DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

make_the_change

January2015 wrote: »

I would send them a recorded delivery letter advising that all communication must be in writing and that you do not give them permission to contact you by telephone to discuss this account. Advise that you will always respond promptly to any written communication.
Advise that you are working with Stepchange and they will contact them in due course with I&E information.

That's it. Then either block their number on your phone or make a note of it and don't answer...if they phone after they have received your letter you will have grounds for complaint.

Thanks.

On the bottom of their letter it states that they try to be helpful with people in financial difficulty and reccomnd SC and the other charity too. I have quoted twice now I am seeking help from SC so frustrating when they quote something on their letter but then work against it. Just doing their job I guess or computer generated.

sourcrates

Boldhoof wrote: »

Hi all,

Had a response from SC regarding the F&F we did with one of our creditors. They have said we should talk to them if we have any spare money as the creditors may end the DMP and ask for more money as we are prioritising one debt. We did write to them all and only one accepted, plus the person offering to help is on the grounds we clear a debt, not spread it over everyone. Just wondering if anyone has had such a response from SC. We are looking at writing to the others as the family have offered more help solely on the same grounds above, not the way SC want us to proceed. Any advise gratefully received.

Thanks

Stepchange are great, don't get me wrong, but they are really there to cater for people with no or little experiance at dealing with there debts.
Most people can sort a DMP out themselves, after a bit of advice and experience.

They are funded by the big banks, and to some extent have to follow certain rules.
One of these rules is that you should treat all creditors equally.

Normally this does not pose any problems, but when situations arise where you are in a position to clear a certain debt, and remove it from your plan, then they can get a bit funny, as it goes against there ethos.
And where SC is concerned, never the twain shall meet.

I would agree going self managed gives you 100% control over what happens, and eliminates issues such as this completely.

fermi

January2015 wrote: »

I think each of us will decide using that moral compass blisterblue talks about.

I agree with both sides of the argument - we borrowed it, we should pay it, but also very much agree with Brogden's point that the banks should implement a fair process of a discount for settlement to debtors before selling debts to DCAs. Obviously this shouldn't be asap after debtor hits problems, but perhaps a set time period into a DMP. If at that point debtor either won't or can't settle for the % the bank offer then they can sell to DCA. That seems much fairer to me and to be honest the bank is likely to get back more, on average, than selling directly to DCA.

Not seen much fairness from banks over the last 10 years doing this to be honest. Not unless they've had their arms twisted behind their backs by the regulators or bad publicity that is.

I also have no doubt that pretty much every bank/creditor would screw you for double the money without 1 sec of remorse if they thought that legally and commercially they could get away with it.

So my sympathy for OCs is very limited. I certainly didn't get any from them.

I do understand and more importantly respect views to the contrary though.

Boldhoof

Thanks January2015 & Sourcrates for your replies regarding my post about F&F and SC. We are fortunate currently that a relative has offered to help, and it looks like another creditor F&F offer will be paid off this week. They have also offered help with the other 3 creditors, so we have written tonight making a second offer to them.

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

sourcrates wrote: »

Stepchange are great, don't get me wrong, but they are really there to cater for people with no or little experiance at dealing with there debts.
Most people can sort a DMP out themselves, after a bit of advice and experience.

They are funded by the big banks, and to some extent have to follow certain rules.
One of these rules is that you should treat all creditors equally.

Normally this does not pose any problems, but when situations arise where you are in a position to clear a certain debt, and remove it from your plan, then they can get a bit funny, as it goes against there ethos.
And where SC is concerned, never the twain shall meet.

I would agree going self managed gives you 100% control over what happens, and eliminates issues such as this completely.

Seriously considering going self managed - but I have a load of questuons that I'm sure you self managed pros could help me with!!

What would be the first step? Do I contact all creditors and tell them we will be moving to self managed in xxxx month?
Do we get that all set in place before cancelling the SC direct debit?
Do we send each creditor an I and E with an amount which we can afford to pay?
Do we list all of the creditor debts so that each creditor can see the other creditors that we have?
Would you advise we pay them all the same amount?

Sorry for the mountain of questions - really want to move to self managed but the process is stressing me out a bit!!! :eek:

Thanks in advance

BDFSH x

January2015

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Seriously considering going self managed - but I have a load of questuons that I'm sure you self managed pros could help me with!!

What would be the first step? Do I contact all creditors and tell them we will be moving to self managed in xxxx month?
Do we get that all set in place before cancelling the SC direct debit?
Do we send each creditor an I and E with an amount which we can afford to pay?
Do we list all of the creditor debts so that each creditor can see the other creditors that we have?
Would you advise we pay them all the same amount?

Sorry for the mountain of questions - really want to move to self managed but the process is stressing me out a bit!!! :eek:

Thanks in advance

BDFSH x

Consider using the NEDCAB site - it works it all out for you and generates creditor letters etc. You are managing but can say you've taken advice from NEDCAB.

We let our January direct debit be collected by SC and that meant we had all of January to organise self-managed and write to creditors etc. Immediately after DD was collected we wrote and told SC we were moving to self-managed.

We reset our monthly payment date to 16th of each month as that suits us best.

gawebb99

What happens if our creditors don't agree to our DMP with stepchange .

What If they don't accept ?

Thanks

January2015

gawebb99 wrote: »

What happens if our creditors don't agree to our DMP with stepchange .

What If they don't accept ?

Thanks

Nothing is likely to happen. SC will keep paying them regardless of whether they accept or not.

We had one creditor that didn't accept our payment offer through SC. SC just kept paying them and nothing happened. We have now moved to self-managed and have actually offered less than we did through SC. This time the creditor accepted.

Creditors rarely take court action. Before they even consider that they will sell the debt to a debt collection agency and most likely the DCA will accept the payment offer. If they don't and they opt to go to court it is highly likely the court would find that you are paying what you can afford anyway - so DCAs know if you are making payments it's pointless taking you to court.

Easier said than done, but don't panic. Take each day as it comes and come here and ask questions. It really is the best move you will have made and life just gets brighter and better each day as you DMP progresses.

gawebb99

Thank you I have to say thanks to this forum im
Not really panicking but my husband is ! I'm more relaxed so to speak . They can't take what we haven't got !

Just need to sort the budget out and find the best way to actually budget . What do people do ? So for example we budgeted £115 per week for food and cleaning supplies Etc - we spent £74 . I then took the surplus out of the bank and stashed it away ...

Sazzie23

make_the_change wrote: »

Ok thanks. They keep calling too. Do I just say the same to them on the phone?

You could try answering it once and see how they react, if it's nothing you like, just say I'm not prepared to discuss this by phone and hang up. Then block it/ignore it and write to them saying all communication in writing.

Surprising how much is automated and I think I had no end of automated calls from HBOS originally until they got it set in their system that I was with SC.