DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Willing2Learn

neiljmuk wrote: »

Can I ask what a CCA basically is? it's purpose? Why would debt not be enforcable anymore if payments have been made against it as part of a DMP.

DebtCamel have an excellent article on this very subject. It explains it quite well

Debts - why, how & when to ask for the CCA agreement

And yes, you can improve your negotiating position if a creditor cannot provide you with a "true copy" of your agreement. So it is important to make the request for all eligible accounts, especially if they are over than six years old.

TheWickerMan

When sending the 'hold' letters to creditors is it advisable to send them by post, or does e-mail/secure message work just as well?

Many thanks

Outlander14

Sorry to be a pain, I guess I’m still in the nervous panicky stage. So I’ve send the holding letters to all my creditors today other then the bank as still waiting to hear about my basic bank account. Today is payday and when I would normally pay my cards. As of yet, I’ve still not missed a payment on any of them, so just a quick question and I guess it might sound stupid, do I make a payment at all to those accounts, even a token one of a few pounds?

User_060921

Absolutely not

sourcrates

TheWickerMan wrote: »

When sending the 'hold' letters to creditors is it advisable to send them by post, or does e-mail/secure message work just as well?

Many thanks

Outlander14 wrote: »

Sorry to be a pain, I guess I’m still in the nervous panicky stage. So I’ve send the holding letters to all my creditors today other then the bank as still waiting to hear about my basic bank account. Today is payday and when I would normally pay my cards. As of yet, I’ve still not missed a payment on any of them, so just a quick question and I guess it might sound stupid, do I make a payment at all to those accounts, even a token one of a few pounds?

Wickerman, send by post, emails can be missed.

Outlander, pay nothing, you want defaults, you don’t get them by paying do you........

Outlander14

‘Outlander, pay nothing, you want defaults, you don’t get them by paying do you........’

Thank you - apologies I can’t work the quote thing out. I do appreciate the advice given here :-)

Debtress

Hello everyoneI I have been following this Forum for the past few weeks and I have taken great heart in it all as I think you can help me with my fuddled brain at the moment.

My history was that I ended up £57,000 in debt. This came about because of separation/divorce and whilst in the beginning I could meet all my payments, as time went on I became more and more mentally unstable, lost my job and ended up having my mortgage paid by my Ex husband just so I could keep the roof over mine and the children’s heads. I have since paid him back every penny and the children are now adults and have their own accommodation.

I was passed onto Step Change via the Samaritans. Step Change were WONDERFUL and took all the pressure off me. They negotiated with all my creditors and every one of them agreed to the plan except one.

Here starts my problem. I have approached ALL my last 5 creditors with F&F offers of 35% as my sister is offering me £10,000 to get rid of all this debt. My outstanding debt is £28,500.

I have approached HSBC with whom I have a debt of over £15,000 and a personal account of £400. They are seriously considering my offer of 35%. I await to hear still if they will accept my 35%.

I also have debts with Link Financial (2) and Cabot (1). I approached both of those and they want no less that 75% of the debt which my sister will not do. She offered £10,000 to be pro rated between all creditors.

Anyway, I started looking around the internet and I saw this CCA being mentioned all the time. So I have sent CCA letters now to Link Financial and Cabot. The debts they have originally were with Barclaycard (taken out originally approx. 1983), Mastercard (also 1983) and MBNA (approx. 2005). I suspect MBNA may be a no goer in that it is still too young for a non enforceable CCA but I live in hope.

I have told Step Change that HSBC are seriously considering my 35% F&F and that HSBC have asked that Step Change DO NOT make them any payments until they come to an agreement with me. Step Change said no problem and that they will defer the normal 1st of the month to the 18th of the month for my DD. Thing is, if Link or Cabot come back to me (or do not come back to me) regarding the CCA’s, I don’t want my payment going to them if they can’t enforce anything. Can I stop my DD with Step Change?

I have also had to tell Step Change that due to my mental health, my boss has said he will no longer sanction overtime for me, which I included in my income, as I am making too many mistakes, and he feels I can no longer work 6 days a week and so has reduced my hours to basic hours which means I am £81 a week worse off. I have told Step Change that this means I am £351 a month worse off and now they are going to have to go to my creditors with a payment of £275 a month.

Should I stop my DMP with Step Change so that they no longer take any money from my account and await what happens with the CCA’s and if they ARE enforceable, start a self administered DMP and just pay them what I have to? What I don’t want is Step Change paying all £275 to one creditor if I settle with HSBC and the others are unenforceable.

Suseka97

Debtress wrote: »

........I have told Step Change that HSBC are seriously considering my 35% F&F and that HSBC have asked that Step Change DO NOT make them any payments until they come to an agreement with me. Step Change said no problem and that they will defer the normal 1st of the month to the 18th of the month for my DD. Thing is, if Link or Cabot come back to me (or do not come back to me) regarding the CCA’s, I don’t want my payment going to them if they can’t enforce anything. Can I stop my DD with Step Change?
.......Should I stop my DMP with Step Change so that they no longer take any money from my account and await what happens with the CCA’s and if they ARE enforceable, start a self administered DMP and just pay them what I have to? What I don’t want is Step Change paying all £275 to one creditor if I settle with HSBC and the others are unenforceable

The way things work with SC is that if you do settle on an F&F with any of your creditors, they will then reallocate your monthly payment across the remaining creditors. So if you want to take a pause whilst those DCAs do what they need to with your CCA requests, then the answer to your question is yes. You would be better off ending your DMP arrangement via SC and go self-managed. If any of them come back with the requisite paperwork you can simply restart your payment plan with that particular creditor or DCA, at a reduced rate given the change your financial circumstances.

MrLolly

Hi all,

Rushed into a DMP with stepchange in October. I then saw (thankfully early on) that some of my creditors hadn’t defaulted me yet, just marking the debt as ‘arrangement to pay’ / AR. After contacting them, they refused to default because that wasn’t a ‘true reflection’ because I was paying £5 a month. My contractual payments were over £25 a month so how this isn’t defaulting I don’t know.

So- I’ve cancelled with stepchange and after reading how great the advice is on this thread I think I’ll self administer a dmp once I’ve built up an EF.

My question is: will asking creditors to ‘hold action’ while I’m ‘seeking advice on my debts’ not prevent them further from defaulting me quickly?

I thought holding an account means they won’t take any type of action for a period of time, but I want those defaults as soon as possible!

Am I safe to ignore them completely until they default me, and then set up my DMP?

sourcrates

MrLolly wrote: »

Hi all,

Rushed into a DMP with stepchange in October. I then saw (thankfully early on) that some of my creditors hadn’t defaulted me yet, just marking the debt as ‘arrangement to pay’ / AR. After contacting them, they refused to default because that wasn’t a ‘true reflection’ because I was paying £5 a month. My contractual payments were over £25 a month so how this isn’t defaulting I don’t know.

So- I’ve cancelled with stepchange and after reading how great the advice is on this thread I think I’ll self administer a dmp once I’ve built up an EF.

My question is: will asking creditors to ‘hold action’ while I’m ‘seeking advice on my debts’ not prevent them further from defaulting me quickly?

I thought holding an account means they won’t take any type of action for a period of time, but I want those defaults as soon as possible!

Am I safe to ignore them completely until they default me, and then set up my DMP?

Hi,

You don’t need to send holding letters, the usual course of events is they will pass your account to the collections dept, after a certain period of time, it may then be passed to an external debt collector.

They will run through their usual series of template letters, over the next six months, then pass it back to the creditor because you haven’t bitten.

The debt may then be sold, or put through the mill again, at some point along this journey, it should be defaulted.