DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

LadyMorticia

Does anyone else find it incredibly annoying when creditors won't reply to your emails/letters?

My Littlewoods and Very debts have been sold on to a debt company (NCO Europe) and I've sent so many emails wanting to know what the interest situation is as my online Very and Littlewoods accounts keep saying that I'm in arrears (which is increasing!) but my emails go unreplied to.

I have problems using the phone, hence why I have to email/send letters but it's so frustrating when I don't get a reply.

Has anyone here dealt with NCO Europe? Is this standard practice to not answer emails?!

Thank you.

sourcrates

LadyMorticia wrote: »

Does anyone else find it incredibly annoying when creditors won't reply to your emails/letters?

My Littlewoods and Very debts have been sold on to a debt company (NCO Europe) and I've sent so many emails wanting to know what the interest situation is as my online Very and Littlewoods accounts keep saying that I'm in arrears (which is increasing!) but my emails go unreplied to.

I have problems using the phone, hence why I have to email/send letters but it's so frustrating when I don't get a reply.

Has anyone here dealt with NCO Europe? Is this standard practice to not answer emails?!

Thank you.

To answer your other question, when a debt gets sold, the account is frozen, no more interest or charges can be added (as per your original agreement) so your debt will not rise any higher.

When communicating with creditors, do everything in writing, never phone or email, as they must receive thousands of them, and seldom reply.

LadyMorticia

sourcrates wrote: »

To answer your other question, when a debt gets sold, the account is frozen, no more interest or charges can be added (as per your original agreement) so your debt will not rise any higher.

When communicating with creditors, do everything in writing, never phone or email, as they must receive thousands of them, and seldom reply.

Ah, thank you.

As a side note: I've just had a PM from someone saying that they work for a company who could write off all my debts. I'm very cynical, and if I had the money to write off some of my debts, I wouldn't be on a DMP in the first place.

This is only my second month on a DMP so I'm still finding my feet.

Thank you for all of your advice.

January2015

LadyMorticia wrote: »

My Littlewoods and Very debts have been sold on to a debt company (NCO Europe) and I've sent so many emails wanting to know what the interest situation is as my online Very and Littlewoods accounts keep saying that I'm in arrears (which is increasing!) but my emails go unreplied to.

I have problems using the phone, hence why I have to email/send letters but it's so frustrating when I don't get a reply.

Has anyone here dealt with NCO Europe? Is this standard practice to not answer emails?!

Thank you.

sourcrates wrote: »

To answer your other question, when a debt gets sold, the account is frozen, no more interest or charges can be added (as per your original agreement) so your debt will not rise any higher.

Slightly disagree Sourcrates - debt collection agencies can add interest, but most don't. The following information is taken from a Stepchange webpage

Will a collection agency add more interest and charges? If the debt has been sold to a collection agency interest and charges will usually stop. The original creditor may already have stopped these after the account defaulted.
However, in some cases a debt collection agency may continue adding interest and charges. They can only add amounts which are allowed in the contract you signed with the original creditor.
If the debt is still owned by the original creditor they may continue adding interest and charges while the collection agency is contacting you.

The thing here is that Very/Littlewoods have not sold the debt. NCO are the in-house debt collection agency for Very/Littlewoods etc. They do add interest to your account, e.g. if you have a buy now pay later agreement, they will add the interest if you have not paid the balance off by the time the buy now pay later interest free period ends.

As mentioned above though, most DCAs do not add interest or charges once debts move to them - which is why we all want our accounts moved to DCAs a quick as possible

snowbean

snowbean wrote: »

Hi guys, great to see everyone doing so well.
I have another quick question please... 2 of the debts on our dmp are in my husbands name, and were defaulted back when we started the dmp 2-3 years ago now. However, I was under the impression that they had both stopped adding interest, but I now think that one of them is still adding interest. I'm going to get him to write to them to ask the interest to stop. Is there a particular template letter to use for this? Or just to say that given that we're on a dmp and the debt has been defaulted, it's unfair that they're still adding interest which will have been preventing the debt from being reduced? Can he ask them to remove the interest backdated to when the debt was defaulted?! Thanks for any advice

Can anyone help, please?

January2015

LadyMorticia wrote: »

Ah, thank you.

As a side note: I've just had a PM from someone saying that they work for a company who could write off all my debts. I'm very cynical, and if I had the money to write off some of my debts, I wouldn't be on a DMP in the first place.

This is only my second month on a DMP so I'm still finding my feet.

Thank you for all of your advice.

That PM would concern me. I would be wary of anyone offering that sort of support/advice and would report it to admin on this forum via PM myself. No-one should be promoting their company/services without prior permission of the MSE team - and definitely not through PMs.

January2015

snowbean wrote: »

Originally Posted by snowbean
Hi guys, great to see everyone doing so well.
I have another quick question please... 2 of the debts on our dmp are in my husbands name, and were defaulted back when we started the dmp 2-3 years ago now. However, I was under the impression that they had both stopped adding interest, but I now think that one of them is still adding interest. I'm going to get him to write to them to ask the interest to stop. Is there a particular template letter to use for this? Or just to say that given that we're on a dmp and the debt has been defaulted, it's unfair that they're still adding interest which will have been preventing the debt from being reduced? Can he ask them to remove the interest backdated to when the debt was defaulted?! Thanks for any advice

snowbean wrote: »

Can anyone help, please?

Hi

Write to the creditors and quote the lending code as follows:

Lending Code Section 224 states:

• Subscribers should consider reducing or stopping interest and charges when a customer evidences that they are in financial difficulties. Such reduction/suspension decision should be based upon an income and expenditure statement indicating that they are unable to make repayments sufficient to meet contractual terms. Where a customer is able to make only token payments, their debt should not increase as a result of interest and charges levied. The assessment should reflect the customer’s lack of ability to pay rather than the stage an account has reached in the arrears cycle or whether they are using free sources of debt advice. Where a firm declines to allow concessions, they should be prepared to explain why to the customer or their adviser if requested to do so.

[FONT=&quot]The Lending Code states a token payment is "An offer of payment of a small amount, e.g. £1, made by a customer who has no surplus income available for their ‘non-priority’ creditors and whose circumstances have a realistic prospect of improving so that they will be able to resume full or increased payments".

[/FONT] Section 225 states:

• It is inappropriate for interest and charges to continue to be taken where the result would be that the repayment period for the customer becomes excessive. In forming a judgement on what might be excessive, a subscriber should take into account the type of product and the individual circumstances of the borrower.

In your letter tell them that going on a DMP was a difficult decision, but one you realised you needed to make to address and responsibly deal with your financial situation. Then ask them to explain why, when they are signed up to The Lending Code they are still adding interest/charge which are in no way assisting you to move forward.

I've done this with Helifax and BC. Helifax were much quicker to sort the issue out and stop all interest and charges. BC took almost six months but eventually refunded all interest and charges since the start of our DMP.

sourcrates

January2015 wrote: »

That PM would concern me. I would be wary of anyone offering that sort of support/advice and would report it to admin on this forum via PM myself. No-one should be promoting their company/services without prior permission of the MSE team - and definitely not through PMs.

He's been posting on the forum, I've reported it as spam.

Inhouse debt collectors are the same as the original creditor, yes, but lady M said her accounts had been sold, so that would not be an Inhouse Collector, once sold, interest and charges ceace, as per your original agreement, as I said 😚

January2015

sourcrates wrote: »

He's been posting on the forum, I've reported it as spam.

Inhouse debt collectors are the same as the original creditor, yes, but lady M said her accounts had been sold, so that would not be an Inhouse Collector, once sold, interest and charges ceace, as per your original agreement, as I said 😚

Hi Sourcrates - hope you're keeping well. Lady M said her debt had been 'sold' to NCO Europe. When I spoke to NCO the lady I spoke to told me they were the in-house collection arm of Shop Direct. Shop Direct own Littlewoods, Very, K&Co, Isme and Woolworths. I think they just like debtors to worry a bit more when they say they have sold the debt to NCO People like Lady M will not realise that NCO = Very = Littlewoods etc. etc.

sourcrates

January2015 wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates - hope you're keeping well. Lady M said her debt had been 'sold' to NCO Europe. When I spoke to NCO the lady I spoke to told me they were the in-house collection arm of Shop Direct. Shop Direct own Littlewoods, Very, K&Co, Isme and Woolworths. I think they just like debtors to worry a bit more when they say they have sold the debt to NCO People like Lady M will not realise that NCO = Very = Littlewoods etc. etc.

Ah, they used to be NDR payments, change there names more often than a tax dodger lol