DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 4)

Nicki_Sue

EX-Spendaholic -
Thants fab! Well done you. So when I get settled into my dmp I'm guessing its you I get to write my charges letters then lol!

Angel_Cake_3

WOW Ex-Spend - that is great news! Well done you !!!!:T

I am sure you are going to get lots of us asking you how etc.....

I want to start claiming back charges once my DMP is fully bedded in, think I will start this process in Oct.

Can you let me know if you think I am going the right way about it?

Bascially, I have kept a note of all the interest charges, late payment charges and overlimit charges (only overlimit as CC Companies kept added charges on whilst the DMP was being set up which took me over the limit)! :mad:

So far this is around £5k - Greedy so and sos!

I was going to try and claim back these charges from May 08 - when I started to make the £1 payments, (been paying Payplan payments for 2 months now).

Is this the right thing to do, or did you claim back even further?

Just a bit worried that claiming may rock the boat with regards to my DMP - advise greatly received.....

Gemmzie

You can claim for six years Angel Cake

Angel_Cake_3

Gemmzie wrote: »

You can claim for six years Angel Cake

Thanks Gemmzie, sorry if this has already been posted about, but are there certain criteria?

is it only if charges are over certain amounts?

What about interest payments?

I sent a letter to Natwest over a year ago to claim charges (about 1 years worth) They have written back twice and said that they are currently at the High courts with the Office of Fair trading and until this is resolved they can not deal with my claim......

sorry to ask silly questions, but am confused.com about the whole claiming back thing..!!

milliejon

Hello - I'm sorry I haven't been around for a while (loads to catch up on here!).

Can anyone offer any suggestions please? I have 10 debts which have been on arrangement for about 3.5 years. Over the past couple of months, three have been taken off arrangement. However, I'm having difficulty with trying to organise them and I'd be grateful for any advice:

Two debts have been taken off arrangement as I'm paying about £30 more each month (between them) than the minimum.

One is off arrangement (without even telling me), and the minimum is about 50p more than I'm paying. However, the interest rate is 30% and going up to 35% in October so I'm only actually paying off £1.50 each month.

Five are with debt collection agencies, and they take a pro-rata amount from me.

One is a loan, with the interest added at the beginning, which I'm paying a reduced (pro-rata) amount each month.

The other is in dispute. It was on arrangement, they've now taken me off, but I'm still paying a pro-rata amount each month whilst they decide whether my offer is OK. My guess is that they are either selling this on to a DCA or I'm going back to a normal account because I'm paying the minimum.

My problem is that I don't feel that I'm being fair to all my creditors because some are getting interest etc. The only way I can see around this is to take the three that are not on arrangement, put together the amount of money I'm paying them all, pay the minimum amounts and use the rest to pay off the debt with 35% interest. This would then bring the debts down more quickly which means that I can pay the others more quickly.

Does anyone see a problem with this? Or have any other ideas?

MurrayMint

Hi All,

Due to send first CCCS payment for 1st Sept. Already sent letters and token payments to creditors. MBNA (A&L Card) have written the following letter to me:

"We appreciate that you're facing financial difficulties and look forward to being able to discuss a level of repayment that would be acceptable to us. Please be aware that the Reduced Payment Programme will be recorded on your credit file for the life of the account, and then for a further 6 years. This may prevent you from obtaining further credit in the future even on smaller items such as a contract mobile phone and will not relieve you of your responsibilities to repay the debt

Should you wish to discuss a Reduced Payment Programme, please call our Debt Management Team with the following details:
- Your monthly income
- Your monthly expenditure
- Names of all other creditors and balances

A restriction has been placed on your account. We ask that you cut up your credit card and any cheques and return them to us as no further transactions will be authorised.

In order to help you as soon as possible, please telephone us within the next 2 days on...."

TO PHONE OR NOT TO PHONE... THAT IS THE QUESTION???

I don't want to, as I'm a scaredy cat. But I don't know if it will help my chances of getting interest stopped???

MM

Gemmzie

Angel_Cake wrote: »

Thanks Gemmzie, sorry if this has already been posted about, but are there certain criteria?

is it only if charges are over certain amounts?

What about interest payments?

I sent a letter to Natwest over a year ago to claim charges (about 1 years worth) They have written back twice and said that they are currently at the High courts with the Office of Fair trading and until this is resolved they can not deal with my claim......

sorry to ask silly questions, but am confused.com about the whole claiming back thing..!!

Current account claims are with the High Courts. Credit card claims can still be made.

Have a look >> http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges
It's any charges, not interest payments but you can add interest to the charges (it explains in the article)

Gemmzie

I wouldn't bother MurrayMint - CCCS will deal with them

Ex-Spendaholic

Angel cake, you can claim back 6 years. Bank charges claiming is on hold unless you meet the financial hardship criteria. I'm not sure how I met that whether it was due to being on a DMP, overdrawn, heavily charged or whatever. Have a look at the criteria in Martin's guide. Having charges of £500+ in one year is one criteria they are using.

Ex-Spendaholic

Murraymint, I wouldn't ring them either. Your credit rating isn't going to be good anyway so don't be bullied into offering more money you can afford in order to try to prevent a default or whatever.

Millie, are you on a self managed DMP?