Hi All, Hoping someone can help....I am taking the first step into sorting out my debts and need some advice. I am looking at a DRO/IVA or bankruptcy and wanted some suitable steps to take. I am in the process of obtaining references etc and want some advice on whether I can challenge these for the I&C added on and ludicrous amounts or whether I admit liability for the lot..... Is there a template to email to obtain balances or request I&C to be frozen? So far I have got.... Bongaloans - £200+ Countrywide Payday - £139 Debitcard Loans - £432 Equidebt (PDUK) - £787 Keyes Whitlock - £223 (Also PDUK - They granted a 2nd loan at new address) Lowell x 3 - £763, £159 and £218 MMF - £250 Pound Access - £300 Quick Quid - £589 Redcastle - £386 Speedcredit - Was £400 loan - they are claiming £4,000+!!!! TxtLoans - £300 Wescot - £387 On my Noddle credit it also shows these but not sure if they have been passed on by other creditors. Indigo Michael - £314 Active Securities Ltd - £813 Next Credit x 2 ---- £400 and £115 EE - £683 Cash On Go Ltd - £115 and I also owe SW Water around £100, British Gas £30. I also have a council tax default of £250+ and £300 from old addresses and a housing benefit overpaymenticon of £1800. Pretty messed up from an old relationship as you can tell! Also have 1st credit at £800 and Lifeboat Loans of £750 and now they are chasing me for £2500

Hi, First of all i would like to thank everybody for their continued support on this site and the help offered to many has been great, I have spent the late night/morning reading through the forums and getting ideas and seeing how much of a general ball ache all this is going to be! So i have been in this spiral for a few months now but today is the day i miss my first payment I have been rolling over alot of loans and paying some off however now im stuck I have no more money this month due to having to fix my car and now i cant pay back one of my lenders.. My debt portfolio looks like this: Payday Express - £630 (due today) been rolled over twice and took a further loan out this month WageDayAdnavce - £160 due next month only taken out 10 days ago PiggyBankLoans £250 due next month rolled over last two months next payment due next month MiniCredit - £700 however have agreed a payment plan of £69 per month started that 8 weeks back. they where very easy to deal with i thought contrary to what i have read in other threads. Quid - £299 just been paying minimum payment for months now next payment due next month Lending Stream - £174 with two payment left of £107 (30th oct) and £87.10(nov) I also have a £1600 overdraft and two credit cards totalling £400 I always make my minimum payments on my overdraft and cards. and dont see them as a long term problem as i am slowly paying the three off and don't use or even have the cards any more as I cut them up months ago. This month i also paid back toothfairyfinance over £500 for a £400 loan. I made over £1000 in payments to these accounts this month and still fall short and now i need to regain control. I tried setting up a payment plan with express last month however they said as i had only recently taken out the 2nd loan (the two total £490) they would not even discuss it with me and they rolled it over i made a partial payment and and had a reduced amount. This month I then took out the second loan again for a total of £490 with £630 after fees. They will not even consider a payment plan when i phoned them this morning the loan is due today i only rolled it over but I don't have the £160 and i was about to borrow off tooth fairy to pay it and after reading through all this it is the last thing i should do and i need to stop. I have about £500 spare each month to pay off these loans. I now have moved back home to live with my parents, my mum is aware im in financial bother but is in no position to help i have lied regarding the escalation of my debts and she has helped in the past. If a bailiff or somebody knocks at the door i fear i will become homeless. I am in full time work. I have already been on payment plans with quickquid and wonga and paid them both off respectfully. in the past 6 months. Im now at my wits end and this whole situation is becoming terribly depressing. I have looked at a debt management scheme with payplan and step change, however if they don't agree to work with them what else can i do? Thanks One very stupid man PDL Total debt - 1584.48 Card/overdraft - £2000

Good morning, Thanks for all your help yesterday with my credit card problems, I am now turning to my PDLs! Basically my husband and I have 3 totally app £1400 with Wonga, QQ, P2P. On the 5th August I posted letters to all 3 companies (as well as emailing) asking to negotiate repayment plans. I enclosed full I&E schedules. Wonga emailed back saying they had cancelled the continuous payment authority (that was it). To date I have had no response from the other 2, except for emails saying my next payment is due! How long should I wait before moving things up a gear?

Hi all, I lodged a complaint with the FOS about a PDL that refuses to help people in financial difficulty, illness and other difficulties. What was originally a loan of £400 has gone up to £3500 in 18 months despite having paid off £390 through my DMP. I lodged the complaint over a year ago and now have had a phone call from the adjudicator saying that he has investigated the claim. The PDL have "kindly" agreed to decrease the debt to £1000 and have been ordered to pay me £250 in compensation. I said that I was not happy with that, I mean the debt, I was not expecting compensation. The adjudicator then said that he would pass this on to the (chief) ombudsman now. My question is, can the FOS force the PDL to pay me compensation? Has anybody had any experience of this? I am not happy that the debt still stands at £1000 considering the 18 months of sheer hell, I have had with these clowns. The loan was originally £400, what would be a reasonable figure? I was thinking of a final figure of £496 bearing in mind, I have only £100 to go. If I'm not happy with the FOS what is my next port of call? I really do not think that I can go through this again and I really don't want to go to court. Any suggestions/advice would be gratefully received.

Hi, Having read through the other threads about credit rating I give it a go with one of the PDL advertising positive effect. I take it one step further claiming compensation for the higher interest rates I had to pay due to negative rating (I could actually watch my rating going down the more PDL I had, despite paying all on time in the beginning). Here is my email to them: "Dear Madam or Sir, This is a complaint. Per your complaints procedure please see below the required details: Full name: xxxxx Address: xxxxxx Date of birth: xxxxxx Daytime telephone number: Not existent, please communicate in writing only. Full details of my concern: I am writing in relation to the effect on my credit rating and on the interest I incurred with other credit providers due to my credit rating, in relation with loans associated to my account with you. The loans were taken out from from 19 July 2010 to 04 November 2011 When I took out the loans with you your website stated: "As soon as you repay your loan on your payday, we will report that to the Credit Reference Agency, so that they will know that you have repaid your loan. This may help to improve your credit rating, as the Credit Reference Agency can see that you have repaid a loan. We will report this every time you take out a loan and repay it to us. However, if you do not repay your loan, this will also be reported to the Credit Reference Agency, which will have a negative impact on your credit rating as other credit providers will be able to see this. This may adversely impact your ability in the future to obtain credit facilities for things such as mobile phones, vehicle finance or other credit products." This statement is still present on your website as of 08 August 2013. This statement indicated to me that: - A positive effect on my credit rating is expected if I take out a loan with you and repay on time - A negative effect on my credit rating is expected if I take out a loan with you and do not repay on time However I have now learned that if I take out a loan with you and repay on time this in fact had a negative effect on my credit rating as other credit providers see having a payday loan as negative criteria. This situation worsened as having payday loans over a longer period of time has even more detrimental effect. This was not made clear to me by you and therefore I was treated unfair. Unless you can provide proof that taking out these loans had no negative effect on my credit rating, I will expect - A full compensation of costs I have incurred having this negative credit rating impact and therefore having received higher interest rates (+20% APR) from other credit providers from 03 August 2010 to 04 November 2011 (676.62 GBP), plus 8% interest on these (126.74 GBP), in total 803.36 GBP - The complete removal of all entries from your company with any credit reference agency you reported to I look forward to your prompt response to this email. If I have not had a satisfactory response from you within eight weeks of this letter I will contact the Financial Ombudsman Service to formally investigate my complaint. Kind regards"

Hi There, After a couple of years of hell with both my OH & I taking out numerous PDL's I've realised its time to take on these bully boys and sort out our finances. Is there a set template to send them in terms of repayment plan, 1 month insurance etc. I'm currently going through our credit reports to get all the info together. A prime example of what I'm up against is this: 247Moneybox - Defaulted 16/11/12 with a balance of £115. Just logged on to see about payments etc and amount outstanding is £524!!!!!!!! I will be clearing all these asap. TIA

Hi there, I am wondering if anyone can help, over the last 6 months, I have accrued £2200 of PDL debt which I am desperate to clear. After hovering on the site for a while I know that I need to secure a parachute account, which I am trying to do and need to contact these people with offers of payment. I have listed them below:- Wage Day Advance - £270 Mini Credit - £220 Payday Express - £170 FLM Quick - £325 Peachy - £280 Money in Advance - £455 Mr Lender - £470 I have worked out I have realistically £500 (I could stretch to £700 but that would mean no back up money) a month to clear, this little lot off and have started the email process today but explaining to WDA that I would like to stop the rollover process and go on a payment plan as I am struggling financially. I offered £90 as that would clear it in 3 months. This was sent at 9:55 am and the full amount is due to leave my account on Thursday. I have not had an answer yet but have missed a call from a private number on my mobile. How long do they usually take to respond? I am lucky in the sense that the payments are spread over 2 paydays so only have WDA, PDE and Mini to worry about this week! Can anyone tell me how easy the lenders I have are to deal with, I am not expecting this to be fun by any stretch of the imagination but a bit of fore knowledge is a good thing I think! Many thanks to you all in advance.

This is a follow on from thread 399587 - as suggested in there. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?399587-DCA-s-stopped-contacting-me-want-to-set-up-some-form-of-plan-though. Moorcroft were chasing for £400 (error in previous thread, I said £260 - as I'm sure thats the amount asked for in a previous letter.. Yet my Credit Record says £400. ) regarding a PDL taken out at the dreaded W-word. This was taken out 30/04/2012; and then defaulted on 07/08/2012. Moorcroft began attempting to recover this around December or so, and sent out the usual scare-mail, but stopped around March. Since then I haven't heard anything, and I have had a sharp decrease in the amount of phone-calls I've ignored. (If I don't recognise the number, I don't answer.) Surprisingly, simply ignoring them appeared to have put a spanner in the works, and they've stopped chasing it. As circumstances have changed, I've decided to try and put it right, if only to prevent any further action - and perhaps getting the balance down (considering it's reported on my CR as outstanding debt). It will also stop this from hanging over my head and I can stop fearing them coming after me at any time, of having a bad letter in the post or a knock on the door. It's doing my head in a bit to be quite honest with you. My main concerns are: Have they even got the debt or have they sold it on? Are they going to play games when I'm genuinely coming forward to put an end to this situation? If I let sleeping dogs lie, whats the worst case scenario? Essentially I'd like to open contact with whomever owns this debt and: Confirm they are in possession of the debt. (CCA Request?) Confirm that they haven't sold the debt. (SAR?) Confirm that upon paying off the account that they will report the account as settled at £0 to relevant CRAs and provide me with a valid receipt/letter confirming the status of the account (i.e settled. I will ask for this in writing prior to making the first payment?) Is there anything wrong with this idea? If so, who should I contact - the original creditor or the last known collections agency? (I'm guessing the OC!) Are they likely to confirm these things in a reasonable manner, or am I going to have to go the route of "In accordance with OFT guidelines, until I have the requested information it's a deceptive and/or unfair business practice to commence collections activity" and so on?

Credit unions have been around in the UK since the late 1970s and are a form of co-operative and self help organisation. They were set up to offer low-cost loans of smaller amounts for people who couldn’t get affordable credit, or who were using doorstep lenders. Sadly, they are an underused resource, but they are a realistic alternative to payday loans [PDLs] and loansharks. As they are not profit-making, their rates are much lower than other high street lenders or PDL companies. There are 400 to 500 credit unions in the UK with almost a million members. As well as low-cost loans for smaller amounts, some now offer current accounts, savings and mortgages. Who can they help? Whilst the main aim of credit unions was to provide affordable loans to people who can’t get help from the banks, nowadays they also appeal to people who want to bank with an ethical organisation and benefit their local community. And because their rates are attractive, credit unions are becoming a popular form of affordable borrowing. Any member of a union can apply for a loan. How do I find a local credit union? The ABCUL website has a search facility to find a local credit union. Once you find one near you, you will still need to check the rules to make sure you are eligible to be a member. http://www.findyourcreditunion.c o.uk/home There is also a helpline on 0161 832 3694.. And your local library or CAB may be able to help. Who can join? Each union will have its own rules, but generally you will need to live or work locally, or belong to the same employer or organisation as other members. For example, the NHS participates, along with some transport companies, trade unions, churches and other organisations. From 2012, organisations as well as individuals are allowed to be members of credit unions. What is the least I can save? Credit unions will let you save as little or as much as you can afford when you have money to spare, weekly, monthly or more frequently. You can make deposits at your local credit union branch or local collection points like shops, or have money deducted from your wages or by direct debit from a bank account. When you save, you know you will be helping neighbours or colleagues, rather than helping to make money for shareholders. And at the end of the year, your credit union aims to pay out a dividend on your savings, depending on how well the union has done. According to ABCUL, this can be up to 8% of what you’ve saved. Many credit unions include Life Assurance at no extra cost. How do I get an affordable loan and how much can I borrow? Loans are usually available up to around £3000. To borrow, you need to be a member of the credit union. They will take into account your circumstances and make sure you can afford the repayments. Life assurance should be built into the loan at no extra cost, so if someone dies owing money, it’s paid off by the insurance. What will it cost? This calculator helps you work out how much it might cost to repay a loan, although you would need to check with your local union. The most a credit union is allowed to charge is 26.8% interest, compared with 4000% for some payday loans! http://www.abcul.org/credit-unions/b...a-credit-union Can I pay the loan off early? Yes, there is no charge for this. If I invest, can I lose my money? Your money is protected in the same way as other savings, by the FSCS [Financial Services Compensation Scheme]. http://www.fscs.org.uk/ Credit unions are regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority [FCA]. Where do I find out more? For other information, here is a link to the ABCUL website. Or contact your local credit union. http://www.abcul.org/home

Here (Just be aware this post will change accordingly with updates from Sky News ) The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has confirmed it is to refer the payday loans market to the Competition Commission to investigate "deep-rooted" problems. It announced its decision following a period of consultation, having already issued the market's biggest participants with an ultimatum to clean up their act or risk being closed down. The OFT said it was worried about a number of areas, including: :: Practices that make it difficult for consumers to identify or compare the full cost of payday loans, undermining competition over price for loans. :: Barriers to switching between lenders when loans are rolled over that prevent other lenders competing for this business. :: Variable levels of compliance with relevant laws and guidance leading to firms that do invest time and effort complying being at a competitive disadvantage to firms that do not. :: A significant proportion of borrowers have poor credit histories, limited access to other forms of credit and/or a pressing need to borrow. The cost of the loan may therefore be a less significant factor for borrowers, which may weaken competition on price between lenders. The watchdog said it was also concerned that lenders were competing primarily on the availability and speed of loan approval, rather than price and that some business models appeared to be predicated on making loans which were unaffordable, leading to borrowers paying far more than expected through rollovers, additional interest and other charges. It said lenders appeared to derive up to 50% of their revenue from such practices. The OFT had previously identified a series of other issues, including lenders not carrying out proper affordability checks before lending or rolling loans over. Firms were also accused of failing to explain adequately how payments will be collected and acting aggressively to claw back debts. The OFT said it expected responses by the end of July from all 50 payday lenders it contacted earlier this year, giving them 12 weeks to demonstrate they complied fully with their legal obligations. To date, five of the 50 lenders have informed the OFT that they have left the payday market while three firms not included in the crackdown have had their consumer credit licences revoked. More follows...

Hi, Hoping some1 can help me, I have 3 PDL's stupidly like many have done got 1 to pay the other and extendeed them etc,This was getting silly costing me half my wages just to extend,and now all my overtime at work has stopped and impossible to pay these, I wrote and emailed the 3 companies explaining my situation and was only going to reply by email/post and not over the phone.Offering a payment plan and could not pay in full, THE LOAN STORE £300 were great emailed back within hour said if i could pay 4 instalments they wouldnt charge me fees or interest so thats sorted. CFO LENDING and PAYDAY EXPRESS,Phoning 16 times aday each never leave voice mail,and 3 emails and texts saying i am in arrears pay now or action will be takan,I replied saying you clearly ignored my previous email and letter saying my situation.But just keep sending me same email i am in arrears,ignoring me basicly.I cant and pay these in full not bothered by calls as not answer and read i dont have too as best to have it all in writting in case they come to an agreement one day. Some advice on what i should do next would be gratefull many thanks

Im a new member to this site, so forgive me if I have posted in the wrong thread. Firstly I would like to thank you for this brilliant site. I wish I had seen it months ago. I have 9 PD loans. I have come to an arrangement with the following: Wonga, PDUK, One Month Loan and WDA. I am negotiating with QQ, Pounds To Pocket, Lending Stream and UK Lending Alliance. Mr lender is due on Friday. They will be expecting £150. The original loan was for £500 which I only took out last month. I had some emergencies that came up and cannot make the repayments. I cancelled my CPA in writing to the bank and also to the other creditors. I need to inform Mr Lender about my financial difficulties. I am worried sick as I have heard of people receiving calls at work. I am committed to paying all my loans off. I can only offer about £30 this month. In 2 months time I would have finished paying another PD lender so I can up the payments. Has anyone had any recent experience with MR Lender. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Hi - we have a payday loan with Cash Genie for £80 with the total to pay back being £110.50. However, we could only afford to roll this over from March at a rate of £25.50 per month and this has been going on since then meaning we've paid a total of £255!! At first, my wife thought we were on a repayment plan meaning that some of loan is also paid off out of this monthly figure, however, it turns out she misunderstood - this was no fault of the company but explains why we left it so long. What are our options because there's no way we can continue paying this roll over and I don't like the thought of coming to a repayment plan after already paying so much to them? Thanks - Lee.

A 36 year old father has killed himself by setting himself on fire because of harassment by texts from PDL companies, Keys Whitlock, 247 Moneybox, and Cash Genie, he owed just £1600.00

Hi I seem to remember seeing a template letter quoting Data Protaction Act, on here for PDL companies asking for removal of employer's details from their records. Am I able to do this with an outstanding loan. And if I can anyone direct me to the template. I have been through all the PDL threads and cannot find anything other than template letter with regard to harassment. I dont want these companies to harass me at all. I am going to write to them asking for a repayment plan but want to write the letter requesting removal of my employers details first so as I do not get calls in the office Many thanks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/feb/15/force-payday-lenders-stop-trading Citizens Advice is urging the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to use new powers to suspend immediately the licences of four payday lenders which it believes have been "causing significant distress" to customers. The powers, available to the OFT from 19 February 2013, allow it immediately to suspend the consumer credit licence of companies to protect consumers, for example if firms are using business practices that are deceitful, oppressive or unfair. Currently lenders can continue trading as normal while being investigated. Citizens Advice refused to name the four payday loan firms involved, saying it did not want to affect any investigation, but it did state that two are household names. The problems uncovered by the charity include: firms charging excessive fees; continuing to take money when debts have been paid off; firms preventing customers from making repayments online or over the phone, then slapping them with a charge for late repayment. The charity also said that the firms had been harassing customers with repeated telephone calls, text messages and emails, as well as chasing people for debts on loans when the individual had not applied for a loan in the first place. Citizens Advice's chief executive, Gillian Guy, called on the OFT to take immediate action to investigate and suspend the companies involved. "These firms pose a real risk to people looking to get a short-term loan to help tide them over," she said. "Our evidence shows these lenders are behaving as a law unto themselves. Excessive fees and charges are escalating debts and people are worried sick as companies bombard them with texts, emails and phone calls, often overstating their debt collection powers." In a statement the OFT said: "The OFT will now be considering this letter but it is not appropriate to discuss its detail any further at present. "We would like to highlight that the new power to suspend can only be used in the most serious cases of immediate harm, but we won't hesitate to use it where cases fit that bill. In addition, we expect to report within the next few weeks on our ongoing review into the payday sector." Citizens Advice said it is "gathering evidence" of other lenders who are also found to be contravening OFT guidance. The charity said its Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised 2.1 million clients with debt problems between April 2011 and March 2012 – 31% of the total problems dealt with.

I have routinely seen the following advice posted; "for pdls, work on the basis that you owe the loan, original stated interest and a default fee. If they want the charges, they can justify that that are fair and proportionate first" Is there any basis for this? and does paying rollovers class as part of this repayment?

Hello everyone, first I feel I should thank you all for the heaps of helpful information across this board however I've had some difficulty understanding everything I should do and in what order. As such I've made this thread asking for a bit more help just so I can make sure I get things right and don't screw it all up. I will start with the story so far. After loosing my job and due to having no money until my benefits kicked in I took out a loan of £230 from Wonga on 2nd of November, it was due on the 21st of December, I was on JSA for about a month then lost it due to a stupid fault of my own, I wrote to them explaining this and asked to set up a repayment plan hoping I would be able to get a new job in the month of time they gave me of frozen interest in order to be able to pay them back. The amount I owe them now is £390. I failed in getting a job in time and emailed them explaining, twice, each time they replied saying to phone however I did not do this as I couldn't due to having no money to pay for the phone bill. I missed each time they called me due to them calling randomly at stupid times to my mobile. Nothing then happened until now. I've managed to get my JSA reinstated and I'm expecting my first payment of JSA within the next 3 days however I'm worried that Wonga will take it all from my account the moment it gets paid in. As such I've been trying to work out what to do which is what led me here. I followed the advice on the forums in other posts and attempted to ring Natwest to get them to cancel Wonga's CPA on my account, they said it could not be done and the person on the phone to me from Natwest overpowered me and wouldn't let me get a word in and due to my lack of knowledge of what to be saying ended up with me failing. I later that day sent a complaint to Natwest regarding what happened during the phonecall, stating that they were breaking FSA guidelines and specifically regulation 55. I received an email stating that it has been forwarded to a more specialized department and could take between 8-15 days for a reply. I attempted earlier today to call Wonga to see if they would co-operate and organize a new repayment plan or stop the automatic payments, the man on the line said he could do nothing unless they could take a part payment today, he was extremely sympathetic and upset that I was stuck in this position and that he could do nothing to help and apologized several times. I assumed from this that he could not actually do anything and was stuck doing what he was told to do. And now that brings us to where we are now. I am planning to go to the bank tomorrow with a letter following what others have said demanding that CPA is removed and payments stopped to Wonga however from reading the boards I see other people have had difficulty with this so this is why I have started this thread hoping that someone could specifically tell me what to do and what to go on with and what to say. As in what I should print out (FSA Guidlines etc.) and who to speak to and so on as I am at a lost. It seems that the wealth of information has confused me and I need some help. I hope someone can point me in the right direction and help me get this sorted out because if I don't and Wonga take my money I will have nothing left and will not be able to survive. Thank you all for your time for reading this and I really hope someone can help me out. I understand I was stupid to leave this to such a last minute thing and to get a PDL in the first place.

Thanks to the great advice on here, I have begun the process of ending this PDL nightmare. I have done my budget and know what I can pay each PDL. I have a new account setup for wages etc and its not linked to any other account. My loans are to Wonga - Default end of Feb Swift Sterling - Default end of Feb PDUK - Default end of Feb PD express - Default end of Feb 247 Money Box - Clear in full end of Feb Zebit - Pay most of it in Feb Quid.co.uk - Pay most of it in Feb Money Shop - Clear in full end of Feb Peachy - Clear in full end of Feb Cheque Centre - 12 month installment loan - will go one month in arrears end of Feb. (not sure how they will react) if anyone has any experience of this type of loan please let me know. Yesterday I phoned both banks Natwest and Lloyds to cancel CPAs and low and behold they put me through to the visa disputes team who informed me that I didnt have any CPAs setup on my account. So today I will hand in letters of cancellation and will also report all cards stolen. I want to keep one of the accounts active for paying out to PDLs as I wont give out any details of my new account. So last night I sent nice emails off to Wonga, Swift Sterling, PD express and PDUK. Swift Sterling - emailed back saying thanks for letting them know and to email them with a time that they can contact me. Wonga - emailed back saying to log into my account and see repayment options, did log in but just the set reminder to extend option at the moment. Suppose I wont see anything until I default, they did thank me for getting in touch. PD express - sent me a text message stating that if I wanted to extend then replay to the text. Strange as I said I wouldnt be able to pay anything this month. PDUK - no response as yet. No money left in any bank accounts so if they are trying they wont have any success. Will keep this thread going for my own sanity and hopefully help others. Cheque centre one is the unknown to date, its an installment loan but if I cleared at the end of the month id save alot of money. Might need to see what I can do as they seem the most agressive. I really could kick myself for creating this mess

My wife called our bank to cancel the authority for a PDL company to take any further money from the account. Now we should have been suspicious as the person was very helpful. They confirmed that the instruction had been cancelled and that they were sending out forms to reclaim the last payment made in December, despite telling them that we are not disputing the last payment. So this was the 17 Jan and the payment was due for 20 Jan. However, what we didn't realise is that the company was taking the payment earlier due to the payment date being a Sunday and that there was less than 24 hours. The bank didn't inform us of this either. So I spoke to a few people today, still not realising that the reason it went out was due to it being collected earlier due to the 20th being on a Sunday. These people were the most unhelpful people ever. They somehow think I can see that is on their systems. Anyway, it turns out that we now have to reclaim the payment so it's good that we're getting the dispute forms meant for the December's payment as we can use these. However, I was also told that I can't go down to the bank and hand in my instruction in writing as I offered to do. I have to fill in certain forms for this particular type of transaction to get the instruction cancelled, which the original person failed to mention as they were assuring my wife the instruction had been cancelled. Not only that, but the person we spoke to today even said that after completing the forms they cannot guarantee the payments would be stopped!! Does it really need to be this difficult? I also get the impression from the people that I spoke to that if one of their colleagues makes a mistake then it stops with that colleague. No one was taking responsibility of the problem it seemed. What was most irritating was the first person I called kept saying 'you're only hearing what you want to hear' every time I or my wife didn't agree with her. She even used the phrase when she told my wife the money might not go out and my wife had to point out it had already left, that's why she was calling! Anyway rant over. With the process involved it's more than likely that next month will come and go again before we get the form, complete them, return them and they eventually pull their fingers out.

I have contacted Step Change (formerly CCCS) to start a DMP, one of the loans involved is an almost £800 with 247 Money Box. (along 7 more) The due date is tomorrow, I still haven't received anything from the DMP company and I asked them about this but still no reply. What should I say to them?, I am not gonna pay of course, Step Change says in his web I think that in this cases you should make a payment, even when not full, just to show willingness to pay.. but I don't know. What do you advise? Thanks a lot!

After having a look at my options I've decided to let my creditors default my accounts and then come to some sort of arrangement to pay. I have catalogue, store card, PDLs and credit cards. I'm wondering how long it usually takes for them to actually default you? I want to get things sorted but definitely want my credit file recorded with those defaults first so that the 6 years start ASAP.

Hi all, in a nutshell we are up the creek without a paddle with money.. or lack of it... and would be really grateful if anyone can help us to help ourselves please. Background is-dont think it makes any difference to how we continue but is how we got here so will put you in the picture... ....hubby is a fulltime student in his 2nd year of a 3 yr degree, I was a self employed nail tech working fulltime (and some) up until july 2011 when I ceased trading to have our little boy who is almost 1. We now have 3 children-one in comp, one in juniors, plus baby Since July this year we have been living on student finance, child benefit and child tax credits (since my maternity allowance stopped). Had a few problems along the way with getting ANY other help we were entitled to including free school meals, housing benefit, healthy start vouchers. Still dont know the exact reason why they were keep saying we didnt qualify but suspect it was due to tax credits not updating their systems correctly for months until I rang every Tom Dick and Harry to get it sorted including CAB who confirmed we should be getting them but the 'authorities' concerned still wouldnt accept this??? with determination I got everything exept healthy start vouchers backdated including 600+ in housing benefit (which was calculated wrongly TWICE by South Tyneside Borough Council might I add..) Usual story, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and the debts we were once managing to pay pretty well are now totally consuming us. These debts include 3 online catalogues, 3 credit cards, 2 payday loans, 1 store card, and an overpayment of wages by a previous employer due to them not crossing their T's and dotting their I's when hubby finished work but legally we have to repay back to South Tyneside Council I have been scanning through past threads and have had a good look at a DIY DMP which sounds good, but also read things such as requesting CCA's and something els about waiting then letting the debts default you. ...these parts have confused me a bit as there's so much to take in and I'm just not sure what we should be doing first, CCA, DMP, something else?? Obviously would love to save our credit file from being totally wrecked but dont know if thats possible.. .seems DMP or default stays on file for 6 years from DMP completion/date of default. We dont have ANY CCJ's and the only letter we have had was today as we missed one of the catalogue payments last statement. PDL is due for payment on 17th and then the other on 2nd Feb(I think). Have printed out a letter to give to bank so they stop all CPA from my bank and have just applied for another account should they mess me about. Can anyone please advise us which of the aforementioned steps we should take first if any????? Any more info please ask... Thanks so much guys

Right guys, I am so appreciative of all your help on my many recent threads regarding my debt, especially the 2 PDLs we have, but I am still not CERTAIN whether a CPA can be reinstated by the PDL once I have got the STOP CPA letter into the bank signed and stamped. I am not whingeing about the advice I've been given but I'm still not certain as I have had a couple of different answers/advice on different threads. I want to keep my current account with Natwest but have also set up a new account with them to get my income paid into. If the CPA can be reinstated at a later date what the heck would be the point cancelling the CPA...?.. Can someone please please tell me if I am safe to keep my accounts once I've confirmed cancellation of all CPAs. Thanks again guys.

I have a lot of debt including a PDL which is due for repayment around 17th Jan, I have no means to repay at present and from reading through threads on here I have decided to wait for all of my creditors to Default me on the accounts before any offer of payment arrangement, this is so the 6 year wait for the default starts from then rather than when an AP or DMP would start from the date its completed. What I would like to know is regarding only paying back the original loan plus 1 mths interest.......does this mean for example say I borrowed £1000 and they put £400 interest on so total repayment due on 17th Jan would be £1400 - does this mean you would offer them the 1400 plus another months interest or does it mean you would only offer the original 1000 I borrowed plus a months interest?