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StepChange_James

Debtfree_angel wrote: »

I have been told that StepChange do not have a good track record in getting pay day loan lenders to agree to DMPs or to freeze interest. In general is this true - I know every lender and every case is different but in general is StepChange able to have pay day lenders freeze interest etc?

I don't want to get to the point of putting a DMP in place and then be told that no one is freezing the interest.

Hi there,

I think you might have anticipated my answer, as it's true that every situation is different when it comes to DMPs.

However, there's no reason why a payday loan company would treat a StepChange payment offer any different to any other organisation.

It's possible that a creditor might refuse to freeze interest on a debt being paid through a DMP but when this happens we keep sending payments anyway and usually the debt will be passed to a debt collector fairly soon (and they tend to be more willing to listen to payment offers).

I hope this helps.

James

p.s. If you check out the DMP Survival Thread in the Debt Free Wannabe forum you'll be able to read about how many of our clients are getting on with their DMPs.

Dandi1

At the end of my tether here.

I'm virtually debt free, in that I've actually paid all the money I owed to various companies and also have receipts to back this up. I finally owed money to two companies (Welcome Finance and Lowell Financial) and the debts were collected on their behalf by two other companies (Philips/Collectica and The Lewis Group/Icanpayu). The debts have been repaid in full and I have receipts to prove this. However, the communications between the companies have been lacking and neither Welcome or Lowell have been informed by their collecting companies that I have actually paid. I've tried sorting this out myself by forwarding the receipts to Welcome and Lowell but still, frustratingly, my accounts remain open. I've even offered to pay Lowell directly the small sum that remains of the debt on their system, but they refused as they believed me when I made the call that I'd actually paid Philips. It's such a frustration to me as I've worked so hard through these debts and hope to begin mortgage applications soon, so I need my credit file to be as healthy and accurate as possible. I've asked both The Lewis Group and Philips to just pick up the phone and speak to Lowell and Welcome but they tell me all they can do is send me a receipt again.

What can I do? Is there a body or organisation I can complain to that can command more respect than these companies are affording me at the minute?

StepChange_James

Dandi1 wrote: »

At the end of my tether here.

I'm virtually debt free, in that I've actually paid all the money I owed to various companies and also have receipts to back this up. I finally owed money to two companies (Welcome Finance and Lowell Financial) and the debts were collected on their behalf by two other companies (Philips/Collectica and The Lewis Group/Icanpayu). The debts have been repaid in full and I have receipts to prove this. However, the communications between the companies have been lacking and neither Welcome or Lowell have been informed by their collecting companies that I have actually paid. I've tried sorting this out myself by forwarding the receipts to Welcome and Lowell but still, frustratingly, my accounts remain open. I've even offered to pay Lowell directly the small sum that remains of the debt on their system, but they refused as they believed me when I made the call that I'd actually paid Philips. It's such a frustration to me as I've worked so hard through these debts and hope to begin mortgage applications soon, so I need my credit file to be as healthy and accurate as possible. I've asked both The Lewis Group and Philips to just pick up the phone and speak to Lowell and Welcome but they tell me all they can do is send me a receipt again.

What can I do? Is there a body or organisation I can complain to that can command more respect than these companies are affording me at the minute?

Hi Dandi1,

This sounds like an incredibly frustrating situation to be in. There is a process you can follow though.

These companies are all governed by the Financial Ombudsman Service. This means that if you make a complaint directly to a company you're in dispute with they have to respond within eight weeks.

If they don't respond to a complaint, or you're unhappy with how they respond to a complaint, then you can then ask the Financial Ombudsman to investigate. They are impartial and finance companies have to abide by their decisions. Here's a link to their complaint process: http://www.stepchange.org/paydayloans.aspx.

So if you've already been through the complaints process of these companies you can ask the Ombudsman to investigate now. If you've not made a complaint to any of these companies yet then I'd suggest writing a short letter, making it clear you are registering a complaint.

With there being a few companies involved it may be worth complaining to all of the ones you are unhappy with, so avoid them passing the buck between them.

I hope this helps.

James

erskinetech

hi I have recently been in a spot of bother with LLoyds TSB i have two products with them a bank account and a credit card I owe £650 on the overdraft and 1,500 on the credit card. im currently working but about 3 months ago i was let got from my last job and spent 3 months looking for work in that time i fell behind on everything my mobile, virgin media ect ect ect and from that well you can guess my credit rating so i was looking to see if anyone could offer a bit of advice as my plan for taking out a loan to lock the debt in set repayments and set interest is now a pipe dream thanks very much in advance for any help or advice you can give

Marcusface

Hello, I'm struggling in mortgage debt at the moment and not quite sure what to do!

I moved to Birmingham for work in 2011, and had to leave my house in Gateshead. The house has a mortgage of £100k left on it, but is now only valued at £80-85k due to the market collapsing up north. My Family and I are in rented in Birmingham, which is fine, but I am having to pay a mortgage and a rent at the same time.

The house has been on the market for sale for over two years, and in that time I have had no offers at all. I have managed to get the property tenanted, but that came to an end when they discovered some damp in the hallway and refused to renew the agreement. I cannot afford to fix the damp, as it is a problem with the outside wall itself, and as it is built of stone I cannot cavity fill it. There are other issues with the property that makes it very expensive to fix, hence another reason why the selling price is so low. To rub salt into this wound, the rental market would only cover £450 per month of the £650 mortgage, so I was still having to pay £200 a month.

I have tried speaking with the Halifax, as the mortgage provider, to help me and they just do not want to know. When we were living in the property, I was able to overpay the mortgage, so managed to build up a little buffer. This is now being eroded as I am having to effectively underpay due to the tight finances. They say that they will not help me until I am in arrears! I have pushed this point with them a few times and they are very forceful that they will not help - they will not consider an interest only for a few months so that I can get a sale pushed through. Any ideas where I can go from here? Rental is not really an option anymore, and although I hate the idea of selling a property at a huge loss, I would rather do this and have to pay it back for the next four/five years, than have an empty property hanging around my neck.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

System

erskinetech wrote: »

hi I have recently been in a spot of bother with LLoyds TSB i have two products with them a bank account and a credit card I owe £650 on the overdraft and 1,500 on the credit card. im currently working but about 3 months ago i was let got from my last job and spent 3 months looking for work in that time i fell behind on everything my mobile, virgin media ect ect ect and from that well you can guess my credit rating so i was looking to see if anyone could offer a bit of advice as my plan for taking out a loan to lock the debt in set repayments and set interest is now a pipe dream thanks very much in advance for any help or advice you can give

Hi there,

Sorry to hear you've had some problems after being out of work.

The thing with taking out a loan to pay off the debts you have is that because your credit rating has been affected you are likely to be offered a loan with a high interest rate. You may have to pay back much more than you owe now, possibly in installments that you’ll struggle with.

The best way to deal with the debts you have (mobile, Virgin etc) is to speak to them, explain the reason you fell behind is that you were temporarily out of work and offer to make repayments based on what you can afford. We can help you to deal with your debt problem as a whole.

In your debts there are priorities (rent, household bills, phone …) and non-priorities (overdraft, credit card). You go through a budget and get practical advice on the best way to clear your debts with practical solutions. To get that advice use Debt Remedy – our free online tool. It will give confidential online help and next steps advice.

If you have debts with Lloyds it is a good idea to think about setting up a basic bank account at another bank. Any bank can with draw money from your account if you are in debt with them.

And lastly, even though your credit rating would have been affected it can be repaired. MSE have a brilliant article on repairing your credit file that gives some great practical tips here.

So use Debt Remedy and contact us if you need more advice.

Thanks,
Jess

StepChange_James

Marcusface wrote: »

Hello, I'm struggling in mortgage debt at the moment and not quite sure what to do!

I moved to Birmingham for work in 2011, and had to leave my house in Gateshead. The house has a mortgage of £100k left on it, but is now only valued at £80-85k due to the market collapsing up north. My Family and I are in rented in Birmingham, which is fine, but I am having to pay a mortgage and a rent at the same time.

The house has been on the market for sale for over two years, and in that time I have had no offers at all. I have managed to get the property tenanted, but that came to an end when they discovered some damp in the hallway and refused to renew the agreement. I cannot afford to fix the damp, as it is a problem with the outside wall itself, and as it is built of stone I cannot cavity fill it. There are other issues with the property that makes it very expensive to fix, hence another reason why the selling price is so low. To rub salt into this wound, the rental market would only cover £450 per month of the £650 mortgage, so I was still having to pay £200 a month.

I have tried speaking with the Halifax, as the mortgage provider, to help me and they just do not want to know. When we were living in the property, I was able to overpay the mortgage, so managed to build up a little buffer. This is now being eroded as I am having to effectively underpay due to the tight finances. They say that they will not help me until I am in arrears! I have pushed this point with them a few times and they are very forceful that they will not help - they will not consider an interest only for a few months so that I can get a sale pushed through. Any ideas where I can go from here? Rental is not really an option anymore, and although I hate the idea of selling a property at a huge loss, I would rather do this and have to pay it back for the next four/five years, than have an empty property hanging around my neck.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Hi Marcus,

It's quite hard to give firm advice about secured debts, because they've got a good bit more power to enforce their debts than something like a credit card.

It sounds like you're doing the right things already, like keeping them up to date, paying what you can and trying to sell the property.

There may be some value in asking them what help would be available if you were in arrears (as it sounds like this is the direction things are going unless somebody buys the house fairly soon).

Lenders vary on the kind of help available, some have schemes to help you with sales and others will agree to accept interest only or reduced amounts. If nothing else, some will at least agree to hold off taking any action for a set amount of time to give you chance to find a seller.

In my experience, it tends to be that mortgage companies are more willing to help if they know you're trying to sell the property, so it's worth keeping them updated of any developments on that side of things.

Some mortgage lenders like to see income and expenditure budgets in these situations. If Halifax would like to see something like this then we can help you put it together (our contact details are in my signature).

All the best.

James

sharpeyes66

It appears that when SC arranged my various payments, they agreed a sum to pay my £9k balance with Halifax which was some way above the minimum that I had been paying prior to any interest(I was on a 0% bal tfr deal) However once the first payment was missed, or late as SC payment was nearly 2 months after my last scheduled payment in, interest kicked in and Hx accepted our payments. Unfortunately now, Hx say that they have tfd the account back from collections to their standard card services dept and that the minimum payment is now only £5 plus any accrued interest. This means that the SC payment is more than the minimum payment on my statement and as such they feel I am not in financial difficulty so will keep charging std interest at 18.95%

I have written to them to ask them to reconsider and then spent 90 minutes on the phone today pursuing a complaint but with no resolution. They tell me there is nothing I can do, I'm just paying too much!! I have passed it to the Financial Ombudsman Scheme so will wait to see what they decide.

As this means only about £15 of my £148 payment is actually going to reduce the debt, if FOS don't find in my favour, could I remove the Halifax debt from my SC agreement and deal with that one on my own, reducing the payment below the minimum and triggering the option for them to look at reducing the interest as they say they would almost certainly do?

Puzzcat

Hi, I am currently considering a dmp and have a question about banks and the offset rule with regards to my partners bank account. We currently both have sole accounts and a joint account with the same bank who are one of my creditors.
I am planning on opening a new sole and joint account with a non related bank.
My plan was to pay off the overdraft on the joint account and then close it. My sole account will become part of my dmp (od). If my partner keeps his sole account with this bank could his account be affected by the offset rule?
I would appreciate any help!

impulsive1

Hi,

I have requested my credit file and found that alot of my credit has defaulted approx 2/3 years ago. I have been considering whether or not to declare myself bankrupt but someone said that these would go after 6 years if they haven't chased me for the debt. I am hoping to go self employed in the future and would rather avoid going bankrupt. I have other credit that is being chased and I can arrange reduced settlements and try to pay them off. I just want to get it all sorted and tidied up as I am in a fairly new relationship and want to be able to settle down with someone new without the hassle of finances creating an argument or preventing us from buying houses etc.
Any advice would be grateful at this stage.
Thank you