I do own my own home but I am in negative equity at the moment. When I applied they told me I had two options of either an iva or a dmp. I decided to go with a dmp but its not going the way I planned. I started with payplan at the end of april, and have made three payments, so far only two creditors have agreed to the payment plan and have frozen interest. Im still being charged high interest with the other creditors, HSBC are phoning every single day, I explain my situation but they just say they have not had contact with payplan. I have phoned and emailed payplan and when I do finally get into contact with them (they never reply to my emails) they just tell me to ignore the calls, as letters have been sent out. Since I have been with them my debts have increased by over £ 1,000 with all the interest and late payment charges etc., despite paying £ 927. I am hoping that if I can be approved form a iva we can finally take back control of our finances.
It does sometimes take a while for creditor to agree to a DMP, but of course there is no guarantee that interest and charges will be frozen.
I am with Payplan, and have to say that I've had no problems contacting them.
However, you don't have to stop with them for an IVA, you can use any company. If you click on the experts link on the left hand side of the page you will find a list of the professionals who post on here who will advise you and they come highly recommended.
Alternatively, visit www.iva.com for a list of companies and reviews. You will receive free and impartial advice from all of them.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
It actually can be argued that it is a blessing in disguise that you have tried the DMP first as creditors have been known to prefer DMP's if they can get all their money back in a reasonable-ish time. If you have already tried it and it hasn't worked, although it hasn't had long to work properly in all fairness, then that could work in your favour in any possible IVA proposal.
Regards.
Cert DR
23+ years in debt advice
I do not post for anyone other than myself
What made you feel that an IVA would be a better solution for you than an IVA? Were you concerned about the formality of the IVA procedure, or did you genuinely want to repay your creditors in full, regardless of how long that would take?
Yes I wanted to pay them back every penny I owed, I was hoping to increase my payments to £ 420 per month when my pay rise come through but unfortunately I had the option of opting out of the pay rise or be made redundant so I opted out. As a result it’s going to take a lot longer to pay back.
Even though payplan said they cannot guarantee interest being frozen, the lady I spoke to said that they had such a good reputation with the creditors that it’s very unlikely that they would not be frozen. I just feel that at the moment I am never going to pay off what I owe.
HSBC have been a nightmare, they just wont let up phoning, they phone us up 3 times a day 7 days a week, the person on the phone even told us to reduce what we pay on our weekly shopping to just £ 10 per week so that we will be able to pay HSBC more money!
They got through to me again today and stated again that they have not had any contact with payplan, I asked that if I gave them payplans contact details would they phone them direct, and surprise surprise they said they cannot do that. I asked to speak to his supervisor, I explained to his supervisor about payplan etc and he then asked me if I could give him payplans details, I said yes I will just get them of my computer and you never guess what he said? Its ok I have payplans details on your file, he even had the name of my adviser and my payplan reference number. I asked him how does HSBC hold all my payplan details if payplan has not contacted them, he never answered that question, the phone went dead!
It is a common tactic for telephone collectors to say that they have had no contact from your chosen representatives and unfortunately HSBC are amongst the worst culprits. There are two main reasons for this in my experience. Firstly, the telephone collector can legitimately say that they have had no contact as your provider will speak and write to the relevant departments, not a telephone collector. Secondly, they want more money out of you. The two are not without link to each other, but it can be a very draining and wearying experience, thereby making it even more likely that you will give in to creditor demands, which is precisely why they do it. Take the advice of your provider and if they persist feel free to hang up at any point is my opinion.
Do take a 2nd or 3rd opinion on IVA/BR though, if they are appropriate solutions then this hassle should very shortly be a thing of the past.
Regards.
Last edited by size5 on Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cert DR
23+ years in debt advice
I do not post for anyone other than myself
I would say that an IVA is a far safer option for you than the current DMP, and potentially will see you debt free at an earlier stage, however with no assets at risk under bankruptcy proceedings this is another option which should be fully considered.
I must admit that we had no problems with them at all, even in our DMP.
Visit www.iva.com and give a couple of companies a ring for free advice before making a final decision.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I don't think you are allowed to be an accountant whilst in an IVA.
One of the professionals will advise further.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
