No choice but to consider DMP - help appreciated!

fatbelly

They will be aware that the FOS have it. I believe the FOS bill them for their services!

The guidance is being tinkered with but I believe it still says that they should not start court action while a debt is with the ombudsman.

Conc 7.15.10

Old version

https://legacyhandbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/7/?view=chapter

New version

https://handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/conc7

emsgirl

Thanks Fatbelly,

That's really useful. I see what you're saying and why I shouldn't need to tell them at all.

I'll just stop paying but if anything looks like it's being escalated I'll pop back here for some more advice if you don't mind. I'm a bit concerned the fact they have asked me for payments suggest they are not following the guidance and putting the accounts on hold at the moment.

I totally overthink everything! I'd rather go into everything with my eyes wide open so I'm extremely grateful for the advice.

Thanks for all your help 

emsgirl

Another update.

The Virgin account ended up going to the ombudsman as Virgin did not accept the investigator's recommendations. The ombudsman agreed in my favour so Virgin need to contact me to sort out refunding all the interest, fees and charges to the account. So that's a big win!

Unfortunately the ombudsman did not agree with my Zopa loan affordability complaint. It makes no sense whatsoever to me as it was such an expensive loan and to be honest it was the one that broke me as it was so unaffordable. I'm just going to have to accept it and move on though as there is nothing else I can do about it. I will start paying the minimum to PRA for this account and wait a while then do a CCA request I think is the best plan. Does that sound sensible?

fatbelly

Yes that sounds sensible

FOS must think that Zopa did adequate 'due diligence' but Virgin didn't

You win some, you don't win others

Is that around £20,000 that you have got back though affordability complaints?

emsgirl

Thanks Fatbelly

As you say, you win some, you lose some. It was just strangely not the one I was expecting to lose! I still have one left at the Ombudsman too (Barclaycard) so will see what comes of that.

Yes approximately £20000 back through affordability complaints which is incredible!

I’ve still got a long way to go but it’s made such a difference especially as along with the refund of the charges it has meant what is left on these accounts is now at 0% interest until paid off and all negative entries have been removed from my credit reports which had left me in a much stronger position.

I have set up the minimum repayment for the Zopa account which is with PRA. I’ll leave it for a while and then request the CCA. 

Many thanks again for all your help and advice. The support you guys offer on here is truly amazing and I for one will be eternally grateful. 

Rob5342

My complaints were a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of it came down to what the lender could reasonably have known at the time, and they were more stringent with ones where they could see my account history and kept increasing the limit than they were with ones that were brand new loans.

Thanks for posting the update, it's good for people that are just starting out to see how much things can change when you get going. 

emsgirl

Rob5342 said:

My complaints were a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of it came down to what the lender could reasonably have known at the time, and they were more stringent with ones where they could see my account history and kept increasing the limit than they were with ones that were brand new loans.

Thanks for posting the update, it's good for people that are just starting out to see how much things can change when you get going. 

Thanks Rob5342,

It's interesting that the outcomes of some affordability complaints are better than expected and some are worse than expected! It's well worth doing them though.

I hope that by updating as well as getting the expert advice from you guys I will also be showing others how things can get better. I was honestly so scared when I started this journey but I'm beginning to see signs of hope. When you've lived with debt for so many years you almost stop living and just exist from payday to payday just surviving the month only to relive the whole miserable cycle again and again. Despite learning to be as frugal as possible I was just working to service debt. You can't make plans or save for anything in the future so you can't move on with your life. It becomes your entire existence and I'm sad for all the years I wasted in that space. I'd almost forgotten what it's like to be normal without constantly worrying about money. It feels like I finally have some control over it and hope that things can turn around.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and helping others.