Question over my recommended DMP provider

VergingOnTheRidiculous

Hi all

I got my finances in somewhat of a mess last year (probably through not taking enough notice of MSE advice) and so decided to look for advice on MSE.
Having seen recommendations to speak to StepChange I plucked up the courage and having gone through my financial situation (owing about £25k+) they put me in contact with DFH.
DFH took all my details and came up with a DMP that I could afford just and so I agreed.
For the first 3 months I paid them a fee of over £80 per payment period (4 weekly) and then subsequent payments of approx. £50.
Having gone to the CAB for another question, they were surprised to hear that via StepChange I was having to pay for what was essentially a charity run process.
It is in the agreement that I accepted but would like to know what MSE, SC and others feel about the fact that these "charity" organisations are leading on to chargeable processes.

Sorry to waffle on just wanted to fully explain

Dj

Pixie5740

That doesn't sound right at all. Are you positive it was Step Change you spoke with?

https://m.stepchange.org/contact

As far as I understand it if you opt to get Step Change to manage your DMP they manage it not some company and you're certainly not charged for it.

Larac

Pixie5740 wrote: »

That doesn't sound right at all. Are you positive it was Step Change you spoke with?

https://m.stepchange.org/contact

As far as I understand it if you opt to get Step Change to manage your DMP they manage it not some company and you're certainly not charged for it.

Would agree - the free DMP companies are Stepchange, Payplan and CAP. I find it hard to understand that Stepchange would direct somebody to a fee paying company.

poppasmurf_bewdley

There is no way that Stepchange would advise anyone to go with a fee paying DMP company.

anna_1977

definitely agree, Stepchange would manage your DMP for you. Just wondering if maybe you googled Stepchange and then clicked on the top link which is NOT them, thus taking you to a paid service provider.

Cancel the DMP payment immediately and inform the paid provider you are no longer using them, might be worth contacting your creditors and explaining to them you have stopped payments temporarily then call Stepchange on 0800 138 1111 to get advice

sourcrates

VergingOnTheRidiculous wrote: »

Hi all

I got my finances in somewhat of a mess last year (probably through not taking enough notice of MSE advice) and so decided to look for advice on MSE.
Having seen recommendations to speak to StepChange I plucked up the courage and having gone through my financial situation (owing about £25k+) they put me in contact with DFH.
DFH took all my details and came up with a DMP that I could afford just and so I agreed.
For the first 3 months I paid them a fee of over £80 per payment period (4 weekly) and then subsequent payments of approx. £50.
Having gone to the CAB for another question, they were surprised to hear that via StepChange I was having to pay for what was essentially a charity run process.
It is in the agreement that I accepted but would like to know what MSE, SC and others feel about the fact that these "charity" organisations are leading on to chargeable processes.

Sorry to waffle on just wanted to fully explain

Dj

Hi,


Top hit when you Google stepchange, is a fee charging DMC called changing steps, could it be them you spoke to ?

I can tell you for a fact stepchange do not refer their clients to fee charging companies for debt management plans, it is against there entire ethos and business practice.

How were you introduced to this initially, phone call, website, other ???


Did you not realise something was wrong when they first told you a fee was payable ?

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi there,

I just came across your post; I hope you don’t mind me responding.

I’m a Debt Advisor at StepChange and I can confirm we never use any third parties to administer our debt management plans (DMP’s) fee charging or otherwise. At StepChange, where we recommend a DMP we will always set this up directly through ourselves. We certainly have no partnership with DFH.

Unfortunately it sounds like you have been speaking to another company. Sometimes when you search for StepChange on internet search engines other companies do come up. If the company you spoke to told you they were StepChange before referring you to DFH please can you provide us details of either their website or their telephone number so we can investigate this further?

Our official website is www.stepchange.org and our direct telephone number is 0800 138 1111. We are available Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday’s 8am to 4pm if you’d like us to look at your circumstances and offer you some further advice. If we recommend a DMP this is always provided free of charge.

I hope this helps.

Kirsty

VergingOnTheRidiculous wrote: »

Hi all

I got my finances in somewhat of a mess last year (probably through not taking enough notice of MSE advice) and so decided to look for advice on MSE.
Having seen recommendations to speak to StepChange I plucked up the courage and having gone through my financial situation (owing about £25k+) they put me in contact with DFH.
DFH took all my details and came up with a DMP that I could afford just and so I agreed.
For the first 3 months I paid them a fee of over £80 per payment period (4 weekly) and then subsequent payments of approx. £50.
Having gone to the CAB for another question, they were surprised to hear that via StepChange I was having to pay for what was essentially a charity run process.
It is in the agreement that I accepted but would like to know what MSE, SC and others feel about the fact that these "charity" organisations are leading on to chargeable processes.

Sorry to waffle on just wanted to fully explain

Dj

VergingOnTheRidiculous

I thought I followed the link from MSE site

VergingOnTheRidiculous

Starting to doubt myself I thought I was doing the right thing but seems maybe I mucked up

VergingOnTheRidiculous

ok getting the message here I mucked up

VergingOnTheRidiculous

Didn't realise that it was a free service and to be honest I was elated to have some sort of light at the end of the tunnel that was not an oncoming train!
Very rarely get something for nothing in this life so no I did not question it at the time of the agreement.
Easy to have 20/20 hind sight