Starting DMP

fatbelly

Beck50 said:

Would you even write to the debt collection agencies that are for instance looking after my debts on behalf of the creditors? 

There's not a lot of point.

sourcrates

fatbelly said:

Beck50 said:

Would you even write to the debt collection agencies that are for instance looking after my debts on behalf of the creditors? 

There's not a lot of point.

Agreed, the collection agencies do not own the debt, so can`t report to your credit file, or do anything really.

Only the debts legal owner can apply defaults etc.

Beck50

It's been about 4 to 5 months since I stopped paying my creditors and so far I can only see 1 default on my credit file, the rest have either passed to collection agencies to chase of which is at least twice a day.
Can I ask what's the longest and quickest someone has had defaults.

Rob5342

My quickest was Barclaycard. They were brilliant, they defaulted me after about three months but backdated the default to the date they got the letter from Stepchange.

Virgin were the worst, after 20 months ona dmp and 8 months of not paying at all they are still dragging it out to harm my credit record for as long as they can.With the cost of living crisis you'd think they'd be defaulting people more quickly to help them but that doesn't seem to be the case.

sourcrates

Rob5342 said:

With the cost of living crisis you'd think they'd be defaulting people more quickly to help them but that doesn't seem to be the case.

When an account defaults, the relationship between creditor and debtor ends, and the lender loses a customer, you will find a lot of them will try every trick in the book to try and keep you, the hope is you will get through this tricky period, and continue using your credit line, and thus they keep your custom.

That is there train of thought, defaulting you in most cases is a last resort.

Beck50

Update,  barclaycard have transferred/sold my account to PRA Group UK Ltd, with barclays letter is also this PRA Group stating that they have purchased the outstanding balance from them and are writing to let me know what this means.
Asking to get in touch to set a payment plan up, does this mean barclays could have defaulted me and if so what should my next steps be, as I'm still waiting for the rest to do so before starting my DMP. How can you start paying the ones that have defaulted?

fatbelly

Yes there should have been a default. Is one showing on your credit report?

Beck50

MBNA have sent me a letter and probably sounded the most sarcastic and threatening letter of all, either pay the whole amount due now or we will pass your details to a debt collection agency who'll chase the payment and may take you to court, we've contacted credit reference agency to update your file and this will have an impact on your ability to obtain credit and by the way have a nice weekend,  that bit I made up but really if I could pay my installments I would, let alone the full amount which is over 6k. 🤔☹

fatbelly

Don't read too much into the tone - it's just a standard letter. 

sourcrates

Yea, just a standard collection letter outlining what "might" happen if you continue to miss payments.

They come in all shapes and sizes, and every varying tone you can imagine, from offering you help if you can`t afford your payments, to a "formal demand" for payment letter.

99.9% of the time, bad debts are farmed out to collection agencies, who will rinse and repeat the collection letter process with you, at some point you may be defaulted, but in the current climate many seem reluctant to do so.