DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Yikes318

Thanks to all the posts on these threads I’ve arranged a SM DMP starting March 2020.

One small hiccup... Thomas cook! I booked flights on my credit card and due to the protection they’ll refund it. But as I’ve told them I’m in financial difficulty they’ve cancelled my card so I have no way of rebooking the flights! No idea what to do. I’m already taking a 5 month break to build an emergency fund, do I extend it to pay for the flights?! I thought about explaining my situation but imagine they’d laugh in my face! “Going on holiday in financial difficulty.. pfft!” But the flights were for multiple people as well as myself and they don’t know my situation.

Does anyone have any advice? My current plan is to just use my emergency fund to pay for them.

Willing2Learn

Halfwaythere wrote: »

I did do it in writing and they phoned me back about it, it was a complaint manager. So they can still default me even though I didn’t miss any payments and they sold my debt on?

The thing is, that when you enter an Arrangement to Pay (AP), you are breaking the terms of your original credit agreement. It could be argued that once six months of an AP have lapsed, that would mean your account would then become several months in arrears. And the current guidance says that an account should be defaulted once it is 3-6 months in arrears. The old ICO guidance says an AP is "a temporary, short-term (up to six months) arrangement where the lender agrees to accept reduced payments." and "If a customer fails to return to contractual payments after an ‘arrangement to pay’ has expired, then the lender can file a default immediately, as long as this would not place the customer in a worse position than they would have been in, had they not made the arrangement."

I am aware that this is all old ico guidance and that it is not legally binding. It is also true that creditors must have regard to the latest guidance when making their decision.

MrTall

I've returned the information requested to SC, and have had 8 of them respond their acceptance, 2 have yet to respond


Then there's Barclays who have sent a termination letter for the OD, and notice of default for the loan. Interestingly, the latter states for me to withdraw my request for a DMP by a set date else further action may be taken out, then lists if I don't they:
will terminate the agreement;
may take steps to enforce any security (no security in the agreement);
may terminate other borrowing facilities with the bank;
may transfer responsibility for the recovery with a view to taking steps to obtain repayment;
intend to register a default not earlier than 28 days from the letter.


I'm going to speak to SC tomorrow to inform them of this and get confirmation, but is this standard with Barclays either playing hard ball at the beginning, part of their usual process for dealing with DMPs, or should I be more worried than I am about this?

Halfwaythere

Suseka97 wrote: »

I don't know who you spoke to at MBNA, probably just some customer service person - so don't just take what they say as a fait accompli. Escalate your complaint in writing - always best to deal with these matters in writing. Anyone can say whatever they want over the phone, with no recourse. MBNA have a complaints procedure and so send a letter setting out the facts and include the ICO guidelines.

If that gets you nowhere I would then complain to the PRA group and state that unless they default your account and backdate it to October 2018 you will withhold payment until they do.

You do have to get quite bullish these days and be persistent.

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Hi,


Just backing up what Suseka97 said and also to reiterate what I said in my previous post on this. This needs to be done in writing, via Royal Mail. It needs to be done as an official complaint, so that you can escalate to the ICO, should MBNA not uphold your complaint. And don't forget to quote the old ICO guidance from post #4, in the thread I linked to in my last post.

And good luck!!

Edit: The principal is that an Arrangement to Pay should be used a temporary solution and that a borrower who has a DMP should not be worse off than someone who made no attempt to pay via an arrangement to pay.

Halfwaythere wrote: »

”
The principal is that an Arrangement to Pay should be used a temporary solution and that a borrower who has a DMP should not be worse off than someone who made no attempt to pay via an arrangement to pay.

I did do it in writing and they phoned me back about it, it was a complaint manager. So they can still default me even though I didn’t miss any payments and they sold my debt on?

Wow this is very useful you have been so helpful. I have just sent through another complaint in writing via email upholding my argument and quoting the guidelines and I will keep pushing thank you:T I will post results

Indebtj

Hi, I'm not sure if I should start a new post or just add my question here. Today, after being rejected for a loan to consolidate some of my debt I decided I have to change something or my finances are going to crash. I plucked up the courage and called step change and discussed the possibility of a DMP.

I have about £13,000 of unsecured debts that I could incorporate into the DMP across 9 creditors and these debts are only increasing where I have found I my outgoings to be higher than what I am bringing in and have had to start using cards with higher interest rates to get by.

from what has been discussed I am encouraged that I could be debt-free in the next 3-4 years but I am worried about the long term implications of setting up a DMP. I'm 27 and not getting any younger, living with my partner's parents. we want to be able to rent in the next few years and I don't want to damage my credit history for 6+ years to a point we wouldn't even be accepted to rent even after finishing the DMP had finished.

I Haven't missed any payments to date but have been prompted into action as that may not be the case in 3-4 months time, I understand that some of my creditors could default my accounts if I enter a DMP and some posts on this thread seem to want their accounts to default but these would damage my credit files past the DMP completion.

Would a DMP be right for me?

Willing2Learn

Indebtj wrote: »

Hi, I'm not sure if I should start a new post or just add my question here. Today, after being rejected for a loan to consolidate some of my debt I decided I have to change something or my finances are going to crash. I plucked up the courage and called step change and discussed the possibility of a DMP...

...Would a DMP be right for me?

Hi Indebtj and welcome to the forum

It may seem like bad news to have your consolidation loan declined. However, it could be a 'window of opportunity' for you to address the difficulties you are having with successfully managing your monthly budget. Besides, a consolidation loan, is spread over a long time, and always works out costing more in the long-run.

You need to start a new thread in the main Debt-Free Wannabe board. Please include an accurate Statement of Affairs (SOA) in your thread. This will enable you and us to take a good look at your finances. Then we will be able to advise. Just complete the SOA form, click on the 'format for MSE' button and then copy & paste the whole thing in to your thread

jupitercrash

Back again after a long break. I'm still pushing on with my EF break before I start my DMP. Last month was a struggle with several unexpected costs, but so far I've saved £200 for my EF - seems like a small amount but for someone who has never ever successfully saved a single penny, I'm quite pleased. I'm hoping to save £1000 by January, and then I'll be ready to start.

So far most of my creditors have been OK re: taking breathing space, but a couple of them had some slightly odd responses.

Fluid - sent me a letter asking me to call them and have tried calling me a couple of times. I've written back to say that I am only willing to communicate in writing due to declining mental health.

Natwest - asked for details of my money advice service (never mentioned I was using one to be begin with, so not sure where they've got that from) plus a letter explaining why I am unable to meet payments. Have written to them again to confirm that I am not currently using an advice service, but that I will be once I've built my EF so they can expect to hear from me Jan 2020.

MBNA - suspended my account for 30 days to give me breathing space. It's since expired although they haven't contacted me. Have written to them again to clarify I still need the six months I requested & that they will hear from in Jan 2020.

M&S - suspended my account for 60 days - wrote them the same letter

Creation - these have been possibly the worst to deal with. Sent me a reminder letter to say that they had requested a financial statement from me & that if I didn't send it back within 7 days they would resume collections on my account - never received this initial request from them in the first place! In the meantime, they have continuously called my mobile at least twice a week, and have now started sending daily text messages to my husband's phone for me to call them.

No idea how they even got his number. The agreement was taken out for a sofa with DFS, and I can only assume I gave his number for delivery purposes. Hadn't told husband about any of my debt so obviously was put in a pretty awkward position when he showed me the texts.

I've written Creation a letter to clarify that 1. they haven't sent me any requests for financial statements 2. that they won't receive anything from me until Jan 2020 when my DMP provider will deal with them and 3. that they remove my husband's number from their records, but also that I am only willing to communicate in writing.

Does anyone know if I have a leg to stand on re: Creation contacting my husband & me relentlessly? I have recently received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder so mentally am a bit all over the place at the moment.

Yikes318

I think I’ve done my self managed DMP wrong.

I sent out my holding letters earlier this month and those that responded asking for my income and expenditure, I sent it to them. One has come back and asked why I can’t afford to make payments for 5 months (to build an EF) as my I&E shows that I can. Have I sent this to them too early?! :eek:

Suseka97

jupitercrash wrote: »

........Creation - these have been possibly the worst to deal with. Sent me a reminder letter to say that they had requested a financial statement from me & that if I didn't send it back within 7 days they would resume collections on my account - never received this initial request from them in the first place! In the meantime, they have continuously called my mobile at least twice a week, and have now started sending daily text messages to my husband's phone for me to call them.

No idea how they even got his number. The agreement was taken out for a sofa with DFS, and I can only assume I gave his number for delivery purposes. Hadn't told husband about any of my debt so obviously was put in a pretty awkward position when he showed me the texts.

I've written Creation a letter to clarify that 1. they haven't sent me any requests for financial statements 2. that they won't receive anything from me until Jan 2020 when my DMP provider will deal with them and 3. that they remove my husband's number from their records, but also that I am only willing to communicate in writing.

Does anyone know if I have a leg to stand on re: Creation contacting my husband & me relentlessly? I have recently received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder so mentally am a bit all over the place at the moment.

You should write to them and make it clear you are making a complaint about their excessive calls and the fact that they are contacting you on a mobile of a family member -and you have given no permission for them to use number. Tell them to remove that number from your records and to keep all matters pertaining to your account in writing, as previously requested, and that if they do not comply you will escalate the matter to the ICO. In the meantime, why not block the number on your husband's mobile.

Suseka97

Yikes318 wrote: »

I think I’ve done my self managed DMP wrong.
I sent out my holding letters earlier this month and those that responded asking for my income and expenditure, I sent it to them. One has come back and asked why I can’t afford to make payments for 5 months (to build an EF) as my I&E shows that I can. Have I sent this to them too early?! :eek:

You've not done anything wrong, as such - so don't fret. Personally I would not have sent the I&E, but what's done is done. What you could do is write back to say that the I&E shows the position you 'expect' to be in, in x months time - but in the interim you are attempting to put some money aside for emergencies and you having to pay for unexpected car maintenance, boiler maintenance/breakdown, vet bills... or anything else you like.

You could add something along the lines of '...as I'm sure you would agree, having an emergency fund is a fundamental aspect of successful budget management and this will ensure that once the DMP is up and running, I will not find myself having to vary my arrangement due to any unforeseen or unexpected expenses....'