I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Hi All!

Its time for my monthly update!

DMP has now been in place 4 months!! I have seem a massive difference in this short space of time.

Case in point was this month my stupid car broke down and the garage bill was £££'s.

4 months ago there was no way I would have had the money to pay for this, and no doubt would have succumed to another payday loan.

However the last 4 months I have put money away as I have budgeted for car maintenance and emergencies. Ok, the amount I have saved in 4 months didn't cover the garage bill in full but it wasn't far off and I have been able to juggle other things around this month to make up the rest.

The majority of my creditors have 'gone away' are not hassling me, and are settled with the payment plan.

Only pains still are AMEX, Shop Direct and Payday UK.

However I have received a letter from AMEX's complaint department as it would appear that they didn't know about my DMP (AIC neglected to tell them) nor have AIC passed on the payment made on the 1st November after passing the account back to AMEX who swiftly gave it to Newmans DCA.

Maybe the OFT kick up the ass has also had something to do with how they are behaving.

Heres looking to 2011!

Crispy

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Hi All

Well I'm not sure where to start with this, other than the fact I have not slept a wink all night as I have been buzzing from a letter I received from one of my creditors (AMEX) yesterday. It has taken a little while to absorb the contents.

To sum it up, 3 months ago I submitted a complaint to them regards the conduct of the DCA's they had employed, their breaches of OFT guidelines, refusal to even acknowledge my DMP and their continuing adding interest and charges to my account.

Their investigation has now been completed and the result is my complaint has been upheld, they have agreed to my DMP payment, frozen interest and charges but best of all I have received a refund of all interest and charges incurred on my account over the last 12 months which comes to a 4 figure sum!

This (to me at least) amounts to a huge sum of money, which on my DMP plan knocks approx 20 months off the time it will take me to repay this particular debt.

I can only say that the Legal Beagles Forum has had a massive part to play in helping me achieve this. In January 2010 from a financial perspective I was in a very dark place indeed. Although I am an incredibly positive person I was finding it very difficult to get to a solution until I starting following advice given here.

So a really big thanks from me to everyone who has posted advice here at LB and especially to those who have supported and advised me in person. :thumb:

For anyone who is in a similar position all I can say is don't give up.

This has taken me a ridiculous amount of time, numerous letter not to mention stress, to get result and begs the question why this was ever necessary in the first place but seems to be the nature of the 'game'.

But the important thing seems to be to keep plugging away and follow the statutory advice given here at LB for dealing with creditors and DCA's.

Best

Crispy

[enaid]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Fab news Crispy, I do so love a good result and your an inspiration to others for sure.
Enaid xx

[Sapphire]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Well done Crispy you're sounding so, so positive and things are looking so much better for you.
I'm intrigued though hun, what did you actually say about their DCA/Collections to get them to get this result?

[di30]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Very inspiring Crispybacon

Well done to you for getting these matters sorted, and for sharing your own experience, this I know will be a great help and encouragement to all that come on this site in the same position.

Its a post I will turn to now if required, thank you so much.

[Curlyben]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Nice one Crispy

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

I'm intrigued though hun, what did you actually say about their DCA/Collections to get them to get this result?

Thanks Sapphire

I have to admit the result was far more than I was expecting but maybe this is down in part to the answer to your question..........

I don't think it was what I said about the DCA's and collections that got the result. It was probably more to do with what they said and how I went about dealing with them and recording it.

If you were to take the OFT guidelines on debt collection they had pretty much breached every guideline you could find including (but definately not limited to!):

1) Refusing to pass on reasonable offers of payment to the original creditor

2) Not passing payments made to the original creditor in a timely fashion

3) Demanding payments of more than I could afford

4) Encouraging taking on further credit and extending my borrowing to pay off their debt

5) Threatening doorstep collections while the account was in deadlock

6) Ignoring my legitimate requests on where/when/how I should be contacted

7) False representation of legal authority and actions

This is a prime case of why everything should be kept in writing when dealing with these people. I refused dialogue via telephone so they were forced to write, some of this was via the post printed on official headed paper, sometime by email but it was all evidence.

Because I had documented evidence of all of these breaches I made sure in my complaint I gave as such.

Ironically there was a part of my complaint which was not upheld which related to the following OFT guidelines:

2.6.c Using more than one debt collection business at the same time

resulting in repetitive and/or frequent contact by different parties

2.6.e Not informing the debtor when their case has been passed on to a

different debt collector

They claimed they acted correctly in these areas despite the above breaches.

Although they claimed no admittance liability I take the massive refund of charges and interest and acceptance of my DMP as such.

In this case I maintained the high ground by continuing to pay what I could afford, acting in a reasonable manner, and in contrast essentially gave them enough rope to hang themselves in regards to their (or their appointed representatives) conduct.

I think that was what ultimately went in my favour.

Best

Crispy

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Thanks CB. Am loving this smiley!!

Nice one Crispy

[Amethyst]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

In this case I maintained the high ground by continuing to pay what I could afford, acting in a reasonable manner, and in contrast essentially gave them enough rope to hang themselves in regards to their (or their appointed representatives) conduct.

I think that was what ultimately went in my favour.

Brill. Nice to see the use of 664 so brilliantly, it is what it is there for.

[TUTTSI]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Well done Crispy, nice to see the little peeps winning for a change. :third:

Ame what do you mean by brilliant use of 664?

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Well done Crispy, nice to see the little peeps winning for a change. :third:

Ame what do you mean by brilliant use of 664?

Thanks Tuttsi

I think Amethyst is referring to OFT664 - Debt Collection Guidance (Final guidance on unfair business practices)

For anyone that hasn't read it yet you can find it here:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/bus...dit/oft664.pdf

Theres also some very good posts here on the forum about it too.

Best

Crispy

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Brill. Nice to see the use of 664 so brilliantly, it is what it is there for.

Thanks Amethyst - As you said thats what its there for

Its amazing that almost all these companies will breach these guidelines multiples of times then giving you enough ammunition to start a formal complaint and put them on the back foot.

Its just the frustration that this shouldn't be necessary.

But I guess its consumer ignorance of these guidelines that they count on which is why forums like this are so essential and powerful.

The more people that find the methods to push back, and the protection they have, but more importantly start using it the better.

Best

Crispy

[TUTTSI]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Hi Crispy

So when you write to complain, do you quote the 664 in full or just the parts that apertain to what they have done wrong as looking at the list they have done loads wrong.

Amex is on my mind for my other half at the moment with ever ending changes of DCA from one day till the next and it was stupid really Amex messed up with the DD and then they gave it to debt collectors when all they had to do was set up a perfectly good DD which they already had. The debt collectors change the goal posts drive him mad and now he does not take their calls. So they are giving him a bad credit when in fact it stemmed from their own mistakes.

Did you write to customer services?

Who would you complain to if they have breached 664, I am presuming the Trading Standards as the OFT would not take up individual complaints. The TS are usually useless in these situations.

Thanks
Tuttsi

[Maxie Girl]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Thanks Tools. I'm plugging away, I know its still very early days yet and wasn't expecting all my creditors to be supportive so I haven't been disappointed!

On a more positive note the last couple of months have been brilliant. I actually had some money left at the end of last month and this month is looking good too due to not using emergency money!

I'm planning on snowballing this surplus money into paying off the smaller debts first, which in turn will mean I can pay more towards the larger ones etc.......

Best

Crispy

Absolutely Brilliant post Crispy and so Elloquently laid out in Plain English for all to follow..

I've been there and done it all hun as far back as the early 1990's and learnt an awful lot on that journey too.. and am still learning new stuff today..

My reason for posting here though is this hun.......

Hope you don't mind me saying this or pointing this out but this is for the benefit of others or newbies that are following your example here too..

I've highlighted above some of your post where your planning on paying the smaller debts off first and then ploughing the remainder surplus cash at the bigger debts from there on..

It would be much wiser to collate all of your ''Higher Interest'' debts and pay them off first.. giving all other debts a token payment in the meantime rather than in order of smaller debts first as this would generate even more cash to throw at the larger debts later..

Thanks.!!


And the very best of luck to you babe..


Maxie.x

[Crispybacon]

Re: I will be debt free and you can too - learn from my pain!

Hi Crispy

So when you write to complain, do you quote the 664 in full or just the parts that apertain to what they have done wrong as looking at the list they have done loads wrong.

Hi Tuttsi

I referenced 664 as 'The OFT Guidelines' and then quoted specific sections and which of their letters I believed had breached these sections

Amex is on my mind for my other half at the moment with ever ending changes of DCA from one day till the next and it was stupid really Amex messed up with the DD and then they gave it to debt collectors when all they had to do was set up a perfectly good DD which they already had. The debt collectors change the goal posts drive him mad and now he does not take their calls. So they are giving him a bad credit when in fact it stemmed from their own mistakes.

I assume AIC and Newmans you have dealt with? I had exactly the same problem.

In fact AIC twice 'lost' payments and then demanded that I had to provide evidence to them that it had been paid (personally I think they were on a fishing expedition to see if I would be daft enough to send in a bank statement unedited).

It was the blatant lies though when they got caught out as I got my bank to provide a 'trace' on the payment, and AIC's explanation was completely exposed as bovine excrement by the evidence provided by my bank............

Did you write to customer services?

I can't remember the address, I'll get the address for you when I get home tomorrow

Who would you complain to if they have breached 664, I am presuming the Trading Standards as the OFT would not take up individual complaints. The TS are usually useless in these situations.

I did actually complain to the OFT and while they do not follow up individual complaints they supposedly log them against specific companies to build up a trend of activity. Likewise Trading Standards.

AMEX did get a slap on the wrist from the OFT only a couple of months ago so if you can document them breaching 664 then absolutely make a complaint and report them.

Also make sure you inform AMEX that if you do not get a satisfactory response you will report them.

Best of luck, I hope you get a result too.

Crispy