Frequently Asked
Questions
What is a Debt Management plan?
Debt Management Plans, which are known as DMPs for short are an effective way to
get your finances back in order. They allow you to pay what you can afford though
a flexible plan that adapts to your circumstances. They are not legally binding
and are usually for debts up to £15,000. For larger debts, an Individual Voluntary
Arrangement (IVA) or Trust Deed (for Scottish Residents) may be more appropriate,
if you are unsure, please call for friendly advice on 01902 585 017
How does a Debt Management Plan (DMP) work?
Following an in depth financial assessment, we will contact all of your creditors
(the companies to which you owe money) to find out what exactly you owe. We will
also assess what you can afford to pay based on your income and expenditure, this
amount is known as your disposable income (DI). This is what you will pay into your
Debt Management Plan regardless of what you owe. All outstanding unsecured debt
is then bundled together and we pay out each month to your creditors in proportion
to the amount that you owe to each of them. Don’t worry if you are struggling, we
will assess what you can afford and base any new payments to your creditors will
this in mind.
What are the benefits of a Debt Management Plan (DMP)?
Debt Management Plan will:
- Combine all your unsecured debts into a single monthly payment based on your circumstances
- Depending upon the outcome of negotiation with your creditors, reduce or freeze
interest and charges on what you owe
- Give you someone who understands and has a good relationship with the creditors
who can deal with them on your behalf
- Allow you to pass all creditor correspondence and phone calls to us to deal with
– you should never ignore creditor correspondence.
- Put you back in control of your finances so you know where your money is going each
month
What are the potential drawbacks of a Debt Management Plan (DMP)?
Debt Management Plans are not for everyone, you are best to seek advice form a professional
if you are unsure. You should be aware that a Debt Management Plan may:
- Extend your payments over a longer term in some cases
- Increase the total sum to be repaid
- Not always result in the reduction of interest or charges for every creditor
- Not necessarily stop all correspondence or phone calls from creditors
- Not cover any debt secured on assets or tax arrears
- Damage your credit profile or result in lenders registering defaults
- Result in additional arrears at the outset due to paying our set up fees and there
being insufficient available money to pay your creditors.
- Should you stop making payments to your DMP your creditors may recommence a more
intensive collection process to recover arrears. They may no longer freeze interest
and charges where applicable
What do I need to do?
- Send us one payment every week / fortnight / month
- Keep us informed of any Creditor contact you receive
- Inform us if there is any change to your circumstances
What will Promise do?
- Speak to your Creditors on your behalf regarding your
- Personal loans / bank loans / overdrafts / credit cards / store cards / catalogues
- Other debts if you no longer have the service / goods
- Hire Purchase / mobile phone bills / TV subscriptions
- Negotiate a repayment plan with your Creditors
- Distribute payments in a precribed manner to your Creditors
- Deal with any correspondence received from your Creditors
- Deal with any correspondence received from you
- Issue you with a statement every month showing the payments that we have made
- Review your circumstances regularly to look for alternative ways to deal with your
debt
Can you take the pressure off by dealing with my creditors before I have paid
any management fees?
Yes. If your creditors contact you, you can refer them to us and we will talk to
them and take the pressure off you. We will give you a telephone number to pass
to your creditors and tell them to call us. We are happy to do this by taking the
promise of a payment from you and by setting up a payment from your debit card for
some point in the future to suit you. Of course you can cancel this. However, bear
in mind we can’t have a meaningful conversation with your creditors until you have
returned the authority forms to us as they won’t discuss your personal details without
such an authority in place. Once, the initial fee has been paid we will commence
proactive negotiations with your creditors.
What happens if I am contacted by one of my creditors?
We will have a signed Letter of Authority giving us the ability to discuss the account
on your behalf. Should a Creditor contact you, simply explain that, Promise Debt
Solutions is now dealing with repayments and you no longer have the most up-to-date
information , then ask them to contact Promise Debt Solutions.
Some creditors may say that you are their customer, not Promise Debt Solutions -
we would agree, you have placed the matter in our hands and under the Data Protection
Act your creditors are legally required to deal with us.
Do I have to inform my Creditors that Promise is getting involved?
No. That is what we are here for. As soon as your first payment has been received,
we will write to your Creditors explaining of our involvement.
How much will the Payment Plan cost me?
We want you to be a customer of Promise for a long time, no matter what service
we provide you with at the moment. Our fees are competitive and fall in line with,
or below, many of our competitors. We will retain an initial fee based on the first
two months payment of your disposable income which can be paid over the first two
months. This fee is payment for the work we would have already done for you and
preparing your documents for negotiation with your creditors.
Thereafter from month 3 onwards an administration fee of 11% of the amount that
you pay us, (subject to a minimum of £40.00 and a maximum of £90.00), is charged
each time we release funds to your creditors. This falls well below many of our
competitors who can charge between 15% & 20%.
Can I get free help?
Our initial advice and assessment are totally free. There are also other organisations
which give free help such as the Citizens Advice Bureau. Our fees are only applicable
if we provide you our fully managed program whereby you pass everything to us to
deal with including all negotiations and dealing with all creditor and customer
post. You should check the charges and extent of the service offered by any other
organisation before deciding if it is suitable.
What if I decide not to go ahead?
You are provided a cooling off period of seven days from the date you sign our terms
of business during which you may cancel our agreement at no cost. If we change the
estimates of your plan you will get an additional cooling off period. After this
time, should you give notice to us that you would like a refund of a payment, or
payments, (being other than the initial fee) then where no distributions have at
that time been made by us, or are in the course of being made by us on your behalf,
a full refund of the undistributed funds will be made. Where we have commenced distributing
funds on your behalf, we will refund undistributed payments less our 11% management
fee. You will be sent full details in our terms and conditions.
Will a Debt Solution affect my credit worthiness?
This will depend on the state of your credit at the start as, if you are currently
missing payments you may have already damaged your credit profile. Most people who
enter debt management either have already severely damaged their credit profile
or will do so anyway due to not having the ability to continue making the full payments
to their creditors. If you take out a debt management plan it is likely that your
credit file will be adversely affected, especially if your credit profile is good
at the start of the plan. It is also possible that the lender may register defaults
on the credit register. This could affect your ability to borrow and the choice
of lenders available to you. IVAs, trust deeds and bankruptcy will have a more severe
impact on your credit profile. If you are already in arrears on your credit, the
impact on your credit report will be less severe. Defaults and Court Judgements
and IVA’s may remain on your credit file for up to six years.
Will I be able to obtain finance in the future?
As with all lending this will be dependant on your individual circumstances such
as your income, homeowner or tenant status, your outgoings and your credit profile.
Debt management is likely to adversely affect your credit profile and reduce the
number of lenders available to you. However the alternative to debt management normally
means you damage your profile in a similar manner. Once your circumstances have
improved, let us know. We will conduct a review of your situation. It may be that
Promise can help - please remember that it is always advisable to ensure that your
finances have stabilised before considering additional or replacement finance.
Is a Debt Management plan like a loan?
No. Promise Debt Solutions can offer a number a ways to help you reduce your monthly
payments to your unsecured creditors either through informal negotiations or formal
arrangements with the courts.
How can you help if I just want a loan?
If you want a loan we can pass your details to our associated company Promise Solutions,
one of the UK’s leading loan brokers. They will confidentially research the market
and let you know what loan options they have available. If there is no loan option,
we can still look at alternative debt solutions to help reduce your monthly outgoings.
What debts can you deal with?
Any unsecured finance, e.g. credit cards, store cards, catalogues, personal loans,
overdrafts, in addition to contracted services / goods that you no longer want or
use e.g. car / computer / furniture or any other form of hire purchase, mobile phone
debt, satellite and telephony. Speak to us, and we will be able to tell you if we
can help.
What are Priority Debts?
These are debts which are very important but not normally paid through a debt management
plan such as your mortgage, rent, heating bills etc. These are the debts you should
try to pay, no matter what.
I owe a lot, how much debt can you deal with?
There is no upper limit, we simply look at your finances and if you cannot meet
the payments you originally agreed with you creditors, we can help.
Will my plan be accepted by my Creditors?
The only companies who can guarantee that an offer is accepted, are your creditors
themselves. What Promise do is to present them with a reasonable proposal, justifying
your outgoings where necessary, to ensure that there is no reason to reject the
proposed offer. Our proposals are fair and reasonable, which is why Promise obtains
such a high acceptance rate. This is also why many customers move from other companies
to Promise.
Will interest and charges be stopped on my debts?
Again, whereas the suspension of interest and additional charges can never be guaranteed,
Promise’s offers show that our customers are experiencing difficulties and therefore
justify the need to suspend interest. Most Creditors are willing to co-operate with
us on the basis they can see this is the case. However, dependant on individual
creditors, interest could still be charged and additional charges be made which
could lead to increases in the amounts to be repaid or the length of the plan. Whenever
interest is not suspended by a Creditor we will continue to ask that they do.
What if an offer is rejected?
We enter into a dialogue with your Creditors whenever an offer is rejected, in many
cases this can be because of a factor outside the Plan it's self, e.g. negotiations
had broken down prior to our involvement or creditors want to receive more than
they are entitled to. A Creditor may require a minimum amount, for example £10 each
month. Creditors are aware that our offer is fair and reasonable and we will use
all our expertise to arrive at an agreement which is beneficial to you and acceptable
to your creditors.
How will I know that creditors are being paid?
Every month we will send you a statement confirming that a payment has been sent
to your creditors.
Will my payment remain the same until my debts are repaid?
No, circumstances change. At least once a year we will review your financial situation.
If there is a need to amend the Payment under your Plan this will be done at this
time and your creditors will be notified. Should your circumstances change in the
meantime, let us know. We can revise the offer we make to your creditors almost
immediately.
How long will my Payment Plan last?
There is no set period, as a number of issues will affect the term
- The amount you owe
- What you can afford to repay - this can also change over time
- Whether creditors suspend interest and charges immediately
Whilst we are highly successful at negotiating for your creditors to freeze interest
they are not obliged to do so. Dependant on individual creditors, interest could
still be charged and additional charges be made which could lead to increases in
the amounts to be repaid or the length of your plan.
I am with another Debt Management Company at the moment, can I move over to
Promise Debt Solutions?
Yes. We will go through a Financial Statement to insure that we can help and post
paperwork out to you the same day. If you send them back to us subject to our normal
Terms of Business, we could have a Payment Plan in place by the end of that week.
We will also look to reduce/remove our initial fees depending on how much work the
other company has done.
Other Companies are offering me incentives to sign with them. Why should I sign
with you?
We will always try to match or beat any genuine offer you receive from another company.
Check the initial costs, the ongoing costs and the service you will receive as,
we know from experience, some companies hide costs in the small print. Speak to
us and we will help you and do our best to give you our best service and price.
I have spoken to another Company and they are offering a lower monthly payment.
Why shouldn't I sign with them?
Your Disposable Income is arrived at by reviewing your financial situation and arriving
at realistic amounts for your income and outgoings. If another Company has been
given the same information, they should arrive at a similar Disposable Income. If
they don’t, it is more likely that your plan could be rejected after you have paid
your initial fees. When your Financial Statement is reviewed by your Creditors they
will assess the validity of the proposal and if they consider that they achieve
a greater amount by referring your file to Court, they will do.
Our job is to get it right for you. Not fudge the figures so it appears more attractive.
Promise do not want to undercut a competitor's Disposable Income simply for you
to become a short term customer of ours. Should a Creditor receive a sub-standard
proposal from us, our reputation with you and the Creditors would be damaged. We
want to begin building a relationship that will continue after this Payment Plan
has ended.
Should I change Bank Accounts?
We are sometimes informed by customers that they prefer to stay with their existing
Bank rather than change - ‘I have had a relationship with my Bank for years
– I am sure there will be no problem’.
If you have any finance with your existing Bank, there may be problems which you
should consider as follows;
- Any overdraft is repayable on demand. Setting up a Plan can result in your Bank,
believing that your financial position has changed. They may cancel your overdraft
& recall it on payday (this is usually when your bank balance has the maximum amount
in it). The result is that the overdraft is repaid in full and the Bank no longer
has an issue, leaving you with nothing to live on until next payday
- If your salary is paid to your bank account, the bank may take this salary to meet
any outstanding debts leaving you little or no surplus to live on.
- If you have a loan with your Bank, you may cancel the Direct Debit that repays your
loan each month, however there is usually clauses in your loan agreement to confirm
that should this occur, the Bank can make a fund transfer, and payments towards
your loan will still be paid again leaving you nothing to live on.
- We have known instances where a customer’s overdraft is used up & exceeded to insure
that the Bank’s loan is repaid
These are some of the reasons that we suggest that customers consider changing Banks
whilst they are experiencing difficulty – Don’t forget that if you do want to maintain
your relationship with your Bank, being open & honest about your finances is normally
the best policy. You can still retain your account but protect your income by using
a different bank as follows;
- Open an alternative account (or use an account that you may already have which is
not linked to one of your Creditors
- Cancel any Standing Orders / Direct Debits payable to your Creditors
- Move all transactions that you want to retain - into & out of your account – over
to your new Bank, e.g. wages, insurances, benefits etc.
What is a Full and Final settlement?
Should you receive some funds e.g. from a remortgage or inheritance which would
allow you to repay some of your unsecured Creditors, but not all. Promise can try
to negotiate with your Creditors to clear more debt, than the money you have available.
If I have any further questions, what can I do?
Either telephone us or click on the 'Ask Us' icon, submit
your question and we will reply to your enquiry as quickly as possible. We want
you to be comfortable with our Service and ready to proceed as quickly as possible.
The sooner we can answer your questions, the quicker we will able to put your Payment
Plan in place.
Example of a Fee Estimate and Comparison
To help you understand the benefits of the Payment Plan as compared to a loan, the
following information is offered assuming that:
- Your ability to repay does not change during the course of the Payment Plan
- No payments are missed during the course of the Payment Plan
- Our fee structure does not change during the course of the Payment Plan
- Your Payment Plan runs its course at this level of repayment
We have assumed that a loan would be on the following terms:
|
The amount of debt / borrowed
|
£20 000.00
|
|
The Term would be
|
120 months
|
|
The variable APR
|
14.9%*
|
|
Repayment amount based on 120 months
|
£253.43
|
*This rate is the mid-point available from the sample used. Please feel free to
make a similar assessment should you prefer.
Promise Payment Plan Estimate of costs
|
Amount owed
|
£20,000.00
|
|
Initial Payment paid to Promise Debt Solutions
|
£253.43
|
|
Month 2 fee paid to Promise
|
£253.432
|
|
Ongoing monthly fee paid to Promise Debt Solutions
|
£40.00
|
|
Net amount to be paid to Creditors each month
|
£213.43
|
|
Number of months to clear @ £213.43
|
91.90
|
|
|
|
|
Breakdown of Fees:
|
|
|
Initial fee
|
£253.43
|
|
Month 2 fee paid to Promise
|
£253.43
|
|
£40.00 x 90 (this is the term of the Plan)
|
£3600.00
|
|
Total repayable
|
£24,106.86
|
NB – In this example,
term is reduced by approximately 30 months
Typical loan repayment
|
Amount borrowed
|
£20,000.00
|
|
Repayment amount
|
£253.43
|
|
Term
|
120 months
|
|
Total repayable
|
£30,411.60
|
On this basis, with the above assumptions,
the money you would save in repayments
is £6304.74
What is your Complaints procedure
Our complaints procedure is in accordance with the process set out by the Financial
Ombudsman Service. Should you wish to complain we will send you written details
of the complaints process on request.
In the first instance please call 01902 585 017 or write to us at
Promise Debt Solutions, 2nd Floor, Fullard House, Neachells Lane, Wolverhampton, WV11 3QG.
Each customer also has the right to make their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman
Service. They can consider complaints about a wide range of financial matters. They
are completely impartial and their service is free to consumers. They aim to resolve
the majority of complaints within 6 to 9 months. A customer does not have to accept
any decision they make, they are always free to go to court instead. But if they
accept an ombudsman's decision, it is binding on both them and the business concerned.
Consumer Helpline
0845 080 1800
complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Postal Address
The Financial, Ombudsman Service,
South Quay Plaza,
183 Marsh Wall,
London,
E14 9SR
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