Any news on Gregson & Brooke?!!

esmerellda

For ref. http://www.fca.org.uk/news/customers-of-three-debt-management-firms

fermi

Beat me to it. Just....

harranged

Following a press release from the Financial Condut Authority in September 2014, debt management customers of Gregson and Brooke Financial Services (trading as Expert Money Solutions), One Tick (trading as Debt Savers Direct and 1-tick) and the Money Management Service have been advised to stop making payments to therse firms.

Dingers

Like so many of you I was using a debt reduction plan and getting monthly statements showing how my £180 per month was being distributed to my creditors. Up popped Gregson & Brooke who told me how they could reduce my payment period by a third. Naturally I switched to them - the worst decision I have ever made. After several months without anything but encouraging phone calls from them I wrote, phoned and emailed on numerous occasions asking for an account of outstanding debts and payments they had made on my behalf, only to be greeted with a deafening silence. When EMS called to say they had taken over my account it was with some relief until I realised they were the same company. When I put this to the man I spoke to on the phone at EMS he assured me they were a completely different company.I pointed out that at the bottom of their letter the words 'a trading name of Gregson & Brooke' made it quite clear that they were one and the same. Again I had great difficulty in getting an accounting, receiving only a list of creditors and the amounts I owed them - which showed that G & B and EMS had paid precious little to them.
Now the interesting bit. I checked Money Saving Expert.com and found that G & B and EMS appeared to be at worst a gang of crooks or at best criminally incompetent in handling financial affairs. I promptly cancelled my direct debit, wrote to all my creditors and made arrangements to pay off my debts myself. In he meantime I wrote to the Financial Ombudsman and they wrote to G & B. Surprisingly, after three months they still await a reply. I have since heard from Duff & Phelps the Administrators of G & B, EMS and One Tick. I await (without much optimism) the outcome and (with even less optimism) a refund of some of my payments.
I have also heard from several debt administration companies who kindly offer to act for me for a strangely unquoted fee. May I suggest that rather than go that route you do as I did - make an arrangement with your creditors and although it will entail a fair amount of letter writing and phone calls, be patient and you'll find what you save in fees will reduce the payment period. Oh, yes, and two of my creditors agreed to settle for a one off payment of a reduced amount. I wish I had done that five years ago for I would have been debt free for the past two years. As it is I have another year to go thanks to 'debt management'. Good luck everyone

poppasmurf_bewdley

Dingers wrote: »

Like so many of you I was using a debt reduction plan and getting monthly statements showing how my £180 per month was being distributed to my creditors. Up popped Gregson & Brooke who told me how they could reduce my payment period by a third. Naturally I switched to them - the worst decision I have ever made. After several months without anything but encouraging phone calls from them I wrote, phoned and emailed on numerous occasions asking for an account of outstanding debts and payments they had made on my behalf, only to be greeted with a deafening silence. When EMS called to say they had taken over my account it was with some relief until I realised they were the same company. When I put this to the man I spoke to on the phone at EMS he assured me they were a completely different company.I pointed out that at the bottom of their letter the words 'a trading name of Gregson & Brooke' made it quite clear that they were one and the same. Again I had great difficulty in getting an accounting, receiving only a list of creditors and the amounts I owed them - which showed that G & B and EMS had paid precious little to them.
Now the interesting bit. I checked Money Saving Expert.com and found that G & B and EMS appeared to be at worst a gang of crooks or at best criminally incompetent in handling financial affairs. I promptly cancelled my direct debit, wrote to all my creditors and made arrangements to pay off my debts myself. In he meantime I wrote to the Financial Ombudsman and they wrote to G & B. Surprisingly, after three months they still await a reply. I have since heard from Duff & Phelps the Administrators of G & B, EMS and One Tick. I await (without much optimism) the outcome and (with even less optimism) a refund of some of my payments.
I have also heard from several debt administration companies who kindly offer to act for me for a strangely unquoted fee. May I suggest that rather than go that route you do as I did - make an arrangement with your creditors and although it will entail a fair amount of letter writing and phone calls, be patient and you'll find what you save in fees will reduce the payment period. Oh, yes, and two of my creditors agreed to settle for a one off payment of a reduced amount. I wish I had done that five years ago for I would have been debt free for the past two years. As it is I have another year to go thanks to 'debt management'. Good luck everyone

Or you could just use one of the fee free charities which offer to do it for you.

fermi

Self managed DMP -> https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

Other free help -> IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

Always get advice from more than one free and impartial source so you have a good range of opinions on your options.

May turn out that a DMP is not the best course. If it is then you NEVER need to pay fees for one.