Advice before I go in to branch to dispute a discrepancy

JH862

Up until 2014 I had been paying off various debts through a debt management company. In August of 2014 I was completely debt free, however I still continued to receive letters from Lloyd's stating that I owed them money. The debt management company said that I could contact them at any time when I had been declared debt free which I did and felt that the situation had been sorted. However upon applying for a loan to buy a car I found that I still had an outstanding debt with Lloyd's. I phoned them and they were unable to help me further, I then remembered that I had kept all the paper work and found the account details and proceeded to call again only to find that I still have an account with them albeit a closed one.
I was informed to go to branch to sort this out, upon looking at all the paperwork I found that I had been being charged for an unplanned overdraft fee of £80 twice and continously charged usage and overdraft fees while paying through the debt management service. I now find myself in a difficult position where the debt management company has closed and I need to go to branch to sort this but I have no idea what I am entitled to demand as far as any recompense and the fixing of my credit file or how to proceed. Any advice is appreciated.

meer53

If you included the Lloyds debt in your DMP and you have evidence of this, then your issue is with the Debt Management Company, not Lloyds. Really you should have responded to the letters from Lloyds to see why they were contacting you, not ignored them. If the Lloyds debt wasn't included with the DMP then i don't think you're entitled to demand anything at all.

JH862

I know that I should have read the letters but I was informed to sent them onto the DMP. However now the DMP doesn't exist and it is lloyds that have added this to my credit file.

System

Be aware that just because you're in a DMP doesn't mean that everyone you put in it has to agree to it and suspend charges or fees or reporting negatively on your credit file and if your DMP wasn't with Stepchange or another of the leading debt organisations it is quite possible one or more of your creditors said no and some of those letters may have been them telling you they weren't going to go with it. The only time that they're obliged to whether they want to or not is in IVAs or DROs.

meer53

JH862 wrote: »

I know that I should have read the letters but I was informed to sent them onto the DMP. However now the DMP doesn't exist and it is lloyds that have added this to my credit file.

So it sounds as though you need to ask them for a repayment plan. Your credit file will be correct.

Willing2Learn

As part of the discussions on your settling the debt, you need to ask Lloyds for the date of default to be backdated to 2014 (if it hasn't been already). Ask politely though...as it was an overdraft and they have no duty to backdate...it's just better for your credit file if the default is older...