DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Scottishmummy

January2015 wrote: »

Hi

We wrote to SC to give notice on 6th Jan. They emailed us to acknowledge on 18th Jan and sent through documentation a few days after that.

SC did not provide any details of bank account sort codes and account numbers for our creditors. That was the most frustrating part of going self managed. We also had debts which had moved from the original creditor to either a DCA or in-house department and had been given a new reference number. We had no idea how to pay these debts.

At this point in time we still have one creditor who has not responded and we cannot make payment to them. SC won't give us the details because they say they pay accounts which are set up for them. They wouldn't even give us addresses - again they are set up contacts for SC to use rather than Joe Public. What they did give us was who the debt was currently with and the reference number for that creditor/DCA.

We waited for the debts to write to us once they realised they weren't getting any money from SC. As I say - all sorted apart from one now.

To be fair there were only a few like this - the rest we had information for.

Don't panic - the creditors will write to you when they realise they are not getting payments from SC.

Thanks January. I had read, possibly in your diary, that they wouldn't give account paying details but I had hoped for all addresses. Oh well I don't mind waiting on them all contacting me instead

Scottishmummy

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi,
Like January I had to contact each creditor to get payment details, I wrote to them all and 4 responded within a week the other 5 I had to ring to get the details. And discovered 1 had now changed to a dca so will have to wait to hear from them. So 8 set up within a month but I did have to do some of the legwork, which is of course the job when self managing..
Puzz.x

Thanks Puzz. Maybe I should just start writing to all the ones we already have details for then and just wait and see if the others get in touch. My plan was to tell them they were getting token payments until I had all correct balances from everyone so that they could get proper pro-rata payments but then I also realised tax credit payments will be changing in April so they will need to wait until I have up-to-date income figures anyway.

2spicy

sourcrates wrote: »

Home visits are quite rare, more likley if you are in a city, where they can visit numerous people in one go, you don't have to deal with these people, they are self employed collectors, no more power than the postman has to come round your house.

You can ignore them completely, nothing they can do about it.

Certain lenders/DCA's employ them as people are easily talked into making agreements when the chap is sat in your kitchen.

They have the incentive of a bonus if they get money out of you, best to avoid them really, deal in writing only.

We had a card style note sent to us informing us that we should call the number on the card as a "visit" had been missed and needed to be re-scheduled.
Checked the CCTV and no one except the postie had visited. Called the number (it was Cabot) and outlined in no uncertain terms that without a CCJ, no "visitors" would be accepted and that all correspondence needed to be conducted in writing.

Nice lady who I spoke to informed me it was a standard "calling card" they send out and that no one would be visiting.

Puzzcat

Puzzcat wrote: »

Morning dmp'ers...


Of course typically as us dmp'ers know, I now have car trouble but..... assuming it is something fixable I should due to the lovely budgeting skills I have learnt have the cash to pay for it.. Will keep you posted...!!!


Love Puzz. x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Hoping the car doesn't cost too much - we have also got our car booked in for a check as it's making a loud humming noise when we reach above 20mph
Garage have checked exhaust (for free ) and it's booked in to have the braking system checked. Guy reckons it could be a wheel bearing - hope whatever it is it doesn't cost too much!! :eek: Also got MOT due in April!!

Anyway - keep us updated with how it all goes.

BDFSH x

Hello dmp'ers and BDFSH,

The good news is the car should be ready by Wednesday or maybe tomorrow if I am lucky... The bad news is £350 + vat..:eek:..

I do have the funds to pay for it..:D But hate parting with my savings....My MOT is due June and you just know with old cars they will need more pennies spending.. Hope your car's not as expensive BDFSH...!
Love Puzz. x

sourcrates

Saw this post today on the stepchange debt advisors thread.


A prime example of what not to do, I wish the OP had come here first, this is truly shocking :


"I am hugely concerned at the amount I am paying and need to break it all done further
DFH fee to handle the DMP is £35 per monthly and have paid the total amount below
£35 × 32 monthly payments (21 March 2013 to 21 November 2015) = £1120
£35 × 1 monthly payment on the 21 December 2015
£9 x 1 monthly payment on the 21 January 2016
£27 × 1 monthly payment on the 21 February 2016
TOTAL FEE PAID £1189 to DFH
THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF DEBT OUTSTANDING ON 21 MARCH 2013 £4650
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY ME (including DFH fee) £5548 as at 29 February 2016
Leaves an outstanding debt of £291.
I have recently been given a few hundred pounds that I wanted to clear my debts with, only to be told that for DFH to settle on my behalf I will be charged 35% of any savings they make which shocked me further as I simply can not afford anymore.
The most recent plan DFH have sent me has stated that I owe a further £3667.86 over the next 47 months. This has made me so ill with worry and I am being told that I’ve got to pay even more money....I simply can’t take this anymore, with my illness made worse by the whole situation.....why do they say I still owe so much money over such a vast amount of time, when I was told that it would be three years...it should be cleared within the next month.
This means DFH expect me to pay a total of £9216 for a debt of £4650 and fees for the three original years of £1189....an overpayment of £3377.
Please help me.....I don’t know where to turn....I feel cornered and don’t know what to do. I’ve done everything we mutually agreed on the 13 March 2013.
With my conditions, I struggle hugely to manage money and don’t know what to do...."

Little_Miss_Sunshine

sourcrates wrote: »

Saw this post today on the stepchange debt advisors thread.


A prime example of what not to do, I wish the OP had come here first, this is truly shocking :


"I am hugely concerned at the amount I am paying and need to break it all done further
DFH fee to handle the DMP is £35 per monthly and have paid the total amount below
£35 × 32 monthly payments (21 March 2013 to 21 November 2015) = £1120
£35 × 1 monthly payment on the 21 December 2015
£9 x 1 monthly payment on the 21 January 2016
£27 × 1 monthly payment on the 21 February 2016
TOTAL FEE PAID £1189 to DFH
THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF DEBT OUTSTANDING ON 21 MARCH 2013 £4650
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY ME (including DFH fee) £5548 as at 29 February 2016
Leaves an outstanding debt of £291.
I have recently been given a few hundred pounds that I wanted to clear my debts with, only to be told that for DFH to settle on my behalf I will be charged 35% of any savings they make which shocked me further as I simply can not afford anymore.
The most recent plan DFH have sent me has stated that I owe a further £3667.86 over the next 47 months. This has made me so ill with worry and I am being told that I’ve got to pay even more money....I simply can’t take this anymore, with my illness made worse by the whole situation.....why do they say I still owe so much money over such a vast amount of time, when I was told that it would be three years...it should be cleared within the next month.
This means DFH expect me to pay a total of £9216 for a debt of £4650 and fees for the three original years of £1189....an overpayment of £3377.
Please help me.....I don’t know where to turn....I feel cornered and don’t know what to do. I’ve done everything we mutually agreed on the 13 March 2013.
With my conditions, I struggle hugely to manage money and don’t know what to do...."

That's truly awful

blisteringblue

Disgusting, plain and simple, the should simply be outlawed.

Growurown

When I had my lightbulb moment the first thing I did was go online and the first company that came up I phoned. I didn't realise they were a company that would charge me. Anyway I did a bit of research and digging around and found this wonderful forum, and in particular this thread, which was an absolute lifeline and was directed to Stepchange. The original company I phoned weren't very happy about it but they got kicked into touch and didn't get a penny of my money.

These fee paying companies have a lot to answer for.

gilmum

Hi I have been lurking a bit on here, trying to make sense of DMPs - I have been in one for over 2 years and it has been much harder than anticipated chipping away of our £60,000+ debt. One of our major issues has been with LLoyds Bank who have never recognised the DMP as we have always paid more than the minimum amount on the Mastercard, simply because of the way CAP allocate our repayments - they get more because other creditors are being paid much less than the minimum amount. This is also the case on our Halifax credit card. Anyway after 2 years of frustration we made formal complaints to LLoyds and Halifax - Lloyds apologised and have said that they will stop interest and credit to our account past interest etc effectively halfing our biggest debt which is amazing and an enormous relief. Halifax basically told us to get lost and are still charging 26.54% APR. Whilst we are in a much better position with Lloyds and have now repaid almost half our debt, I have a few questions for those with more experience than me:

1) I have got a noddle account and can see that only 5 of our 12 creditors have registered a default. Is it worth simply writing and asking to be defaulted or will they ignore this. With what has happened with Lloyds and our youngest starting school so dramatically reducing our childcare costs we now have a much bigger income I think a lot of our repayments will be more than the minimum amount. I am thinking that this will mean they will never default us and interest rates will start being reinstated.

2) On Noddle some debts are not showing at all – does this mean they are closed / can you see closed accounts / if they are closed must this mean they are defaulted ?

3) From flicking through the pages on here it looks like Halifax are a lost cause - is it worth trying to negotiate down from our 26.54% interest rate - our original complaint has been brushed aside with the argument they have "no policy to reduce interest rates". They say they will only do this if we stopping paying altogether, which I have never really wanted to do - I just want to repay as soon as possible and without a ridiculous interest rate.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

cheffy1

Have just found this thread, and thought I'd just drop in and write down some of the stuff that's swirling round my head.

9 months ago, it finally hit me, my LBM, and I finally took my head out of the sand and contacted step change.

I was £27400 in debt and was spiralling way out of control.

Anyway, step change advised a DMP, I worked really hard to change my lifestyle and live within a budget, and a monthly payment of £292 was started. Great, time to breath and relax, I'm finally doing it.

Since then, that's all I've done, lived within my budget, tried to save a few odd ££s when I can, and paid my £292 on time every month.

Today, I suddenly realised that in reality, I've slipped back into the "head buried in the sand" frame of mind, because I've just happily paid the agreed monthly amount, and hasn't even bothered to register online with step change to track my debt, check statement etc.

So, tonight, I've done that, gone through all my debts, checked and updated the balance of all my debts.

Now the depression has hit me, due to the interest being added onto my largest debt, with Halifax, I've only actually cleared £277 off my total debt in the past 9 months!!!!!

What's the point in it all, is life even worth it? I feel worse now than I did at the beginning!

Sorry for the long post, you've all got your own stuff to deal with, just needed to tell someone/write it down.