DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Suseka97

Fun_With_Flags wrote: »

Thank you for you reply Suseka97 - I did double check & Link have not been adding any interest or charges, just increasing the monthly amount payable month after month, even though being in DMP they always receive the same amount. I will be sending off my CCA requests and writing to both Hoist & Link today, many thanks Soucrates.

Good to hear it. I also meant to add that if the Hoist one in particular returned as unenforceable, it strengthens your arm in terms of making a heavily discounted settlement offer. Also, having received CCA requests they should put your accounts on hold and stop collection activity until they provide what is required. So, I would make it clear in your letters that you will be cancelling payments until further notice. As sourcrates has already said - now its time to make them work for the money.

Worth also mentioning that Link are pretty dreadful at this, they never acknowledged receipt of the CCA requests and when they eventually provided me with documents, the paperwork wasn't satisfactory. So I've not paid them a penny since last July.

[Deleted User]

:hello: Weightlifted. Welcome to our supportive group. You've taken the first difficult step (well, several of them as you seem pretty organised) and things will get a lot better for you once the DMP kicks in:j

Sorry I haven't time to address most of your queries at the moment but I just wanted to add a bit about CCA-ing your debts. It doesn't matter when you do it so long as you still have a debt balance remaining on the account. I didn't do it until over 3 years into my DMP:o. I gave myself a massive kick when I discovered such a thing as CCAs existed but sadly I hadn't discovered this thread and the lovely people on it until I was well on the way with my SC DMP. I would still have gone down the SC DMP route anyway but I would have gone about it at a slower pace and definitely delayed the start so I could accrue some emergency funds.


Obviously the sooner you send your CCA requests the better as the paperwork takes a while to come back. Once the request is received the creditor has to suspend collection of payment until they can supply the necessary paperwork. I was 'on hold' with payments to one creditor for about 9 months until they eventually came up with something:j. I was self-managing my DMP by this time as I wanted more flexibility than a DMP company could give me, Sending a CCA request is nothing to do with SC although once the creditors put your accounts on hold whilst finding your documentation it's pointless SC sending them the agreed payment. I'm not sure how SC would go about things when the creditor temporarily suspends collection.


I hope someone else comes along soon and can put you right as to the correct order to do things.


Good luck with your DMP 'journey'. Nice to have you aboard:beer:

Suseka97

Here's some thoughts....

weightlifted87 wrote: »

.......Quick update on where we're up to - we've had all the paperwork from SC, which I haven't sent back yet. I asked them if they could start our first repayment in Sept - I'm a student and get my next installment of student loan then, which they have include as income in our budget. They said first repayment would really need to be no later then August, which would mean we'd have to magic the money from somewhere as without my student loan we are 600 short a month. We're OK without the payment until then as we have a bit of breathing space now that all direct debits to creditors have been cancelled. What should I do about convincing them that September should be out first repayment?

Its your DMP and you should dictate the terms. So go back to SC and tell them you can't start until September at the earliest. If needs be just put the whole thing on hold and send the paperwork back when you are ready

Re. CCAS, do I do this before I submit all the SC paperwork or alongside? .....I'm worried CCAS will take a lot of time which we don't have so feel like just letting SC sort the payments and bring debt free in 6-7 years is the way forward. Is it bad that I'm just willing to let it roll and pay it all back? Part of me thinks we got ourself in this mess so we should just pay it all back?

The time it takes differs from one creditor to another basically depending on how on the ball they are and how quickly they can gather the info, or not. Creditors are handing loads of debt cases these days and you'll just be another one added to the list. I don't quite follow the 'we don't have time' comment -because time is exactly what you do have. You are in the midst of contacting them, yes - so just tell them you'll be back in touch reference a repayment plan as soon as you are in a position to do so, suggest a 3 month window. You've got nothing to lose because these things do take time and they know it

As I mentioned we won't have much of an emergency fund but I'm not too worried as hubby will get a bonus at Christmas which will give us a lovely emergency fund and in the meantime we have family we could ask for help if we really needed it. Do you think that's ok?

Yes, your husband's bonus is your business. But refer to above and give yourselves breathing space between when you cancel all your non priority debt payments and when you start your DMP

So anyway I'm still contacting our creditors, they always seem to be closed in the evening after we've got the kids to bed! Trying to get our accounts all on hold. We've set up a new bank account which I'm just waiting for our essential bill direct debits to be transferred across. Am I right in thinking I should hold off on informing our existing bank of our situation until everything is transferred to the new account? I'm scared they're going to swipe our wages from the account or that it'll cause problems with all our bills that we are transferring and don't actually want to fall behind on.

Try using online messaging services, or simply write. Best to put things in writing anyway so you have a paper trail. Yes, wait until your new account is set up and your salaries/income is going into that before you tell your existing bank about the situation (assuming you have debts linked to them)

Apologies for another rambly one! X

tillboy

how quickly are people seeing responses to initial holding letters, it's been a week now and only one response am I being too optimistic?

NowInspired

tillboy wrote: »

how quickly are people seeing responses to initial holding letters, it's been a week now and only one response am I being too optimistic?

Mine have been ten days so far with no response.

weightlifted87

Yes, we have debts linked to our current bank. So once the accounts have been on hold 30 days, do I contact everyone again once this period is up and ask for a further 30 days? SC advised that creditors are a lot more willing to freeze interest and fees the sooner you get things up. Is this true? I suppose I'm just a little anxious about debt collectors turning up if I drag my heels about getting the dmp in place. Is this not the case? If my creditors ask why I'm delaying things, do we just tell them we're getting an emergency fund in place?

Would I keep up with the token payments while we give ourselves time to set up an emergency fund?

By don't have enough time, I meant in the literal sense - not enough hours in the day! My degree involves me being on placement 37.5 hours a week, I woke up to 20 hours a week plus two kids :rotfl:

So many questions, sorry!

Thanks for your help x

weightlifted87

That should say work not woke! X

sourcrates

weightlifted87 wrote: »

Yes, we have debts linked to our current bank. So once the accounts have been on hold 30 days, do I contact everyone again once this period is up and ask for a further 30 days? SC advised that creditors are a lot more willing to freeze interest and fees the sooner you get things up. Is this true? I suppose I'm just a little anxious about debt collectors turning up if I drag my heels about getting the dmp in place. Is this not the case? If my creditors ask why I'm delaying things, do we just tell them we're getting an emergency fund in place?

Would I keep up with the token payments while we give ourselves time to set up an emergency fund?

By don't have enough time, I meant in the literal sense - not enough hours in the day! My degree involves me being on placement 37.5 hours a week, I woke up to 20 hours a week plus two kids :rotfl:

So many questions, sorry!

Thanks for your help x

Hi,

The debt collection process takes a very long time, nothing happens very fast usually.

From you missing your 1st payment to the debt been sold on, well we could be talking years.

Its best to keep things as simple as possible, token payments in my opinion, are a waste of time, it costs the creditors more to process the payment than it is actually worth.

You simply write and tell them when you intend to start the DMP, ask them to please stop interest etc etc, then, when you have an emergency fund saved, just get on with it.

And dont bank where you have debts, 1st rule of debt management, creditors can use the right of set off to take money you owe directly from any account in your name held by them or there parent companies.

Get a new bank account tomorrow.

flake_tin

Hello all, I am a long-time reader, but first-time poster.

I have been in a DMP with Stepchange for 4 years. I owe amounts to several DCAs.

Recently I have requested the full details of each account, including a copy of the Credit agreement which governs the lending. All of them have responded by saying that my accounts are on hold until they can fully investigate my query.

Could I please ask a few questions of the forum:

How long do people think I should wait, before making further contact?
When I make further contact, should I chase up the information or make a settlement offer?
If I make a full and final offer, and after negotiation, that offer is accepted; does the amount have to be paid in one lump sum?
Can full and final settlements be arranged through payments to Stepchange? How does that affect my usual payment?
Would I be better off negotiating settlement offers outside of the DMP?


Thank you very much

January2015

To answer you last question first..... definitely negotiate F&Fs outside of your SC DMP. SC will expect you to offer any funds you have equally across all creditors. In reality F&Fs don't work well when done like that and one creditor may accept a lower percentage F&F than another, or you may be able to 'pick them off' one at a time.

For the other questions.... see my responses in red, in you post copied below

flake_tin wrote: »

Hello all, I am a long-time reader, but first-time poster.

I have been in a DMP with Stepchange for 4 years. I owe amounts to several DCAs.

Recently I have requested the full details of each account, including a copy of the Credit agreement which governs the lending. All of them have responded by saying that my accounts are on hold until they can fully investigate my query.

Could I please ask a few questions of the forum:

How long do people think I should wait, before making further contact? Wait as long it takes. The ball is in their court now. Don't contact them again until they contact you and provide the required documenation

When I make further contact, should I chase up the information or make a settlement offer? See answer above, don't contact them until they come back to you with the documentation. At that point you can take advice on the enforceability of what has been provided and make any F&F offer based on that

If I make a full and final offer, and after negotiation, that offer is accepted; does the amount have to be paid in one lump sum? It is possible to negotiate payment of F&Fs over a period of a few months (I am aware of a friend who paid almost £3k over 6 months). However, creditors and DCAs will want to know where the money is coming from and the usual response is a gift from a friend or relative.... just be prepared as to your response of where the funds are coming from over a period of time - because if you can afford to pay over a number of months your I&E has probably been incorrect and they could potentially pick up on that

Can full and final settlements be arranged through payments to Stepchange? How does that affect my usual payment? Don't bother with SC - more trouble that it's worth when it comes to F&Fs. Sort them yourself.

Would I be better off negotiating settlement offers outside of the DMP?


Thank you very much