DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

Kate_fixing_it

Hi all, been a bit of a lurker lately as I was having a massive pity party for one lots going on that was out of my control and I was dragged into the middle of it

But I'm back...With exceptional news. I'd had a PPI claim for a 2002 loan turned down a few years ago but being the pedantic mare that I am I decided to try again. Today I have their response. It WAS missold. They have offered... (drumroll please)... £2,798.33 after tax :j :j :j

There's no mention that it would be deducted from what I owe them and the response includes a form for bank details of the refund to be paid into.

However, and I know this sounds a bit paradoxical (bankers with morals?), it seems "right" that it comes off the money I owe them.

Now this is HSBC, the weird people that have been threatening to default for months, don't know their backside from their elbow but it's enough to clear the loan AND credit card. I'm sure at some point they'll decide is does need to be offset but right now I'm on cloud nine!

I thought I was going to be celebrating getting under £10k as my last major milestone of the year but in fact I'll be under 8k before the year is out (possibly even under 7k) and my DFD with current payments will be 4 years 10 months away - a whacking TWENTY - THREE months sooner!!!!

I also received a rather serious "legal action pending" letter regarding the HSBC loan today - must be a new one from their library as I haven't had this one yet and I thought I'd seen it all but I'm not cconcerned. It seems almost childish to send me a long grovelling apology in one letter and a stern demand for repayment in another.

So keep plodding all, I was in a horrible place just a few days ago but the phrase "it's always darkest before the dawn" leaps to mind. And I'm so so glad I have you lovely people to share this fabulous news with. Wouldn't have got this far without you all. If this is what debt freedom tastes like someone save me a seat at the table because I'm on way!

Kate x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Advice needed on the next steps - hope I'm not being a pain asking all of these questions but everyone on here is so knowledgable and helpful.

All direct debits cancelled on old account with overdraft, new account all set up and running for bill payments.

Call from SC to say DMP now set up with first payment on 1st Oct of £408. They said all creditors would be made aware of the DMP within the next 24 hours :eek: Waiting for the phone to start ringing tomorrow!!

Do I start writing to the creditors now to ask them to freeze interest? What is the best thing to do at this stage?

Thanks for your positivity Kate - u sound like ur almost there. Cannot wait to be so close to debt freedom!

Feeling strangely calm but a little apprehensive at the same time as to what's around the corner :huh:

Kate_fixing_it

Hi BDFSH,

I'm not that much further in than you! I made my first dmp payment to SC on 10th May. Just about to make payment number 5 and the first anniversary of my LBM is next month. THAT'S how fast life changes from not eating or sleeping through stress to the positive posts I make these days! Five months which have flown by.

As things stand I've repaid almost £6k. My situation changed very dramatically in March/April and income dropped by £400 per month that I was using to snowball my debts on top of £400 ish in monthly payments that I couldn't actually afford. I now pay £130 a month to SC (started at £43 per month for 20 YEARS) and by the time I'm done I'll have repaid over £15k.

So far I have cleared my highest interest credit card (April 2014), a loan from a friend and 18 days I will clear debt number 3, DH's college course. The PPI payout will clear one whole HSBC debt (I have a card, loan and overdraft with them) for definite and almost all of another.

You can probably tell from that snippet that the PPI payout is HUGE to me. It pushes me to the halfway point. I'm a big fan of milestones and I am lucky enough to have a little one almost every month.

My advice to you is take a breather. You have made massive strides forward to get to where you now are. All my creditors claim to have not received letters from me (???) but by all means send them. SC will make their first payment on 25th October on your behalf so you will need to send at least one token payment to avoid missed payments. Personally I'd send the token payment a week before the due date. Nobody is going to start calling until the minimum has been missed so don't worry and fret and wait by the phone. Some may not even call then (one of mine never has) and I promise they won't be too scary. The first call you answer is the worst as you are in unknown territory but after that they get easier.

Take the weekend to just sit back and reflect on the hard work you have already put in. A DMP is a marathon not a sprint. We all have very different reasons to be in debt and nobody's reason is any more important or valid than the next persons but we all want the same end result and that's what this thread is all about - helping each other get there.

You'll be the one advising the newbies before you know it

Kate x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Thank you so much Kate for your lovely post - your advice and support means more than you'll ever know. I don't know how I would have got to even this stage without this forum. It is so lovely to speak to non-judgemental, kind, helpful people.

I really thought you had been on your DMP for years - you really know what you're doing!!

One more quick question - SC advised us to cancel all direct debits asap for the loans and credit cards which we have done. My loan/credit card payments would have been on the following:

Nationwide loan 18/9
Barclaycard 19/9
MBNA 29/9
Tesco loan 3/10
Co-op loan 3/10
Natwest loan 3/10

Do I need to make token payments for these payments as the money from the direct debit to SC won't be received by the creditors until after the next payment dates? Will the first ones need a couple of token payments as it would be 2 payments that would have been due?
How much is a good amount for a token payment? Do I send it by cheque?

I often hear people talking about getting a default on their accounts - how does this happen? If we miss payments will the defaults be quicker?

Still learning!!! I definitely still have an awful lot to learn

Kate_fixing_it

Hi BDFSH,

If you use one of the template letters from the previous few pages and send them £1 each (cheque, postal order, bank transfer - entirely up to you how) that'll show you are willing to pay and tells them you are starting a DMP that'll cover you until the first SC payment. In response you'll get a huge pile of letters ranging from "oops you forgot to" to "pay up now or else" over the following month. After a week or so the phone will start ringing and you'll get a few people that are just doing their job (and could potentially be in a worse situation than you ) who have heard it all a million times before. You give them your SC ref and ask them to correspond in writing from now on and that's it. By the time we're putting up our Christmas trees it'll all be a distant memory.

The first two on your list will need token payments for Sept and Oct just to show you are committed to this but if you keep reading this thread then by the time SC start paying you'll be an old hand at knowing what is happening.

Some may play silly beggars. The letters will have lots of "may/could/might" phrases but they are automated. Computer systems work in black and white so if the full payment isn't received they spit their dummy out and produce a letter but it won't be anything that somebody here hasn't already seen so we'll sort that when/if it happens.

If you are "lucky" and the computer system is a good one it'll register two late payments and then a default (Tesco did for me) but again that's something we'll deal with as it happens. Some may pass the debt around (cue another string of letters) but matter what they say SC will keep paying.

To begin with they'll all add interest and possibly a late payment fee after the dates you listed above. If after SC have paid them once or twice they are still adding fees and interest we have templates on this thread for that too.

I promise you that whatever they throw at you there's somebody here who can and will help. When I began my DMP there was just Puzzcat, HH and TTFTM here posting regularly each day and I knew NOTHING. It's absolutely wonderful to hear you saying I've helped you as I feel like I've paid forward the help and support they gave me.

This is the steepest learning curve you'll ever experience. I think that's why this thread feels like a community (those oppressed by debt banding together?) and each time one of us reaches a milestone it feels like a group victory (at least it does to me )

You are in control now. It won't all be plain sailing but the important things to remember are: 1. You can't pay what you don't have. 2. You are being fair and honest to them all. 3. Once things settle your debt will reduce every single time you pay and 4 - for those sleepless nights - there are no debtors prisons or workhouses anymore and if the world goes mad and these are reintroduced we'll all be in there together .

They have no power over you. The absolute worst they can do while you are paying something (anything!) is take you to court where an independent judge will see you are trying and is likely to look down on them for wasting the courts time over a debt that's being paid. It's possible they'd get a court order for you to pay probably what you're paying now and a mark on your credit file that'll disappear in 6 years . That's very unlikely. They can't take your car/TV/home/firstborn child.

Debt is a great leveller. For all I know you lot could be former billionaires or you could be road sweepers earning minimum wage. I simply don't care. To me you are my online friends that happen to be repaying debt that was once unmanageable, whether that is £100 of debt or £100,000 is irrelevant to me.

Kate x

blisteringblue

Hi All, is it just me or is the DMP lark just too easy. I think I miss all my money worries from the past decade! :eek:

Apart from our mountain reducing 2% a month, I've just paid a whole years house insurance in a single hit from my insurance pot stored up within YNAB. I mean come on BB, this is proper adult money management here, you've never done that in your life

And since SC are finally paying Sainsbury's CC into the correct account I even miss their automated call telling me to ring them immediately.

....... off to argue with Mrs BB because that is all the fun I can have now :rotfl:

Time_to_face_the_music

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Hi BDFSH,

If you use one of the template letters from the previous few pages and send them £1 each (cheque, postal order, bank transfer - entirely up to you how) that'll show you are willing to pay and tells them you are starting a DMP that'll cover you until the first SC payment. In response you'll get a huge pile of letters ranging from "oops you forgot to" to "pay up now or else" over the following month. After a week or so the phone will start ringing and you'll get a few people that are just doing their job (and could potentially be in a worse situation than you ) who have heard it all a million times before. You give them your SC ref and ask them to correspond in writing from now on and that's it. By the time we're putting up our Christmas trees it'll all be a distant memory.

The first two on your list will need token payments for Sept and Oct just to show you are committed to this but if you keep reading this thread then by the time SC start paying you'll be an old hand at knowing what is happening.

Some may play silly beggars. The letters will have lots of "may/could/might" phrases but they are automated. Computer systems work in black and white so if the full payment isn't received they spit their dummy out and produce a letter but it won't be anything that somebody here hasn't already seen so we'll sort that when/if it happens.

If you are "lucky" and the computer system is a good one it'll register two late payments and then a default (Tesco did for me) but again that's something we'll deal with as it happens. Some may pass the debt around (cue another string of letters) but matter what they say SC will keep paying.

To begin with they'll all add interest and possibly a late payment fee after the dates you listed above. If after SC have paid them once or twice they are still adding fees and interest we have templates on this thread for that too.

I promise you that whatever they throw at you there's somebody here who can and will help. When I began my DMP there was just Puzzcat, HH and TTFTM here posting regularly each day and I knew NOTHING. It's absolutely wonderful to hear you saying I've helped you as I feel like I've paid forward the help and support they gave me.

This is the steepest learning curve you'll ever experience. I think that's why this thread feels like a community (those oppressed by debt banding together?) and each time one of us reaches a milestone it feels like a group victory (at least it does to me )

You are in control now. It won't all be plain sailing but the important things to remember are: 1. You can't pay what you don't have. 2. You are being fair and honest to them all. 3. Once things settle your debt will reduce every single time you pay and 4 - for those sleepless nights - there are no debtors prisons or workhouses anymore and if the world goes mad and these are reintroduced we'll all be in there together .

They have no power over you. The absolute worst they can do while you are paying something (anything!) is take you to court where an independent judge will see you are trying and is likely to look down on them for wasting the courts time over a debt that's being paid. It's possible they'd get a court order for you to pay probably what you're paying now and a mark on your credit file that'll disappear in 6 years . That's very unlikely. They can't take your car/TV/home/firstborn child.

Debt is a great leveller. For all I know you lot could be former billionaires or you could be road sweepers earning minimum wage. I simply don't care. To me you are my online friends that happen to be repaying debt that was once unmanageable, whether that is £100 of debt or £100,000 is irrelevant to me.

Kate x

Great post Kate and fantastic news on the PPI payment :j

Sazzie23

Great news Kate, & yeah to Ppi claims reducing debts however it happens

annoyedwithHSBC

Hi all. Glad I found this thread again after a while.

I started a DMP with 6k debt last year. Due to finish quite soon (next 1/2 months depending on balances) and then 2 days ago QuickQuid (I know) email me out of the blue saying I owe £900.

My original debt with them was around this amount. I have made all my payments to payplan bar 1 month when I contacted payplan and made a token payment (had an urgent expenditure).

I think quickquid are implying that I broke my contract by not making this payment and ever since this point they have been accruing interest to my account and counting it as not on any payment plan (not sure where they are suggesting the payments I have made since have gone).

This sounds thoroughly unreasonable and underhand to me. The first time they have contacted me is by email 2 days ago and as far as I am aware they haven't contacted payplan at all.

Here is the most recent email I have received (today) where I finally manage to get to the 'bottom' of why they are contacting me.

Dear ...,
Customer # ...

Thank you for your email. Our records indicate that you in fact were paying £81.56 via Pay Plan, however, your account was removed from credit counseling on 01/09/2014, because for failure to pay for 70 days. You now have a defaulted balance of £917.26. Please be advised as your account is over 90 days in arrears it is subject to immediate third party collections. Further more until we can secure an agreeable payment arrangement, collections procedures will continue.

If you have any queries, our Collections Department is here to help.

WARNING: Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyadviceservice.org.uk

QuickQuid Collections Team
Direct Line: 0808 234 4561
Fax: 0808 101 1381
Collections@QuickQuid.co.uk
https://www.quickquid.co.uk

Call free from landlines. Mobile phone companies may charge up to 40p per minute.

Terms and Conditions apply. All loans are subject to status and affordability checks prior to approval. All applicants must be 18 or over.

QuickQuid is the trading name of CashEuroNetUK, LLC. CashEuroNetUK, LLC is a Limited Liability Company incorporated in the United States. Head Office: 200 W. Jackson Blvd., 14th Floor, Chicago IL USA. Correspondence Address: 483 Green Lanes, London, N13 4BS. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm registration number 603395. Authorisation can be checked on the Financial Service Register at https://www.fca.org.uk.
Kayla J

I suspect they will say they have been trying to contact me by telephone for a while. When I started this process I decided I wouldn't let vermin like this harass me, thankfully I still have the email from the beginning of my plan where I tell them in no uncertain terms to only contact me by email.

I am obviously in contact with Payplan but what with it being Friday I hoped someone on here might be able to put my mind at ease. They can't pull stuff like this can they?

Even if this is sorted I will be complaining to whoever will listen about QuickQuid. I get the feeling they have absolutely no idea how badly this can affect some people.

Thanks

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Kate - u are a star! Thank you again for taking the time to write such a detailed post and for all your help.

One thing I picked up on was the court stuff - sounds very scary!! How likely is it that would happen? I do not want to tell my employer that I am on a DMP if at all possible so if court proceedings were to happen I'd be gutted

Will get the template letters and send to the creditors as advised.

Sorry for all the questions - as Kate says, hopefully in a few months I will be able to share my experiences and help those who are new to DMPs