Hi there, just looking for some extra support/advice.

My hubby was made redundant from a well paid job in February. Since then I have had to help with the mortgage and also feed the family on my part-time wage. I have managed to keep up to date with my credit card payments - until this month. I called PayPlan who were extremely helpful and provided me with some template letters to personalise and send off to my creditors with income and expenditure forms, which I did two weeks ago.

Can anyone advise what usually happens next? I haven't heard a peep from any of them (except Citicards who harrass me about 6 times a day but hang up when I answer the phone - idiots.)

I just want to know if they usually write back to you or what??? PayPlan DID say that I should just send the payments I offered every month but I need to know that they'll freeze the interest etc and agree to these payments..... I know, I sound like a control freak but it's all new to me and I hate it!

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

they noprmally will reply sayingnot enough but that is why it is a good idea to send the payment with the proposal and juts keep to your payment schedule.

What debts do you have?

if you have any catelogues, credit cards you can send them a cca request to ensure all the paperwork is in order cause if it isnlt it would put you in a much better postition.

ida

well firstly, keep off the phone , request everything in writing.

now, on reduced payments.

it YOUR money, you control it.

write to each and TELL them they will only be gettting £XX for XXmts because of financial hardship. request that they helf you by freeaing interest & refrainn from adding charges.

then DO IT, [use internet banking] and pay them the promised ammount each month without fail - regadless to whatever they write [remember - stay off the phone, it the calls get silly, then fire-off the telephone harrassment letter].

now if, and a big IF, they ever get you to court, the judge would laugh them out hte door or more than likely assign a smaller sum.

they all know this, but will prob still chance their arm.

good luck

dx

Thanks folks. I'll just plod on with it at the moment then.

Ida, what is a CCA and how where do I start?

cca = consumer credit agreement. any company you have credit from should still have a aopy of the original agreement. many don't or have one that is not properly executed.

you can send for copy of this at any time. you need to include a £1 postal order and send recorded delviery and juts print your name.

Dear Sir/Madam

Re:- Account No: XXXXXXXX/Your Reference Number: XXXXXXX

This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.

I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77 will apply.

If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.

Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).

I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.

You should also note that I will only discuss this matter in writing and should it be your intention to arrange a “doorstep call”, please be advised that under OFT rules, you can only visit me at my home if you make an appointment and I have no wish to make an appointment with you or any of your associates.

There is only an implied license under English Common Law for people to be able to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.). Therefore take note that I revoke license under Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so, then you will be liable to damages for a tort of trespass and action will be taken, including but not limited to, police attendance.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Ida x

Hi, I am with Payplan, and what you normally do is just await for your case officer to update you on whether the interest and charges are frozen. Some companies wrote to me aknowledging that Payplan had been in touch with them, and they were chasing for more money. However, I sent the letters onto Payplan and they negotiated with the creditors for me. I now have 3 creditors who have agreed to freeze the interest on my accounts which really does help. x

Thanks LoobyLoo! But PayPlan are not acting for me - they advised me to do it directly which I'm finding a bit scary. I do have a case officer and case number though and if I don't have any joy doing it myself I'll definitely hand it all over to her. In fact, I wish I'd just done that in the first place. Would at least feel as if the burden was off my shoulders. x

Hi Folks! Well I've now had interest and charges stopped and reduced payment accepted by Abbey - no questions asked. It was so stress free. Citibank did ask for two payments of double what I've offered before they would review the possibility of a plan - I've paid one and the next is due 28th of this month - thereafter, they will be getting the offer amount and no more, whether they freeze interest or not. (When I say double, it was such a small amount in the first place it wasn't difficult to double it)

My big problem is MBNA. Oh my god. After sending them my I&E/offer they sent me a letter stating that I should give them a call to set up a plan. I did this and because I couldn't make a payment there and then, they asked me to call back when I could. They were very helpful on the phone and I ended the call feeling extremely optimistic.

On Monday I called them back to make a payment and discuss the plan and got someone different on the phone - I cannot believe how awful this guy made me feel with questions like:

"how did you get into this mess?"

"what had happened that you can no longer pay?" - letter clearly stated redundancy and I also opened the conversation with that!

"why have you not included home insurance in you I&E?" - I had!!

"why are you claiming so much for car maintenance?" - aaargh - wot business is it of yours mate?????

His tone was derogatory and I could really fell myself losing it, however, I just wanted to get it sorted and get a plan in place so I persevered.

He explained that the payment I was offering was not enough and that they could accept £92 (the offer was £86 for goodness sake!). I should make the payment over the phone there and then and then within 2 days they would let me know if the plan had been accepted.

2 days later I received a text from AEGIS asking me to call them re my debt PLUS a letter through the post asking me to pay my arrears ASAP!! How is that helping the situation??? Then this morning a telephone call from an Indian gentleman asking me for a further £55 towards the arrears so that they could review my account again!!! Did they not hear me when I said I couldn't afford any more than I was offering - I only paid them on Monday!!!

I now get the feeling that since they're mucking about so much they obviously have no intention of helping me. I am just going to keep paying them the amount I offered every month and worry about the interest and charges later (frightens the hell out of me though- I want to get out of debt, not keep it piling up).

IdaInFife - thanks so much for the template CCA letter. I am going to send that to them today. They are in for a fight now!

What I need to know now is, should I still try and negotiate the interest/charges etc, should I ignore their calls and deal only in writing? Should I write to them separately from CCA letter stating all of this......

Having read so much about MBNA in the last few days I'm beginning to think it's going to be an uphill struggle with them - deep breath!!

Thanks for any help you can give!

stay off the phone.!!!!!

pay them what you can afford

its YOUR money, you control it.

dx

Thanks dx - I'll defo dodge the phone calls now!! Do I need to write to them again to reiterate the situation and confirm that I will only be paying what I offered as stated previously?

gx

i'm wondering if they are pressuring you 'cause they know they have no CCA to enforce?

i'd wait TBH, then reveiw what you action once the CCa arrives or the fail to respond within 12+2 working days

dx

Thanks dx, I wondered that too. My hubby never managed to set up a payment plan with them either and after a few months of harrassment he received a letter from them offering a settlement deal totally out of the blue - which he managed to negotiate down even further. That could be the reason they did that for him too.

I will wait and see what happens.

Cheers.

g

and don't forget.

your under no obligation to offer exp sheet at all

it's your money and YOUR business, not theirs!!

dx

Thanks dx - that's wot hacked me off with MBNA, telling me wot I should and shouldn't be including - it's MY money!

Learnt my lesson now and will just pay wot I can and CCA then.

Well, low and behold, following calls from Aegis and MBNA this week about my account, I received a leter this morning stating that they WILL accept my monthly payment offer and have frozen the interest and charges!! Yeeha! However, in the same post came a letter from Global Vantedge (who act for Aegis) chasing me for the arrears on the account! I don't think the left hand knows what the right hand is doing!! I'll be ignoring that one.

Still, it's a weight off my shoulders in the meantime - and I'll still be CCA'ing them.

your doing well and i know it feels like a struggle to start with but chin up and your doing the right thing, you are regaining control of them and once you hit that stage you will feel alot better

ida x

We are in the same boat after I was made redundant last year. We have managed up to this month but due to an admited mistake by the benefits office we were overpaid our housing and council tax benefits and they are now clawing it back at the worst possible time when I no longer receive JSA!

We are now properly entitled to some housing and council tax benefit, however they are using this benefit to off set their mistake by clawing it back the housikng benefit at £79 every month for housing and then us having to find £20 for council tax. This is in addition to current rent and council tax. This means that we have less than £50 per week to live on after taking off rent, council tax, utilities and other priority debts including £30 petrol for my wife to get to work and back.

We were on a DMP based on the fact that we were on benefits but that has all changed. Guess we will have to start grovelling for lower payments until I can get employment.

As per another post I am goijng to have to appeal against them clawing back the housing benefit and demanding "arrears" council tax. What is even more annoying is that in November when i foudn out I was getting notice pay I wrote to them and inquired if it made any didderence and could they check that my claim was valid. They continued to pay housing and council tax so I had to assume that they were correct.

Hi Surfer01 - thanks for your post. It seems that so many of us are in the same position and through no fault of our own. You just feel like life is getting better when you suffer yet another set back (or number of them in our cases!).

On a different subject, we were overpaid WTC a few years back - we told them at the time but they continued to pay and we then assumed that because we were still getting them, we were entitled. But no, that's not the case - and 3 years later were received a demand for £1200 - there is NO WAY we can even think about paying that back.

I have all the paperwork and logged call details from back then so can fight it all the way.

I really do hope that thing improve for you soon. All the best.

g

Update. Went to CAB yesterday and there appears to be a strong case for getting the overpaymenst cancelled especially as I had written into them and asked them to take into consideration the notice pay and then amend or adjust the benefit as required. The fact that they never responded to any letters counts against them. See also The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987. Do a search on overpayments as I did come across a paper regarding the discussion in the House of Lords of overpayments. Go to CAB with all the necessary papaerwork as there must be a similar regulation for overpayment of tax credits.

Hi everyone,

Maybe should have started a new thread for this.....

Been on a payment plan since June with my creditors and been sticking to it so should not have any complaints from any of them.

However, I've been getting calls from MBNA the last couple of days(sounds like an Indian call centre) at work and on my mobile telling me I have to pay the arrears now...... what the hell is this all about? I have a payment plan cos its all I can afford and I sure as hell wouldn't break the pp as I'm just beginning to get back on my feet.

Are they just being difficult? Should I have to pay the arrears when I'm on a plan?

Help please?

just ignore the calls and sedn them this:

Your Street

Town

City

Postcode

DATE HERE

Company Name

Road

Town

City / County

Postcode

Re: Harassment by telephone

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

Dear Sirs

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to, FOS, OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded.

Yours faithfully,

[NAME HERE]

Idax