DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

NoOneAround

Hi everyone,
I'm not sure why I'm posting really. I sought help from SC 3 years ago but self managed from the stat. All seems to be OK except our personal overdraft account never defaulted and they have started adding interest at £75+ per month and harrassing phone calls by call centre people who seem not to know the history. Previously they have refunded the interest when I have called, but this time don't seem to be listening.

I have drafted a letter to send, reminding them its been an ongoing situation, asking why the account was not defaulted same time as our other accounts with them etc., also to ask them not to phone.
I'm not sure whether to add my personal circumstances which have added to challenge - diagnosis of chronic health condition/bereavement - not sure if it adds anything - just wondering as somewhere I read that they should be aware of any health/mental health issues. Dont know if it'll help or just sound like whinging!
Also in last phone call they said no plan was in place with SC - I never said there was, as I have been self managing, all I have said was that I sought advice from SC. I did call SC a few days ago, but I would have had to go through everything again, to give any advice, and they would need to include all creditors. ALso because I'm self employed , they said I had to go through their business debt line (even though its really sole trader company), so I didn;t bother. Obviously all other creditors are fine defaulted/accepting low payments so I want to leave well alone. Also SC don't like low payments for long, do they, I know after a year (I used to call them to get an updated I&E ) they said that it wasn't a long term solution (I pay £67 a month to all creditors).

I dont know if any of this makes sense. Just trying to get my thoughts clear I guess, Its all just thrown me a bit.
Any suggestions welcome.

sourcrates

NoOneAround wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I'm not sure why I'm posting really. I sought help from SC 3 years ago but self managed from the stat. All seems to be OK except our personal overdraft account never defaulted and they have started adding interest at £75+ per month and harrassing phone calls by call centre people who seem not to know the history. Previously they have refunded the interest when I have called, but this time don't seem to be listening.

I have drafted a letter to send, reminding them its been an ongoing situation, asking why the account was not defaulted same time as our other accounts with them etc., also to ask them not to phone.
I'm not sure whether to add my personal circumstances which have added to challenge - diagnosis of chronic health condition/bereavement - not sure if it adds anything - just wondering as somewhere I read that they should be aware of any health/mental health issues. Dont know if it'll help or just sound like whinging!
Also in last phone call they said no plan was in place with SC - I never said there was, as I have been self managing, all I have said was that I sought advice from SC. I did call SC a few days ago, but I would have had to go through everything again, to give any advice, and they would need to include all creditors. ALso because I'm self employed , they said I had to go through their business debt line (even though its really sole trader company), so I didn;t bother. Obviously all other creditors are fine defaulted/accepting low payments so I want to leave well alone. Also SC don't like low payments for long, do they, I know after a year (I used to call them to get an updated I&E ) they said that it wasn't a long term solution (I pay £67 a month to all creditors).

I dont know if any of this makes sense. Just trying to get my thoughts clear I guess, Its all just thrown me a bit.
Any suggestions welcome.

Hi,

Yes, a letter is the best way to deal with matters such as this, callcentre staff only know what there screen tells them, you need to be dealing with complaints handlers and compliance dept staff.

Detail everything about your health issues, they have a duty to treat you fairly, if you don't tell them, they wont know will they.

I assume you no longer use this account, that been the case, ask for it to be frozen, with no more interest or charges added, and make your offer of payment to them.

Tell them to contact you in writing only, and to remove all contact numbers from their systems, explain you have taken advice from stepchange, but have chosen to self manage a debt management plan, using the same protocol as the debt charities do.

Sometimes you just need to get through to the right person to help you.

NoOneAround

Hi sourcrates - Thank you for your reply - that's really useful and I will amend the letter.
Should I actually be asking them to default and back date or just to freeze the account?
I haven't used it in 3 years, other than to pay my small pro rata payment offer into it by standing order.

Thanks
NOA

sourcrates

NoOneAround wrote: »

Hi sourcrates - Thank you for your reply - that's really useful and I will amend the letter.
Should I actually be asking them to default and back date or just to freeze the account?
I haven't used it in 3 years, other than to pay my small pro rata payment offer into it by standing order.

Thanks
NOA

Default and freeze i think is best.

determinedtobedebtfree_2

Hi all

Well! I have taken the plunge! I have 14 letters written, signed and printed waiting to go to the post office tomorrow: 1 to SC telling them I'm going self managed and 13 to my creditors explaining the same thing and offering token payments. I'm going to send them signed for even though that will be £22 I shouldn't really be spending in the 5 weeks since I've last been paid (roll on Friday!!!). I've also photocopied the signed letters and will keep these plus the post office proof of postage in my shiny new Self Managed DMP folder.

I have set up a new MyCashPlus prepaid card account and have already set the standing order to send my DMP money to the new account, so I am not even nearly tempted by having "more money" in my account. After 6 months I'll already have a tidy sum to start offering F&Fs.

Thank you to everyone who has given me advice on this lately!

DTBDF x

determinedtobedebtfree_2

In the 5th week*** Can't edit for some reason!

System

determinedtobedebtfree wrote: »

Hi all

Well! I have taken the plunge! I have 14 letters written, signed and printed waiting to go to the post office tomorrow: 1 to SC telling them I'm going self managed and 13 to my creditors explaining the same thing and offering token payments. I'm going to send them signed for even though that will be £22 I shouldn't really be spending in the 5 weeks since I've last been paid (roll on Friday!!!). I've also photocopied the signed letters and will keep these plus the post office proof of postage in my shiny new Self Managed DMP folder.

I have set up a new MyCashPlus prepaid card account and have already set the standing order to send my DMP money to the new account, so I am not even nearly tempted by having "more money" in my account. After 6 months I'll already have a tidy sum to start offering F&Fs.

Thank you to everyone who has given me advice on this lately!

DTBDF x

Good luck with it all. I have been with SC since 2015 and determined to go self managed this year. Just need to get to grips with it all. I know it is the best way forward.

sourcrates

Hi,

Can we keep this thread strictly DMP related, (no SOA posting), please do that in the main DFW forum.

I’ll move daffodil’s post to a new thread.

Thanks all.

Thread can be found here :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5780037

Daffodil2018

Thanks for moving it over sourcrates.

I have a few dmp related questions if I may?

How does a dmp affect your mortgage? I know it impacts credit ratings, but the thought of it affecting my mortgage or home ownership terrifies me. And I think it’s putting me off doing the Dmp with SC (whose website said that’s the plan they thought would be best for my situation)
OH and I have a joint mortgage, on a shared ownership property. Our fixed rate (4.59%) ends in November, when we’ll move to svr (4.2% at the moment) unless we can get another deal (unlikely as it’s a specialist mortgage and it was 95% LTV).

Has anyone here on a dmp ever lost their home?

System

For those of you that have moved on to SM DMP.....did you all drop to token payments to start with?