Hi there,

I have recently contacted Payplan for advice. I was dreading making the phone call! I shouldn't have worried there very professional remember they charge the credit companies for their services not us!!!

They will take some basic details from you and arrange for a specialist to contact you by phone to go through all your debts and advise you of the best way forward.

As far as I am aware they can only deal with unsecured debts on your behalf.

If you dont want to proceed with any option they give you just dont send their paperwork back. It's your decision your in control.

Hope this helps

Paul

It must be worth a phone call though to find out where you stand.

give national debtline (a charity who deal with payplan all the time) a call on 0808 808 4000. there may well be a delay in getting through but they will answer all the questions you have. an iva is expensive, fees can cost thousands although you may get part of your debt written off! a dmp is free but you will have to pay all off.

Generally a DMP will show up on your credit rating as the first thing a debt managment company would do is to try and stop any further interest being added onto your account, stopping the possibility that your payment to them is being wiped out by interest charges. Consequently you would be in breach of their T&C's and this may be noted on your history.

In a some cases the original lender will sell the debt on to a collection agency prior to the DMP being accepted which may also appear on your credit history.

As to if your financial situation changes, most lenders will only agree to a DMP, (remember they are not obliged to do so), if they can review the situation periodically, i.e. every six months, this is done by providing a Statement of Means at these intervals.

That said you are still well within your rights to claim any unlawful charges from the original lender which would possibly reduce your total amount anyway.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with most DMP's, (though I would recommend somebody like CCS as opposed to a private company who will often make a charge, with CCS or CA all the money you pay will go to your debtors), you just have to be prepared for entries to experian, equifax and the like.

This is my understanding of DMP's. Hope this helps and any mods, feel free to correct anything i've boobed on.

Fishy.

If this is in the wrong place pleas emove - I figured I would post here as I noticed a few people already use them.

It looks like a good option, but I'm thinking of moving house soon or even selling and renting, so I'm unsure what happens if you come into more money or need to change mortgage etc.

Also their site is a little unclear on the effects on credit rating - I know an IVA will go there but if it's just standard debt management with Payplan will it show up?

And I have a secured loan as well as my main mortgage - would this be included?

Also any general comments about them - I've only seen good feedback so far which is good.

I know I can phone them and ask about some of this but it's always nicer to here it from an unbiased view point.

I use Payplan and wish i had spoken to them months before i did.

THey will help to work out how much spare cash you have and will advise what can be put down as a legitimate expense, for example you can allow an amount for nappies, dog food and even doing your hair. You are only in debt you dont have to live on bread and water while you work out a way of settling your debt.

With Payplan you will need to have a minimum of £150 spare to go into the pot for your creditors. This is less than would be required for an IVA but an IVA will clear your debt entirely in 60 months. Payplan you pay it all (mine should be clear by 2027:D

The main advantage of Payplan is that they will absorb ALL of the pressure you are getting from your creditors. once you have a ref number from Payplan and have been assigned an account team then all you have to do is forward all letters , demands and bills to the team. They will negotiate they will work out an arrangement on who gets what. You can stop ignoring the phone ( i threw mine away and managed without for 4 months) and just tell them to talk to Payplan - it doesnt matter how pushy they are they must talk to payplan.

None of your creditors have to agree to an arrangement but generally they will accept that,for now, this is the best they will get.

The way to think of Payplan is that it is a buffer allowing you time to regain your feet and to figure out a way of settling your debt. Payplan can help arrange remortgage etc but the best thing is to hold out for 12 - 18 months and then start to up your payments if you can. Gradually you will begin to receive offers of settlement at far reduced amounts but again you shoudl always talk to Payplan before accepting (even if you have spare funds by then).

The only prob with Payplan at the moment is that they are getting very busy now.

Definitly worth a phone call though.

Guy

Thanks for your reply.

The minimum £150 - Is that from what I already pay? In which case I can easily do that.

How much of a commitment is it? An IVA sounds like you're stuck for 5 years with no other options, whereas from what you say about Payplan there are options to change payments and maybe settle early.

I have been with Pay PLan for three years and it is the best thing I have ever done. The relief of the phone calls and letters was worth it. I am now coming into a position of being able to offer full and final settlements and Pay Plan are helping with this. An IVA sticks (as does a bad credit rating for sure) but I feel better and have been able to rebuild my life and above all my confidence!

Hello

I know you guys are singing there praises but I just think new members planning to use them should think about it.

I have been with then for 3 or 4 years now and the problem is you dont get a full picture.

I have about 9 debts via loans credit cards etc. Once entered into the agreement half my creditors stopped sending me statements and the estimates on my Payplan account are miles out. One states I owe about £850 and I actually owe £2,000. Another estimates £65 remaining and its actually £835.

The problem is you are still classed as a bad debt, not meeting minimum payments and defaulted. As a result charges are heaped on you and in the case of Lloyds TSB and HFC / Beneficial the debt recovery section isn't even aware of the agreement so add charges again and again and often call me twice a day (when the new switchboard shift comes on).

So dont think you'll never get a call again.

Also my credit score with all my creditors is still not even began to be repaired.

My advice is contact the creditors yourself. Let them know whats happening and you can pay off yourself as per Payplan do for you. Paypaln negotiated a monthly payment of about £40 on one and the interest was about £38. I was making more headway with that one by myself.

Then later if you do get a lump some at some point pay it to a debt of your choice. If you pay one off totally or try to pay a big sum to one who hasnt frozen interest, Payplan are apparently legally obliged to tell all other creditors. So be prepared for all the vultures to start calling again and negotions and figures be re-jigged all over again.

Also once paid or settled, (and if you get a statement from debters saying paid in full etc, templates available on other sites), you now have at least one debter saying you are OK and marked off your list.

As stated at the start I am still rated as a very bad risk with all my creditors and my expected repayment/finish date according to my Payplan account is 2011. In actual fact its more like 2015 before I can even hope to be debt free let alone credit rating start to be repaired.

I know I've rambled as I have tried to give you facts and examples to explain my problems. Hope i havent confused my own points.

Payplan may work fine for you but not in my case.

Hope this helps someone.

In response to Cardi,

I started with Payplan in their early days. At that time when i sent them details of all my debts they were able to freeze the interest and charges on all of them. I have had some of these debts have another go at me from time to time and each time Payplan has dealt with them. So in my particular case they have been very helpful. I agree with the facts that if you deal with the creditors directly they will eventually agree a low payment and you can eventually settle. The trick then is to follow the same guide lines and dont offer to pay more than you can afford. Using someone like payplan is generally easier. I have just negotiated a apyment plan for my partner on a Barclays £8000 debt at £25 per month - they wanted £150 so it can be done but you must be prepared to bare your soul and go in hard.

If i had entered into an IVA instead of using payplan i would now have 8 months to run and probably owe nothing instaed i have an on going plan and still owe in the region of £25K so its a case of shop around and see.

Be aware there is a new company out there at the moment dealing with IVAs trying to get people to come out of an IVA and go bankrupt claiming its better than paying and keeping their property with no equity. this is a bad idea as eventually you will probably be clear of debt and property prices will GO UP AGAIN.

have me on a dmp for the next 30 years, so useless, as they won't support you or help you if you are called to court, and I managed my own dmp for 4 years before that. I am getting rid of my creditors one at a time. I found payplan advisors, quite rude and frightening at times, when a creditor threatened me. One didn't even understand the word token payment. You are better off, doing it yourself, with the help of these forums and nationaldebtline, who are brilliant, at doing it yourself. I would be dead before I have finished off my dmp with payplan, and a dmp is only meant to last 5 years

I was thinking of using payplan after an unsuccessful period with the Debt Support Company - only because I was paying £100.40 a month and they were taking £35 of this for their own monthly charges. I wanted to find a Debt management firm who didnt make such gruelling charges and payplan popped up. However, reading these posts, i am not sure and maybe a DIY debt management plan would be better ???? I owe about £17K in unsecured debt and my affordable monthly amount could be £150-£200. The largest debt (and I have quite a few creditors !) is about £4000 so think this would be an option - its just I dont get much joy contacting my creditors for account information etc. so I can pay them !!!

Any advice would be great.

thanks

Hi, I actually did my own DMP, and took all the information from National Debtline, they have template letters, and all the tools you need. I mean I am now on benefits, and yet Payplan are still asking for a token payment. Also the fact that a DMP should not really last more than 5 years, I have now been on mine for 7 years, and getting nowhere. So I will be leaving them, as I intend to manage my dmp myself, as I felt more in control....

Think I have been repeating what I said in my previous post, but I would go for it yourself.

I am surprised you guys wrote bad things here.

First of all PayPlan does work as they are in the middle between youa nd banks/loan sharks etc.

They did take all of my stuff, we agreed that I will pay every month fixed amount, I greed to 260 per month based on detailed expenditure list. You tell them what you spend money on and they fill out the form. PayPlan tells you what is acceptable by average standards and what is not. For example male haircut should not be more expensive than 30 pounds etc etc.

You have to monitor each creditor yourself. I check it every 3-6 months. I log in to my previous bank Halifax where I have still 4k to pay back. It is the biggest one within 260 per month as they take 50 quid. No fees, charges frozen, no calls and letters. Only confirmation post that they agreed to payment plan.

Some payday loan companies started offering me settlement, for example I owe 1400 but they say if i pay 50 this month, 50 next month (and 400 in the third month) they will close it for me. So little-by little-you can do it and remove your debts from the list. I send email to PayPlan about it and case closed. This is because they are seeing you paying every month same amount.

Yes occasionally PayPlan representative may come sharp to you as this is human behaviour, sorry but they are non commercial, they dont charge for their services. Keep cool and call back later. Big deal. Generally 99 percent PP stuff is super friendly, and very helpful.

Go for it. Life will become easier.

I had to report one of the advisers, as all he was doing was terrifying the life out of me. I already knew that I was in trouble, and what the creditors are entitled to do, from info on this forum. Also when I got a court notice to get it setaside, I had to do it all myself, they were no help whatsoever. You are ok if you have some disposable income, but for 7 years I have been with them, and I am writing to my creditors myself, asking for original agreement, and most of them have not had one, so not entitled to the money. When I took ill, and was on benefits, my bank was useless, so was my mortgage lender, and all payplan were interested in was could I keep up my payment to them. Life has become very difficult, and frightening, as they give you no support whatsoever.

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