Using PayPlan, dealing with Provident and others...

missusM

Hi,

After some debate in my head I have decided to use payplan rather than pay a fee to a company to manage my DMP. I just wondered if anyone has used payplan, are they any good? The website was helpful and the man on the phone was also fine, I'm being sent paperwork to fill in.

I also wondered if anyone has any experience of having a doorstep loan debt and managing it themselves with support from organisations like PayPlan?

Any comments gratefully received.

cmc_entertainment

yes, and they have been great.

Depth_Charge

missusM wrote: »

Hi,

After some debate in my head I have decided to use payplan rather than pay a fee to a company to manage my DMP. I just wondered if anyone has used payplan, are they any good? The website was helpful and the man on the phone was also fine, I'm being sent paperwork to fill in.

I also wondered if anyone has any experience of having a doorstep loan debt and managing it themselves with support from organisations like PayPlan?

Any comments gratefully received.

Hi

Payplan are not a charity but they do provide FREE Debt Management Plans with NO up front fees etc and all the money you pay into a DMP with them comes off your debts.

Im not absolutely sure however, but they may have entry criteria to get through if you want them to actually manage the plan for you, for example a minimum number of creditors, amounts of debt and disposable income.

I did speak with them recently but cannot quite remember any of the figures for the above (if this is the case), might have been £50 per month disposable income but I cannot be sure so best speak with them about these.

There are other free providers such as Stepchange but again Im not sure of any entry criteria such as minimum disposable income etc

You could try managing your own plan but this method is not for everybody however people sometimes have little option other than to do so. There are a number of self help systems and template letters around including from the CAB & National Debtline (links below)

https://www.mymoneysteps.org/

http://mymoney.nedcab.org.uk/moneyadvice/dmp.asp

Doorstep lenders such as Provident are usually front loaded interest loans so further interest & charges etc should not really be added if you enter a Debt Management Plan with them.

Usually when you write to Provident their head office take over and that should signal the doorstep collector to stop calling (hopefully)

DMPs are informal arrangements however, so not everything always runs smoothly so to speak.

Going with a genuine FREE agency / debt management plan provider against a fee charger has to be a no brainer in my opinion but as always your decisions at the end of the day.

Just a guide from me (see below) based on what you have put and are asking.

To be sure about any debt solution and potential implications of, you should always get full advice based on your full circumstances from a recognised agency such as CAB, National Debtline & Stepchange along with others

Best wishes

missusM

I really appreciate your input thank you. I am just about to check out those links you provided. I am planning on speaking to Provident et al on Monday. Of course I will also put what I'm saying to them on the phone in writing.

I agree on using PayPlan and the like - the fee is ridiculous for private companies and it takes them two months of my money to even begin working on my case. I would sooner rather start addressing my debts and giving my creditors what they are owed (even if they are the likes of Provident _pale_ I have well and truly learnt my lesson, sub-prime lending is not the way to go, however at the time there was no one else willing to lend to me. I know my credit rating will now be shot to pieces, but it's a price I have to pay and I am going to be diligent in working (once DMP is finished) to getting it back to good health.

FYI, I am looking to pay at least £100-150 each month for my repayments, so hopefully that meets the criteria with PayPlan.

Many thanks again, support and advice always appreciated

Petlamb

Well done on choosing a free organisation A good move!

Personally, I'm working with Step Change, partly because our debts originally looked like they'd be sub-£5k and the telephone adviser from payplan said they wouldn't take that on. (As it turns out, they're actually well over that figure, but he really put me off due to other stuff on the call... As a whole though, I've heard good things generally).

Good luck with moving forwards x

mrgrs

I entered an IVA using payplan a couple of years ago and until yesterday everything was fine with it. I was paying my monthly installments (£145) and had no reason to expect what happened next.
I had received a couple of letters from a collection agency working on behalf of one of my creditors which should probably have highlighted to me that something was wrong, but foolishly i put it down to error and ignored them.
Yesterday however i received a summons from county court demanding outstanding balance be paid in full. Remember i had a Payplan IVA!
A quick 45min phone call to Payplan revealed that my arrangement had been cancelled in March 2012 as i hadn't given them information they had requested. However they had never sent me any correspondence or called me to inform me of this rather important fact!
They have however continued to accept my payments for the last 10 months and apparently it was my responsibility to cancel the standing order.
Question 1: Why would i cancel a standing order for something i believed i still needed to pay?
Answer: I wouldn't!!!!
Question 2: If you hadn't been told that your IVA had failed and they were still accepting your payments, would you think something was wrong?
Answer: No of course you wouldn't.

Please use my situation to consider Payplan's effectiveness at dealing with other peoples debt issues and their competence (shouldn't important letters be sent by recorded delivery?)

Payplan are carrying out an investigation to discover what went wrong and whether they can repay my 'overpayments' but i've been assured that there is no chance of restarting my IVA. Looks like i can expect several more letters from creditors soon!!!

missusM

mrgrs,

What a horrendous situation I can't believe how incompetent they are. I'm so sorry you've ended up in this situation. Can you do the IVA with anyone else (sorry not my area of expertise, so excuse my naivety.) I hope they really look at your case and see where they went wrong. I know that's no good to you now, but debt is such a serious thing, making such a huge error in not communicating with clients can leave people like you and I in a very precarious position. I hope the judge will look at this and be understanding of your situation.

Thank you for sharing your comments and this is something that is definitely in my thoughts re: starting a DMP with them. Let us know how you get on?

All the very best.

antonic

I Have been with Payplan for 86 months, 4 to go, with no problems.

They get a thumbs up from me.

Depth_Charge

mrgrs wrote: »

I entered an IVA using payplan a couple of years ago and until yesterday everything was fine with it. I was paying my monthly installments (£145) and had no reason to expect what happened next.
I had received a couple of letters from a collection agency working on behalf of one of my creditors which should probably have highlighted to me that something was wrong, but foolishly i put it down to error and ignored them.
Yesterday however i received a summons from county court demanding outstanding balance be paid in full. Remember i had a Payplan IVA!
A quick 45min phone call to Payplan revealed that my arrangement had been cancelled in March 2012 as i hadn't given them information they had requested. However they had never sent me any correspondence or called me to inform me of this rather important fact!
They have however continued to accept my payments for the last 10 months and apparently it was my responsibility to cancel the standing order.
Question 1: Why would i cancel a standing order for something i believed i still needed to pay?
Answer: I wouldn't!!!!
Question 2: If you hadn't been told that your IVA had failed and they were still accepting your payments, would you think something was wrong?
Answer: No of course you wouldn't.

Please use my situation to consider Payplan's effectiveness at dealing with other peoples debt issues and their competence (shouldn't important letters be sent by recorded delivery?)

Payplan are carrying out an investigation to discover what went wrong and whether they can repay my 'overpayments' but i've been assured that there is no chance of restarting my IVA. Looks like i can expect several more letters from creditors soon!!!

Hi

I hope you dont mind me asking but are you talking about an IVA or a Debt Management Plan as quite a few things dont seem right?

ald65

We have been with Payplan for over 5 years and have about 4 months to go!
They have been fantastic with our DMP

Good Luck whatever you decide to do

antonic

Payplan like to do everything electronically.

They set up an online account for you to log into and for you to see how your account is running.

I scan any letters I get from my creditors and email it to them, they also email me to tell me when they have sent me something.

I check my account every month, after I have made a payment to verify my creditor balances - do you do this on a regular basis also ?.

mrgrs wrote: »

I entered an IVA using payplan a couple of years ago and until yesterday everything was fine with it. I was paying my monthly installments (£145) and had no reason to expect what happened next.
I had received a couple of letters from a collection agency working on behalf of one of my creditors which should probably have highlighted to me that something was wrong, but foolishly i put it down to error and ignored them.
Yesterday however i received a summons from county court demanding outstanding balance be paid in full. Remember i had a Payplan IVA!
A quick 45min phone call to Payplan revealed that my arrangement had been cancelled in March 2012 as i hadn't given them information they had requested. However they had never sent me any correspondence or called me to inform me of this rather important fact!
They have however continued to accept my payments for the last 10 months and apparently it was my responsibility to cancel the standing order.
Question 1: Why would i cancel a standing order for something i believed i still needed to pay?
Answer: I wouldn't!!!!
Question 2: If you hadn't been told that your IVA had failed and they were still accepting your payments, would you think something was wrong?
Answer: No of course you wouldn't.

Please use my situation to consider Payplan's effectiveness at dealing with other peoples debt issues and their competence (shouldn't important letters be sent by recorded delivery?)

Payplan are carrying out an investigation to discover what went wrong and whether they can repay my 'overpayments' but i've been assured that there is no chance of restarting my IVA. Looks like i can expect several more letters from creditors soon!!!