DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

fermi

Anyone with any experience of Halifax and their charging of interest that can help here?

Halifax still applying interest.. (Posted to CAG, too)

Splather wrote: »

Hi guys

I am enquiring for a friend (no, really!).

They went to Stepchange (back when they were CCCS) about four years ago, multiple debts with different creditors.

It's just the Halifax I want to get some help with.

Stepchange managed to get Halifax to freeze the interest, but then they started putting it back on again a year later. Friend was a bit too frightened to deal with it, so asked Stepchange to step in.

Stepchange recommended friend contact Halifax themselves to plead their case for freezing the interest. Several letters were sent over the last 4 years, asking to freeze the interest, which has sent the debt spiralling out of control. No responses from Halifax.

The initial debt (from what we can work out from the Stepchange statements) was £6400. Friend has now paid Halifax £5600. With the interest, Halifax are claiming friend still owes £6100, in comparison to the £800 on the Stepchange statement.

This has my friend at their wits end, and prompted them to write a letter to the complaints department, outlining how this was out of control and affecting them both financially and in terms of their wellbeing.

Halifax wrote back(!), explaining that they only ever agreed to freeze the interest for 12 months (friend was not aware of this), and offered to refund the last 3 months interest and overdue penalties to "help".

My friend has an opportunity to try and borrow some money from family, but it won't be anywhere near what they're asking as there are others to pay, too.

Is there any mileage in asking the Halifax to remove the interest from the figure in order that my friend can offer F&F?

Any official way they can put it that carries weight?

Any advice you could offer would be really much appreciated. Many thanks!

cocoloco

cocoloco wrote: »

Well, what a waste of time!:o

I thought I have a meeting with Payplan BUT I had a meeting with a government debt advisor who works with Payplan!!! What a numpty!
Anyway once we gone through SOA and stuff he referred me to Payplan who hopefully will call me in a day. I'm so angry with myself. I could have done this all last week myself and would have a reference number by now.

Thank you all for your good luck wishes, looks like an other day to go before I can wrap this up.

PS-the advisor was really pushing for a IVA despite me keep saying I want an DMP!-!!!!!!?

After an other sleepless night I'm really two minded to should I wait for a call from Payplan- or just go ahead and contact Stepchange?!?
The whole business with the advisor and possibly Payplan will pressurise me to enter a IVA- I can't take much more stress at the moment. WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Find_The_Real

Hi Cocoloco

There is nothing to stop you getting advice from both so if you feel you are unsure about going with Payplan then all means give SC a ring and see what they have to say.

I think a lot of people have equally had success with both but you need to go with whom you feel is the best for you.

Both companies will probably advise what they feel is best but it is only advice, I was advised to go bankrupt but at the moment I do not feel ready for that so I am on a DMP with the knowledge I can reassess at anytime with SC when circumstances are likely to change.

Good luck and I hope it all works out for you soon.

cocoloco

Thank you FTR- I think I will call SC in my lunch break- I keep carrying all my document around with me ready for anything.

Can I start the DMP process and get a reference number with my initial first call - or they just take some details and phone me back?
If it is a later I phone them now and ask them to phone me back in my lunchbreak.
Thank you.

Julie67

Morning all,

Another day waiting for the post to come. I'm going to write to Barclaycard and thank them for suspending interest and suggest they speak to SC as I don't want them to add it back on because I haven't been in touch.
I also wrote to HSBC with the suggested template by HH, thanks for that. They are our biggest creditor and I suspect going to be the most difficult to deal with. I think I'm another one who is going to send token payments to everyone as it will be over 31 days until they receive the first SC payment on 25th March.
Just a quick question, do I need to update SC with everything I'm doing and the fact Barcalycard have frozen interest or do I just need to let them know about changes to budget?
Well off to do some more ebaying and update my spreadsheet:D

Find_The_Real

I found with SC it depends on whether they have any advisers available after the initial call, I rang in the New Year so I guess that was a busy time for them and it took a day later to ring me to go through the whole phone call.

However I do believe they are open until 8pm and Sat 9-4pm so you may wish to have a call when you have finished work to go through all the details as it can take a while to go through everything, I think mine was about an 45 minutes and that was with me having everything to hand.

neiljmuk

Bettingmad wrote: »

The path to enlightenment begins when you stop caring about remote data, held on systems, which are used as a stick to beat us by the sharks.

I laugh now when I get threatograms which state that I could end up with a default which may make getting credit harder in the future. Now I write back and plead with them to default me. They never seem to respond to my request, well hey ho.

This is the only thing that puts me off a DMP though. Hi everyone by the way lol! I'm not on the property ladder yet, and a DMP is the only way I'll get out of debt in the next 3 to 4 years and be able to save up a wedge for a deposit over time too but then my credit rating will be smashed to bits and is only bad now due to the amount of debt. However if I keep clinging on for dear life it will take decades to get debt free and a deposit....

My hand my be forced though if my Wife loses her job. I'm on £26k so with a wife and Baby it looks like we get nothing just because I earn about the average. From what I can tell, she would not even get job seekers allowance. It's stupid!

Mossop01

cocoloco wrote: »

Thank you FTR- I think I will call SC in my lunch break- I keep carrying all my document around with me ready for anything.

Can I start the DMP process and get a reference number with my initial first call - or they just take some details and phone me back?
If it is a later I phone them now and ask them to phone me back in my lunchbreak.
Thank you.

Hi, when i rang SC in my lunch hour, after inital questions and advising a DMP they put me straight through to advisor who then did budget plan and list of debts and creditors they immediately gave me a ref number to pass on to creditors and advised token payments from that point on. They didnt judge me or make me feel guilty (which i expected) and were actually very kind and helpful, i was a quivering wreck! After phone call they sent me all details discussed on phone with template letters and info needed to get set up.
I didnt try payplan but only because i had never heard of them, i presume they act in the same way.
Bite the bullet and do it.... No harm can come from a phone call u have nothing to lose
Good luck

Find_The_Real

Hi Neiljmuk and everyone else I may have missed, welcome to the board.

If you are thinking that you may struggle to survive then I can highly recommend speaking to one of the debt charities mentioned all over the board as they can advise you on everything and the best way forward. There is no obligation to follow any of their suggestions but sometimes getting options from someone who has experience is a good way going forward.

Also if you think there are ways people can help then do start a new thread and post a SOA to see if savings can be made, especially if there is a likelihood of a job loss, that can have a big impact. A lot of people give advice on needs and not wants so you have to take that into consideration though!

Good luck with it all and I hope the situation goes ok for you.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

cocoloco wrote: »

Thank you FTR- I think I will call SC in my lunch break- I keep carrying all my document around with me ready for anything.

Can I start the DMP process and get a reference number with my initial first call - or they just take some details and phone me back?
If it is a later I phone them now and ask them to phone me back in my lunchbreak.
Thank you.

The other thing you can do is apply online. Takes 20 mins. Reference straight away. it's bliss!

http://www.stepchange.org/debtremedy.aspx?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=200025&WT.seg_1=debt%20remedy&gclid=CLa01dbIwrUCFZDKtAodjzcADw

HHx