Advice required

[scottygees]

I am currently on a DMP and have had £6749.47 refunded in interest from Tesco Bank as during my DMP they failed to supply me with a notice of sum in arrears in accordance with the CCA.This got me thinking about other debts on my plan which are mainly credit card debt with the odd pay day loan and energy company thrown in to the mix. I have no doubt that some of these companies send me notice of sum in arrears but that some probably don't. I am therefore requesting advice on o how to best approach this. Has anybody else been in a similar situation? Also I read about unenforceable agreements but am not sure whether whether my debts were pre 2007. Again some of the credit cards possibly were others maybe not. Would it be a waste of time asking for copies of the agreements? Any advise on both matters would be greatly appreciated. Just to add some of these debts have now been passed to debt collection agencies.

[cymruambyth]

Re: Advice required

I can't help on the interest question, however if you can afford the £1 you could send CCA requests. If you are considering trying for unenforceable accounts this would help.

What sort of DMP are you on? Do you pay for it to be administered? Have you thought of leaving it and taking control yourself?

if you do start sending requests, start entries in the diaries so that you get guidance on how to deal with any responses.

[scottygees]

Re: Advice required

I'm currently with Stepchange for my DMP. I have considered going it alone so I have more control but then think can I be bothered when they do all the hard work for me. However if I go down the CCA route I am not sure how step change would react as far as making payments. I would envisage that they would continue to want to pay even on unenforceable accounts. I assume somewhere there is a letter template to request CCA.Generally speaking I want to see if I can bring my debts down by taking this and any other action

I can't help on the interest question, however if you can afford the £1 you could send CCA requests. If you are considering trying for unenforceable accounts this would help.

What sort of DMP are you on? Do you pay for it to be administered? Have you thought of leaving it and taking control yourself?

if you do start sending requests, start entries in the diaries so that you get guidance on how to deal with any responses.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Advice required

I am currently on a DMP and have had £6749.47 refunded in interest from Tesco Bank as during my DMP they failed to supply me with a notice of sum in arrears in accordance with the CCA.This got me thinking about other debts on my plan which are mainly credit card debt with the odd pay day loan and energy company thrown in to the mix. I have no doubt that some of these companies send me notice of sum in arrears but that some probably don't. I am therefore requesting advice on o how to best approach this. Has anybody else been in a similar situation? Also I read about unenforceable agreements but am not sure whether whether my debts were pre 2007. Again some of the credit cards possibly were others maybe not. Would it be a waste of time asking for copies of the agreements? Any advise on both matters would be greatly appreciated. Just to add some of these debts have now been passed to debt collection agencies.

Hi Scotty

So you should have had a refund of the interest paid during the time that Tesco Bank were in default of their requirements. £6749 is a hell of a lot of interest so how long have you been paying in to your DMP and how much longer do they anticipate you have left to go?

Have all your creditors agreed to freeze interest and charges?

There is nothing stopping you sending a CCA request to any of your creditors, you are legally entitled to do so, and request this information, and tbh you don't need to tell Stepchange about it.

What you decide to do based upon their responses, well that is another matter.

Stepchange tend to go with an 'all or nothing' approach, and won't let you pick & choose which creditors to pay.

However depending on the answers to the questions above, you may want to ditch them anyway.

[scottygees]

Re: Advice required

The DMP started about 5 years ago. Not sure how long left to be honest but probably a similar time scale. In fairness all creditors have frozen interest though there are some that haven't been in touch for a good while.So don't know where I would stand on the notice of sum of arrears with my other debts. You are aware from my payday loan enquirers that I am wanting to see what options I have in connection with reducing the debt and yes I get the impression that SC are all in or all out. Think I will send for the CCA's and post up here for advice. In the meantime any advice regarding trying to get a rebate due to non compliance with notice of arrears from these creditors would be appreciated Thanks once more

Hi Scotty

So you should have had a refund of the interest paid during the time that Tesco Bank were in default of their requirements. £6749 is a hell of a lot of interest so how long have you been paying in to your DMP and how much longer do they anticipate you have left to go?

Have all your creditors agreed to freeze interest and charges?

There is nothing stopping you sending a CCA request to any of your creditors, you are legally entitled to do so, and request this information, and tbh you don't need to tell Stepchange about it.

What you decide to do based upon their responses, well that is another matter.

Stepchange tend to go with an 'all or nothing' approach, and won't let you pick & choose which creditors to pay.

However depending on the answers to the questions above, you may want to ditch them anyway.

[JLC]

Re: Advice required

Hi

I had been on a DMP for five years before I found this site and decided to stop all payments and send out CCA's. So far, out of £26k of debts, £10k is unenforceable and I have yet to hear about the rest. I stopped paying in January, and have had very little correspondence as yet. Other than that, I will take each letter as they come and deal with them. The team on here are very helpful, so if I was you, I would ditch the DMP, stop your stepchange payments and put the money away as you will them be able to offer F&F's to the enforceable ones or (as some have been doing) just blag it!

[scottygees]

Re: Advice required

Hi JLC

thanks for for the advice.so I guess the first thing to do is send the CCA letter and see what reply I get. Can you confirm that it cost £1 per creditor? Also if a debt is now with a DCA do I send the request to them or the original creditor?one of my debts is about £12000 but all the rest are under 2000 with the majority being under £1000.the lowest balance is under £200 which is with an energy company. My main concern is the £12000 debt with Tesco as they have just refunded £6500 in interest due to not sending me arrears updates and I don't want to rock the boat here because of this refund.

Hi

I had been on a DMP for five years before I found this site and decided to stop all payments and send out CCA's. So far, out of £26k of debts, £10k is unenforceable and I have yet to hear about the rest. I stopped paying in January, and have had very little correspondence as yet. Other than that, I will take each letter as they come and deal with them. The team on here are very helpful, so if I was you, I would ditch the DMP, stop your stepchange payments and put the money away as you will them be able to offer F&F's to the enforceable ones or (as some have been doing) just blag it!

[JLC]

Re: Advice required

send the CCA to whoever you are currently paying (DCA's are unlikely to have them and will have to go to the original creditor which could take months). Get postal orders and do not sign the letters. There is a template in the template section. If you read the diaries and set all yours up in a similar way, then you can update each one. If you are going down the unenforceability route, then you should stop paying as they will cease collections until they can come up with it. Niddy will then check it for you and advise you. You could use the refund to make some F&F offers, but if you are paying them monthly they may not accept them. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Niddy said its a game of poker. Put the money away that you would normally pay.

[scottygees]

Re: Advice required

Thanks will look into this. Also what do you mean when you say refund?

send the CCA to whoever you are currently paying (DCA's are unlikely to have them and will have to go to the original creditor which could take months). Get postal orders and do not sign the letters. There is a template in the template section. If you read the diaries and set all yours up in a similar way, then you can update each one. If you are going down the unenforceability route, then you should stop paying as they will cease collections until they can come up with it. Niddy will then check it for you and advise you. You could use the refund to make some F&F offers, but if you are paying them monthly they may not accept them. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Niddy said its a game of poker. Put the money away that you would normally pay.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Advice required

Any ppi / interest refunds you get could be used to make a F&F Settlement Offer to creditors where the debt is enforceable. Bear in mind, when applying for any ppi or interest refunds you should only do it if the debt has been assigned to a DCA. If it's still with the lender then they'll use the refund in part settlement and reduce your debt (to them) with it. If it's been assigned, the lender must refund you directly as they no longer own the debt so cannot pay any money owed to you into it. Basically it's called Right to Offset which means a bank can offset and credit balance against any debts in the same group.

I'd consider sending a CCA and seeing what's enforceable and what's not. From there you'll have a better understanding of what move to play next. Bear in mind you get defaulted sooner - it's better as they last 6 years regardless so why drag it out for years paying £1 or whatever each month?

Food for thought. I'd deffo read the UE section here -> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/f...dit-Agreements

[scottygees]

Re: Advice required

Yes this is what happened with the Tesco account in the original post. They just offset it against the outstanding balance. So I get the idea about sending for the CCAs but at the moment don't want to just stop paying my DMP until I have had responses. Also going back to the original post regarding being sent "notice of sum of arrears" is their any advice I can be given on how to proceed here? I.e. How to word my letter. As things stand at the moment my DMP is going along just fine.What I don't want to do unnecessarily is open up a hornets nest by taking these actions.

Any ppi / interest refunds you get could be used to make a F&F Settlement Offer to creditors where the debt is enforceable. Bear in mind, when applying for any ppi or interest refunds you should only do it if the debt has been assigned to a DCA. If it's still with the lender then they'll use the refund in part settlement and reduce your debt (to them) with it. If it's been assigned, the lender must refund you directly as they no longer own the debt so cannot pay any money owed to you into it. Basically it's called Right to Offset which means a bank can offset and credit balance against any debts in the same group.

I'd consider sending a CCA and seeing what's enforceable and what's not. From there you'll have a better understanding of what move to play next. Bear in mind you get defaulted sooner - it's better as they last 6 years regardless so why drag it out for years paying £1 or whatever each month?

Food for thought. I'd deffo read the UE section here -> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/f...dit-Agreements

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Advice required

Then don't.

I've explained - we won't be much use to you if you want to prolong the pain and pay monthly. That's not what we are about.

[Pixie]

Re: Advice required

Yes this is what happened with the Tesco account in the original post. They just offset it against the outstanding balance. So I get the idea about sending for the CCAs but at the moment don't want to just stop paying my DMP until I have had responses. Also going back to the original post regarding being sent "notice of sum of arrears" is their any advice I can be given on how to proceed here? I.e. How to word my letter. As things stand at the moment my DMP is going along just fine.What I don't want to do unnecessarily is open up a hornets nest by taking these actions.

In my opinion it's a no brainer; ditch the DMP.

[JLC]

Re: Advice required

Read my diary. I was worried at first. You won't poke a hornets nest. I thought that too! You will see my conversations with everyone from the beginning and I felt exactly like you do. While they are looking for the CCA, they will stop all collections anyway.

[cymruambyth]

Re: Advice required

I self managed my DMP and started long before AAD. My debts have all fallen off my credit file; I still have 3 (all UE) which I kept on paying a token amount because they 'were nice to me'! These will not become statute barred for another 5 years, I wish I had cleared them at the same time as the others!
The AAD way involved paperwork, patience and some scary moments, but it is the best way to clear up your financial situation. You post anything on here and will get support and guidance, you are never left to feel alone. I wish this site had been around when I first started battling as it would have saved me from making errors, paying out unnecessary money and many many sleepless nights.