DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

sourcrates

mikebec2010 wrote: »

I recently wrote to Lowell stating that as they hadn't replied to my CCA request sent in May 2018 I now considered the debt unenforceable and will not pay anything further until they fulfil the CCA request.

So yesterday I received a reply from Lowell which included

"The account is on hold as we are still awaiting a response from the original client regarding the request for your credit agreement and we will be in touch as soon we receive a response from them, so this does not mean the debt is unenforceable."

It then goes on to say that if payments stop they would not take any collection activity.

Now my understanding is that if they cannot respond to a CCA request the debt is unenforceable until they do so surely there letter is misleading?

Hi,


These things can take time, allow me to clarify this for you.

Whilst Lowell are attempting to obtain the correct paperwork from the original creditor, the account will remain, temporarily, unenforceable, until they can comply, during that time, you do not have to make repayments, and they cannot enforce the agreement.

Once they have provided what they have been asked for, this arrangement ends, payment is again due, and they can enforce it if they wish.

However, if no paperwork is forthcoming, it will remain unenforceable forever.

mikebec2010

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,


These things can take time, allow me to clarify this for you.

Whilst Lowell are attempting to obtain the correct paperwork from the original creditor, the account will remain, temporarily, unenforceable, until they can comply, during that time, you do not have to make repayments, and they cannot enforce the agreement.

Once they have provided what they have been asked for, this arrangement ends, payment is again due, and they can enforce it if they wish.

However, if no paperwork is forthcoming, it will remain unenforceable forever.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. Think I will give them a bit more time and continue making payments for now.

Dolly_x

Hello everyone I’m new here but have been reading through the thread for a while now

I started my DMP in April this year and have just made my 4th payment. I have around 28k worth of debt from loans/credit cards and spent a long time ignoring it unfortunately and ended up spending all my wages on paying monthly amounts then having to use credit cards for simple things like food or petrol - what a mess! So it helps reading these posts to know I’m not alone!

I think most of my accounts have now defaulted. I had a NatWest current account and loan and this has now been passed to wescot? What does that mean for me? I’m still trying to work out what everything means and am not as clued up on it yet as I would like to be (still learning)

Also I’ve had a huge panic this morning when a family member tried to send £1000 to my NatWest current account (obviously not aware of my situation). The money left their account but I can no longer access this account of mine... after calling and speaking to (many different) people at NatWest I ended up with the debt recovery dept. I explained my issue to them and they took my new current account details and said they would send it to my new account... does this seem to good too be true? They did say it would take 3-5 days but I thought if they received a payment to that account I’d have real trouble getting it back? Not sure if someone on here with more experience of all this could advise on that one?

Also how do people cope with being self managed? I currently pay a company a monthly fee to handle mine (so like StepChange but one that charges).. they’ve dealt with everything really which has been good because that’s what I wanted.. but most people seem to have a free one or self manage? Now I’m wondering if there’s really any difference in paying for one?

Suseka97

Dolly_x wrote: »

Hello everyone I’m new here but have been reading through the thread for a while now

....I think most of my accounts have now defaulted. I had a NatWest current account and loan and this has now been passed to wescot? What does that mean for me? I’m still trying to work out what everything means and am not as clued up on it yet as I would like to be (still learning)

Also how do people cope with being self managed? I currently pay a company a monthly fee to handle mine (so like StepChange but one that charges).. they’ve dealt with everything really which has been good because that’s what I wanted.. but most people seem to have a free one or self manage? Now I’m wondering if there’s really any difference in paying for one?

Firstly hello and welcome to the forum, yes, many of us on here have been or still are working through debts.

Glad to hear NatWest are forwarding on the money and that's because the sender would have been well within their rights to request the money back if not. Or maybe they weren't that bothered now the debt has been passed over to Wescott. Either way that's good news.

Regarding the Wescott transfer - all you need to do is let your DMP agent know about it, if they don't already and they'll carry on making the same payment to W on your behalf.

With that said - you need to stop using a fee-charging debt management company. I don't know what they are charging but that's wasted money (your money). Now everything is set up all you need to do is go to your online account with them and copy down all the account numbers, balances and payments and then tell them you are going to handle your affairs yourself. You can then tell your creditors that from x date you will be making payments direct and can probably throw the fee you've been paying to one of the smaller debts - or put that away in your emergency fund.

You also could move across to one of the free charities such as Stepchange or Payplan if you prefer someone else to handle your DMP. The choice is yours, but definitely stop paying for the privilege.

Good luck.

Dolly_x

Hey, thank you so much for your reply :j

You think I will get that money back from NatWest no problem then? I mean I know they said they would send it.. but I do owe them for quite a large loan and I’m just really worried they’ll realise that and keep it. This family member isn’t aware of my situation- in fact no one is - and that’s how I’d like to keep it - just majorly panicking that I’ll have to end up explaining where the stray 1k has gone

I am starting to also think free or self dmp would be better so I’m not paying the fee. I guess when I started out I just wanted someone to deal with it a for me so I didn’t have to worry - and this company (who I suppose also told me everything I needed to hear at the time) came back to me faster than StepChange (I did contact them initially too) and I just wanted to get started so that’s just how it happened - maybe now I understand it slightly more I’d be ok alone.. seems silly paying if I don’t have to

I also have a question about current contracts - what I mean is I currently pay monthly for a mobile phone and a gym membership - if I was to try and change either of these to new providers would I not be accepted because of my dmp?
I also have a car on finance - it’s not an expensive car and it’s not a huge payment a month.. I’ve had this for a year before my dmp started and they credit checked me at the time. I think I have 3 years left on it and probably after this time I would want to swap the car for something else (I really want to keep on paying monthly rather than having to pay a lump sum after 3 years).. do you think they’d credit check me again - basically if they do and they find out I have a dmp do you think they’d still let me have another car from them on finance bearing in mind I’ve never missed a payment to them?

One other thing.. I’m always worrying about bailiffs/debt collectors.. is this likely to occur? Or not as long as I keep paying them a small amount? The house I live in anyway isn’t mine (owned by a family member) and my name isn’t on the mortgage (my thinking is if nothings mine they couldn’t take anything)?

Now I’ve actually started posting here I seem to have a million questions all come into my head

sourcrates

Dolly_x wrote: »

Hey, thank you so much for your reply :j

You think I will get that money back from NatWest no problem then? I mean I know they said they would send it.. but I do owe them for quite a large loan and I!!!8217;m just really worried they!!!8217;ll realise that and keep it. This family member isn!!!8217;t aware of my situation- in fact no one is - and that!!!8217;s how I!!!8217;d like to keep it - just majorly panicking that I!!!8217;ll have to end up explaining where the stray 1k has gone

I am starting to also think free or self dmp would be better so I!!!8217;m not paying the fee. I guess when I started out I just wanted someone to deal with it a for me so I didn!!!8217;t have to worry - and this company (who I suppose also told me everything I needed to hear at the time) came back to me faster than StepChange (I did contact them initially too) and I just wanted to get started so that!!!8217;s just how it happened - maybe now I understand it slightly more I!!!8217;d be ok alone.. seems silly paying if I don!!!8217;t have to

I also have a question about current contracts - what I mean is I currently pay monthly for a mobile phone and a gym membership - if I was to try and change either of these to new providers would I not be accepted because of my dmp?
I also have a car on finance - it!!!8217;s not an expensive car and it!!!8217;s not a huge payment a month.. I!!!8217;ve had this for a year before my dmp started and they credit checked me at the time. I think I have 3 years left on it and probably after this time I would want to swap the car for something else (I really want to keep on paying monthly rather than having to pay a lump sum after 3 years).. do you think they!!!8217;d credit check me again - basically if they do and they find out I have a dmp do you think they!!!8217;d still let me have another car from them on finance bearing in mind I!!!8217;ve never missed a payment to them?

One other thing.. I!!!8217;m always worrying about bailiffs/debt collectors.. is this likely to occur? Or not as long as I keep paying them a small amount? The house I live in anyway isn!!!8217;t mine (owned by a family member) and my name isn!!!8217;t on the mortgage (my thinking is if nothings mine they couldn!!!8217;t take anything)?

Now I!!!8217;ve actually started posting here I seem to have a million questions all come into my head

A debt management plan, is an informal arrangement, so therefore does not show on your credit files.


However, as you are in debt management, the accounts you have may be defaulted, or have late payment markers against them, because you are not making the contracted repayments, they will show on your credit file.


Anyone entering debt management can reasonable expect to be refused for further credit, which is to be expected, so you may want to start saving regularly into a contingency fund, for when things need replacing.


Gym membership would be at their discretion, mobile phone would be PAYG.


Debt collectors and bailiffs, two very different things, basically if your making payments, you have nothing to worry about, a debt collectors job is to chase you for payment, if your paying, their job is done.


Bailiffs can only be appointed by a court, for consumer debt its the county court.


As with everything there is a process to be followed, first you must of defaulted on the debt, then been taken to court, lost, and had a CCJ awarded against you, then defaulted on the court payments, only then, could a bailiff be engaged, but they are only one of various options open to the creditor.

This is just for your information, you are no where near this stage, and hopefully wont ever be.

Dolly_x

Thank you for the info.. that’s cleared up the difference for me between bailiffs and debt collectors and what their actual roles are:o

Harveyhelp

Sorry. Me again. New to all this but would appreciate some advice

StepChange have sent out a letter to all my creditors now with the offfers (though the money they offered amounted to more than I was paying in. An error their end that they said they will fix. Lets hope it doesnt come back to bite me) anyway....they sent these out yesterday and advised my plan would start in September. Just started to feel some relief and today I have had an email from one of my loans which is a letter of acceleration

Its from one of the loans I took out before I realised I couldnt pay back and have yet to make first payment on. The good news is they have said they will.l not be adding any more interest and frozen the full cost at £1600 but I need to pay in full

I have forwarded this to StepChange but is this a normal letter? I did phone them last week and notified them I would be joinjng StepChange and gave them my reference number.

Not sure how to respond. Esp as I cant make next months payment and my plan doesnt start until the end of September

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

OohSoHolly

Want to ask for a bit of advice.

I am in the process of looking for another job with a higher salary. For the salary’s I would “move for” it would make me around £380 better off pcm. This obviously means I can pay more towards my DMP and pay it off sooner.

However the job I am in currently I have a company car which I would obviously lose. I would therefore need to replace this. However I am not sure how best to approach this. I’m not bothered about anything fast/expensive just a reliable run around. Do I save for a couple of months and just buy cash or could I look at car finance? Alarm bells might be ringing as it’s Credit but I’m just thinking new, cheaper insurance, warranty... but then I assume I am unlikely to get it?

Can anyone recommend what would be the best to do?

sourcrates

OohSoHolly wrote: »

Want to ask for a bit of advice.

I am in the process of looking for another job with a higher salary. For the salary’s I would “move for” it would make me around £380 better off pcm. This obviously means I can pay more towards my DMP and pay it off sooner.

However the job I am in currently I have a company car which I would obviously lose. I would therefore need to replace this. However I am not sure how best to approach this. I’m not bothered about anything fast/expensive just a reliable run around. Do I save for a couple of months and just buy cash or could I look at car finance? Alarm bells might be ringing as it’s Credit but I’m just thinking new, cheaper insurance, warranty... but then I assume I am unlikely to get it?

Can anyone recommend what would be the best to do?

Depends how bad your credit file is.

If you have defaults, mainstream lenders won’t touch you, you may be able to go with a sub prime lender, but interest rates tend to be higher, and they generally have much stricter criteria as to what you can buy, with regard to price, mileage etc.

My advice would be to save.