In December 2004 all my debt problems came to a boil and I was in a complete shock. I probabaly ignored the problem for far too long. I contacted a debt helpline and it turned out that I was £54.000 in the red with an income of ca. 21.000. I was advised a DMP would be a good solution and I agreed as I was very grateful to finally receive some help. For one year I paid regularly the agreed amount of £622. later, in December 2005 I discovered that my debts have even grown duringt that time, as most creditors did not freeze the interst payments. Also the calls and letters from collection agencies did not completely stop. In 2005 I sought further advice from another debt solution agency as the DMP did not seem to be the solution for me. I switched to the other company which immediately suggested I should enter an IVA. I have done that and have stuck to it ever since.
I am still angry about the bad advise that I received initially and the wasted year of regular payments. I surely should have entered the IVA already in 2005 and would have been debt free a year earlier.
Here my questions:
Is there any chance that the payments I made during the DMP period could retrospectively be added to the IVA payments?
As the DMP was completely inappropriate advice, am I entitled to comensation?
I doubt you would be entitled to compensation. these payments you have made would have gone to your creditors and taken off the balance that you owe. Its unfortuante that all interest and charges were not stopped, but you are now protected by the IVA and should look forward to a debt free future.
Its unfortunate that you feel you were given bad advice. The DMP perhaps did you a favour in showing your creditors a willingness to pay what you owe. That probably stood you on good ground for later having your IVA accepted.
The main thing now is, you are protected from creditor hassle and added interest.
I agree with steve, you should now look forward to a debt free future.
Hindsight is a great thing - and at the end of the day you chose your solution initially, so must have thought it was good advice at that time? If, however, you were only offered a DMP, and not advised about any other solution, then that was not appropriate, but I doubt you have any ability for redress now.
