DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

lardboy

Afternoon all,

My current DMP administrator (Whittaker Bell) will shortly stop managing my plan. They have suggested Angel Advance as an alternative. Does anyone have any experience of Angel Advance? Had a quick look at their website and their fees seem quite high.

Alternatively, are Stepchange a viable alternative? I've been quite happy with the service I've received from my paid plan - yep , it was my choice to go into a plan with fees, no regrets there.

As a charity though, I'm wondering whether the Stepchange service/professionalism might not be up to scratch. Happy to be disabused of this notion!

Thanks

Lardboy

Mulder83

Thank You,


Was the longest Journey of experience, The advice I would give to people just starting DMP or considering it, is not to worry about it or put your head in the sand. I did this sleepiness nights seeing the debts get higher and higher.


When I entered the DMP I felt weight lifted from my shoulders, at the time I didn't talk to anyone about it not even my wife. The initial part is the hardest because you know that for the next 6-7 years you'll have no means of getting credit, also have your family see you in debt but actually they are very supportive. My wife and I do things jointly now and starting my own savings account for Christmas and emergencies.


I am actually supporting my wife who currently has some debts of her own, and without the experience and journey I've been through I don't think I could of helped her.

sourcrates

lardboy wrote: »

Afternoon all,

My current DMP administrator (Whittaker Bell) will shortly stop managing my plan. They have suggested Angel Advance as an alternative. Does anyone have any experience of Angel Advance? Had a quick look at their website and their fees seem quite high.

Alternatively, are Stepchange a viable alternative? I've been quite happy with the service I've received from my paid plan - yep , it was my choice to go into a plan with fees, no regrets there.

As a charity though, I'm wondering whether the Stepchange service/professionalism might not be up to scratch. Happy to be disabused of this notion!

Thanks

Lardboy

Hi,

You don't need a 3rd party to run a DMP for you, all they do is pass on your payment, something you can do yourself for free, or use one of the free debt charities.

What kind of service exactly do you expect ?

The money you pay in fees could of gone towards your debt, these DMC's go bust all the time, on most occasions your creditors have not been paid for months, they then collapse and take all your cash with them.

You have no comeback whatsoever in that situation.

Why risk it when its unessessary ???

I sound strongly advise you to go to stepchange or payplan.

Nigglesquiggle

Hi everyone!
I am new to this thread and would really appreciate some advice. Myself and my husband have been on a DMP with SC for approximately 4 years we have debts of around £33k (original balance approx £55k). We pay £492 per month and it is due to be cleared in 5 yrs.
We are finding it really difficult at the moment. We have actually put our house on the market and considered downsizing or renting to clear the debts. Due to our circumstances we have been unable to find a mortgage with anyone so if we do move it will have to be the renting option. We have approx £70k in equity.
I have recently started a University course so my working hours have been reduced to 2 days per week. This may appear selfish of me but I was thinking of the long term gains when/if I qualify in 4 years time.
We have just done a credit review with SC and as our incomings have decreased and some of our outgoings have increased SC have advised they are a charity they can no longer take payments from us. They have advised that we can either suspend payments for 3 months and just pay creditors token payments of £1 or declare bankruptcy.
We are really confused as to which option to take. This situation has put a huge strain on our relationship and we are so low about everything at the moment. Just feel so ashamed and helpless!!! Sorry about the rant but would appreciate any advice.
Many thanks xx

GrinC

January2015 wrote: »

Do as Sourcrates says and chase refunds of interest and charges since you started your DMP. We had to do this with Barclaycard - a battle, but we got there

I've asked Halifax to stop interest and late payment fees and they refused. I pay £50 a month to them via PayPlan and £30 of it are interest/late charges.


This is why I'm hoping to get all my smaller debts out of the way so I can really crack on with the ones that seem to be going nowhere!

January2015

GrinC wrote: »

I've asked Halifax to stop interest and late payment fees and they refused. I pay £50 a month to them via PayPlan and £30 of it are interest/late charges.


This is why I'm hoping to get all my smaller debts out of the way so I can really crack on with the ones that seem to be going nowhere!

I had trouble with Hellifax re. charges and interest. I wrote to them and quoted the lending code. They did phone me and talk through our situation and ensured we understood the impact of what defaulting the accounts would mean for us. They refunded all interest and charges backdated to the start of our DMP. They defaulted the accounts with 3 months - which they said they would. They said it would take that long to default them. I've dug out and quoted my original post regarding this below. The bit about section 227 may not be applicable to your case, but I've left it in the quote anyway - we had several different type of accounts with Hellifax.

Don't be scared to challenge creditors. People on this forum probably know their rights better than the people working in bank call centres. I'm not knocking those staff but they really do not know everything they should.

January2015 wrote: »

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.

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".


My argument on this one has been that our DMP sees us through to retirement age and whilst we are making more than token £1 payments our payments are still not equivalent to the required amount for the account to be in order and therefore our payments still constitute a token payment (my logic being that anything less than the required minimum payment must be a token payment).

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.

My argument on this one (the Hellifax OD) was that it was going to take more than 30 years to clear based on our token payments if they kept charging their daily fee. With no fees we could clear the debt by retirement age. I'm working on developing this argument into my complaint with BC re. interest charges. I need to be more awake when I do the figures, but if their interest is going to take us over the DMP period and into retirement then I think I would argue that makes the repayment period excessive - thinking cap needs to be firmly in place when I word my next missive to BC.

Section 227 states:

• Where possible, subscribers should have consistent policies for customers holding more than one product type in terms of charges and interest concessions.

My argument on this one was how can you agree our relationship has broken down and agree to default our OD but not our loans - you need to treat us consistently.

Edit: I should have said these were just the arguments I used based on my interpretation of bits of the Lending Code I thought applied to our individual circumstances and I do realise the arguments I made may not work for everyone (and indeed may not work for me with all of our creditors - but it did feel good to quote the code verbatim when some of them phoned us following our complaint letters - because different departments deal with complaints about different products even though it can be the same bank/creditor). I felt I knew more about it than the poor so and so's phoning me

January2015

Nigglesquiggle wrote: »

Hi everyone!
I am new to this thread and would really appreciate some advice. Myself and my husband have been on a DMP with SC for approximately 4 years we have debts of around £33k (original balance approx £55k). We pay £492 per month and it is due to be cleared in 5 yrs.
We are finding it really difficult at the moment. We have actually put our house on the market and considered downsizing or renting to clear the debts. Due to our circumstances we have been unable to find a mortgage with anyone so if we do move it will have to be the renting option. We have approx £70k in equity.
I have recently started a University course so my working hours have been reduced to 2 days per week. This may appear selfish of me but I was thinking of the long term gains when/if I qualify in 4 years time.
We have just done a credit review with SC and as our incomings have decreased and some of our outgoings have increased SC have advised they are a charity they can no longer take payments from us. They have advised that we can either suspend payments for 3 months and just pay creditors token payments of £1 or declare bankruptcy.
We are really confused as to which option to take. This situation has put a huge strain on our relationship and we are so low about everything at the moment. Just feel so ashamed and helpless!!! Sorry about the rant but would appreciate any advice.
Many thanks xx

I wouldn't sell the house. If you can afford the house and priority bills, including living costs, I would sit tight and pay the creditors £1 per month for as long as necessary. Obviously let the creditors know via and income and expenditure statement your situation has changed. Let them know you do plan to pay off your debts as and when you can and that you will keep them updated with any change in your circumstances as and when they happen.

Don't feel ashamed. You are not the only person in this sort of situation - just look at how many of us are on this forum, and I'm sure there any many, many more who haven't yet either acknowledged their problems, or haven't found this forum yet.

Your priority is you and your family - not the creditors. Yes you borrowed the money, yes you will pay it back when you can, but at the moment that's not now. Don't lose your home for unsecured credit.

Edit: by returning to study you are aiming to increase your income in the future. It is not an easy decision to make in your situation - but again, don't be ashamed - do what's right for you and your family.

System

Hi Folks.
Just looking for a bit of reassurance - we've been on a dmp since July - all creditors stopped interest charges, and agreed payment plan. We have made token payments for last 3 months due to change in circumstances and we've had our 1st default notice through.
I know I should probably be relieved / pleased but I don't really feel like that. We are currently in the process of selling house, and although I wasn't planning to clear this debt with the proceeds, I was hoping to clear the other ones and then increase my repayments....

Can you reassure me that getting default rather than AP marker I'll be better off in the long run? Just felt thoroughly depressed by the letter that came, and knowing that our circumstances will be changing in next 3 months and we will be much better off I wonder if I shouldn't try and stave off the default?

Confused.com. Hate the formal letters!
Thanks Ramble

sourcrates

ramblehan wrote: »

Can you reassure me that getting default rather than AP marker I'll be better off in the long run? Just felt thoroughly depressed by the letter that came, and knowing that our circumstances will be changing in next 3 months and we will be much better off I wonder if I shouldn't try and stave off the default?

Confused.com. Hate the formal letters!
Thanks Ramble

Hi,

They are just template letters they are legally obliged to send you.

I could paper a room with the amount I've had in the past.

I'll put it this way, defaults last six years, AP markers stay six years AFTER the debt is cleared, defaults are good !!!!

System

OK- deep breaths then!!
Thank you for responding so quickly.

Another question - The debt is all in my name, but my DH and I have a joint bank account and joint mortgage. When we lose the mortgage would it make sense for him to have a separate bank account so he is completely detached from me - not because we will want to get more credit, but at some stage we might want another mortgage/business loan so I presume he could build up his credit file quicker than I will be able to.
Thanks again Ramble x