DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

ditty1234

Suseka97 said:

ditty1234 said:

So a question to you selfmanaging folks with UE's do you pay something on them, like £1 or £5 a month or do you pay nothing? Just wondering?
If you pay a bit it sort of keeps the communication open and active I feel if I would pay nothing then suddenly after 4.5 years I would just get a ccj or at least some more demanding letters before they 'expiere'? 
And if I stay with Stepchange will they expect me to pay UE debts?
As you can tell I am getting ready to go self managed, but just checking?
Thanks in advance, I am doing all of my planning now and writing letters I will need alter as once terms start I won't want to think too much about this. 

If you stick with SC, then they would disregard its UE status and simply keep paying what has been agreed - so you do need to self-manage.
I've had UE's on my books now for 3 years + and have not paid a penny.  As Sourcrates points out - you either walk away or you settle, but if the latter is your intent then you need to leave it alone for a while and then see what discounts might be on offer.  If you intend to walk away, then you should not enter into any form of communication with them so that the SB clocks starts ticking.

Thanks, while I will aim to settle, time will show if it is an option, if credits turn out to be ue.

DebtHurricane

Really torn about how to move forward. I have been saving EF and want to start a DMP with SC for a low amount, and then save up some money each month to gradually offer settlement figures to clear the debt one by one. By paying a low DMP amount I am hoping the creditors will end up settling for less, therefore getting out of debt faster.

Issue is: I have 9 creditors and 3 of them have not defaulted me. Formal complaints have gone nowhere (although I can still take them to the FOS but the wait will be long). The options I feel I have are:

1) start the DMP with SC but don't include the 3 debts that haven't defaulted (don't pay and hope they default)
2) start DMP with every creditor included and just forget about the AR markers on my file
3) delay doing any DMP and only pay the defaulted ones £1 a month (but how long do I keep waiting)

It feels like I'm constantly checking my credit files, hoping for a default to suddenly appear. Checking emails for responses to complaints. I'm obsessed with it, but at the same time I have had some success in getting about 5 defaults added in the last 6 months through persistence. I just don't know if I should continue fighting these last three.

2 of these debts are particularly unlikely to default as they're now with a DCA. Original creditor marked accounts as 'settled' and closed and DCA now reports as 'DMP'/'AR' because I have been paying £5.00 a month. They assured me I won't have any negative info on my credit files but AR markers are negative!

HELP!!!

Halfwaythere

DebtHurricane said:

Really torn about how to move forward. I have been saving EF and want to start a DMP with SC for a low amount, and then save up some money each month to gradually offer settlement figures to clear the debt one by one. By paying a low DMP amount I am hoping the creditors will end up settling for less, therefore getting out of debt faster.

Issue is: I have 9 creditors and 3 of them have not defaulted me. Formal complaints have gone nowhere (although I can still take them to the FOS but the wait will be long). The options I feel I have are:

1) start the DMP with SC but don't include the 3 debts that haven't defaulted (don't pay and hope they default)
2) start DMP with every creditor included and just forget about the AR markers on my file
3) delay doing any DMP and only pay the defaulted ones £1 a month (but how long do I keep waiting)

It feels like I'm constantly checking my credit files, hoping for a default to suddenly appear. Checking emails for responses to complaints. I'm obsessed with it, but at the same time I have had some success in getting about 5 defaults added in the last 6 months through persistence. I just don't know if I should continue fighting these last three.

2 of these debts are particularly unlikely to default as they're now with a DCA. Original creditor marked accounts as 'settled' and closed and DCA now reports as 'DMP'/'AR' because I have been paying £5.00 a month. They assured me I won't have any negative info on my credit files but AR markers are negative!

HELP!!!

Who are the original creditors ? I have had the same problem with all MBNA accounts and got nowhere with complaints. I am now 3 years down the line and I paid them as much as possible, wish I would have pushed and pushed for defaults 

KimbullDF

Hey guys. Can I ask from actual experience, are creditors actually likely to issue CCJ's? What's most likely to provoke that action? I've set up with SC but I'm tempted to reduce the payments to force defaults and save up more funds to settle debts in full. I'm just concious of CCJ'S  and wondered how likely they actually are. I made the mistake of googling it and there's plenty of warnings suggesting it can happen.

jojay75

Advice about defaults and final settlements. I’m with StepChange. I have 3 debts. One defaulted straight away. The other two  didn’t. Should I ring them and ask about default? They’re now defaulted. I was also wondering about final settlements. Do I discuss that on the phone? I have enough saved to pay off 75% of MBNA or 52% off of that and Nationwide. Not sure how to go about it. Would leave the other debt as it’s defaulted earlier. Thanks 

Suseka97

KimbullDF said:

Hey guys. Can I ask from actual experience, are creditors actually likely to issue CCJ's? What's most likely to provoke that action? I've set up with SC but I'm tempted to reduce the payments to force defaults and save up more funds to settle debts in full. I'm just concious of CCJ'S  and wondered how likely they actually are. I made the mistake of googling it and there's plenty of warnings suggesting it can happen.

Just to clarify, its not the creditors that will issue CCJs, that's the courts job if it ever got that far.  If you are in any form of payment arrangement (DMP) then its highly unlikely your creditors would seek court action because it wouldn't be worth the hassle.  Also I should mention that reducing payments doesn't always force a default.  If you read back on this thread you'll find that there are quite a few these days who don't.  
I'm not quite following your logic regarding wanting to reduce payments to save more to pay in full - mostly people reduce payments to save funds so that they can offer full and final settlements at a reduction of the outstanding balance.

But going back to the possibility of a CCJ question - you can pretty much always avoid that.  If one of yours decided to pursue that course of action they have to follow what's called a 'Pre Action Protocol' and write to you first giving you the opportunity to seek debt advice or come to some form of repayment plan to avoid it going that far.

Suseka97

jojay75 said:

Advice about defaults and final settlements. I’m with StepChange. I have 3 debts. One defaulted straight away. The other two  didn’t. Should I ring them and ask about default? They’re now defaulted. I was also wondering about final settlements. Do I discuss that on the phone? I have enough saved to pay off 75% of MBNA or 52% off of that and Nationwide. Not sure how to go about it. Would leave the other debt as it’s defaulted earlier. Thanks 

So, just to clarify - you say they are now defaulted, so I guess you are asking whether you can get them to backdate the default.  If that's the case then you can but try.  You'll lose nothing in doing so and you might get lucky

As for F&Fs, it often depends on how old the debts are and what your current repayment level is.  The longer your DMP payments are set to run may influence their decision as to whether they feel it's a good bet or not.  But, it sounds like yours are still with the original creditor (MBNA and Nationwide) so I think your chances are slim, but you could always ask.

F&Fs tend to come into play when someone has been in a DMP for quite a few years and debts have been sold on to a DCA, then the first step is to send them CCA requests and sit back and wait to see if they come up with the required paperwork associated with the original account.  If they cannot, then the debt is deemed unenforceable and that gives you much more leverage with F&Fs.  

woowoo2004

Hi. I have a joint bank account with HSBC with my husband with a small ish overdraft of £300 on it. I am about to start my DMP and finalising the paperwork with stepchange. I am arranging for my wages to be paid into my new bank account with nationwide but I am worried about what HSBC (who are one of my creditors) will deal with the joint account. Can they offset any money in the joint account against my debt? None of my debts are my husbands. 

matthewhine

Hi all, I'm new here. I have recently contacted SC about my ongoing debt problems. The outcome of this was that I go on a DMP. I'm anxious and worried about this. I have read through this forum and seen many terms that make me worry. Words like default, debt collection agency F&F. 
I owe £15000 on Aon credit cards and catalogues. My wife doesn't know the extent of this and she can't know because she has really bad anxiety and mental health problems. This would tip her over the edge. One thing that frightens me is debt collectors knocking on the door. Can and will this happen?

sourcrates

woowoo2004 said:

Hi. I have a joint bank account with HSBC with my husband with a small ish overdraft of £300 on it. I am about to start my DMP and finalising the paperwork with stepchange. I am arranging for my wages to be paid into my new bank account with nationwide but I am worried about what HSBC (who are one of my creditors) will deal with the joint account. Can they offset any money in the joint account against my debt? None of my debts are my husbands. 

Best advice is NEVER bank where you have debts, the banks have a right of set off against any other account held in your name, within their banking group.

They are not always quick to use it, but have done in the past, best to remove the threat altogether.