Gabi, Can you afford to pay them for one month or not (alongside your current DMP payments)? You need to get that IE sheet filled in so you know your disposable income. Once you've done that we'll know the pro rata payments to offer your creditors. Obviously this will include your new accounts, so if you can't afford them, try to make a token payment and send a letter saying you've had a change of circumstances. Unfortunately the site has disabled my message facility, I think because I helped someone who was banned for one week pass an e-mail to people they were helping so they didn't feel abandoned, I'm not sure whether I'm heading in the same direction, so if I vanish search for Caspar on conumer forums and you'll find me again.

Ah the sweet sound of the EU Consumer Directive! Why oh why don't more use it? Vic - having to edit your grammar, I'm shocked! lol

I'd try first asking DMC for them (they'd have to supply them if you sent an SAR to them), otherwise you'll have to contact your creditors now I guess. If you do, keep it simple so they have no reason to doubt you're going to continue paying.

Baz, Would you have a look at this please. Think my message account has been disabled! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?300204-Want-to-set-up-my-own-DMP...-please-help./page2

Kitten make sure you've done your reading on the F&F's. I know you say you have, but they are notoriously difficult to get watertight and I'd hate to see you pay what you thought was an F&F only for them to cash it and continue collecting. Plenty of advice here if you want it!

What is the issue with the Halifax? As regards ignoring them, only you can make that decision, but consider in your first post you said Vanquis were 2 days away from going for a CCJ or bankruptcy if you didn't respond and now look what they've done. They lie to scare you into paying, simple as that.

I would seriously encourage you to use the knowledge and expertise on this site, and start making some repayments through your own DMP. Burying your head in the sand works for a little while, but the debts will come back and haunt you.

Hey, slow down! So many questions. Initially just continue exactly as you have been for a while. DMC told you that so you would stay with them and they'd get your money - honestly! You just keep paying for the next month or two then we'll put in the change of circumstances, freeze interest etc.... Don't say anything to them about you taking things over yourself just yet, prove to them things are going to still be repaid then they'll be more sympathetic. Work on your IE sheet over the coming days - no mad rush - and make sure it's right. You need to be able to live your lifestyle on what you have left, so be realistic. As for letters, those are a little bit in the future, so don't worry about them now. One step at a time hey! For now carry on paying to establish your credibility with your creditors and work on an accurate IE sheet. Those would be my two priorities. I've helped someone who's been through exactly this situation, so I'll ask him tomorrow to take a look and help as well. As I said before, any questions, just ask. Nothing is stupid or too small or too big on here. Just ask, that's what we're here for!

Hi Gabi, I think I responded to your post on another thread last night - great to see you've now got your own thread and it's good to see you know what you're currently paying. As I said yesterday, the Income and Expenditure form is critical. The one you completed previously was obviously not accurate enough or you wouldn't have needed another pay day loan. Think hard as you fill in this one, and try to think what it was that made you need that last loan, then ensure you compensate for this in your new one. I'm not sure if this is what sequenci advises - he is an expert so if there's a conflict, go with his advice! I'd work out your pro rata payments ensuring that you have enough to live on and that you will be able to sustain these payments AND your lifestyle without needing to take out any more loans. Then write to the creditors explaining there has been a change of circumstances and now you can offer £xxxxxx per month. If, once you've done you're IE sheet you need help wording the letter to incorporate freezing of interest and charges, let me know and I'd be more than happy to write one for you. It's a case of combining several of the template letters in the library. After that you wait for them to respond and take it from there, depending what they say. Any questions at all just ask away - we're always around to help, so you should never have to wait long for an answer. Good luck! Tingy

Dear Sir/Madam Acc/Ref No 4563210025897412 Thank you for your letter dated dd/mm/yyyy concerning the above account. We are are sorry that you feel unable to accept the offer which we have made. The majority of our other creditors have accepted the offers made to them and we have commenced payments. We cannot offer you more because we can only afford £775 per month between all our other creditors, and it would be wrong to cease or reduce payments to our other creditors in favour of your company. The offer made to you is on a pro rata basis, as used by the county court. In the light of the other creditors agreeing to our repayment plan, please would you reconsider our offer. We will be making the payments in line with the offer to your company, on a weekly/monthly basis, as a gesture of goodwill. We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Yours faithfully Mr A N Other

Hi, I'd be inclined to do one of two things: 1. Send off a CCA request as you've already mentioned. 2. Send them a letter to say that most of your other creditors have agreed to your pro rata payments and that you would like them to reconsider your offer. In the meantime you'll continue to make the offered payment. Say the payments have been worked out pro rata from your disposable income and mention that by pressurising you into paying more than you can afford they are in breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines and CPUTR 2008, along with several other significant pieces of legislation you could mention. Ask them to reconsider and see what they say. (Think there's a template in the library - I can supply one otherwise). If you choose to take my second course (which I would as it keeps your DMP on track), then if they fail to provide a satisfactory response to this letter, pm me with a link to the thread and we'll get a little "heavier" with them.

N C O (Europe) Ltd Tel. 0870-152 5670 3 Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, B90 4LA Dear Sir, Your Ref: Account Number xxxxxxxxxx I am writing with regard to the above account. In April 2011 I entered into a repayment plan with you and paid £50.00 using my debit card. This was to be followed by a further four monthly payments of £40.00 each via Direct Debit. I am concerned that no further monies have been taken from my account and that this may have a negative effect on my credit rating. I would be grateful if you could please supply me with a statement of account, and advise me on what date the agreed monthly repayments will commence. Yours faithfully,

Good for you!

Hi BD, Have to say I only skimmed the last few posts as it's a long thread, so apologies if I repeated what had already been said. I agree that nobody is going to accept a £5 F&F in writing, so the only way is to try and dupe them as you say. You're absolutely right, the time limit is critical as well. As I said there was a case (can look it up if you want) where the letters were routinely separated from the cheques and they wormed out of it as they were able to say the cheque had details so they paid it in, and the letter surfaced weeks later. Hence para 4 being so important.

Good thinking that woman! Great to see you thinking about how you're going to sort out what. Remember the defaults are there for 6 years no matter what, so if there's anything else you've not mentioned, try very hard to maintain payments on those as you don't want any more defaults wrecking your credit history.

OK - a neat little trick in this notoriously difficult area, but first a little bit of information. Creditors are advised by the legal institutions that if they receive payments like yours, to cash them on account, and almost immediately send you, the debtor a letter saying they have done so. This is what is happening with you. If the account is disputed, then creditors are advised not to cash the cheque at all. One of the frequently cited cases against F&F's is the one where I think Barclays cashed a cheque and said it was on account, even though the letter had been sent several weeks previous. They were able to prove that letters are separated from cheques on receipt, so the letter and cheque had become separate items. So, if you send a third party cheque in full and final, with your name and address only on the letter, they have to read the correspondence in order to pay it into the correct account, so cannot plead that bit. Personally I would always get a settlement in writing FIRST, and say payment can be made within 28 days / 14 days / what have you. It is nigh on impossible to get a F&F totally watertight, so in my opinion getting them to agree to terms in writing first is the best idea.

Agreed - settled CCJ would look better. However, I still stand by my comments re tackling the rest of your debts while you're at it - and don't forget you've got to live. I never had that much free money a month when I was at uni!

I would take the view on this that if you don't ask, you won't get. A smaller lump sum now may be more appealing to them than a slightly larger monthly payment.

If you think there's going to be a balance outstanding which you won't be able to afford to pay off, you also need to fill in an Income and Expenditure form (in the library) so you can work out what you can realistically afford and sustain.

Do they say why they want the payslips. If it is to prove your income then I'd send them copies (not originals) removing all except critical information.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/consumer-issues/docs/c/10-1053-consumer-credit-directive-guidance.pdf

Hi Hayley, Keep that letter safe! They've admitted they don't have a signed copy of your agreement - that is worth its weight in gold. They're right when they say about enforcement action. Strangely enough I've been doing a lot of research about that word over the past couple of days as "enforcement" doesn't seem to be legally defined anywhere. The consumer likes to think being asked to make a payment is enforcement action, the creditor reads it as enforcing through the courts. The creditor's interpretation is, I think, the more commonly accepted unfortunately. I would definitely get the SAR in full. They have admitted they're on dodgy ground, so the more you can dig the better. One has to wonder why they are asking if you're sure. It isn't because they're being nice as they're not, they're applying charges to your account. Given that, it makes one wonder why they have to ask if you're sure you want them to cash the £10.00. If you have asked for it, they have a legal entitlement to process it. The fact that they are questionning you about it in no way, shape or form alters the original 40 day deadline - they know that too as they've sent for the stuff from the archives. It will be very interesting to see what comes through.

Hi Gabi, First thing is to start your own thread. Do you know how much DFH were paying each of your creditors. If not, you need to replicate your IE form on the one in the library here which will work out your pro rata payments for you. Given you'll now be able to pay them slightly more as you won't be paying £35.26 to your DMP provider. Write to them explaining you are going to be paying a bit more and I doubt they'll turn you down. Ideally, if you know what DFH were paying, you'll be able to put this letter in with your first payment, thus assuming it is all going to continue seemlessly. Once on your own thread we'll address interest, charges etc....

Hi Abby, Thanks for filling in the details. To be fair, as you say yourself virutally, you can't blame them for wanting to cover their own backs. You obviously have debt problems and some of this seems to be related to your suffering from bipolar - are you on medication and under a consultant for this? What I would do in all honesty if forget about finding an answer to your original question as I honestly don't think it's relevant. I think what you need to do is look at the bigger picture and say, OK, I've got debt problems. My credit record is wrecked for at least the next 6 years whatever I do, so what is the best and fastest way for me to get out of debt? The first thing you need to do is complete an Income / Expenditure sheet. This is hard at the moment as you haven't had the baby yet and so your outgoings are likely to increase a fair amount soon. In all honesty, you need to have a very realistic view of your expenditure. This is almost impossible until the baby's born. It's fine for them to say just put down what you can offer, but it is hard for you to know what you can offer at the moment as it will change in 4 weeks time. Hopefully the stay will remain in place until after you've given birth and then you'll be able to fill in an accurate IE form. You need it to be accurate in order to be able accurately to work out your disposable income, and from that figure your repayments. This would then take account of ALL your debt to, not just the one taking you to court. A CCJ may feel like the end of the world at the moment, but it isn't. I've had them for years and still existed without problems. So, after all of that, what I would suggest you do as little as you possibly can ountil you've had the baby. Once s/he is born, then you'll know how much s/he is costing you each week. At that stage, fill in the Income Expenditure form (nothing to stop you starting it now!) and that will then work out your disposable income for you. It is essential you get that form right, as from that we'll then make repayment offers to all your creditors and those are the repayments you're likely to be stuck with for some time. In your situation you might be best going with one of the free Debt Management Companies like CCCS. You can then set up a direct debit and they will distrbute the funds for you. As I said - the important thing is to get you debt free rather than discuss the merits of CCJ vs Default. Don't forget to answer my question about your bipolar - it is extremely relevant! Tingy

Yes, but your defaults would all be paid off, right? So the only thing of relevance is the CCJ which would show as up to date. In my opinion that portrays a better picture than unpaid defaults - you might do that with your rent! Everything paid bar one shows you've reformed your ways. Neither is ideal, but IMO one is better than the other.