DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Suseka97

Happy weekend to all my fellow DMPers, and former DMPers :j

I have some good news to share... and proof that persistence pays off (so forgive the lengthy post). For those who may follow me from time to time, you'll recall that I have 3 accounts with LINK all of which are enforceable. I haven't paid LINK anything now for 2 years, since submitting the CCA requests and the time it took for them to respond (as well as my stalling tactics once the accounts were proven enforceable).

Anyway- during that time BC sent letters for 2 of the 3 accounts advising that they had reviewed their treatment of the accounts at the time of the original default and found they had not treated me fairly (or words to that effect), and as such were going to refund £xxx in compensation. This was good news, aside from the fact that they sent the refunds to LINK :mad: What that did was reduced, quite substantially, the outstanding balances - so I can live with that.

Also during that time LINK sent numerous letters with settlement offers (for the then full balances) as well as various discounts. The last letter I had, before they got the refund, was offering a 10% discount. Fast forward a few more months and they then wrote advising me of the reduced balance, due to the refund, but the sneaky beggars removed the previous 10% discount.

So over the last several months I have been playing letter ping-pong with them - each time of writing I insist the discount is reapplied and state once that's agreed I will pay the remaining balance in full (both less than £50). Each time they reply they ignore my comments about the discount and just repeat the request that I pay off the balances they have recorded and offer me various monthly plans.

Finally I wrote one last letter as a formal complaint - asking for this to be escalated to their complaints department. I also said that if they continued to refuse to apply the discount I would be taking the matter to the FOS.

Today I receive their final, formal, response - two sides of A4 papers - setting out the steps they've taken to investigate the complaint and go on to say that in their view they have not breached any of the guidelines that govern their organisation...blah...blah. They say that they will not be taking any further action in respect of the complaint and outline my rights in terms of referring the matter to the FOS. As I continue to read through the investigative notes which do refer to the 10% discount and the fact it was a goodwill gesture (presumably by that meaning one they could remove) they make the point that my settlement offer (which was to clear the balance once the discount had been reapplied) does not meet their settlement criteria and hence is rejected.

So, as I read, my mind is set to put pen to paper and refer it to the FOS.... WHEN.... at the bottom of those two A4 pages, I spy one tiny sentence ".....since reviewing your complaint, we have made a commercial decision to no longer deem you liable for the outstanding balances". :rotfl:

The letter ends with "...based on the above, I wish to clarify that your complaint has not been upheld, and as such, I believe a reasonable explanation has now been provided and your complaint has now been closed". Go figure!!

I guess the whole - we've done everything correctly, blah, blah and blah - was their way of avoiding me pursuing them for compensation, should I choose to take it to the FOS. Whereas all I wanted was for them to stick to their end of the bargain. So that's that - matter closed and all I now have is one small enforceable debt which I am paying less than £10 per month for (my choice, I could actually clear it in full if I wanted).

So happy days :j and I post this to give others the confidence to hold their ground should they be in disagreement with creditors or DCAs.

Lifeisforliving19

Suseka97 wrote: »

Happy weekend to all my fellow DMPers, and former DMPers :j

I have some good news to share... and proof that persistence pays off (so forgive the lengthy post). For those who may follow me from time to time, you'll recall that I have 3 accounts with LINK all of which are enforceable. I haven't paid LINK anything now for 2 years, since submitting the CCA requests and the time it took for them to respond (as well as my stalling tactics once the accounts were proven enforceable).

Anyway- during that time BC sent letters for 2 of the 3 accounts advising that they had reviewed their treatment of the accounts at the time of the original default and found they had not treated me fairly (or words to that effect), and as such were going to refund £xxx in compensation. This was good news, aside from the fact that they sent the refunds to LINK :mad: What that did was reduced, quite substantially, the outstanding balances - so I can live with that.

Also during that time LINK sent numerous letters with settlement offers (for the then full balances) as well as various discounts. The last letter I had, before they got the refund, was offering a 10% discount. Fast forward a few more months and they then wrote advising me of the reduced balance, due to the refund, but the sneaky beggars removed the previous 10% discount.

So over the last several months I have been playing letter ping-pong with them - each time of writing I insist the discount is reapplied and state once that's agreed I will pay the remaining balance in full (both less than £50). Each time they reply they ignore my comments about the discount and just repeat the request that I pay off the balances they have recorded and offer me various monthly plans.

Finally I wrote one last letter as a formal complaint - asking for this to be escalated to their complaints department. I also said that if they continued to refuse to apply the discount I would be taking the matter to the FOS.

Today I receive their final, formal, response - two sides of A4 papers - setting out the steps they've taken to investigate the complaint and go on to say that in their view they have not breached any of the guidelines that govern their organisation...blah...blah. They say that they will not be taking any further action in respect of the complaint and outline my rights in terms of referring the matter to the FOS. As I continue to read through the investigative notes which do refer to the 10% discount and the fact it was a goodwill gesture (presumably by that meaning one they could remove) they make the point that my settlement offer (which was to clear the balance once the discount had been reapplied) does not meet their settlement criteria and hence is rejected.

So, as I read, my mind is set to put pen to paper and refer it to the FOS.... WHEN.... at the bottom of those two A4 pages, I spy one tiny sentence ".....since reviewing your complaint, we have made a commercial decision to no longer deem you liable for the outstanding balances". :rotfl:

The letter ends with "...based on the above, I wish to clarify that your complaint has not been upheld, and as such, I believe a reasonable explanation has now been provided and your complaint has now been closed". Go figure!!

I guess the whole - we've done everything correctly, blah, blah and blah - was their way of avoiding me pursuing them for compensation, should I choose to take it to the FOS. Whereas all I wanted was for them to stick to their end of the bargain. So that's that - matter closed and all I now have is one small enforceable debt which I am paying less than £10 per month for (my choice, I could actually clear it in full if I wanted).

So happy days :j and I post this to give others the confidence to hold their ground should they be in disagreement with creditors or DCAs.

It seems that L*nk and B/C*rd are the worst creditors to deal with/ Read so many people had problems with them. We didn't pay them anything for nearly a year while we awaited CCA's. They finally arrived a few weeks ago and are deemed enforeceable, even though they do not contain our signatures. We had also, in the mean time, had letters from B/Cd regarding not treating us fairly etc etc and giving a refund onto the accounts. They really were the worst of the bunch when we first started our DMP, took ages to stop interest and then ages to default and only did it in the end as we wrote letters of complaint. I have now sent L*NK a new I&E and said we are only able to pay £1 a month to each of the 3 accounts. They are our biggest debts but they can wait and hopefully we may get a bigger F&F down the line. I agree patience does pay off.

sourcrates

Suseka97 wrote: »

Happy weekend to all my fellow DMPers, and former DMPers :j

I have some good news to share... and proof that persistence pays off (so forgive the lengthy post).

The letter ends with "...based on the above, I wish to clarify that your complaint has not been upheld, and as such, I believe a reasonable explanation has now been provided and your complaint has now been closed". Go figure!!

I guess the whole - we've done everything correctly, blah, blah and blah - was their way of avoiding me pursuing them for compensation, should I choose to take it to the FOS. Whereas all I wanted was for them to stick to their end of the bargain. So that's that - matter closed and all I now have is one small enforceable debt which I am paying less than £10 per month for (my choice, I could actually clear it in full if I wanted).

So happy days :j and I post this to give others the confidence to hold their ground should they be in disagreement with creditors or DCAs.

You have persistance, and boy does it pay off when you stand your ground, small victories granted, but every little helps.........well done.

Suseka97

sourcrates wrote: »

You have persistance, and boy does it pay off when you stand your ground, small victories granted, but every little helps.........well done.

Thanks sourcrates.. I have to say that, over the years, your posts have given me courage to deal with creditors and DCAs head on. Had this been in the early years I would have given up and just paid what they asked. What I hope to do is give newbies and people who are still on their DMP journeys to not lose hope and know that, ultimately, their financial futures are in their hands.

Am now sat with a nice glass of sauvignon blanc - raising a toast to all of you

Suseka97

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

It seems that L*nk and B/C*rd are the worst creditors to deal with/ Read so many people had problems with them. We didn't pay them anything for nearly a year while we awaited CCA's. They finally arrived a few weeks ago and are deemed enforeceable, even though they do not contain our signatures. We had also, in the mean time, had letters from B/Cd regarding not treating us fairly etc etc and giving a refund onto the accounts. They really were the worst of the bunch when we first started our DMP, took ages to stop interest and then ages to default and only did it in the end as we wrote letters of complaint. I have now sent L*NK a new I&E and said we are only able to pay £1 a month to each of the 3 accounts. They are our biggest debts but they can wait and hopefully we may get a bigger F&F down the line. I agree patience does pay off.

Only one of ours had an electronic signature - but I had the paperwork checked out and it was proven to be enforceable. As far as I'm aware it is much older debts (pre 2007 I think) that stand a better chance of not being enforceable. I've also found LINK to be the most difficult to deal with. Mainly because they don't seem to be very organised, take ages to reply to letters and when they do, they don't actually answer the issues raised. So, stick with the token payments for as long as you can and hopefully you'll get good discount offers down the line. Good luck.

TPCSJH

So since my last post, my DMP is now up and running as of 1st May! Very happy to have got things sorted, and the Creditors I have spoken to so far have been much more help than I initially thought they would be.

This support thread has been excellent, and I am very pleased to have found this as I started this journey.

SkintDad87

Had a reply from uncle buck today, before looking at my account they are requesting an I&E form, and they have said they will work out what I can pay them back from that...I will respond to say 'thanks for your offer of help, but I am seeking debt advice from elsewhere, and once all creditors are informed of my DMP, I will send out offers of payments' is that the correct thing to do?

Also, I asked how much I owe, it was a £500 loan over 6 months, at £158 per month. I have made 3 payments already, but they have quoted that I still owe the full £948! Do i not only owe £474 as I've paid back half?

glaister

Hi,

My girlfriend's sister has a DMP with Payplan. One of her creditors has been returning her payments to her, and she does not understand why. She has asked Payplan and they have said its normal.

I have done some research into DMPs but can't find about creditors making repayments (when they agreed to the DMP in the first place). I would appreciate if anyone could help at all!

Thanks

Eugh

Hi, I appologise for the potentially daft question - I blame the children driving me mad on the first day of the Easter hols...

So I've cancelled my DD and am sorting what I'm going to offer each creditor. I've seen most people pay by SO to each creditor. Where do you get their details from? I've only ever done DD so I've never had their banking info.

Thanks

sourcrates

Eugh wrote: »

Hi, I appologise for the potentially daft question - I blame the children driving me mad on the first day of the Easter hols...

So I've cancelled my DD and am sorting what I'm going to offer each creditor. I've seen most people pay by SO to each creditor. Where do you get their details from? I've only ever done DD so I've never had their banking info.

Thanks

Hi,


Err.....really, really simple......you..............ask them......!!