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hopesprings2015

Hello,

I have been on a DMP with StepChange (who have been brilliant) for the last two years which has run extremely well.

I am training to be an IFA with my current employer and need to pass the FCA's fit and proper check for financial soundness. The guidelines state they are mainly concerned about bankruptcies, IVA's and CCJ's but am very concerned about how they would judge a DMP.

I was wondering if you have any experience of this or if you have clients who are IFA's who are on DMP's and if you do how it works as there is an annual check aswell.

I was not in any arrears when I entered the DMP, have no CCJ's and have never missed or made a late payment since entering into the DMP. I entered the DMP as I was made redundant twice in a short space of time and my salary reduced by a third from what it was.

anthmack

Hello,

This is my first post, but wanted to take an opportunity first of all to thank the guys at Step Change! The work you do is amazing. The sleepless nights and endless harassing phone calls from loan companies (when my debts were getting out of control) have been replaced by a relatively stress free 7 months, and well on my way to becoming debt free. It would have not been possible without the advice and help offered by step-change, and I am forever in your gratitude.

What I did want to ask however, which I cannot seem to find an answer to online, is how the new FCA ruling on payday loans i.e. Caps on interest and default charges will affect existing payday loan debt? I have a debt management plan with you guys, and several of the payday loan debts I have as part of my DMP are quadruple of what was initially lent. The Mini-credit loan for example, after telling them I had entered in to a debt management plan, immediately quadrupled the debt and passed it on to a debt collection agency.

I know everything is up in the air at the moment, but will the new FCA ruling play an impact on existing payday loan debt?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

StepChange_Jen

hopesprings2015 wrote: »

Hello,

I have been on a DMP with StepChange (who have been brilliant) for the last two years which has run extremely well.

I am training to be an IFA with my current employer and need to pass the FCA's fit and proper check for financial soundness. The guidelines state they are mainly concerned about bankruptcies, IVA's and CCJ's but am very concerned about how they would judge a DMP.

I was wondering if you have any experience of this or if you have clients who are IFA's who are on DMP's and if you do how it works as there is an annual check aswell.

I was not in any arrears when I entered the DMP, have no CCJ's and have never missed or made a late payment since entering into the DMP. I entered the DMP as I was made redundant twice in a short space of time and my salary reduced by a third from what it was.

Hello hopesprings2015,

Thanks for your question and kind feedback about us!

The best people to give you advice about this would be your employer, it might be worth discussing the situation with someone at work you can talk with in confidence.

You might already be familiar with it but this is what we’ve been able to find about the FCA fit and proper check:

http://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA/FIT/2/3

As you mentioned, the FCA seem to be mainly interested in bankruptcy and CCJs so it might be worth having a chat with your employer about your situation and what you’ve done to resolve it.

I hope this helps and wish you all the best.

Jen

StepChange_Jen

anthmack wrote: »

Hello,

This is my first post, but wanted to take an opportunity first of all to thank the guys at Step Change! The work you do is amazing. The sleepless nights and endless harassing phone calls from loan companies (when my debts were getting out of control) have been replaced by a relatively stress free 7 months, and well on my way to becoming debt free. It would have not been possible without the advice and help offered by step-change, and I am forever in your gratitude.

What I did want to ask however, which I cannot seem to find an answer to online, is how the new FCA ruling on payday loans i.e. Caps on interest and default charges will affect existing payday loan debt? I have a debt management plan with you guys, and several of the payday loan debts I have as part of my DMP are quadruple of what was initially lent. The Mini-credit loan for example, after telling them I had entered in to a debt management plan, immediately quadrupled the debt and passed it on to a debt collection agency.

I know everything is up in the air at the moment, but will the new FCA ruling play an impact on existing payday loan debt?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Anthmack,

Thank you for your lovely feedback, we’re always happy to help.

Currently the new rules on payday lending issued by the FCA will only affect new loans from January 2nd 2014.

Unfortunately it is unclear at the moment if the FCA will take any action to help lenders who have existing payday loans.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly when you took out your payday loan, it might be worth making a complaint. You can find out more on how do to this here:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-complain-about-a-payday-loan-company


I hope this helps,

Jen

gjohnc

Hi,

I have 2 main sources of debt. One is a Nationwide Select Credit Card owing £4417. This months statement suggests if a minimum payment of £98.79 is paid, the interest on that amount will be £58.98.

The other is a Nationwide Personal Loan owing £10,864.05 with 59 monthly payments remaining at an amount of £245.68. The APR on this is 12.9. Since the loan began 25 months ago I have paid off £2971.73 which equates to £118.87 out of the total monthly amount of £245.68, so only around 46% of what I'm paying in each monthly payment is going towards the value of the outstanding debt.

Although I'm fully aware that I could be in far worst situations, I am feeling the pressure of these amounts and wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions on what options are available to bring them down to more manageable figures, whilst at the same time reducing the debt.

Thanks

Pr0gress

Hi. I'll try to cover everything about my situation as best I can and aim for brevity but completeness of info. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have credit card and unsecured loan debts totalling approximately £21,000. Recent changes with my employment have taken me from permanent jobs to a temp job which was supposed to go permanent but due to restructuring I am being offered a six month contract with no extra money with a view but not a guarantee to going permanent. I am actively looking for a permanent and better paid job.

I have a very lean budget already. No holidays, rarely a night out, no expensive hobbies, no magazine subscriptions, etc. A lot of my debt comes from my wife having been off sick with a brain tumour; she has gone bankrupt and I have kept us afloat. She's now back at work. Throughout all this, and long before, I have always paid my credit cards and loans on time and a lot of my debt is moved around the four credit cards I have to keep the majority on 0% balance transfers. Recently though I have been using my overdraft more and more. My credit score is probably pretty good, but I am for the first time having to cut all my repayments to the minima as if I make a big payment to one I end up a month or two later having to use my credit card for something.

On the plus side I don't own my own home or a car (and not likely to either!). No big purchases in the foreseeable future are needed (unless washing machine breaks or something similar).

My question (at last!) is I'm really not sure what I should do - carry on as I have been, carefully, or do a DMP. I am not making any progress on repaying my debt; my own spreadsheets show my debt has been roughly the same amount for over a year and has increased by three or four grand from the year before that. I'm now down to repaying only my minimum and there is no money left for anything after the bills are paid (possibly even a small amount of extra debt each month, depending on the month).
I used StepChange which recommended a debt management plan rather than an IVA or bankruptcy and said if I did the DMP I'd be debt free in three years, but this I know would mess up my credit scoring and the monthly repayments actually came to one pound less than what I'm paying whilst sticking to the contractual minima. It would, however, give me a debt free date.
IVA seems like a good way to for the solicitors to make several grand off me but save me very little money each month and I believe in repaying it all, if only I could.

Lastly, I will have £216 a month more from March 2016, when a big long loan I took out is finally repaid. It can't come quick enough

Sorry if this post is a bit garbled but I am trying to make a difficult situation, and my questions, clear!

fatbelly

gjohnc wrote: »

Hi,

I have 2 main sources of debt. One is a Nationwide Select Credit Card owing £4417. This months statement suggests if a minimum payment of £98.79 is paid, the interest on that amount will be £58.98.

The other is a Nationwide Personal Loan owing £10,864.05 with 59 monthly payments remaining at an amount of £245.68. The APR on this is 12.9. Since the loan began 25 months ago I have paid off £2971.73 which equates to £118.87 out of the total monthly amount of £245.68, so only around 46% of what I'm paying in each monthly payment is going towards the value of the outstanding debt.

Although I'm fully aware that I could be in far worst situations, I am feeling the pressure of these amounts and wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions on what options are available to bring them down to more manageable figures, whilst at the same time reducing the debt.

Thanks

If you can meet the payments on the loan, stick with that. On the card, you could benefit hugely from a 0% balance transfer deal. Use the pre-selection tools and have a look at this.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards?_ga=1.196167532.1929694834.1402041528

Your minimum payment appears to be 2.25% so if you choose a card to BT to with a 2% min payment or lower, you will pay less per month while making more inroads into the debt

Former_StepChange_Laura

gjohnc wrote: »

Hi,

I have 2 main sources of debt. One is a Nationwide Select Credit Card owing £4417. This months statement suggests if a minimum payment of £98.79 is paid, the interest on that amount will be £58.98.

The other is a Nationwide Personal Loan owing £10,864.05 with 59 monthly payments remaining at an amount of £245.68. The APR on this is 12.9. Since the loan began 25 months ago I have paid off £2971.73 which equates to £118.87 out of the total monthly amount of £245.68, so only around 46% of what I'm paying in each monthly payment is going towards the value of the outstanding debt.

Although I'm fully aware that I could be in far worst situations, I am feeling the pressure of these amounts and wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions on what options are available to bring them down to more manageable figures, whilst at the same time reducing the debt.

Thanks

Hi gjohnc,

Thanks for your message and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry to hear your situation is putting you under pressure, but you can be assured that free help is available.

From what you’ve said, it sounds like you could benefit from getting in touch with us. Our debt advice is free and independent, and we offer a range of debt solutions to help make paying back your debt more manageable.

I’d suggest you get in touch with us and we’ll be able to go through your financial situation in more depth, work out the best way for you to deal with your debts, and put a plan in place. You can do this at any time online using our Debt Remedy tool, or if you’d prefer to speak to someone in person you can call our helpline and speak to an advisor.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Laura

Day_dreamer_2

Hi

I am new to this site, I have recently set up a DMP with Stepchange first payment in September total debts £14,000 down to £12,000. What I want to know would Stepchange allow me to make a smaller payment this month, I have three kids and am really struggling this Christmas.

Thanks for any help.

P.S I currently pay £615 per month divided to all creditors, no ccj's

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Day_dreamer wrote: »

Hi

I am new to this site, I have recently set up a DMP with Stepchange first payment in September total debts £14,000 down to £12,000. What I want to know would Stepchange allow me to make a smaller payment this month, I have three kids and am really struggling this Christmas.

Thanks for any help.

P.S I currently pay £615 per month divided to all creditors, no ccj's

Hi there, thank you for getting in touch.

If you’re worried that you might not be able to manage all your living expenses this month, please get in touch with us and we’ll see if there’s something we can do to help. The phone number to call is in your DMP welcome pack.

Best regards

Rachel