DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Brogden

January2015 wrote: »

Hi Brogden

I'm now of the same mindset as you - sort the secured loan and mortgage first and then the unsecured debts. Whilst I'm overpaying the mortgages I'm reducing the long term interest on those. Whilst I'm not paying much to the unsecured loans, they are not increasing and are actually moving towards improved F&F offers I have money saved for F&Fs should any decent offers come through, but I don't save much more into this pot now as I overpay on the secured debts instead now

I used the MSE mortgage overpayment calculator to work out how much interest and how many years I could shave off my secure debts. For me, it was a no brainer

I've probably asked already - but did you get your CCAs checked out on All about debt? It seems a shame that such old agreements are enforceable

Thanks Jan - you really are a smooth operator :T !!

I didn't get any CCA's checked out on 'All About Debt.' I think I came to my own conclusions that everything was right based on how right they looked, how recent the credit agreement was, whether the firm was behaving competently or like a bunch of monkeys. If they passed these 'Brogden-tests' I let it be, knowing that to argue may cause things to go to Court which although I may win at that time would have greatly increased marital tensions.....

However.....where a firm could not produce anything following my CCA request, that could be a different matter. This happened on two......this PRAT one we are talking about and one of Mrs. B's with Cabort. I settled hers at a discount even though I knew it must be UE simply to avoid the old marital tensions again......she would never understand the argument that you shouldn't pay because it was UE and would kick off every time a letter or statement was posted to her. I was 'supposed to be digging us out of the hole' !! My decision on this was very definitely the correct one :rotfl:!!

Looking again now at my UE PRAT file, I see my CCA request was sent to collection agents, Moorcroft at the start of 2016. This was before PRAT sacked them. Moorcroft sent a letter saying they were contacting the debt owners who would contact the original creditor etc etc...I am remiss in not keeping a record but at the time Moorcoft were sacked I know I spoke to PRA who were chasing a new payment arrangement. Anyway, that was two years ago - no arrangegement or payments made since. It looks like it's four years to go.......let's see......:eek:

Summer12

Hi

Having read through the latest posts I’m thinking about putting in CCA requests for 3 of our oldest debts ( from about 1997). It seems that once in a dmp and debts start getting passed on to collection agencies things start to get a little complicated. Any one see this as a bad idea? Haven’t started dmp yet, still continuing with my researching! Thought If any come back ue I may feel a little less scared of the dmp! Also is an overdraft treated the same as a cc debit on a dmp? Thank you

January2015

Brogden wrote: »

Thanks Jan - you really are a smooth operator :T !!

I didn't get any CCA's checked out on 'All About Debt.' I think I came to my own conclusions that everything was right based on how right they looked, how recent the credit agreement was, whether the firm was behaving competently or like a bunch of monkeys. If they passed these 'Brogden-tests' I let it be, knowing that to argue may cause things to go to Court which although I may win at that time would have greatly increased marital tensions.....

However.....where a firm could not produce anything following my CCA request, that could be a different matter. This happened on two......this PRAT one we are talking about and one of Mrs. B's with Cabort. I settled hers at a discount even though I knew it must be UE simply to avoid the old marital tensions again......she would never understand the argument that you shouldn't pay because it was UE and would kick off every time a letter or statement was posted to her. I was 'supposed to be digging us out of the hole' !! My decision on this was very definitely the correct one :rotfl:!!

Looking again now at my UE PRAT file, I see my CCA request was sent to collection agents, Moorcroft at the start of 2016. This was before PRAT sacked them. Moorcroft sent a letter saying they were contacting the debt owners who would contact the original creditor etc etc...I am remiss in not keeping a record but at the time Moorcoft were sacked I know I spoke to PRA who were chasing a new payment arrangement. Anyway, that was two years ago - no arrangegement or payments made since. It looks like it's four years to go.......let's see......:eek:

:eek: Brogden :eek:

Get those CCAs checked. PRAT sent me absolutely everything. Original application form signed by us, T&Cs, statements - it all looked perfect. What made it UE was something to do with the T&Cs on the application. Apparently they referred to a section of T&Cs we never had when signing.... or something like that. Anyway, I would never, never, ever have known had I not had it checked out on All about Debt. They looked, came back within an hour as UE.... no hesitation

Regarding the PRAT no communication - I reckon they know it's UE and have stopped chasing (for now)

humblebee86

Hi,

got a letter today from NCO Resolve indicating that they have taken over my shop direct account. My dmp is currently managed through stepchange, It says at the bottom of the letter to inform them if I am dealing with my finances or doing it through 3rd party. do I need to do this or is it just automated? Also do I need to update with stepchange other nco have taken it over? same acc number egg.. .

thanks

Brogden

January2015 wrote: »

:eek: Brogden :eek:

Get those CCAs checked. PRAT sent me absolutely everything. Original application form signed by us, T&Cs, statements - it all looked perfect. What made it UE was something to do with the T&Cs on the application. Apparently they referred to a section of T&Cs we never had when signing.... or something like that. Anyway, I would never, never, ever have known had I not had it checked out on All about Debt. They looked, came back within an hour as UE.... no hesitation

Regarding the PRAT no communication - I reckon they know it's UE and have stopped chasing (for now)

Thanks Jan,

I only have two debts now and as we can see, one is pretty much declaring itself UE as we speak so I would only have one to consult AAD about. Having said that, it is a bigger one......

When you got the decision from AAD, how did you approach the predator? Did you just write to tell them for the reasons X,Y&Z it was unenforceable and advise that for this reason you would be ceasing payments? If so......what did they come back with?

Well done by the way !!

silentsmith

Hi
I have been following these threads for a few months now. I am still a bit confused with the general language i.e. CCA, but no doubt it will make more sense with time.
We have been struggling with debt for a few years now and we are at a point where we can't really ping pong credit card debts to low interest deals (we aren't reducing the debt at all). It hit home when we tried to remortgage with Tesco and they declined our application due to the amount of unsecured debt. The mortgage advisor, in not so many words, suggested we seek help. We tried two different avenue's to consolidate our debts in the last week to consolidate our CC debts to a unsecured personal loans. Not surprisingly they were declined based on our credit rating and the amount of unsecured debt. As so many people are open with their financial situation, I guess I can too. We are £41K in debt with CC's and 1 x personal loan. Not including our overdraft which up to 3 months ago was £3K, we are now staying within £1K. We are lucky to have a good joint income, above the national average.
I don't think we have the energy or the time (we have 3 children) to do a DIY DMP but I can see the advantages. Everyone seems to approach Step Change, but I have the impression they like to take baby steps to reduce personal debt. In theory we would like to be unsecured debt free in 5 years time, before our eldest daughter starts (if she decides) university. Not sure how achievable this would be.
Personally, it seems a big leap off a deep crevasse as I don't want a poor credit rating but at the same time we are sick to death of the struggle of debt. Who knows what will happen around the corner.
I am at work at the moment so it's a bit of a mind dump. Any suggestions based on the information I have given, very much appreciated.

January2015

Brogden wrote: »

Thanks Jan,

I only have two debts now and as we can see, one is pretty much declaring itself UE as we speak so I would only have one to consult AAD about. Having said that, it is a bigger one......

When you got the decision from AAD, how did you approach the predator? Did you just write to tell them for the reasons X,Y&Z it was unenforceable and advise that for this reason you would be ceasing payments? If so......what did they come back with?

Well done by the way !!

Hi Brogden

I was advised not to tell PRAT I knew it was UE or why. I totally ignored all communication from PRAT for a year. During that year they wrote to me and asked me nicely if I would make payment, they wrote with settlement offers that gradually reduced and reduced. The only time I responded was when they sent a letter offering to settle at 10% of the outstanding balance.

I was advised to ignore them, but should things get difficult, i.e a claim be made by PRAT then the AAD team would assist and if necessary their solicitor could help. I never needed any assistance because I am sure PRAT knew it was UE all the time. Patience was what I needed

January2015

silentsmith wrote: »

Hi
I have been following these threads for a few months now. I am still a bit confused with the general language i.e. CCA, but no doubt it will make more sense with time.
We have been struggling with debt for a few years now and we are at a point where we can't really ping pong credit card debts to low interest deals (we aren't reducing the debt at all). It hit home when we tried to remortgage with Tesco and they declined our application due to the amount of unsecured debt. The mortgage advisor, in not so many words, suggested we seek help. We tried two different avenue's to consolidate our debts in the last week to consolidate our CC debts to a unsecured personal loans. Not surprisingly they were declined based on our credit rating and the amount of unsecured debt. As so many people are open with their financial situation, I guess I can too. We are £41K in debt with CC's and 1 x personal loan. Not including our overdraft which up to 3 months ago was £3K, we are now staying within £1K. We are lucky to have a good joint income, above the national average.
I don't think we have the energy or the time (we have 3 children) to do a DIY DMP but I can see the advantages. Everyone seems to approach Step Change, but I have the impression they like to take baby steps to reduce personal debt. In theory we would like to be unsecured debt free in 5 years time, before our eldest daughter starts (if she decides) university. Not sure how achievable this would be.
Personally, it seems a big leap off a deep crevasse as I don't want a poor credit rating but at the same time we are sick to death of the struggle of debt. Who knows what will happen around the corner.
I am at work at the moment so it's a bit of a mind dump. Any suggestions based on the information I have given, very much appreciated.

I think you are part way to your Light Bulb Moment (LBM). You realise you have a debt problem but haven't quite realised the solution is not to look for more debt to sort it out. You've reached the point where you are being declined for credit - and to be honest you should be grateful, especially grateful you were refused the remortgage. Moving unsecured debt to secured debt is the worst thing you can do.

You say you don't want a poor credit rating - do you not think you already have one? You are being declined for credit so you credit rating, whilst not trashed, is not good either.

I would also forget about theories of being debt free by a certain point in your life such as when the kids go to Uni. Yes have it as goal in your mind, but your first target is to deal with the issue and either self-manage or contact one of the debt charities such as Stepchange (SC), National Debtline (ND) or Christians Against Poverty (CAP). Don't make a single payment more to your creditors - start the process now.

Stepchange don't take baby steps to reduce debt. They work out a budget you can live on and allowances for emergencies and sundries etc. and they collect the balance of your money to pay your creditors. It's small steps for some and larger strides for others. Each DMP is individual.

Self managed gives you more control over what is paid to creditors and when it is paid. Stepchange collect of set dates in the month and then it takes a few days to reach the creditors (from memory it used to take ten days but may be less now).

I suggest you visit SC website and fill in their debt remedy tool (purple box, bottom right of the SC webpage) and see what advice is generated. It's a great starting point for getting your mind thinking.

Welcome to our forum :beer: You've made a great start acknowledging the issue, you just need to put your mind in gear and start the journey towards clearing your debts - whether that is a DMP or devising a plan to pay down the debts without a DMP (if you can).

System

silentsmith wrote: »

Hi
I have been following these threads for a few months now. I am still a bit confused with the general language i.e. CCA, but no doubt it will make more sense with time.
We have been struggling with debt for a few years now and we are at a point where we can't really ping pong credit card debts to low interest deals (we aren't reducing the debt at all). It hit home when we tried to remortgage with Tesco and they declined our application due to the amount of unsecured debt. The mortgage advisor, in not so many words, suggested we seek help. We tried two different avenue's to consolidate our debts in the last week to consolidate our CC debts to a unsecured personal loans. Not surprisingly they were declined based on our credit rating and the amount of unsecured debt. As so many people are open with their financial situation, I guess I can too. We are £41K in debt with CC's and 1 x personal loan. Not including our overdraft which up to 3 months ago was £3K, we are now staying within £1K. We are lucky to have a good joint income, above the national average.
I don't think we have the energy or the time (we have 3 children) to do a DIY DMP but I can see the advantages. Everyone seems to approach Step Change, but I have the impression they like to take baby steps to reduce personal debt. In theory we would like to be unsecured debt free in 5 years time, before our eldest daughter starts (if she decides) university. Not sure how achievable this would be.
Personally, it seems a big leap off a deep crevasse as I don't want a poor credit rating but at the same time we are sick to death of the struggle of debt. Who knows what will happen around the corner.
I am at work at the moment so it's a bit of a mind dump. Any suggestions based on the information I have given, very much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum. January has given you excellent advice. When we first started our DMP we thought we could get debt free quickly and started off paying quite a lot each month but then when I got made redundant we had to reduce payments and now I only work part. But we pay what we can and have learnt so much from this forum that we are now confident that we will actually get debt free sooner than our current forecast. But you have to take one day at a time. SC were brilliant for us and we have now taken the plunge after 3 years to go SM.
There is always someone here who can answer your questions but please check out SC and see how they can help

KID77

Silent Smith:
We were in similar amount of debt and dame thoughts as you 3 to 4 years ago. I didn't want to entertain a DMP until 1 month, I ran out of credit cards and overdraft funds to steal from, I was distraught and ashamed of our situation.
The DMP was the best solution apart from a lottery win :-)

My advice is to write to all your creditors and explain your financial difficulties and seeking advice from Step change and you will be in touch within a few months to start a payment plan. Then go with Stepchange to start with and play around with the debt remedy tool, it's anonymous so no one will know. Exaggerate your figures, add money for dry cleaning, smoking, pets etc and do not leave yourself short as in my opinion, if you can't afford to pay the minimum payment then it doesn't matter whether you are paying £1 or £100, you are still in breach of contract and won't be treated any differently. So my advice is pay a small amount, we paid £190 to start on a debt of £47k, so very small in relation and no issues at all. I then save every month and put this aside for settling the debt in the future at a lesser amount.

Read back on this thread and previous ones if you can, it's alot but the more you read and understand before entering the DMP the better informed you will be.

Sorry I am rambling and typing from my phone so not the easiest but good luck on whatever you decide xx