DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

January2015

Mcfry80 wrote: »

Hi

Just starting my Dmp journey with SC. it's a joint Dmp. it's just going over to be activated now as all info is in. Reading your threads have been a great help but thought I'd feel better once it was sorted and I don't. Just got off phone to SC and they didn't seem like getting the charges and interest frozen on our debts would be very likely as its 1 loan - natwest 1 store card - Argos. 1 catalogue - premier man and 4 cc - Barclays Halifax M&S and Tesco. This terrifies me as how will we ever pay off our debts with the charges.

I know I've spent the money and the companies are due it all back and we want to pay them it all but it just seems as hopeless as it did before.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't panic. We all felt like that at the beginning of our DMP journey. Some creditors are fab at supporting folk on DMPs - freezing interest and charges from day 1. Others don't but we learn how to enter battle with them. We get there eventually

Take each creditor as it comes - you will get loads advice on here on how to tackle each one by poeople who have been through it themselves.:beer:

sourcrates

Motivated, julie67, makethechange,

You can CCA any relevant consumer credit debt, covered by the consumer credit act.

That includes loans, (inc secured loans), credit cards, catalogues, store cards.

It does not apply to old bank accounts/over-draughts, or mobile phone contracts, as different rules apply.

Info here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Information-about-your-agreement-under-the-Consumer-Credit-Act-%28sole-name%29.aspx

heavenlyharry01

MBNA have refused my write off request! (I'm obviously not surprised) having no health issues is clearly a factor. They did say that they would consider a partial payment to clear and close the account, but it's up to me to suggest a figure.
I haven't got the money at the moment, but would someone advise on a good starting percentage please?

make_the_change

Sourcrates thanks... I assume if a debt has been passed on then they will go back to the original creditor to request the relevant info?

My debt is literally 18 months old so surely they would have no problem finding this information?

Sorry if that sounds a bit silly. Just trying to get my head around it all still.

sourcrates

heavenlyharry01 wrote: »

MBNA have refused my write off request! (I'm obviously not surprised) having no health issues is clearly a factor. They did say that they would consider a partial payment to clear and close the account, but it's up to me to suggest a figure.
I haven't got the money at the moment, but would someone advise on a good starting percentage please?

Start low (30%) you can always increase your offer.

Mcfry80

Thank you January2015.

[Deleted User]

heavenlyharry01 wrote: »

MBNA have refused my write off request! (I'm obviously not surprised) having no health issues is clearly a factor. They did say that they would consider a partial payment to clear and close the account, but it's up to me to suggest a figure.
I haven't got the money at the moment, but would someone advise on a good starting percentage please?

You may have already mentioned it in an earlier post but there's so much going on in this thread:j and I can't recall what you might have told us:o

I just wondered how old this debt is and whether MBNA was able to provide the required information or whether it has proved to be unenforceable.

Would make a difference on how low they might be prepared to go on the settlement figure;)

[Deleted User]

make_the_change wrote: »

Sourcrates thanks... I assume if a debt has been passed on then they will go back to the original creditor to request the relevant info?

My debt is literally 18 months old so surely they would have no problem finding this information?

Sorry if that sounds a bit silly. Just trying to get my head around it all still.

Don't worry. There's no such thing as a silly question. We all know how confusing it all can be at the start, there's information coming in thick and fast. We've all been there:)


Mine are old debts, some from 1998:eek: but I understood that I needed to write to the company who are currently collecting the debt, whether they've bought it or are just administering it, not the original creditor.


In my case, those that didn't have the required information themselves notified me that they had referred back to the original creditor for information and will be in touch again 'soon'. It's been a while now in all cases so I'm hoping they are frantically rummaging around and finding nothing that they need to legally supply:rotfl:. Not being able to supply the relevant info is good:j


One of them, though, Westcott, returned my Postal Order and told me I had to write to RBS directly with my CCA request. I thought this a bit odd as I didn't think it works that way but have done as they asked so will have to wait and see what happens next;)

Good Luck:beer:

unicorndeva

Hi firstly I would like to thank everyone for all the help that you give on this thread. I've been lurking for a while and have used some of the info to sort my stuff out but I have a few questions.

Me and my husband have been on a DMP with Step Change for about 7 years with no end in sight. We have asked for copy agreements from all our creditors and are considering going self-managed paying only token payments to all our creditors. We have a mortgage but there is a lot of equity in the house. Can the creditors force us to sell in order to pay the debts off?

MBNA - both me and my husband had separate MBNA cards and we asked for copy agreements. Both have been returned with the T's and C's but should they have included statements to show where charges have been added?

My one has the original application form but it also states that it is a credit agreement - is this normal?

My husbands one has his signature but has been completed by someone else (they haven't spelled his job title right) is this normal?

Self management of DMP - I've been reading up on this and have looked up Nedcab etc but was wondering if we go self managed will the creditors re-instate interest charges?

Natwest loan - My husband took out a large personal loan with Natwest. The interest was all added to the total owed at the beginning of the loan. We have paid off the amount borrowed and are now just paying off the interest. I know that creditors don't have to stop charging interest while the debtor is on a DMP but was wondering if the 'front-loading' of the interest in this way is legal?

Hope that all makes sense!

January2015

unicorndeva wrote: »

Hi firstly I would like to thank everyone for all the help that you give on this thread. I've been lurking for a while and have used some of the info to sort my stuff out but I have a few questions.

Me and my husband have been on a DMP with Step Change for about 7 years with no end in sight. We have asked for copy agreements from all our creditors and are considering going self-managed paying only token payments to all our creditors. We have a mortgage but there is a lot of equity in the house. Can the creditors force us to sell in order to pay the debts off?

MBNA - both me and my husband had separate MBNA cards and we asked for copy agreements. Both have been returned with the T's and C's but should they have included statements to show where charges have been added?

My one has the original application form but it also states that it is a credit agreement - is this normal?

My husbands one has his signature but has been completed by someone else (they haven't spelled his job title right) is this normal?

Self management of DMP - I've been reading up on this and have looked up Nedcab etc but was wondering if we go self managed will the creditors re-instate interest charges?

Natwest loan - My husband took out a large personal loan with Natwest. The interest was all added to the total owed at the beginning of the loan. We have paid off the amount borrowed and are now just paying off the interest. I know that creditors don't have to stop charging interest while the debtor is on a DMP but was wondering if the 'front-loading' of the interest in this way is legal?

Hope that all makes sense!

Hi

Don't worry about the house. We have loads of equity (more than twice our original debt level). No-one will force you to sell the house.

MBNA - when did you originally take out the credit cards. MBNA cards from early 2000s (or before) are often unenforceable due to the T&Cs. It doesn't really matter who completed the form as long as your husband signed it, he would have signed it after it was completed - so in that sense it's ok. They should have sent statements covering the whole period of the account since the date of opening - write back and let them know you are still waiting for these. However, just having a signature does not necessarily make the agreement enforceable. Just out of interest was your husband's signature page a small tear off type slip which said at the top (middle column) .....'Before you sign the agreement you must read condition 11 in the Terms and Conditons provided' ? That's the bit that made our agreement unenforceable.

I can't help with your Nat West front loading query as I have no experience of that scenario.

Jan :beer:

Edit: Sorry, I meant to add that if you go self-managed creditors have to treat you the same as if you were running your DMP through a provider such as Stepchange. We've been self-managed for over a year now and all accounts are now defaulted, and slowly being sold on to debt collectors. Once defaulted and/or sold on it is rare for interest to be charged anyway. If you accounts have not yet defaulted then when you go self-managed either don't pay them until they default or pay token payments only, e.g. £1 per creditor per month. Personally I wouldn't pay anything until the defaults are registered. I would also write and request defaults are backdated to somewhere near the start of your DMP - that way everything will disappear off your credit file very soon anyway (as you've been on it for several years already).