DMP Help - Credit Union

LC_456

Hi, I’ve been a follower of the forum for a while after spending many years in a cycle of debt which got worse when my partner lost his job. I’m now in a self managed dmp and all seems to be going well. However, I have 1 loan with My Community Bank that’s in arrears and is very close to defaulting. From reading various posts on here, I see credit unions keep being flagged as potentially problematic and due to my job, I need to avoid a CCJ as I’m subject to annual credit checks. The wording on the default notice (along with the usual ‘we will require payment of the full balance’ and ‘register a default with CRA’s) says they’ll “pass the account to an external company who will assess the different ways to recover the outstanding balance on our behalf. These could include home visits and/or legal action”. Is it best to contact them to set up a payment arrangement beforehand or wait for default first? Ideally would also like to avoid an AP but I’d prefer that to a CCJ.
I’m not sure if it’s relevant but it seems as though Lantern manage their collections (based on the email address provided on the default notice).

Any advice on how best to proceed with this one would be much appreciated, thank you.

ManyWays

My first suggestion is to make an affordability complaint to MCB. (And indeed possibly some of your other debts. Getting some of the others reduced will make the MCB less of a problem.)

No lender or debt collector can start legal action without the debt having defaulted. So you can wait until that happens before offering a monthly payment, no need to do this now at the AP stage.

And if that is rejected and they go to court, you can ask for a Tomlin Order to avopid a CCJ if your job will be affected.