DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

Time_to_face_the_music

cmcavon wrote: »

No there are other debts in my husbands name, total is just over £20,000.

I think i would be happier having a go between so stepchange have assured me extra payments are not an issue.

I can understand the sense of security having a go between gives. Just be careful on a couple of things, Stepchange will not fight for interest to be stopped on your debts, so you may have to do this yourself. If you need help with this, someone here will always point you in the right direction, provide template letters etc.

Watch your Stepchange online balance carefully and make your own adjustments if any creditor is adding interest and/or fees. The balance is based on no extra charges and a few people have had a nasty shock when they realised they owed more than was shown.

Any extra payments will need to be distributed evenly between your creditors, this is fine if none are charging interest but if one creditor still is, you may want to think about how to handle this. We started off with Stepchange (then CCCS) but changed to self managed when we were struggling to get creditors to play nicely.

TTFTM x

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Ooooh la la Ms TTFTM just noticed your MF badge and debt under 17k. very well done

That should keep you out of trouble - at least for a short while!

HHx

Thank you Twin, I really couldn't resist hitting that target with the second part of Mr TTFTM's exam marking funds :j

I polish my badge daily, can you see the shine?

.... but have no idea what you are suggesting about me and trouble? :A

TTFTM x

cmcavon

TTFTM stepchange seemed pretty sure they could get interest frozen but couldn't guarantee it.

It's a bit of a minefield all this isn't it!

Time_to_face_the_music

cmcavon wrote: »

TTFTM stepchange seemed pretty sure they could get interest frozen but couldn't guarantee it.

It's a bit of a minefield all this isn't it!

I am not in any way, shape or form trying to put you off but Stepchange couldn't get interest stopped for me so I did it myself. I did ask them how I could do it and they couldn't but they did not have an answer.

It's always a good idea when you are starting out to read some posts from this thread and the previous DMP & Mutual Support Threads to get a full picture. These are the actual experiences of people in the same situation as you now.

Yep it is a bit of a minefield and often one person gets treated very differently to another with the same creditor. I was petrified at first but this thread gave me the help, advice, experience and above all support that I needed. I hope it will do the same for you

TTFTM x

Puzzcat

Hi cmcavon,

Well done on jumping on the good ship dmp! I second everything TTFTM says. I am also with stepchange and luckily 8 out of 9 of my debts are now interest free. The naughty one I complained to in writing, letter template on previous thread and they upheld their right to charge me £30 interest each month when I was only paying £33... I complained to the FOS and they got it reduced to £10 a month interest. I can live with that bearing in mind my starting debt was £60062:eek: but it is going down nicely now and I should hit the 55k' s this month.

Good luck and keep popping back with updates, questions or just a chat!
Puzz.x

sillymeme

Hi,
I've mentioned before, I have just commenced a DMP (but for the second time). I have 13 creditors and now apart from one they are all with DCAs or were payday loans which got frozen pretty quickly with one months interest and are still with original lender.

Today I got letters from two DCAs about credit cards which hadn't yet been passed over. This actually made me very happy at first, as one was HBOS who have been piling on interest. My other credit cards that were were sold or sent to DCAs have defaulted and haven't had any charges added for a while. I originally thought that once it was with a DCA interest charges would stop - is this correct? On noddle the last update showing from HBOS was may and it shows 6 months of late payments. SO i am hoping they have actually defaulted it now (which I also thought would mean that interest would stop).

I then did some reading about interest and DCAs and defaulted accounts and just ended up confused. Do many add interest after its sent to a DCA? I guess it doesn't matter hugely - its only this account and one other (which I only first missed a payment for last month, but for which interest is lower than DMP payment, but I will do my best to get it stopped if nationwide keep adding it). The HBOS interest is way above my DMP payment and would be nice to know that it should stop now! If not, I will do my best to get it stopped - but HBOS haven't been too cooperative, and refused last time (so probably are even more unlikely too after I screwed up before).

I do find it amusing that I'm so happy to see defaults appear!

Coinmachine

Bit worrying today - a letter from Barclaycard saying the repayment arrangment is cancelled as I have missed payments!

I started my DMP in March but quickly realised my budget was too ambitous so I redud the budget from June and am now paying less.

Barclaycard were the only creditor still charging interest but when my payment was reduced from June I noticed on my Barclaycard statement the interest had dropped to 0% great I thought an added bonus that as my payment was now below their minimum payment no more interest.

Now todays letter! I have replied in writing got it out first class explaining all the above copied to stepchange and asking them to speak to Barclaycard and for Barclaycard to reconsider, also enailed stepchange asking them to deal with this as soon as possible.

could it just be a mix up or Barclaycard never received revised payment offer? but if they didnt why did the interest drop to 0%?
very worrying hope this can be sorted out.

Monkeyballs

Hi,

I wasn't going to post just yet as I have a lot of catching up to do but since t'internet is STILL being flaky I thought I'd just jump in when I was Coinmachine's comments re. Barclaycard...

A couple of months ago I started to see a reduction in my income and had to do a bit of a re-jig and am now making reduced payments although this nicely fitted in with my annual review anyway

I can see the payments are being made and have been received/accepted by Barclaycard but I got a letter about a week ago telling me that my 12 month agreement had come to an end and unless SC contacted them by the 8th of August then I would be taken of the agreement and full interest/charges resumed! It also went on to mention that they had tried to reach SC but they were not responding...

I phoned Barclaycard and spoke to a chap who was genuinely clueless and wasn't aware that they did debt management plans(?) so he passed me to a colleague who informed me that they had tried to contact SC but had not heard back but refused to tell me when they tried and how?

They agreed to put my account on hold for 30 days while I contacted SC to ask for an updated I&E and offer of payment to be sent.

I asked when they last received anything from SC and the guy said it was almost a year ago(!?!) and would not comment on why they have agreed the smaller payment and it's all over my statement too?

I had similar problems with BC at the start when they claimed to not receive DMP details from SC or details from myself and were charging interest and charges until I called and spoke to them... Grrr...

When I spoke to SC they assured me that I&E and payment offers were sent to Barclaycard at the same time as everyone else.

In short, I recommend that you A) speak to them to get confirmation that you're entering into a DMP in the beginning, speak to them to confirm that they are aware of any changes made and C) check your statement EVERY month for charges and interest being applied which shouldn't be.

I get the distinct impression that without the threat of the FOS then they would be one of the worst creditors to have any dealings with

Now I'm off to watch the lightning

Ciao!

MB of G xxx

Karen777

Hi
I used to get a letter from barclaycard every month saying they hadn't had a payment from me, or I had missed my payment, or this that and the other. They seem quite disorganised. Also apparently when I was with payplan, they would make the payment on the 25th of the month but for some reason barclaycard would only accept payment on a different date which meant that even though they were eventually getting money from me every month, their computers thought I was missing a payment and so generated a letter.....I ring them every month now and remind them of the facts of the matter and that seems to help.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning all


Paid off John Lewis last week, scary to say but it was a card I have had since 1987; 27 years!!!!!!. Will be saying goodbye to First Direct this week too; 20 years; which will just leave me with Barclaycard which is a transferred Egg account. DMP should be complete by end of August at the latest.


HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Good post MB of G


Hope you enjoyed the lightening.


The lack of clarity around communications scenario you describe is what I have experienced with a number of creditors. I thought when I started that SC had a sort of case manager type system who would look at your accounts, communicate with you and the creditors. It seems to be considerable more freestyle and things dealt with by exception and via 'the portal' which is accessed with differing degrees of frequency by the creditors. This is why they are reluctant to give the detail in my opinion. I distinctly remember one call to M&S where I was told they had used it to see what I was paying to my other creditors!!!!


Hope that helps.


HHX