Starting a DMP and need advice

DjangoUnchained

Based on my own personal experience only so i expect many will disagree, I found stepchange not good and didnt have my best interests. I decided not to go with them and just phoned up my creditors and asked them to freeze interest and agree to my plan. Some did and others refused so i just stopped paying them entirely and phoned them up and told them so. They then agreed to my plans, i refused to send them any expenditure or my financial details, they didnt push it. I was expecting to be taken to court but it never happened, not even a threat. I am now out of debt, with my last one for about 5k which has just become statute barred as it was sold to a debt company and i refused to engage with them as i did a CCA request which they weren't able to supply so ive never paid them a penny.
however you decide to go good luck and dont let the creditors hassle you, best thing i did was when they phoned me up i said i wont discuss it , you must put it in writing. then i blocked their phone numbers....peace.

Rob5342

The trouble is that Stepchange have to balance your interests against their own in terms of getting funding. Ideally they would tell everyone to default and make CCA requests etc, but then no creditors would fund them and they wouldn't be able to help anyone. The advice they gave me means my credit report is harmed for longer then it needed to be, but on the other hand if they hadn't been there I might not have yet started tackling things.

I have a 7k debt that PRA can't provide the CCA for so I'm happily ignoring that. I also had an 11k Nationwide credit card that I won and affordability complaint on, the result being a refund of 8 years of interest which wiped the 11k and left £5k they paid to me.

sourcrates

DjangoUnchained said:

Based on my own personal experience only so i expect many will disagree, I found stepchange not good and didnt have my best interests. I decided not to go with them and just phoned up my creditors and asked them to freeze interest and agree to my plan. Some did and others refused so i just stopped paying them entirely and phoned them up and told them so. They then agreed to my plans, i refused to send them any expenditure or my financial details, they didnt push it. I was expecting to be taken to court but it never happened, not even a threat. I am now out of debt, with my last one for about 5k which has just become statute barred as it was sold to a debt company and i refused to engage with them as i did a CCA request which they weren't able to supply so ive never paid them a penny.
however you decide to go good luck and dont let the creditors hassle you, best thing i did was when they phoned me up i said i wont discuss it , you must put it in writing. then i blocked their phone numbers....peace.

That is exactly how you should do things, it`s all too easy to become a victim of debt, and feel that you must comply with every little thing your creditors ask of you, they say jump, you say how high, well I don`t agree with that philosophy at all.

I believe its much better for you to take control of your situation yourself, and do as Django has done, as you can see, there is very little a lender can do if you don`t dance to their tune, it shows them you are not a walkover, and that you have no fear of them or there perceived threats, an excellent example of how things should be done.

stu12345_2

looking at one of my debts aqua credit card that was sold to link financial.upon looking at link financial website today.it does state if you want to be a regular payment plan customer please fill in their income expediture sheet.wow it is mega detailed
everything from how many newspapers/magazines do you buy, how much do you pay other creditors and what % do you give them.
. if i did simply offer them what I can afford. would it really be as easily as writing a letter stating you are getting blah blah £ a month. thankyou and goodbye .that's the last you hear from me. you aren't getting any income and expenditure sheet from me .
its just i find djangounchained reply about not ever giving income and expenditure sheets to any creditors and simply making a payment offer to them what he felt, without the creditors wanting some sort of evidence to show he was in financial problems and could only afford what he said he could afford.

sourcrates

@stu12345_2

You don`t have to write to anyone, or send anyone anything, I`ve said this before, once a debt ends up with a collector, there are no rules or contracts to make regular payments to them, you can pay say £5 one month, nothing for 3 months, then another £10, then nothing for two months, then make a £30 quid payment, ad hoc, or regular, it doesn't matter.

They only suggest monthly payments as its a way for them to be paid on a regular basis, your contract under the consumer credit act ended once a default was registered, after that there is nothing to say you have to make regular payments to any debt whatsoever.

Regular debt repayments are something people believe they must adhere too, but actually you don`t.

Yes the debt will be repaid quicker, but time and again we see on these boards, those who have gone straight into a DMP with a debt charity and find themselves short of money for even the basics, or the washer broke down and they don`t have the funds to get another one.

Unsecured debt is all "non priority" and should always be treated as such.

stu12345_2

my aqua account which was sold to link financial is prob the only one that is still showing as active on my credit report, what is active, is it cos it has never defaulted? so does that mean what you just  wrote ---my consumer credit contract has not ended cos it hasnt defaulted yet?
so does that mean adhoc payments or not, cos it isnt defaulted ,even tho, it has still been sold on to a 3rd party.

sourcrates

Has interest been stopped ?

Debts are sold all the time, they don`t have to default to be sold, the above still applies if they are not charging you interest, if they are, then the account is still termed as being "live" but you can still treat it as non priority.

stu12345_2

interest has stopped .so does that mean I can still make ad-hoc payments my wife has an RBS credit card that is showing as active but was never sold on nor did it default.but RBS stopped all interest can she make ad-hoc payments 

sourcrates

@stu12345_2

You/she, can do whatever you see fit, the choice is yours.

DjangoUnchained

Rob5342 said:

The trouble is that Stepchange have to balance your interests against their own in terms of getting funding. Ideally they would tell everyone to default and make CCA requests etc, but then no creditors would fund them and they wouldn't be able to help anyone. The advice they gave me means my credit report is harmed for longer then it needed to be, but on the other hand if they hadn't been there I might not have yet started tackling things.

I have a 7k debt that PRA can't provide the CCA for so I'm happily ignoring that. I also had an 11k Nationwide credit card that I won and affordability complaint on, the result being a refund of 8 years of interest which wiped the 11k and left £5k they paid to me.

in other words stepchange are a scam, they are not there for your interest, they are there to keep money rolling in for the banks, am i wrong?