Claiming in a DMP/IVA (merged)

zombie

Hi,


I am in a debt management programme and the company won't give me advice (presumably it's a conflict of interest as they get fees from my creditors) as I have various credit card debts and 2 Natwest overdrafts which I am slowly paying off.

All my creditors except Natwest have frozen interest and they all agreed to a small repayment each month which I have adhered to. It's going to take me years to finish paying them all off.

I can't get an IVA as I am 66 and I don't want to go down the Bankruptcy route.

My dilema is, if I am successful in reclaiming bank charges especially from Natwest which I have calculated to be over £5000 inc interest, could they
turn round and revoke the repayment programme with my debt management company and make me pay the full balance outstanding? Also could the credit card companies do the same? That's my dilema.

Natwest can't close the account as I no longer Bank with them. If I win the Bank charges they would just reduce the overall debt by that amount, which is fine. However, they could also enforce me to repay the balance of the outstanding debt which would then force me into the big B.

I would appreciate your feedback if anyone has any experience with my problem.


Thanks, thanks thanks.


Zombie

stansky

My wife and I recently entered into a repayment plan arranged on our behalf by Payplan. Principaly it is with the Abbey for our overdraft and credit card and with the Halifax for another credit card. I have used a template from this website and I am about to send the "Letter before action" but I would like some advice first.
I am worried that by taking this action it will jeopordise the arrangement set up by Payplan (which the banks have agreed to) and that the banks could get nasty, calling in the monies owed.
Are there any other MSE members that have been in a similar position or is Martin able to advise.

kind regards

Stansky

Edinburghlass_2

Please have a read through of previous posts and what CCCS said to Martin quoted below.

MSE_Martin wrote: »

The following is the view of the top lot at the CCCS

Martin

"The answer is not very clear I'm afraid because there are too many variables.

Not all lenders freeze interest, so there may be no impact. For those that do, it may affect their decision whether to continue the freeze, particularly if they have had to fork out a lot in charge refunds.

I'm not aware that any have very specific policies regarding how they will treat DMP clients who request refunds. I'm certainly not aware of any clients who have suffered as a result of reclaiming their charges.

If a bank overdraft is comprised almost entirely of charges that were then refunded, that would essentially wipe one of the debts out altogether and remove it from the plan.We would expect the client to use the money towards clearance of the debts, unfortunately, as we are not actively involved in the process (i.e. we don't do it for them) we don't know to what extent they are successful and how much they get - we're reliant on their honesty!)"

japanesegirl

One of the reason we now have a DMP is the charges we have incurred over the last 5 years. One of these is to HSBC and they have now passed our debt of £1600 (which is nearly all charges) to a debt company, which appeares to be also owned by HSBC.

Even though the debt has been passed on can we still make the claim????

If we won we would use it to pay the debt.

All so confusing.

HELP?????

Twinkly

japanesegirl wrote: »

One of the reason we now have a DMP is the charges we have incurred over the last 5 years. One of these is to HSBC and they have now passed our debt of £1600 (which is nearly all charges) to a debt company, which appeares to be also owned by HSBC.

Even though the debt has been passed on can we still make the claim????

If we won we would use it to pay the debt.

All so confusing.

HELP?????

Yes you can still claim the charges and they will probably be refunded automatically against the debt. Good luck

JJ76

Hello

just signed up looking for a little bit of advice.

Back in October 2005 my partner and I signed up for an IVA and had no clue that reclaiming bank charges was an option.

The charges certainly didn't make our life easy and it was a vicious circle of having to pay them and it zapping our wages.

So I was wondering if anyone had heard of people in our situation (with an IVA) who had managed to reclaim their bank charges?

TBH I'm not sure if we've signed our right away to ask for them back or not?

But then part of me thinks but they were still illegal charges so why shouldn't we try and get them back?

Anyway any help you could offer would be wonderful.

Thanks

JJ76

lonely_2

Did anyone have any advice on this? Surely I can't be the only person to reclaim charges and be on a DMP?

Ex-Spendaholic

lonely wrote: »

Did anyone have any advice on this? Surely I can't be the only person to reclaim charges and be on a DMP?

No you aren't the only one. I have a DMP with CCCS. Hellifax visa are a creditor in it. I also have 2 joint accounts with Hellifax (nothing to do with DMP). The fees I'm owed would clear the overdrafts once and for all and I would make sure Hellifax would never manage to get a fee from me again. I would be delighted to get the fees paid in to clear the OD.

My reason for dithering is that I'm scared they would close the joint accounts. I know everyone recommends parachute accounts etc but I would rather keep at least one of the joint Hellifax accounts and have no OD on it than go down this line.

I guess I need reassurance that claiming won't:

Cause a problem with the DMP
Won't result in the accounts being closed

I have already told that the mortgage with Hellifax is a separate agreement so have stopped worrying about that.

dlb

I have won over thousand pounds back from Natwest and i am on a dmp, and have been for over a year. And natwest just paid the money off my debt with them, no problem hasnt effected my dmp payments.Infact natwest seemed really ok with the fact my ballance had gone down.
I am know claiming charges back from my credit cards and store cards again all of who are part of my dmp.
Go for it.

graemedi

i'am under IVA but still make payments to my bank. I have two years left on my iva i think my accounts could be clossed even though i get a statement every month showing payment from the iva. Can i still make a claim for charges on my accounts