four years on dmp might be out of work

[nowhere to turn64]

Hello, I am new here and as you can see from my name i am in deep and feel there is nowhere to turn.

 

I run a small market stall with my husband its failing fast , we claim working tax credits the max and have a mortgage, morrtagae is on interest only and dmp is under £77 per month on £44000 debt , a charge for £5500 on the house , the reason we keep going is because we are making about the same as we would if we were to sign on , the tax credits and what the business pays is around £200 a week , if claiming jsa we would have no council tax to pay and some of the interest on the mortgage would get paid eventually , but we rob peter to pay paul all the time .

 

I really don't know where to turn here because we are just existing i am really depressed and its making me feel ill with the worry of when the business will make money if any , some weeks we have made only £40-50 and have missed the mortgage.

 

We haven't paid the water bill since Noverember 2011 and just got a new book through with an ammount of £57 per month to start paying.

I know this is wrong but i am so scared of the debt collection agents that i pay them just to stop them taking any action against us as we have been to court 3 times and i might add we won ,but its very unpleasant and does not do much for the health.

 

 

if we came out of work and stopped paying the dmp would they make us bankrupt ? at the moment we don't have equity in the house because of the charge on it , but if they made us bankrupt we would be homeless as we don't have any kids now living at home and with our bad credit rating and ccj's and the charge we would not get a rented house i have enquired about this and have been refused so that is out of the question. we would probably end up living in the back of the car .

Edited March 24, 2012 by citizenB
formatted for easier reading

[unclebulgaria67]

I think you should talk to the company managing the DMP first. If you cannot keep making repayments in a reliable fashion, then they need to address that. Perhaps they should offer you further advice about what options you might have. As well as getting advice from the DMP company, it is worth getting a second opinion from CCCS or your local CAB.

 

Is it possible for one of you to manage the market staff and to find work elsewhere ? Are there are any jobs going in supermarkets or warehouses ? Jobs are difficult to find at the moment, but if you can find some casual or temporary work to help you for a few months, that would be a start.

 

If at some stage it looks likely that you could lose the house, then you should think about getting your name down on the local authority housing list. In some areas, the waiting list can be many months or years, so even though you have a home at the moment, if you can register, it might not be a bad idea. As you don't have kids living at home, you may not be seen as a priority. I realise that this is not something you want to think about, but it is something you should look into.

[nowhere to turn64]

hello, I have applied for jobs all over and never get them i go for interviews but never get them , my husband has also applied and is not successful, we live in an area where unemployment is high and jobs very scarce, i think we will have to let it take its course and end up on the scrap heap after 20 years of hard work all for nothing . the funny thing is this , if we lived in a rented house we would be ok as most of the rent would get paid , but becuase we have a mortgage we get no help at all .

[unclebulgaria67]

Have you looked into a PPI or charges that have been added to any accounts or CC's ?

 

If you haven't, it might be worth seeing whether there is anything you can claim back.

 

Also have a word with an advisor at CAB to see what your benefit entitlements might be.

[fightingback99]

You need to pay your morgage, water rates, CCJ payments and other priority debts before you pay £77 per month to debt collectors, regardless of how much you owe on credit cards to DCA's. If you've no equity in your house, and your creditors know this, it's unlikely they'll try to make you bankrupt, unless they're idiots. Is the £44K you owe spread across numerous cards or mainly owed to the one creditor?

 

As Uncle says , you need to revisit your income and expenditure, work out how much you've got left, see if you're entitled to any more benefits and then get in touch with whoever runs your DMP to vastly reduce your monthly payments. And also get a 2nd opinion on what your options are. My monthly payment is now 1/4 of what it was years ago, due to further reduced circumstances. If you can only afford £1 per month then that's all you can offer them , until things change.

 

Being a homeowner does seems to leave you more vulnerable than if in rented accomodation. A family member or friend could act as a guarantor in a rental lease agreement I think. Hope so that's my plan of last resort action if made bankrupt and homeless.

[rebel11]

Hi nowhere

 

I'm not sure what you sell on your market stall, but maybe a total change in direction regarding the products could be the answer. You've got Wimbledon, European Football Championship and the Olympics. Theres a lot of merchandise you can sell. Just an idea, buy a small amount of stock, see how it goes. Google 'sports calender', lots of events.

[nowhere to turn64]

thank you for your reply , i am not sure if i had PPI most of the debts are from cc from years ago , so probably too late now even if some did have PPI on them .

We paid £10 for a SAR on a loan we got about four years back and never heard anything then when we did enquire it seems everything was fine lol so nothing to claim on that , but i am sure i have kept all the statements so i could look through them , but not sure how long you have to claim ?

[nowhere to turn64]

Hi , I did think about reducing the dmp , the highest debt repayment is on the charge and that is £28 per month , is it possible to get this reduced along with the others or is it now set by the judge ?

My parents would help if we lost the house ,but that is a last resort . We used to pay £380 per month on dmp , then reduced it to £225 , then to £77 , so you can see the change in our cirumstance . We really don't want to give up on the business we have worked hard for 20 years and to just let it go isn't an easy thing to do although we have considered it , but like I mentioned we may as well keep on with it because with council tax benefit and working tax credits its still better than jsa ,plus its good for the soul to be at least trying to help yourself . Things usually start to get better after easter so we are still hoping and we have applied to do some outdoor markets too .

[rebel11]

Hi now

 

If you've been mis-sold PPI there isn't a time limit as such, it's been mis-sold as your self-employed, it's your money, you want it back with interest. Find the statements, then just do the following:-

 

(a) get the PPI payments on to a spreadsheet you can find on this site, that will work out how much interest they owe you on top of the PPI payments,

(b) send a covering letter,

© Fill in the FOS PPI Questionnarie on their website.

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/ppi/guide-to-PPI-forms.html

 

Spreadsheets:- http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?330996-Latest-Spreadsheets-PPI-Claims-and-Charges-Claims-Dec-2011

 

thank you for your reply , i am not sure if i had PPI most of the debts are from cc from years ago , so probably too late now even if some did have PPI on them .

We paid £10 for a SAR on a loan we got about four years back and never heard anything then when we did enquire it seems everything was fine lol so nothing to claim on that , but i am sure i have kept all the statements so i could look through them , but not sure how long you have to claim ?

[rebel11]

Hi how

 

Did you receive a response to your SAR? You should of received all the documents/statements on the loan account. Send them a chase letter telling them that they still haven't responded to your SAR request. Companies are known to say anything to wriggle out of paying PPI back. The only way you will know that you don't have PPI, is if you can see the docs/statements yourself.

 

Also read no 7 in my signature.

 

thank you for your reply , i am not sure if i had PPI most of the debts are from cc from years ago, so probably too late now even if some did have PPI on them .

We paid £10 for a SAR on a loan we got about four years back and never heard anything then when we did enquire it seems everything was fine lol so nothing to claim on that , but i am sure i have kept all the statements so i could look through them , but not sure how long you have to claim ?

[rebel11]

Make sure you send the claims Recorded.

[nowhere to turn64]

Hi how

 

Did you receive a response to your SAR? You should of received all the documents/statements on the loan account. Send them a chase letter telling them that they still haven't responded to your SAR request. Companies are known to say anything to wriggle out of paying PPI back. The only way you will know that you don't have PPI, is if you can see the docs/statements yourself.

 

Also read no 7 in my signature.

 

We never recieved anything we just phoned the company who were dealing with it as we never heard anything for months and all they said was that everything was within the law with it .

[nowhere to turn64]

I would just like to add that my parents have bailed us out big time , they have paid the bills up to date and put some money into the bank for us. They said they have done this because when they die we will get inheritence anyway so might as well have some of it now while times are tough , I was overjoyed but at the same time never wanted to consider my parents dying but they are both nearly 80 and i do pray they are here for a good few years yet . The thing is they have a massive house and they own it so when they do go it will be split between me and my two brothers , my dad said we should keep trying and if we don't have money for the mortgage again to let him know and he will pay it and as it can be paid off when we do eventually receive our inheritence . It's not nice to talk or think about but my parents wanted to help .

[brokebutnotbeatn]

SAR is not about being within the law, it is about getting everything a creditor holds on you. This way you can see if you have ppi and claim it back. And any unlawful charges.

[nowhere to turn64]

SAR is not about being within the law, it is about getting everything a creditor holds on you. This way you can see if you have ppi and claim it back. And any unlawful charges.

 

well we never recieved even an aknowledgement letter to say the sar had been applied for .When my husband phoned to enquire what was happening he was told that there was no unlawful charges . We left it at that ,but if this were to happen today we are much wiser and stronger so would never have been shrugged off so easily .

[brokebutnotbeatn]

was your £10 cashed? by whom? You just SAR your original creditor.

[nowhere to turn64]

was your £10 cashed? by whom? You just SAR your original creditor.

 

Yes it was cashed and the SAR was to the original creditor but we went through a debt company , I am going to have a look through my old email's to find the guy who dealt with it and get my husband give him a call and question why we never recieved the documents of everything the creditor has on us, the original creditor is citi financial , then they sold it onto 1st credit .

[brokebutnotbeatn]

was the fee made out to the OC or the company? If the latter demand your money back and send to the OC yourself. The SAR letter is in the library (in creen under 'Banks...' at the top left of this site.

[Halibutt]

Just a quick point about PPI reclaim. It's being broadly put about that the cut-off limit for claims is six years (not by people on CAG who know better!) This is, however, incorrect. I sought advice on this and the general rule is that you are quite within your rights to contact a financial institution regarding a PPI reclaim, even if the original card/loan, etc. is over ten years old.

 

The stipulation is that you have three years in which to reclaim from the date at which you realised a claim was possible or legally valid.

 

Hope that helps.

 

H. x

[nowhere to turn64]

was the fee made out to the OC or the company? If the latter demand your money back and send to the OC yourself. The SAR letter is in the library (in creen under 'Banks...' at the top left of this site.

 

I think the £10 was taken off the debt because it went down by £10

[nowhere to turn64]

Just a quick point about PPI reclaim. It's being broadly put about that the cut-off limit for claims is six years (not by people on CAG who know better!) This is, however, incorrect. I sought advice on this and the general rule is that you are quite within your rights to contact a financial institution regarding a PPI reclaim, even if the original card/loan, etc. is over ten years old.

 

The stipulation is that you have three years in which to reclaim from the date at which you realised a claim was possible or legally valid.

 

Hope that helps.

 

H. x

 

can i reclaim overdraft charges and other late charges or whatever they charge on accounts even if it is in a dmp ?

[nowhere to turn64]

My mortgage company charged around £150 in late charges , the bank on both mine and husbands accounts have about £200 on each in charges .

[Halibutt]

Not sure about the charges, but it may be worth investigating. I managed to get £400 back from my bank in unfair charges, but as a "good will gesture" due to hardship. That was before the High Court ruling on bank charges.

 

Always worth looking into these things though. My view would always be that if you have the time and determination to handle your own affairs with these institutions, it tends to be better than using a DMP - especially if it's with someone who charges you for the privilege