Debt making me very very depressed

Aphidgirl

Just been reading your thread! I started a DMP early in 2013 and had the same experience of scary phone calls and letters for a while.

These forums are great as you'll find so many other people in your situation (very wise people too!).

Glad to hear its going more smoothly now, its much calmer when you realise its all under control

kevinh12000

Just over a year and a half on ... Alls going well thank god. Some strange letters but debt is finally decreasing thanks again x

Pollygarter

Hi Kevin, just been reading your thread. Is it all coming together for you? Well done, feels good to get to grips with debts and not ignore them I'm finding.

kevinh12000

So sorry just logged into this after a hectic year. Yes all has gone ok. I has to reduce my payment this year due to unexpected increases in my spending. Not sure if it will be accepted but it's all I can afford so if they say no then that's their issue not mine.

I also made a number of complaints to the FOS and recouped roughly £600 from HBOS, funniest thing was they asked if I physically wanted the cash??? I said no thanks and take it off the balance???

Also Blair Oliver and Scott (in-house DCA for Halifax ) closed last year, they never contacted me To tell me and were piling interest on!! Seemingly my repayment rate did not constitute a reduced interest rate?? FOS are investigating this at the minute, I am not taking this sitting down.

The one thing I have learned in 3 years of this DMP is if you show any fear they literally feed on it!!

Thanks again for all the help and best of luck with your plans

Xxx

edrushuk

Kevin, you are so right they do feed on our fear. I started my DMP in 2008 and cleared it in 2013, by the end I loved speaking to the debt collectors cause I knew nothing they said and mostly do could harm me any longer. Nasty Letters - did not scare. Balliffs - did not scare me. Courts - did not scare me. When ever they called I was oh so polite and just said no to all their questions (except my name and address). I kind of miss it all now. I only get calls from Virgin media and PPI people!! LOL

kevinh12000

They honestly do feed on fear. For me, the best feeling was complaining to the financial ombudsman over Halifax misguiding me regarding who had my debt and telling me over the phone they were happy with my DMP payments however still harrassed me with phone calls and letters.

Also, I was told that if I paid a lesser amount I would have not accrued interest and charges?? Sounds daft to me? would they prefer £1 or £85 a month?? They really are rediculous and the staff fall to pieces if you stear them off their script!:money::beer:

sourcrates

edrushuk wrote: »

Kevin, you are so right they do feed on our fear. I started my DMP in 2008 and cleared it in 2013, by the end I loved speaking to the debt collectors cause I knew nothing they said and mostly do could harm me any longer. Nasty Letters - did not scare. Balliffs - did not scare me. Courts - did not scare me. When ever they called I was oh so polite and just said no to all their questions (except my name and address). I kind of miss it all now. I only get calls from Virgin media and PPI people!! LOL

kevinh12000 wrote: »

They honestly do feed on fear. For me, the best feeling was complaining to the financial ombudsman over Halifax misguiding me regarding who had my debt and telling me over the phone they were happy with my DMP payments however still harrassed me with phone calls and letters.

Also, I was told that if I paid a lesser amount I would have not accrued interest and charges?? Sounds daft to me? would they prefer £1 or £85 a month?? They really are rediculous and the staff fall to pieces if you stear them off their script!:money::beer:

Great posts you guys.


I wish everyone could read this, they do feed on your fear, that's a fact.
They are mostly, spotty youths, sat in a call centre somewhere, with a list of names and numbers, and a script to read out to you.


Its the anonymity of the telephone, where you cannot see who is calling you, that provides the fear factor, they have to be somewhat careful these days what they say to you, but there are still some "olde school" DCA`s who love to spout the old rhetoric about "sending round the bailiffs" to "take away the furniture" obviously without mentioning there's a court process to go through before any of that is possible.


They try to sound as if they are the courts, instead of some lowlife debt collector, like they have the power to do these things, when in reality, they have no power whatsoever.


But people believe the things they come out with, we can be so gullible at times, I just wish everyone could be more switched on to the truth !!

kevinh12000

I just wish back when I started my DMP I had paid less and not left myself so short of cash!

The lack of clear, lucid explainations gets me everytime. My complaint with the financial ombudsmen was a recorded call where they could not explain who had my debt? Then told me no interest was applied when in black and white it had? They also asked me to pay more money last year to avoid a default when one had already been applied by them??

I cannot wait til my last payment is made, Ive learned an extremely valuable lesson to avoid debt . I have also learnt that although banks say they are willing to understand and sort out debts on their websites, this is far from reality.

Kev