All Clear Finance HELP

sarah78

HELP PLEASE.
Me and my partner signed up to Harrington Brooks, (now Allclear finance) approx. 4 years ago and have been paying £178.00 a month to them.
We weren't particulary happy about this but we were desperate and they sounded so helpful over the phone and promised to take all of the stress off us. We just paid them a monthly payment of £178.00 per month and they then dealt with all our creditors.
However, we have recently received a letter from Capital 1 regarding a credit card which had a debt of £300.00 - the money we owe to Capital 1 is £298.00 !!! Where has our money been going.
We have also just received a letter from Natwest regarding another of our loans and this does not seem to have come down either. We thought our debts had nearly been paid up but are now just shocked !!! Harrington Brooks have all our paper work for our debts, I have asked numerous times for details of what we owe so that I can keep a check on things but nothing has been sent to us. We are just so bewildered we don't know what to do !!!! We feel like we are now back at square 1. PLEASE PLEASE HELP.

We are new to this site and so apologise in advance if where I'm posting this is wrong.

Jenna

Hey Sarah,

Welcome to the site!

I'm sory I don't have any very constructive advice to offer, although I'm sure that much wiser people than me will be along shortly to help!

I would suggest contacting your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) office though, as they will be able to give you free advice and possibly suggest how to approach this situation.

Please keep us updated!

pinkkat8910

Hi Sarah,

Sorry you've had a bad experience with Harrington Brooks, I can completely sympathise as I went through the exact same thing with them before moving to Payplan.

Unfortunately I cannot offer a great deal of advice as I gave up on them and moved to another DMP company after numerous demands to Harrington Brooks for statements of what I owed, what had been paid to who with no response

Again, another problem with HB is that they charge you an admin fee as well (was about £25 a month for me if I remember rightly) - and elsewhere that £25 could be used to clear another bit of debt!!

I think after I rang them and got irate with the lady on the phone, and sent them a letter demanding statements of where my money had gone (sent recorded delivery) I finally got something through - and it turned out my balances were not going down as interest was not frozen on all and the creditors were not being paid on the same day every month, therefore I was incurring charges which in turn amounted my debt to more than the initial debt I wanted help for!

Have you perhaps thought about moving elsewhere or running your own Debt management plan?

sarah78

Thanks for your advice, I have been in touch with Allclear Finance today and have asked for all my details of creditors and how much I owe to be sent in the post. The phone call wasn't as bad as what I thought it was going to be.
I am going to contact Payplan this afternoon and get some advice and will probably be on here again once I've received the details of my debt from All Clear.
Just thought I'd keep you updated.
Thanks again.

mummed

please can someone help!!!!!!!!!!
i have been speaking to a dmp company called harrington brooks who seem quite helpful,but looking on your page not so sure now. can somebody tell me about them etc.

ladybez

Welcome to the boards. The usual advice on here is not to pay for any debt advice or management plans which you can get for free. See the stickies at the top of the board and consider contacting cccs, payplan, national debtline or christians against poverty, who can all give you the same advice as a fee charging company. Many creditors prefer you to deal this way as they know that they are receiving all the monies you are paying, rather than having sums deducted for fees.

mummed

thank you have just spoken to national debt line, who are sending me an information pack. unfortunately have paid harrington brooks £50 to get ball rolling and given them all my information. now worried i will not get money back. and they will take agreed monthly payment from my bank. have not signed anything yet, was due on saturday.

mypurplepants

Hi there,
I've been reading some reviews about Harrington Brooks and now I'm really concerned. They have organised my IVA last month. I have spoken to 2 of my creditors and they have been advised that I am now on the IVA. After reading some of the comments posted about HB I am now really worried that my payments will not be passed to my creditors and my debts will not reduce. I'm terrified now that I'll end up with baliffs coming to the door. Now that my IVA is in place is it possible for me to change to Payplan or another debt management company? Or should I speak to Harrington Brooks for reassurance that the debts will be paid off?