can't cope with debt anymore

[loobyloo85]

Hi Chloebug

 

I have been paying through Payplan for the past few years, and it has really helped me being with them. I know that interest and charges are not always guaranteed to be frozen in a debt management plan, however, just the support I have received from Payplan during the time I have been with them has helped relieve immense pressure. I feel more positive about my debts now, knowing that a payment is being taken each month to keep my creditors at bay, and if I do get any letters or anything, I forward them onto Payplan to deal with.

All the best Chloe - dont give up hope x

[chloebug75]

Hi all, its been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I have managed to get a new bank account set up and am in the process of getting our salaries etc transferred and also dd for things like council tax and gas/electric. I have made token payments to all other creditors this month of £10 each until our dmp is up and running. Although I have had to make the full payments to the loan and cc we have with our old bank this month in case they just took it anyway but that shouldn't be a problem now. I have a couple of questions though. First is we have sent off letter (using template found here) to Virgin (MBNA) to request our original agreement. The date for them to comply was yesterday but have not had it (suprise suprise), however they have cashed the £1 as a payment to our account. Is this usual? I have proof of posting etc so can prove that it was not a payment onto the account but wondered if this was usual or a stalling tactic? Secondly I have read a number of posts on this site, mostly helpful but now am a bit confused about how to proceed with things. Originally I thought that it was best that we set up a dmp and made payments through them until the debts are paid, probably in about 10years. However there seems to be other opinion here that it is best to not have a dmp, instead pay a token amount and then save as much money as poss to offer as F&F settlement. Can anyone advise if this is appropriate? I still think that a dmp seems less stressful and we do owe the money but then if maybe we could make an offer within a year or 2 maybe that would be better long term (most of the money owed seems to be interest). So feel like I am a bit more in control but not sure now of the best step forward. Certainly doing a dmp we wouldn't have any money left to save to offer later. Thanks all for your time.

[silverfox1961]

Hi again,

I think what you are referring to are the fee charging DMP's. These are the ones that we on CAG tend to say don't use as you could do it yourself.

CCCS and Payplan are the two free(to customer) DMP's that we do recommend. Creditors tend to listen to either of these as they are funded by the industry.

 

On to the CCA requests. If any of the creditors fail to send your agreement or send one that is duff, you can use a selection of letters from here:

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors.html

 

If you are sure that Virgin are past the 12 WORKING days to respond, letter 20 is the one to send.

 

Hope you are feeling a little better now.

 

fox

[SF2010]

Chloe

 

I just wanted to say 'hang in there'! I am having a royal time with debts at the moment too and the people on this site rally round like your own personal army. I can say that this site does make you realise is that you are not alone. I know by experience that it takes some real energy to fight back when your worn down, but just take it one step at a time, you will get support every step of the way. Once you have told them and shown them the facts, it gets easier, honestly! Writing to all creditors at the same time does help you to get things in control quicker and although you may feel quite tense doing that, it certainly enables you to move forward without other creditors popping up later.

 

You have a lot to live for, one Gagger said to me, if all else fails 'sod em and live'. My advice would be to write to the rest and really gain some peace. I wish you well!

 

SF2010

[The Debt Star]

I owe approx £54K with 9 creditors. I started a dmp with the CCCS in 2006 and about half of them auto defaulted me with the Credit reference agencies, which I hadn't expected. something to do with the minimium payments being less than the creditors permitted. so watch out for that. I got rid of CCCS eeventually because they wanted to know what my income and exopenduture was each year with a view to increasing payments. Personally I wouldn't bother with a DMC. If I did it all over vagain I would negotiate an agreed plan of my own direct with the creditors and avoid those defaults.

[battyman]

Hi Chloebug

I think this is the thread you are referring to. Not sure whose it was but it is very interesting. Like you I cannot figure out which is the best way to deal with my debts. I tried to do it myself but RBS ended up taking me to court and I defended it on a dodgy DN and lost. They ended up adding costs and now I owe them more and have to pay £150 month when I origianlly offered them £50 a month. I cannot afford to pay it. That one was a loan. I have 5 other debts which are cc. Unfortunately they are all made on line and no ppi or charges to claim. I am not sure if an IVA is of any use as when you have a house it is so scary they can try and take it off you. Although my mortgage is in negative equity the same as yours. I will be interested to see how your thread goes and what you decide to do. The thread I have posted sounds so good but after my experience with the courts I would be too scared to only pay say £10 and them come after me, which the likes of RBS, MBNA, Mint would. Good luck Cholebug.

[Sea Gull]

Chloebug75 - One thing with Payplan ect is to be honest - do not offer more than you can afford, creditors make a habit of trying to force more from you! sadly its just the way it goes.

One thing you will learn on here is your rights!

I found this site in desperation one night at 3am when I couldnt sleep, worried sick over debts

now over a year and a bit later - things are so much different!

Keep Smiling This too will pass -

[Mobytanner]

I have read your post with interest, I am a newbie to this site and your position is also very similar to mine, in 2006 I wrote to all my creditors advising I couldnt meet min payments - I had 4 cards and 2 loans. I started paying lower just about affordable amounts back and all has been fine for 4 years - I had to increase year on year and complain about a couple of them (CO Op) for one but basically all interest was frozen so debt are reducing month by month - it will take 10 years.

 

Recently my Tesco loan has got worse - they passed to solicitors and thretening CCJ - I cant afford anymore so checking these sights I have have CCA requested them to see what they CAN actually do.

 

Basically you are not on your own and I have felt a lot of support from these threads and replies to my own posts.

 

Get a budget sheet down and offer pro rata amounts based on actual affordability - but certainly CCA them all first - I wish I done that first of all but maybe the money I paid might stand me in good stead when I start to push for reductions/write offs etc!

 

Keep the faith - you are not alone!

 

[sillygirl1]

Paying a pittance (token payment) and then doing F&Fs is known as snowballing... I was lucky enough to get a free travel card which 'saved' me £160 a month so I offered that to the smaller people, then three months down the line somebody 'halved' the amount I owed (which was slightly less than the REAL amount I originally owed), then the following month the remaining creditors started offering huge discounts so in 7 months I got rid of 8 creditors. All the amounts were under £500 so it was reasonably easy.

 

Had I been in a DMP I would still be paying huge amounts now and getting even more hassle.

 

Work out the MAXIMUM you can afford to pay one, then see if they bite, if not they go into the 'pot'. If they tell you the debt cannot go into a DMP say "Take me to court then" and sit back... very few will, that is usually the point they start passing it to various DCAs.

 

The key thing is to keep records so you know who has been paid what, ask for statements and if they ask for I&Es say your income is so variable it would be meaningless, they will huff and puff but can't do much (in my case it was the aftermath of a repossession so they couldn't blow my house down).

[The Debt Star]

Paying a pittance (token payment) and then doing F&Fs is known as snowballing... I was lucky enough to get a free travel card which 'saved' me £160 a month so I offered that to the smaller people, then three months down the line somebody 'halved' the amount I owed (which was slightly less than the REAL amount I originally owed), then the following month the remaining creditors started offering huge discounts so in 7 months I got rid of 8 creditors. All the amounts were under £500 so it was reasonably easy.

 

Had I been in a DMP I would still be paying huge amounts now and getting even more hassle.

 

Work out the MAXIMUM you can afford to pay one, then see if they bite, if not they go into the 'pot'. If they tell you the debt cannot go into a DMP say "Take me to court then" and sit back... very few will, that is usually the point they start passing it to various DCAs.

 

The key thing is to keep records so you know who has been paid what, ask for statements and if they ask for I&Es say your income is so variable it would be meaningless, they will huff and puff but can't do much (in my case it was the aftermath of a repossession so they couldn't blow my house down).

 

 

sound advice.

[chloebug75]

Hi All,

 

we have started our dmp with CCCS this month, although yet to see whether all our creditors agree. I have also been able to budget to put a bit aside each month (from my unreliable commision) which I am hoping to use if any offer a full and final, particularly on the smaller ones. However we are starting to get loads of phonecalls now. The Halifax being the worst so far, yesterday they tried calling on landline and mobile 15 times! I have written to them all asking not to contact by telephone but they are obviously ignoring that. In fact had a couple of letters saying that they are a telephone bank and therefore will phone how often and when they like. We have got caller display and I am just ignoring them now! The worst though is MBNA (should i be suprised!) as they have started phoning my husband at work. Don't ask me why he gave them his works number. But this does not seem right, he has quite a senior job and therefore this type of call really isn't acceptable. Is there anything we can do about it???

[rebel11]

Hi Chloe

 

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/harassment-unwanted-letters-and-telephone-calls/index.shtml

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=474509&in_page_id=2

[The Debt Star]

Hi All,

 

we have started our dmp with CCCS this month,

 

Would be interested to know whow many of the creditors automatically DN you

[wilchil64]

Hi Chloe,

Just wanted to let you know we're in a similar situation. We have approx. £30K debt with 7 companies (3 loan, 3 cc and 1 storecard), run up mainly due to times when my husband was made redundant (3 times!) and we lived off the credit card for food and to pay the bills. We now can't meet the minimum payments, I filled in a budget form with CCCS and then found this forum. We've written to our creditors offering lower payments, only 2 have accepted so far, but hopefully we'll get somewhere with the others soon. Everyone here has been very helpful, I don't know what I would have done without them. I too suffer with depression and if it wasn't for my children I would have disappeared ages ago.

Hope things improve for you.

[Sea Gull]

Anymore on this Chloe?