DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

chiefsfanuk

bertman wrote: »

Just reading all the press articles about feeding a family for £80 a week, I think a lot of us on here would love to have that amount each week.....

We manage on £50 a week by planning meals and not throwing anything away. The lovely Daily Mail is suggesting £6.50 is a good price for a chicken - from Harrods maybe!!

Sorry rant over....

I thought this earlier when I saw a news clip of Ed Miliband being grilled for thinking a weekly family grocery spend would be £70-£80... I thought "Hmmm he's not too out of touch then" (I used to spend about that but have now reduced our family of five spend to under £60 p/w. Then they started scolding him saying actually its over £100 pw!!

The only time I spend over £100 in a week is at Xmas!

Powered_By_Pies

***CONTACT FROM NATWEST*** (spits)

Came home to find some letters from them, two on the accounts I know about and two random accounts that show £0 and I think were old savings accounts I never used.

"We have failed to contact you or reach a suitable repayment plan..." - really? I've heard nothing from your office in the delightful Brindley place since I went onto the DMP. This is the first time you've actually written to me since then. (The one I got for the credit card was a different office).

"As such, we have passes your debt to Allied Credit..."

Ok, question time. NatWest did this to me before and I eventually got them to take the debt back from Allied as I complained to the Ombudsman because AGAIN, just like now, they never bothered to write to me asking about the accounts, they just passed them over. So it looks like they've done the same thing.

Has anyone any experience with Allied? Am I in for a rough time or would they actually be better to deal with than NatWest themselves? It looks like they've ignored any contact they might have had from my DMP provider so I'll contact them and see what they say, whether it's worth writing back or not.

Would it be worth logging a complaint with NatWest to say I never received any contact from them? I had one missed call yesterday and the I'd was unknown, these letters were dated the 17th though so I doubt it was them and I know I picked up all calls in the past month with the exception of one which wasn't anything to do with my debts anyway.

I might call my DMP provider tomorrow anyway and see what they say, and forward the letters to them as well.

See....I said all along NatWest were going to play funny beggars all over again..

*Foolish*

I'll have been on my DMP for one year next month, so far I have paid off over £10,000 and my outstanding balance is now below £40k. Feels great! I also got a cheque in the post today for £132 after completing a 'card protection policy' complaint, which I would never have thought about had they not contacted me, thought I'd get about £30 so this was well received! Feeling positive

Growurown

*Foolish* wrote: »

I'll have been on my DMP for one year next month, so far I have paid off over £10,000 and my outstanding balance is now below £40k. Feels great! I also got a cheque in the post today for £132 after completing a 'card protection policy' complaint, which I would never have thought about had they not contacted me, thought I'd get about £30 so this was well received! Feeling positive

Well done Foolish - nice to be one up on the creditors once in a while:D Is the money going into your emergency fund or have you got other plans for it?

Hopelessly_Hopeful

*Foolish* wrote: »

I'll have been on my DMP for one year next month, so far I have paid off over £10,000 and my outstanding balance is now below £40k. Feels great! I also got a cheque in the post today for £132 after completing a 'card protection policy' complaint, which I would never have thought about had they not contacted me, thought I'd get about £30 so this was well received! Feeling positive

Ooo lovely - two things to celebrate


HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

***CONTACT FROM NATWEST*** (spits)

Came home to find some letters from them, two on the accounts I know about and two random accounts that show £0 and I think were old savings accounts I never used.

"We have failed to contact you or reach a suitable repayment plan..." - really? I've heard nothing from your office in the delightful Brindley place since I went onto the DMP. This is the first time you've actually written to me since then. (The one I got for the credit card was a different office).

"As such, we have passes your debt to Allied Credit..."

Ok, question time. NatWest did this to me before and I eventually got them to take the debt back from Allied as I complained to the Ombudsman because AGAIN, just like now, they never bothered to write to me asking about the accounts, they just passed them over. So it looks like they've done the same thing.

Has anyone any experience with Allied? Am I in for a rough time or would they actually be better to deal with than NatWest themselves? It looks like they've ignored any contact they might have had from my DMP provider so I'll contact them and see what they say, whether it's worth writing back or not.

Would it be worth logging a complaint with NatWest to say I never received any contact from them? I had one missed call yesterday and the I'd was unknown, these letters were dated the 17th though so I doubt it was them and I know I picked up all calls in the past month with the exception of one which wasn't anything to do with my debts anyway.

I might call my DMP provider tomorrow anyway and see what they say, and forward the letters to them as well.

See....I said all along NatWest were going to play funny beggars all over again..

Sorry no experience with them. Go get them. Good luck


HHx

chiefsfanuk

Thought I'd share my little DFW proud moment of money saving this morning, especially as it might be something others can benefit from by doing the same...

Had my ASDA groceries online order delivered this morning and once again all of the fresh meat (pack of beef mince, pack of chicken breasts and a pork shoulder joint) had a use by date of tomorrow. :mad: Particularly annoying with the pork as it was meant for a Sunday roast. Also I had ordered a 1.5kg bag of McCain chips for £2 and had a 900g bag delivered at the cost of £1.75!

Soooo I got on the phone, had a moan and they have refunded £12 of my £60 shop:j

Meat in the freezer, money in the bank! That pork is gonna taste all the better for being free :rotfl:

It pays to complain sometimes

Powered_By_Pies

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Sorry no experience with them. Go get them. Good luck


HHx

Just got off the phone to DMP guys - Allied, as I thought, are basically a NatWest 'own-brand' DCA who are going to rill the three accounts I have into one so it makes it easier to deal with the repayments going to one account on their system rather than all three. NatWest have apparently already responded to my DMP and supplied the account balances and are awaiting the offers to come through.

Spoke to them about my other debts as well, all others have responded and seem willing to hear the offer with interest frozen for now, except for quickquid who apparently are slow to respond but only because they do batches if these DMP cases in bulk. So for the moment, I can stand down and carry in with my life!

*Foolish*

Growurown wrote: »

Well done Foolish - nice to be one up on the creditors once in a while:D Is the money going into your emergency fund or have you got other plans for it?

£100 into emergency fund and the rest I'll use for a little treat!

sunnyskies2

Hi

Well done chiefsfanuk, yes free so much tastier:)

PbP, glad you're sorted for the moment:) I'm in process of setting up DMP, i havn't informed Lloyds our main creditor just yet (x 5 debts) :eek: that looks bad! - but would rather they are not amalgamated as different end dates which I was hoping we could make f&f on some sooner than DFD. Did you have a choice with Allied/Nat west to amalgamated debts?

Enjoy your treat foolish

Sarah