Help Needed: Dealing with Debt Settlements and Uncooperative Creditors

nublue1

I'd really appreciate some advice or insights on how to tackle these debt-related hurdles.

Firstly, I've been faithfully sticking to a Debt Management Plan (DMP) with Payplan for just over two years now. This plan involves making nominal payments to various creditors. Recently, PRA made me an offer regarding an old Lloyds overdraft debt, suggesting a heavily reduced settlement of 30%. It sounds tempting, but I'm not sure if it's the best move considering my ongoing DMP.

My worry about accepting the PRA offer is that I vaguely remember reading somewhere that paying one creditor might go against the spirit of the DMP, which emphasises treating each creditor equally and distributing available funds proportionally. I could possibly borrow enough money to offer a similar percentage to all of my creditors. Would that be a smarter move instead of jumping on the offer from PRA?  Are they likely to accept.  I have 2 other debts with PRA (Halifax and Lloyds c/c) and one with Moorcroft which I think was a Paypal credit debt.  The others are still with their original creditors. 

Secondly, I'm facing some issues with Barclays business. They seem reluctant to play ball with Payplan and are refusing to accept any offers. With the different aspects added together they are my biggest creditor at around 13k and it's really stressing me out, and I'm not sure how to handle this situation within the framework of my DMP.

To make things more complicated, Barclays has also forwarded to a solicitor for part of the debt, which includes an overdraft, a bounce-back loan, and a credit card balance. The solicitor, Solaris Law, is dealing with the credit card debt, as far as I know.

Any advice or experiences shared on how to navigate these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any insights you can offer.

Grumpelstiltskin

My suggestion would be cancel your DMP with Payplan and go Self Managed.

When you self manage you pay what you want to who you want and you don't give details to creditors so they don't know what you are doing with other companies, you don't have to submit income and expenditure details to them.

Rob5342

I agree with the above comment. DMPs are informal arrangements with no set rules, Stepchange and Payplan like you to split the money proportionally as they are funded by the creditors, but you can do things however you like if you manage it yourself.

Have you made CCA requests for the credit card debts? If they can't produce the CCA then you can simply stop paying.

fatbelly

All creditors will be open to some form of F&F settlement.

Whether that's a sensible strategy really depends on whether you are sitting on lump sum of several thousand. If you are, why have you been making token payments for do long?

I agree with the above posters. Go self managed and do CCA requests on all relevant debts

nublue1

Grumpelstiltskin said:

My suggestion would be cancel your DMP with Payplan and go Self Managed.

When you self manage you pay what you want to who you want and you don't give details to creditors so they don't know what you are doing with other companies, you don't have to submit income and expenditure details to them.

Thanks, that does sound like a good plan.  

My concern is Barclays though, they are already pushing me to write an agreement letter to give permission for Payplan to give them my information (this is what they wrote when I asked them to explain more: I wish to contact PayPlan to obtain the information that they would have gathered prior to placing you in your respective repayment agreements. This information will be reviewed internally with the view to formalise an arrangement. To allow me to do so the bank would require signed authority to liaise with Payplan on your behalf). 

Before that they were pushing me to do income and expenditure.  Can I really say no and just offer them a monthly payment or settlement?  

nublue1

Rob5342 said:

I agree with the above comment. DMPs are informal arrangements with no set rules, Stepchange and Payplan like you to split the money proportionally as they are funded by the creditors, but you can do things however you like if you manage it yourself.

Have you made CCA requests for the credit card debts? If they can't produce the CCA then you can simply stop paying.

I hadn't done, mainly because I thought that you needed to wait until they go to an external agency and then once they had (or some had) I just wanted to leave thing as they are and not think about it.   It does make a lot of sense to do that. 

nublue1

fatbelly said:

All creditors will be open to some form of F&F settlement.

Whether that's a sensible strategy really depends on whether you are sitting on lump sum of several thousand. If you are, why have you been making token payments for do long?

I agree with the above posters. Go self managed and do CCA requests on all relevant debts

In terms of the lump sum, I haven't had access to anything thus far, but my husband has inherited some money and has offered to give a lump sum to pay the debts off, but there doesn't seem much point in taking his money if it doesn't change my overall monthly situation much.  

Grumpelstiltskin

Yes if you self manage you can just tell Barclays you are not  giving them an Income and Expenditure.

nublue1

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Yes if you self manage you can just tell Barclays you are not  giving them an Income and Expenditure.

Thanks, that's such a relief! I always thought that having the DMP with Payplan gave some level of protection to me with regard to the way the creditors behave, is that not the case?  I mean does self managing mean they are more likely to try and take action? 

Also if I self manage, how do I go about making that happen?  Do I just write to the creditors? 

nublue1

With regard to getting the CCA's I've just had a look and it seems like I need to send a cheque or postal order for £1.  Problem is that I'm now living abroad. I need to notify them of a new address anyway, so could I also ask for CCA in the same letter and explain that I can't give a postal order or cheque? 

RAS

Well, they can't take effective legal action if you live abroad. Do you intend returning?