More Hassle with our self run-DMP with Capital One

stu12345_2

Wife has debts with numerous creditors, so do i, CCA letters all wrote last month, another one replies today Capital One, yes, it is still with capital one and defaulted over a year ago. The full credit agreement produced, terms and a statement!!.

 As you may know we are starting our own DMP and trying to make manual payments based on CCA letter outcomes.
 so she admits defeat and decides to pay manually, she tries to log on to her capital one account on app or website-- BLOCKED--PHONE US is the reply

 she phones, unsure if it was a UK call centre, didnt sound like it though! Went to arrears section, was told her account details are only available now via phone call, cos of it defaulted.

 She explained she is not with stepchange now, the lady said she would update that, wife asked sort code and account number so she can do Standing Order. the lady said i put you through to debt repayment plan team.NO, NO, not again, wife thought. She then handed phone to me and gave lady authority for me to speak.

I eventually got the details, lady said she would send out SO details, i said Huh, you just gave it already to me. Anyway she said how much?, i said not sure, she ok . she then said she has took £1 off the balance cos of the £1 cheque wife wrote for CCA letter. What??? I said!! she then said the bank returned it? and the £1 has not been deducted from her capital one account. I said that £1 was the fee for the CCA search , not to pay towards her account balance!

Lady said wife can also make a full settlement payment today, i said aint got the money, she said she could offer a 50% settlement, i got confused and said is that a discounted offer, she said yes, 50% off if she pays in next 30 days, I said cant afford it, she said come back later, maybe new offer.she said it was a "partial settlement offer" whatever that means? I assume it means marked as partially settled on credit report?
 so here we are setting up another SO today, it wasnt easy, and now everything has to be discussed via phone if we want speedy reply.

 lady said there is no live chat, no email, so the choice is snail mail or phone call.
 Doing your own DMP is harder work than we thought, 7 more creditors still  to go, wish us luck!

Brie

Why did you need to pay a company to look at their own records?  Wouldn't a subject access request be suitable?  If nothing else it's free.  

stu12345_2

Brie said:

Why did you need to pay a company to look at their own records?  Wouldn't a subject access request be suitable?  If nothing else it's free.  

the £1 fee is the charge based on the CCA 1974 for them to produce your credit agreement and statements, it the same price even if the debt has been sold on, and the 3rd party has to do the digging.

not so much concerned about the fee, more about them using the £1 to reduce her balance and also her online account is now blocked cos its in arrears and the standard hassle in getting SO details without having to do a SOA etc.
anyway wife set up SO with a lower monthly payment than the stepchange amount, cos they are offering 50% off, and she thought, why pay the debt even faster, cos the woman said to wife will prob get 50% off in 6 months time again, the debt is only 18 months since default.

Brie

I still maintain that if you did a Subject Access Request (SAR) they would have had to supply the credit agreement and would have had to do so for free.  Better the £1 in your pocket than in theirs.  Especially if you are doing this with a number of companies.  

Rob5342

It's a bit cheeky to use the £1 for paying the account balance, I had that with a couple of mine. As it's enforceable and you are planning to pay then it really doesn't matter that the £1 was paid off the account balance so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

It might be a bit of hassle getting the account number and sort code, but now you have them you can just adjust payments as you see fit.

stu12345_2

I googled the sort code and account number.it was revealed by capital one in their twitter feed in 2018. and the call centre lady told me exactly the same number.
 the power of goggle.tbh it was good capital one offering a good discount on a debt that is only 18 months old since default.

Rob5342

There will always be an offer available. If and when you are ready to make a final settlement make a low offer and then wait 6 months if they don't accept it.

stu12345_2

Rob5342 said:

There will always be an offer available. If and when you are ready to make a final settlement make a low offer and then wait 6 months if they don't accept it.

but you have to weigh up the cost of the extra monthly payments made Vs the extra discount offered.

and it's a shame Tesco bank offer no discount whatsoever for my credit card debt. and it defaulted same time as capital one.

sourcrates

Why not just wait until they sell the debt on to a company more amicable to deal with?

50% off is not a bad opening offer, shame you can`t take advantage of it.

The use of the £1 statutory CCA charge to reduce your balance instead of to supply a copy of your CCA is a common occurrence, usually among debt collectors though.

gwynlas

It is a pain but something that you need to put up with if managing your own DMP as you cannot just tell them it is with Stepchange or whoever. I just told companied how much I would be paying them, that I knew what I could afford and refused to engage any further. They phoned every six months or so initially but it soom went to an annual review with occasional offers of reduced part settlement figures from them

stu12345_2

sourcrates said:

Why not just wait until they sell the debt on to a company more amicable to deal with?

50% off is not a bad opening offer, shame you can`t take advantage of it.

The use of the £1 statutory CCA charge to reduce your balance instead of to supply a copy of your CCA is a common occurrence, usually among debt collectors though.

the good thing is if I was stepchange I believe I wouldn't even have got this offer today.stepchange would just keep taking my payment..so doing  our own dmp has it's good points