DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

muppetscotland

muppetscotland wrote: »

Is it me or is this weird?

Got a letter from RBoS today. They are my main creditor and between loans, overdrafts and cc we owe them around £60k (yes I know, it's horrendous).

The letter is from their Risk Management Team and has a different number and address to the financial difficulties team and most significantly it gives me a named person to deal with. Her letter actually says she will be on holiday etc so not to contact till 11 April!

Is this usual? Has anyone else had a specific person allocated to them?

Having a wobble!!!

(Current) wobble over. ...spoke to v nice account manager at Royal Bank who basically explained that she is there to help individuals with a large debt to see if refinancing is an option we agreed it wasn't so I'm to be passed to Recoveries in 28 days.

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement during my weekend wobble. Won't be the last one I don't suppose but with every phone call and discussion it is getting less frightening.

sourcrates

MitziB wrote: »

Hi, after being a lurker for ages (and finding numerous answers to my own questions from people who have gone through the same thing already) I've bitten the bullet and joined in the hope that a current niggling question can be answered.


I'm on a SC DMP with just around 3 years still to go. I have no way of finding any extra cash to make any F&Fs so will just go with the flow for now. I keep seeing so much info about unenforceable debts, compensation payments for this and that,and other CC issues but nothing seems to cover my problem. I am hoping there is some route I should take to get some refund from one of my CC providers, MBNA (now with Link).


Before I started my DMP I never missed a payment on CC bills, albeit only minimums each month. I spent the past year or so of that time surviving by paying off the minimum on one card and as soon as payment had cleared immediately withdrawing it in cash to pay off the other minimum (whose payment date was conveniently sometime later). I did this with other cards too, to my shame and embarrassment, and as interest kept being added and I was approaching being maxed out it meant less and less leeway each month. On occasion I went slightly over-limit or incurred 'late' charges but always rectified this asap. The extra charges and interest was crippling though.


My query is, should MBNA have been aware that for at least the last year before my DMP started that my payment/cash-withdrawal patterns were obvious signs of someone in financial difficulties? I never used the cards for purchases in that last year, just for withdrawing money. I never had a single communication from them during that time to either halt my self-destructive pattern or offer any help and advice.


I have a Noddle account and can see all the payments made to my other CC providers but for some reason they only show very limited information for MBNA and certainly no history of monthly payments/balances.


I'm sorry to be so long-winded about this but does anyone know if I have any grounds for any sort of complaint/redress from MBNA please? If so. is there a procedure I need to follow? I assume the first step is to obtain a copy of statements from them but I understand this costs money and that's something I just can't spare at the moment.


Any advice will be so very welcome. Thanks for such a brilliant resource which never fails to come up with non-judgemental and invaluable advice.

Hi,


Yes, you simply send MBNA a formal written complaint.


Advise them of your financial difficulties in the months prior to you starting your DMP, and ask for a refund of all charges applied to your account over that period. (you can ask, but I doubt they will refund interest, just over limit or missed payment charges).


You don't have to request statements, or do anything else, and it wont cost you more than the price of a stamp.


Mark your letter "COMPLAINT", and send to there complaints address, which will be on there website.
They then have 8 weeks to investigate your complaint, and give you a final response, if they wont admit any fault, or you are not happy with there analysis of things, then you can take it to the financial ombudsman service for resolution.

MitziB

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,


Yes, you simply send MBNA a formal written complaint.


Advise them of your financial difficulties in the months prior to you starting your DMP, and ask for a refund of all charges applied to your account over that period. (they wont refund interest, just over limit or missed payment charges).


You don't have to request statements, or do anything else, and it wont cost you more than the price of a stamp.


Mark your letter "COMPLAINT", and send to there complaints address, which will be on there website.
They then have 8 weeks to investigate your complaint, and give you a final response, if they wont admit any fault, or you are not happy with there analysis of things, then you can take it to the financial ombudsman service for resolution.

Thank you very much for replying so quickly, sourcrates. I really do appreciate it.


One more thing (I sound like Colombo don't I?) , do I write to MBNA themselves or to LINK who have taken over the debts please?

sourcrates

MitziB wrote: »

Thank you very much for replying so quickly, sourcrates. I really do appreciate it.


One more thing (I sound like Colombo don't I?) , do I write to MBNA themselves or to LINK who have taken over the debts please?

Your dispute is with the original creditor, MBNA, so you should complain to them.
Its important to stress in your letter that as the original creditor, MBNA have a duty to resolve this matter for you, and not the DCA they may of sold the account to, as the dispute occurred before the sale/assignment of the account to Link.

MitziB

sourcrates wrote: »

Your dispute is with the original creditor, MBNA, so you should complain to them.
Its important to stress in your letter that as the original creditor, MBNA have a duty to resolve this matter for you, and not the DCA they may of sold the account to, as the dispute occurred before the sale/assignment of the account to Link.

Thanks again, sourcrates.


Will write the letter tonight and get it off first thing tomorrow then.


I've just had a thought (Unusual for me LOL). I have 2 different CCs with MBNA, both of which charged overlimit and late fees. Do I need to send a separate letter for each card account and would you advise the extra expense of sending the complaint by Recorded Delivery please?


You're a star, sourcrates, for patiently answering queries about things that are probably obvious to anyone else but me.

Mkl79

Sorry everyone,i really dont mean to put a downer on it all but i have something eating away at me here...if a DMP is so helpful (as they clearly have been to so many people) why isnt everyone in debt doing them? Its a question i have had to ask, sorry. My wife (nickname: The Ostrich) is doing one but wont talk about it,and i have watched her for nearly 10 years before i started one myself. Why? I am hoping that it is as great and helpful for me as it has been for her and so many of you...just things rarely go easy for me and i have many mental and emotional scars to prove it!!! I really hope i benefit from this as (from reading on here) i am starting to think i will,i am just too nervous to let my happiness,relief and liberation take over just yet!
Agai,i dont mean to be negative, but i had to ask
Cheers!!

sourcrates

MitziB wrote: »

Thanks again, sourcrates.


Will write the letter tonight and get it off first thing tomorrow then.


I've just had a thought (Unusual for me LOL). I have 2 different CCs with MBNA, both of which charged overlimit and late fees. Do I need to send a separate letter for each card account and would you advise the extra expense of sending the complaint by Recorded Delivery please?


You're a star, sourcrates, for patiently answering queries about things that are probably obvious to anyone else but me.

Treat as separate complaints yes.


People always recommend recorded delivery, but when your dealing with large companies such as MBNA, they receive there mail in bulk, so wear as the post office is "supposed" to gain a signature, in reality recorded mail usually ends up with the normal mail, so save your penny's.

sourcrates

Mkl79 wrote: »

Sorry everyone,i really dont mean to put a downer on it all but i have something eating away at me here...if a DMP is so helpful (as they clearly have been to so many people) why isnt everyone in debt doing them? Its a question i have had to ask, sorry. My wife (nickname: The Ostrich) is doing one but wont talk about it,and i have watched her for nearly 10 years before i started one myself. Why? I am hoping that it is as great and helpful for me as it has been for her and so many of you...just things rarely go easy for me and i have many mental and emotional scars to prove it!!! I really hope i benefit from this as (from reading on here) i am starting to think i will,i am just too nervous to let my happiness,relief and liberation take over just yet!
Agai,i dont mean to be negative, but i had to ask
Cheers!!

Hi,

It all depends on how much debt you have, if you have assets, such as a house, what your income/expenditure is, many factors really.

In England and Wales there are 3 formal debt solutions laid down in statute by parliament, they are :

Bankruptcy
IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement)
DRO (Debt relief order)

Then there is a DMP (debt management plan), this is basically an informal arrangement between you and your creditors to repay the debt you owe at a reduced, more affordable rate, than you were originally contracted to do.

Which solution you choose depends on your individual circumstances, you ask why everyone doesn't do one, well that option may not be suitable for everybody, and it also stems from a general ignorance amongst people on what there options actually are, a DMP should be a free to use service, but some limited companies charge you for the privilege, you should avoid companies such as this at all costs, as there are debt charities such as stepchange, who will set one up and manage it for free.

Puzzcat

Mkl79 wrote: »

Sorry everyone,i really dont mean to put a downer on it all but i have something eating away at me here...if a DMP is so helpful (as they clearly have been to so many people) why isnt everyone in debt doing them? Its a question i have had to ask, sorry. My wife (nickname: The Ostrich) is doing one but wont talk about it,and i have watched her for nearly 10 years before i started one myself. Why? I am hoping that it is as great and helpful for me as it has been for her and so many of you...just things rarely go easy for me and i have many mental and emotional scars to prove it!!! I really hope i benefit from this as (from reading on here) i am starting to think i will,i am just too nervous to let my happiness,relief and liberation take over just yet!
Agai,i dont mean to be negative, but i had to ask
Cheers!!

Hi,

As sourcrates mentioned the problem is not everyone knows about them. I certainly didn't until 2013, but I wish I had known a lot earlier..! The main reason everyone doesn't do it is that it trashes your and anyone your financially associated with's credit rating I would think..!

You will benefit from it as long as you learn to live within your budget, you won't if you go over budget or end up taking out more credit to fill the gaps. I'm sure you'll be fine, keep reading this thread and the previous one's lots to learn on here...!!!

Puzz.x

Mkl79

Thanks
The words 'credit card,loan,overdraft' etc have been crossed out of my dictionary...no more credit for me...EVER!!! And i am confident we can stick to a budget as the main part of my debt is due to a dimminishing business and running a VERY problematic vehicle as opposed to too much (but some!) overspending. Feel better now,just going to relax,duck and dive for the first month,then manage as best as possible from then on.
Thanks all.