DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

spot3

Hi everyone, when you are on a DMP and you clear a debt do all companies send notification? I've kept my balances up to date with Stepchange but I worry that i'll end up with 20p outstanding or something and end up in trouble. Quickquid have emailed and told me its settled in full, the other one that dropped off this month is a Barclays overdraft. The hours i'm working make it tricky to phone them. Before I do (will have to be next week), does anyone have any experience of this?

Growurown

spot3 wrote: »

Hi everyone, when you are on a DMP and you clear a debt do all companies send notification? I've kept my balances up to date with Stepchange but I worry that i'll end up with 20p outstanding or something and end up in trouble. Quickquid have emailed and told me its settled in full, the other one that dropped off this month is a Barclays overdraft. The hours i'm working make it tricky to phone them. Before I do (will have to be next week), does anyone have any experience of this?

I haven't had notification from Nat West when I paid them off. I'm sure I read somewhere that once paid up you should contact the lender and make sure the account is properly closed. I think it is to do with the fact that if the account is still available to use, it is a potential source of credit and can affect your credit rating, but once on a DMP you can't have more credit anyway and your rating is already trashed. Hmm not sure how all that helps but it's late and I'm tired.....:p

spot3

Growurown wrote: »

I haven't had notification from Nat West when I paid them off. I'm sure I read somewhere that once paid up you should contact the lender and make sure the account is properly closed. I think it is to do with the fact that if the account is still available to use, it is a potential source of credit and can affect your credit rating, but once on a DMP you can't have more credit anyway and your rating is already trashed. Hmm not sure how all that helps but it's late and I'm tired.....:p

it helps, thank you I will contact them next week

spiffyiffy

Hi all,

Just an update; I haven't heard back from any creditors yet to whom I wrote the token payment letters to. Is this normal? I've only had a couple of calls which I'm comfortable in replying to. I've heard back from step change a couple of times but they always want more information.

Thanks

Puzzcat

spiffyiffy wrote: »

Hi all,

Just an update; I haven't heard back from any creditors yet to whom I wrote the token payment letters to. Is this normal? I've only had a couple of calls which I'm comfortable in replying to. I've heard back from step change a couple of times but they always want more information.

Thanks

Hi, How long ago did you post them? These things always take time to get to the right person/department. Some may not respond at all if you have mentioned a dmp being set up, they may wait to hear what they are being offered. I sent cheques then I could track they had them as they cashed them, not all wrote back or read the letters I sent or so it seemed but most do to say they put a hold on the account for 30 days. I'm sure it will all be sorted soon
Puzz.x.

sillymeme

ForMySister wrote: »

Hi All

I've spent hours reading through this today and I have to say that I am so impressed with all of you, how you've dealt with or are dealing with your issues and your knowledge. I was worried about posting but the situation has got desperate and I am hoping that you can help me help my baby sister.

I recently discovered that through a combination of depression and addiction my sister has managed to get herself into roughly £7,500 of debt with various payday loan companies due to Internet gambling.

Anyway, turns out that my sister had already registered for a DMP with StepChange, which is due to start on the 1st of December. However, she didn't declare two debt, Mr Lender and My Money Partne, because she was petrified of them calling her at work. She has been trying her hardest to keep on top of things but as she also owes money to friends that she HAS to repay she's been under a huge amount of pressure.

This all came out in the wash after my sister came clean to her husband who promptly left her. She then did something silly that resulted in a trip to the hospital (not too much detail but I'm sure you can imagine what I mean - it's really hard to talk about).

I have spoken with StepChange today who advised me to get my sister to call them to rejig her budget and add the other companies. I also got my sister to email through authority so that I could speak with them in detail because I need to take some of the weight off her fragile shoulders.

My queries are really related to the likelihood of those two companies calling her at work and if I can do anything to prevent that.

Sorry for the long post, but any help/advice or support would be appreciated.

Hi,
I am on a DMP with payplan now but your sisters story feels very familiar. I already had a large amount of debt - then internet gambling added to this via more payday loans. I had a few payday loans but one was Mr lender. I was also very concerned about defaulting on that account. I considered keeping it out the plan as I was terrified they would hound me at work.

Normally when asked for a work number, if not possible to leave blank, then id usually not give the correct one. But Mr lender, called first on my mobile after applying, and then insisted on calling my work line and me answering to confirm the number, while holding the line on the mobile. They then insisted on sending an email to my official work account to which i had to reply. So after the lengths they went to to make sure they could contact me at work, I was sure they'd probably use it when a payment was missed - and the line they had is shared with others in my office.

Anyway, I realised i couldnt pay off in full and it was silly to try. So I sent them a letter stating I was working with payplan, and that they should only contact me in writing (this was before I actually missed a payment). I believe I also highlighted that this meant they must not call me on my work number.

The only contact Ive had from them was a notification of a missed payment by email. They have never called me and they accepted the DMP with payplan quite quickly. So I would not worry about Mr Lender.

So I would send a letter (I sent by email and recorded delivery) to the two lenders now, stating that you're working with step change and requesting that all contact is in writing only. I have 15(!) creditors - only one continued to call after requesting they do not (nationwide) but they eventually apologised and it stopped too. I dont have experience of teh other lender but I'm sure it will all be fine.

I hope all goes well for you and your sister.

sillymeme

Sorry for double posting, the last ones a little long. I just went and double checked my email correspondence with Mr lender (I found it very reassuring to be able to read and follow contact that others had had in similar situations)

I actually contacted them three days after my payment was missed. Ive added the email I sent to the end of the post (I also sent a copy by post). They replied the same day stating the account was on hold but they needed to here from the DMP company. They didn't directly acknowledge the request for no phone calls, but they definitely didnt make any and ive actually had no further contact at all from them.

This is the email/letter I sent (it likely can be worded better - I copied from elsewhere, and you'll find many similar templates, but may be reassuring to your sister to see exactly how one company was dealt with):

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to you regarding the outstanding account which was due to rollover on XX/XX/XXXX


Since making the above agreement with you, circumstances have changed and I cannot now afford to make the agreed payment. I have received advice from payplan (ref no: XXXXXX) to help solve my debt problem.

Payplan are setting up a Debt Management Plan for me and they will send you an offer of payment along with a copy of my budget and list of creditors. I regret that I cannot meet the contractual payment but would appreciate your cooperation to ensure I can pay back all that is owed as quickly and fairly as possible.

As in line with published guidelines by many regulatory authorities, you are only to contact me regarding this matter via email (abc@hdg.com) or at the postal address on file. I will be able to reply to any emails very rapidly and prefer this as a means of communication. In particular, I request that no more phone calls are made to the number you hold for my employer.


Finally, my account does not induce any details of a customer or loan ID. If a reference number exists, please could you provide me with that.

FuzzyDF

Good Evening Lovely People,

I haven't been on here for quite a while (I have quite a lot of catching up to do).

Just a quick question, I have a loan, card and OD with the Hellifax. They have been playing nicely so far. In the past week I received a not so nice "we can, we might" letter for the BOS card. I went online to check the status and the BOS card has disappeared from the Hellifax site but I have access to the other accounts. I'm not great on the phone so I don't really fancy ringing them. My guess is that they have passed the debt on? Does that sound about right?

Any advice would be gratefully received as always x

Puzzcat

FuzzyDF wrote: »

Good Evening Lovely People,

I haven't been on here for quite a while (I have quite a lot of catching up to do).

Just a quick question, I have a loan, card and OD with the Hellifax. They have been playing nicely so far. In the past week I received a not so nice "we can, we might" letter for the BOS card. I went online to check the status and the BOS card has disappeared from the Hellifax site but I have access to the other accounts. I'm not great on the phone so I don't really fancy ringing them. My guess is that they have passed the debt on? Does that sound about right?

Any advice would be gratefully received as always x

Hi Fuzzy,
My hali card card debt was passed to a dca very soon into my dmp, nice people to talk to and no interest or charges from then on. In fact I received my first annual statement from this week and defaulted nice and early to get that 6 years started. So all good in my opinion.
Puzz.x

Sazzie23

FuzzyDF wrote: »

Good Evening Lovely People,

I haven't been on here for quite a while (I have quite a lot of catching up to do).

Just a quick question, I have a loan, card and OD with the Hellifax. They have been playing nicely so far. In the past week I received a not so nice "we can, we might" letter for the BOS card. I went online to check the status and the BOS card has disappeared from the Hellifax site but I have access to the other accounts. I'm not great on the phone so I don't really fancy ringing them. My guess is that they have passed the debt on? Does that sound about right?

Any advice would be gratefully received as always x

Hi Fuzzy,

Wondering how you've been? I think same as Puzz the BOS card has gone to DCA, wouldn't worry, keep paying until you get instructions where to change the payment to.

Nice to see you back.

Silly me, great advice and a comfort I hope to other Mr Lender debtor, thanks.

Have a great day, it's a bit wet here