DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Sazzie23

Imtryingmybest wrote: »

Hi all

This is my first time as part of this forum, and I was hoping for some advice...my wife and I have been in a DMP with SC for some time now, and to give us more control (mainly to deal with BC) we are trying to go self managed - so far so good, but the only company who has been 'awkward' is Whistletree (the debt wing of good old Northern Rock)...having paid them myself today (rather than go through SC), they said that because they hadn't received payment on time from SC, I was now 'outside' of my agreement...the upshot is that they told me I had to either go back to SC and they would reinstate my agreement (frozen interest - I'm 5K in arrears on the unsecured part of my mortgage, but up to date on secured) or declare my intention to go self - managed, and go through new I&E with them. If I didn't, my unsecured loan payments would revert to 4.5%APR. Ok, I understand, but I asked if I could have a copy of their I&E form, and they refused, and wanted me to go through it over the phone. Naturally, I declined their offer, but I was wondering if anyone could advise on where to go now:
a) go back to DMP with SC?
b) declare intention to go SM, and go through I&E over the phone?
If I do nothing, the chap told me that it would naturally revert to 4.5%APR and they would expect me to 'make a contribution' to the outstanding amount PCM - what does that mean??

Any help much appreciated!

Hi Tryingmybest

Welcome to the DMP thread. Seems like you have plenty of knowledge to share already.

I think the contribution is that they expect you to pay something off the unsecured debt as well as the interest each month. The self-managed people be along soon but I think the general advice is to use an Ie from SC or NEDCAB and put your details in writing telling them what you will be paying.

Saz

Sazzie23

Ellieseleven wrote: »

I have just come off the phone to BC, they say they have sold on the debt to Link (along with approx. another 1,000 accounts).

I explained that we have not been notified and asked why the account had not been defaulted. The guy on the phone said they wouldn't default us (as though he was doing us a favour) and that Link would offer us an opportunity to pay off the account at a reduced amount. I asked what the status would be then and he said "partially settled" (I don't want to partially settle as this account would be fully paid in 5 months time anyway).

I asked if they would default the account and back date it but again the response was that AR is better on the account than a default.

My conclusion to this call is that I know more than the operator and I will now put my query in writing and ask again if they will default us and back date it 6 years.

I just thought this might be useful for anyone with BC who finds their account sold onto Link.

I will keep you updated with any response from BC

Ellie x

Hi Ellie,

Same old BC AR song, good luck with it, they are such pains.
No help to you but have found Link ok to deal with.

And of course you know more than them, you are :money: informed :T
Saz

Imtryingmybest

Thanks,Saz - with more confidence from sharing ideas and seeing other posts, I will ring Whistletree back today...I'm not going to be pressured into doing something we don't want to do, and I might say that, whilst I appreciate that they want a decision on what I'm going to do, 2 days is a very short amount of time to decide! (Even BC stopped correspondence and held charges for a month!!!)
I will also again ask for things in writing, as I do get flustered trying to do things over the phone...

Ellieseleven

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi Ellie,

Same old BC AR song, good luck with it, they are such pains.
No help to you but have found Link ok to deal with.

And of course you know more than them, you are :money: informed :T
Saz

Thanks Saz,

I felt quite proud of myself actually phoning up a creditor and putting my point across and correcting them when they tried to give mis-information. I've come a long way in the 6 years I have been on a DMP, there was a time I would have run for the hills rather than discuss my debt with a DCA or Creditor...and it's all thanks to MSE and the very knowledgeable people on here:money:

Ellie x

sourcrates

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Thanks Saz,

I felt quite proud of myself actually phoning up a creditor and putting my point across and correcting them when they tried to give mis-information. I've come a long way in the 6 years I have been on a DMP, there was a time I would have run for the hills rather than discuss my debt with a DCA or Creditor...and it's all thanks to MSE and the very knowledgeable people on here:money:

Ellie x

BC are a law unto themselves.

Under the consumer credit act, they cannot sell on a debt until the relationship between creditor and debtor has broken down, this is usually served in the form of a default notice, did they send you one ?

If not, until they do so, Link has no legal right to ask you for payment.

make_the_change

Hi All,

Had a text from Argos saying my account has now been defaulted and that they may be able to offer me a reduction of my balance.

Anyone else had this?

Ellieseleven

sourcrates wrote: »

BC are a law unto themselves.

Under the consumer credit act, they cannot sell on a debt until the relationship between creditor and debtor has broken down, this is usually served in the form of a default notice, did they send you one ?

If not, until they do so, Link has no legal right to ask you for payment.

No Sourcrates, they have not sent me a default notice nor any correspondence to say this was happening (I only know from checking my SC account). I asked the person on the phone at BC why they had sold on the debt but not defaulted me. His answer was that AR markers are better than defaults. When I explained the AR markers are damaging my credit file as they will remain there longer and a default would have been about to drop off, he still insisted an AR marker was better and tried to make out selling on the account is a good thing as we can settle at a reduced rate (I said I didn't want a partially settled marker on my credit file either).


Basically, I was getting nowhere on the phone so will pursue in writing and see if that works.


Thanks for your replies


Ellie x

make_the_change

make_the_change wrote: »

Hi All,

Had a text from Argos saying my account has now been defaulted and that they may be able to offer me a reduction of my balance.

Anyone else had this?

Has anyone had this?

Also had a voicemail from FRS on behalf of Argos. Never heard of them?!

Triangle

Our BC has been sold to Link too.

I checked our credit reports and BC have defaulted the account to the start of the DMP as promised (Sept 15) however as its been sold I don't think they applied the refund on interest charges we were promised.

angela1976

Just checked our stepchange account and both our bc accounts are now showing with Link, not had any correspondence just keeping my fingers crossed they are OK to deal with. As everything has ran pretty smoothly for the last 2 years