DMP - need to reduce again!

[bradfordlad]

Hi everyone, I thought I'd start my own thread with our story.

 

A quick summary - about 9 months ago, I had to fold my business due to the credit crunch. I'd been doing ok, but times were hard & my wife was pregnant. We made the decision that to keep things ticking over I needed to get a full time job, which I did but the basic wage is lower that what I was earning previously.

 

She is now on maternity leave, and at the end of September we started a self-administered Debt Management Plan. CCCS woudn't take us on as my wife has a staff loan with her employer that we did not want to mess about with.

 

Our creditors are Virgin CC, MBNA CC, Post Office CC, Barclaycard CC, Barclays O/Draft, Next Directory, MINT CC, Natwest o/draft, and 2 x Northern Rock personal loans.

 

I know it looks a lot, but when we were were both working it was manageable - isn't it funny how your life can change so much in 12 short months?

 

Anyway, we have started to receive Default Notices, as they all seem to be ignoring our reduced payment requests (even though they are cashing the cheques!!).

 

Virgin CC and MBNA CC are worst, but only because they have my mobile number - they are ringing me 2 or 3 times a day, depsite our letters specifically saying we will not discuss financial matters over the phone - obviously I don't answer the calls from them.

 

I guess I'm jst after some advise really - what would be the "usual" process in our situation? Given all our cards (except Virgin & Post Office) are quite old, I'm wondering whether I should start asking for CCA's?

 

Don't want to upset them, but then again, they don't seem to worry about upsetting us...

 

Everything I've done has been in writing and I've been very reasonable, almost apologetic in my letters, but also clear that they can't have what we haven't got and everyone has been made a pro-rata offer of payment from disposable income, as evidenced in a Statement of Affairs, along with a breakdown of credit.

 

Any help / advice or comments?

 

Cheers

 

BL:)

[bradfordlad]

Just had a thought - I forgot to mention that when Next accepted our temporary reduced payment, they sent us a reduced payment agreement to sign, along with a new CCA to sign.

 

We signed the reduced payment agreement, but sent it back with a letter asking why we needed to sign a new CCA? And whilst writing, could you send us a copy of our original CCA, just for our records?

 

Surprisingly, we got a letter saying, "we didn't ask you to sign a new CCA (they did!), and here's a true copy of the credit agreement as requested."

 

This "true copy" is very nice & clear - there are 7 terms all numbered, BUT....

it has no name, address, date, customer number, or signatures!

 

Surely this isn't what they'd send? Should I have sent a formal SAR?

 

If I can figure out how to scan & upload I will do it....

 

Ta

[dx100uk]

for those that wont accept your reduced payment, do it anyway by internet banking.

with that amount of debt [co's wise too] i'd only give them £5-£10 PCM.

 

as for the CCA's, well its up to you.

it could savw you having to do anything on those that fail, but objectivily, it doesn't make the debt go away.

 

as for the phonecalls, sadly MBNA is particular are VERY poor at customer relations & do their own thing.

 

if you've fired of the telephone harrassment letter, then have a look in the MBNA forum for other suggestions.

 

dx

[bradfordlad]

Can I ask, if they fail to provide a "correct" CCA, does it mean the Defaults can be removed? I appreciate it doesn't make the debt go away, but I understand it means they can't really do anything about it either, which in turn means we can just keep paying them the same amount.

 

BL

[bradfordlad]

Just Bumping this up re my previous question!

 

Also, how can I get one of our lovely "experts" to have a look at a supposed CCA? Do I jut upload it to this thread?

 

Ta!

[dx100uk]

Just Bumping this up re my previous question!

 

Also, how can I get one of our lovely "experts" to have a look at a supposed CCA? Do I jut upload it to this thread?

 

Ta!

 

yep use photobucket but remove ALL pers info + barcodes.

 

i you get the image lage size on photobucket, right click it , copy, then come to the message box here & right click paste.

 

dx

Edited December 16, 2009 by dx100uk

[dx100uk]

Can I ask, if they fail to provide a "correct" CCA, does it mean the Defaults can be removed?

 

--no they can still process your info, they shouldn't but its a long job to stop them, but it can be done.

 

I appreciate it doesn't make the debt go away, but I understand it means they can't really do anything about it either, which in turn means we can just keep paying them the same amount.

 

BL

no. no cca = no pay.

 

how you deal with the outstanding & the DCA flack is up to you.

 

but once it goes to a ddca, a very low F&F can be offerdd to closed the matter for good.

 

dx

[bradfordlad]

no. no cca = no pay.

 

how you deal with the outstanding & the DCA flack is up to you.

 

but once it goes to a ddca, a very low F&F can be offerdd to closed the matter for good.

 

dx

 

Thats interesting, as we MAY be in a position to offer LOW F & F in a few months (redundancy payment).

 

Thanks for all your help - I'll try upload the scanned document tonight...

[babybear39]

Are all the accounts still with the OCs?

[dx100uk]

Thats interesting, as we MAY be in a position to offer LOW F & F in a few months (redundancy payment).

 

Thanks for all your help - I'll try upload the scanned document tonight...

 

well it might be ok if the cca's turn out to be U/S & they sell the debt on to a dca, but we'll cross that bridge later.

 

now, have you condidered reclaiming unlawful charges & p'haps the odd mis-sold PPI on all these.

that would get the balances down nicely.

 

dx

[bradfordlad]

Hi again,

 

Babybear, yes - all are still with OC's as we've been paying reduced payments for the last 4 months - still getting the ridiculous standard letters, and letters asking for stuff they've already acknowledged receipt of!

 

dx, I had wondered about unlawful charges, although whats this about the latest ruling that say they are lawful afterall (or something?) - as for PPI - never bothered with it. I've worked in financial services for 20 years, its a right con - always has been!

 

cheers

[dx100uk]

the test case is only about bank A/C charges

 

CC's & loans are fair game + interest!

 

dx

[bradfordlad]

Ah right, cool!

 

Ok then, how do I go about getting any charges back - especially from MBNA as they stuck loads on, and they've been quite a pain ringing me 3 times a day (never answered of course!!)?

[bradfordlad]

Don't know if this will owrk, but here's a link to the document that came with our MINT card when it changed over from RBS Advanta. It says CCA on the front, but other than that I think it might be "just for our records". Anyone got any thoughts?

 

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy57/citygent1911/MINTCCA-2.png

 

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy57/citygent1911/MINTCCA-1.png

[babybear39]

To reclaim charges you need to SAR the original creditor and this will have the added effect of them having to produce the CCA as well

[bradfordlad]

Hi everyone,

 

well, this is a general question rather than about one of my specific threads....

 

Life has dealt us another kick in the whatsits, and our circumstances have changed for the worse - again.

 

I now need to contact our creditors to say that the pro-rata amounts I've been paying (whether they accepted them or not), will have to be stopped. For the foreseeable future, we can only afford to make a token payment of £1 a month.

 

I have several questions, but my main one is this - one of our creditors is Northern Rock (2 x personal loans (1 is mine, 1 is the Wife's). Our mortgage is also with Northern Rock (zero or negative equity due to payment holidays etc).

 

They have accepted our current pro-rata payment for the next 12 months, which was a godsend. However, I'm worried that if we change that to £1, they will not be happy and will try get a Charging Order on our house.

 

This REALLY worries us - the mortgage will be kept up to date (mortgage payment insurance) but not sure how they will "deal with" our reduction. Alternatively, do we reduce everyone else's payment but try to keep theirs going?

 

Which is worse, keeping theirs going to the detriment of everyone else, or keeping things "fair" and reducing them all to the same amount but risk the C.O.?

 

I hope someone can advise me as I've been thinking about this for weeks and I'm starting to doubt my sanity!

 

Cheers,

 

BL

[andrew1]

Look, whoever your DMP is with, give them a call and ask their advice as it's them who have to speak with them. If your circumstances have changed dramatically then they will be able to advise you. I was helping someone with Payplan and they were very good at this. Unsecured creditors are far more likely to be okay with the £1 and I understand that you will need to be seen to do the same across the board, but Mortgages are more important and you really need advice on this from those who know.

 

I wish you luck. Once you are back in control you can then look at the finer points. If you are struggling then the gov't do help with Mtg payments, loans are another beast, but nothing is impossible...my friend had over 90k's worth of debt and we have settled (I know we had funds to use to do this) full and final for 36k in total and they are all written off and she has her life back - NEVER give up!

[bradfordlad]

Thanks andrew1, good advice.

 

As it is, ours is a self administered DMP. The reason is that my wife has an "employer loan" which we can't not pay as they would just deduct it from her salary anyway.

 

Because we are still paying that loan in full, CCCS said they can't administer the DMP as EVERY unsecured creditor has to be treated the same (understandably).

 

BL

[bradfordlad]

Hi all, not sure if this is the correct thread, but I need to get it off my chest and see what you guys think. 

 

We went through the mill financially about 8 years ago. Picked up a CCJ and a few defaults, but eventually (as they do) they've all disappeared off the credit files and life has been good.  Until the last 4 months. 

 

My business has been struggling so we're behind with a few things. The mortgage is the scariest - it's 5 months in arrears now, about £6000. There's a loan that's 2 months behind (£260) and 3 credit cards that are similar (total balance about £12k).   Our council tax is £1500 in arrears and yesterday I received a Liability Order through the post giving me until mid Jan to sort it or go to court.  This morning - my wife lost her job. 

 

I am devastated. 

However, my work is picking up and I think I should be able to pay the council tax off in full before the due date. Likewise with the mortgage I am hoping to come to some arrangement with them, although we are actually considering selling the house and moving into a rental, we're both just so sick of being stuck in the rat race, that selling would allow us to pay off the mortgage and the charging order (from the CCJ years ago), and probably have £150k in the bank. 

 

What I'm thinking in the meantime is that we make an arrangement to pay the mortgage + something towards the arrears. I did propose to pay them "what I could" but they rejected that offer. I'm self employed so don't earn a set monthly wage.   What I'm wondering is could I offer the mortgage say £300 a month extra, but basically tell the credit card companies to "do one" and offer them £5 a month.   I accept they'll probably default us, but quite honestly we don't care. We got through it last time, and I'm sure we can get through it again. 

 

My worry is, how has the law changed since last time? 

 

We had a few with no CCA's so they were easy to fob off, but this time, I suspect creditors  got their a*ses into gear and anything in the last few years will be wrapped up nicely so no walking away from them!! 

Anyone have any initial observations?

Thanks for listening
BL

 

 

[dx100uk]

you could put/offer all the unsecured debts a pro rata offer.

see our pro rata letters in the debt collection section of our library.

 

i thought the ccj resulted in a restriction k, (jointly owed home - debt was not joint?) if so you dont need to pay that off.

 

 dx

[bradfordlad]

DX, you have a good memory!!  How are you? 

Thats correct - it was just a restriction and my initial understanding was that it wouldn't nee to be repaid, but since then I've been told it would be very difficult to sell the house if the restriction is on the deeds, as the buyers solicitor would insist on it being repaid so the buyer doesn't inherit the restriction.   Is that wrong?

The pro-rata offer isn't a bad idea actually. 

 

Do you think there's a chance I can get them to freeze interest/charges until the arrears are repaid?

[dx100uk]

with a restriction k all that has to be done is the buyers conveyancing solicitor should write and simply tell them the home is now their property.

 

but in all truth all that happens is as soon as land registry get the new owners docs, it vanishes.

it does not need to be paid if you sell

 

dx

 

[bradfordlad]

I guess the issue then is whether a) the buyers solicitor knows that, and b) if my solicitor understands that it doesn't need to be paid!    I have a decent solicitor who should be ok with it, but I can imagine a buyers solicitor being a bit more wary? 

I saved this but I think he is wrong. Or at least, as he admints mid paragraph, " This is on the assumption that XYZ Limited obtained a Final Charging Order of course." And I assume Bank of Ireland won't have a full charging order given the property is in joint names?

 

Restriction, not to be taken at face value - Harry Peradigou - Brightstone

BRIGHTSTONELAW.CO.UK

---

The Restriction I am referring to is a Form K Restriction normally worded as follows:... View Article

 

 

Another thought on the restriction, I came across this thread which explains it really well - it seems it's the buyers solicitor that could potentially be the stumbling block?

 

 

[dx100uk]

10 hours ago, bradfordlad said:

And I assume Bank of Ireland won't have a full charging order given the property is in joint names?

correct.

 

stop being hoodwinked.

 

dx