DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

sourcrates

Time_To_Change wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. Do they have to stop interest once they have defaulted you? It is just annoying how a mainstream lender thinks it is sensible to carry on adding interest and charges to someone in financial difficulty. Thanks again.

Once defaulted the relationship between the borrower and the debtor ends, all balances are frozen, and no further interest or charges can be added to that account, unless the original agreement allows them to do so.


Most consumer credit act agreements do not allow this.

lola_girl

Hello all,


I've been an avid reader of the DMP threads in the last few weeks, they have been so informative and useful (thanks!), so I thought it was about time to introduce myself.


I have recently started a DMP with stepchange and I currently owe £34k across 6 creditors:
Tesco Bank, MBNA, Barclaycard, HSBC, M&S and Newday (Debenhams).
My marriage broke down last year and it has been a year of huge change financially. I am still in the family home with our two children. I took over full responsibility of paying the mortgage alone (fixed for another 4 years) and it has become increasingly difficult to manage even minimum payments without resorting to spending on cards to get through the month. I realised in the summer that this just could not go on (think you call this my light bulb moment!).


So despite trying to manage I sent letters to creditors in August and waited for the world to fall in. Well it didn't. Almost immediately I felt better! All lenders gave 30 days grace and I contacted stepchange.


All creditors have now stopped charges and interest and accepted the much reduced payments. Tesco Bank defaulted me in October and Barclaycard have said it will be done this month.


After reading all the fantastic info provided by the regulars I have decided to go self managed in the new year and send off CCA requests to confirm if they are all enforceable (3 date from prior April 2007).
I really don't have any issues or questions that haven't already been answered somewhere before but would like to join in the thread to gain and give support.


Wish me luck!

January2015

lola_girl wrote: »

Hello all,


I've been an avid reader of the DMP threads in the last few weeks, they have been so informative and useful (thanks!), so I thought it was about time to introduce myself.


I have recently started a DMP with stepchange and I currently owe £34k across 6 creditors:
Tesco Bank, MBNA, Barclaycard, HSBC, M&S and Newday (Debenhams).
My marriage broke down last year and it has been a year of huge change financially. I am still in the family home with our two children. I took over full responsibility of paying the mortgage alone (fixed for another 4 years) and it has become increasingly difficult to manage even minimum payments without resorting to spending on cards to get through the month. I realised in the summer that this just could not go on (think you call this my light bulb moment!).


So despite trying to manage I sent letters to creditors in August and waited for the world to fall in. Well it didn't. Almost immediately I felt better! All lenders gave 30 days grace and I contacted stepchange.


All creditors have now stopped charges and interest and accepted the much reduced payments. Tesco Bank defaulted me in October and Barclaycard have said it will be done this month.


After reading all the fantastic info provided by the regulars I have decided to go self managed in the new year and send off CCA requests to confirm if they are all enforceable (3 date from prior April 2007).
I really don't have any issues or questions that haven't already been answered somewhere before but would like to join in the thread to gain and give support.


Wish me luck!

Hi and welcome to the friendliest thread on the internet :wave:

Lovely to have you join us and we all look forward to getting to know you and keep you company on your journey to debt freedom :T:T

We've all either been there, or are still going through our journey to become debt free. For me, I am almost 4 years in. I started owing over £95k (well me and hubby :rotfl:). I am in the £30k's now and hope to get that down a fair bit early in the new year. That would have been unthinkable had we not entered DMPland. Best financial decision we ever made. I absolutely love my DMP.

lola_girl

Thank you for the welcome January!


I have read about your journey, you are doing amazingly well. I agree that its a huge relief once you finally take the plunge but it really isn't as scary or difficult as you would imagine is it.


Onwards and upwards (or downwards as it goes!).


Lola

Suseka97

Time_To_Change wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. Do they have to stop interest once they have defaulted you? It is just annoying how a mainstream lender thinks it is sensible to carry on adding interest and charges to someone in financial difficulty. Thanks again.

As sourcrates has said - the simple answer is yes. That's why we encourage people to push for defaults, that and to get the 6 year countdown started. I agree it is frustrating when creditors carry on adding interests and charges, also when they mark credit files with AP or AR markers which means the 6 year countdown doesn't start until the account is satisfied - another reason to push for a default.

[Deleted User]

purplepaws wrote: »

When completing your I&E, if the money from your husband is given to you to cover expenses, could you not just indicate that? (Housekeeping = £400, Food shopping =£400 for example?) It will balance out then. Also Step Change don't need to see your bank statements so I'm not sure why it should be a problem? I did not send bank statements to Step Change for my DMP and I don't recall them asking.
Try not to over think the process of setting up the DMP. It isn't a test and no one will try to catch you out if your figures are a little 'vague'. You are doing a good thing by trying to get your finances sorted - it will make you feel so much better once you have them under control. Good luck and keep asking as many questions as you need!

When I started my DMP in 2013 I'm pretty sure Stepchange asked for a bank statement, It's a while ago and so much seemed to happen all at once that I could well be wrong about that:o. They may have changed their requirements since then anyway.

thestarks

Hello all, my wife and I currently have a DMP through Stepchange (they have been fantastic and entering into a DMP was a massive weight off of my shoulders!) ... we have cleared nearly half of our debt (originally around 19k!).... we have come into some money and would like to clear the debt.
However I was wondering is it worthwhile offering a reduced full and final settlement offer instead of the full amount? Our credit rating is poor but obviously we want to improve this so eventually we can try to get a mortgage.
If our offer of a reduced full and final settlement is accepted is this going to be looked at negatively in the long term as apposed to clearing the full amount?
I hope this makes sense? Any help or advice would be appreciated!

January2015

thestarks wrote: »

Hello all, my wife and I currently have a DMP through Stepchange (they have been fantastic and entering into a DMP was a massive weight off of my shoulders!) ... we have cleared nearly half of our debt (originally around 19k!).... we have come into some money and would like to clear the debt.
However I was wondering is it worthwhile offering a reduced full and final settlement offer instead of the full amount? Our credit rating is poor but obviously we want to improve this so eventually we can try to get a mortgage.
If our offer of a reduced full and final settlement is accepted is this going to be looked at negatively in the long term as apposed to clearing the full amount?
I hope this makes sense? Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Definitely worth making F&F offers. Advice is don't go through Stepchange - contact your creditors yourself. Do not tell them you have the money - tell them a relative is willing to help you out by gifting you the money and it will only be available if the offer is accepted to settle the debt.

Also, it's always worth sending off for the CCA documentation for each debt. There is always the hope one or more of the debts could be unenforceable (UE). If the debts are pre-2007 this is more likely (but still not guaranteed). If any of the debts are UE then a low settlement figure can be negotiated. I settled a £12k debt for £1.2k because it was UE.

Go in low and you can negotiate up if they decline. I would start as low as 20% - but it does depend on how long your DMP would take to complete. For example if it only has a couple of years to run, the creditor/DCA may think it preferable to wait for the monthly instalments via Stepchange than taking a hit with a reduced settlement offer.

Finally, make sure you use the template letter from National Debtline when making your offers - because it's important to get the wording right to ensure no-one can come after you in the future for the balance of the debt(s).

Edit: meant to say your credit files are stuffed already from being on a DMP. They can't get worse for settling with F&Fs rather than full settlements. I would assume (hope) all your debts have defaulted already - if this is the case they will drop off your credit files six years after date of default, regardless of whether they have been settled or whether there is still money owing on them.

thestarks

Thankyou for taking the time to reply and your advice! Can I ask why some of the debts may be unforceable?

January2015

thestarks wrote: »

Thankyou for taking the time to reply and your advice! Can I ask why some of the debts may be unforceable?

There are a number of reasons why some debts are UE, but basically the creditors failed to comply with the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act in someway.

In my case (well it was actually my hubby), he signed an application slip on a trifold type application form. Although they sent us a copy of the application and the T&Cs, the application form said he must read condition 11 of the T&Cs before signing. The only piece of paper we had at the time of signing was the trifold leaflet with tear off application - so he had no opportunity of reading condition 11 prior to signing the application. We would never have known that, and we had to seek advice on a different website forum - from experts. However, there are many reasons why agreements may not be enforceable. This is just one example.

Easy to get documentation checked once you have it - when you get your CCAs visit the All About Debt website and visit their unenforceability section and ask the question.