep never arrived. (thank god)

Due to this fantastic start , I decided to look around as I still needed the help.

I found payplan.com, and whilst they were extremely helpful, she gave me a debt pack via email which gave me template letters and good advice to sorting it out myself. (I asked how they generate income/revenue to offer a free service and they said from donations and creditors paying them a discretionairy fee)
I spent some hours sorting out my creditor references, my financial statment and some letters and was going to send them recorded delivery today.

But guess who phoned me? moneyexpert.com

I explained what I was now doing and he said, politely, that that was my choice. He understood my doubtfulness regarding paying a fee, but counteracted that by saying that I would be relieved of the stress and hassle from the companies regarding reduced payments, negotiating, refusals etc, and rather than paying 11 small amounts each month by SO, DD or debit card, (with an added risk of charges by my bank for missed payments) I could let him take the brunt of it, and only pay 1 payment, to 1 person.

This was the appealing part for me. not having to deal with the creditors

so, I agreed to use them again......

but now, after reading this and seeing that payplan.com can do this for me aswell, I would rather get thier help. if its as good as they say, and its free, then I would gladly make a donation to their company.

I just want no hassle, and to give 95% of my disposable income to 1 person and know that in 24 months time I will be debt free.

You only make one payment to Payplan and they distribute the cash to your creditors. So it really is as easy as your fee charging DMP

Just one thing though, You don't need to make a donation to Payplan, it is part of a large commercial company and I don't think they are short of cash! Use your money to pay your debts and your debt free date will be here sooner :T

happychick15

please please dont pay for debt management...i was conned out of over a grand and was much worse off than when i started

ChrisR36

fatbelly wrote: »

Your rent includes council tax, electricity, gas, water and tv licence?

I live in a bedsit in a shared house, so all the utility bills and council tax, tv licence etc., are all inclusive.