Payplan www.payplan.com

I was apprehensive about a DMP, shame humiliation and thinking there would be no end in sight.

However, with Payplanplus I am reducing my debt under a structured affordable amount.

I can ask for reviews as and when needed, great for me as I am working on temporary employment contracts.

The team also understand mental health, and check in with me occasionally to make sure all is ok.

Incompetent, negligent, extreme CAUTION about using this company.

I have had an IVA with PayPlan since late 2016. I would seriously urge you to re-consider as my experience with this company has been traumatic from start to finish.

- You are promised a case officer who will be your direct point of contact. Their staff turnover is such that I have sometimes have a changing contact every month. Worse still, sometimes they will keep the name of an employee who has long since left on your correspondence - meaning that they are effectively a ghost employee and months of your emails go unanswered.

- They will give you negligent advice. I was once told to "ignore all default letters" whilst waiting for a creditors' meeting, receiveing more and more severe notices whilst my case officer left, never otified me, and never arranged a creditors meeting.

- Creditors will completely miscalculate your monthly budget (mine did and I never recieved an apology), and will similarly give you bizarre advice, such as "we can't let you consider bankruptcy as it wouldn't be fair on your creditors" They witheld all informaiton from me, depite simultaneously threatening me with bankruptcy, yet withholding informaiton

- They don't have a porper complaints procedure, which is why I am here (!) If you try to complain about a case officer, they will avoid your question, ultimately telling you to send it to them. That's tight - you have to complain TO the person you are complaining about.

- They will give you false information - I was told all council tax was covered by the plan for a year despite it being six months only. They also added £900 to my total debt IN ERROR, and told me it "was too late to revise the plan" They added £2,500 against my name in debt from HMRC, depite this was a year I had already paid tax for. When I asked for updates more frequently than annually - to make sure my debt didn't RISE (as it was doing with my PayPlan IVA), I was told I was only allowed to receive this infomation ANNUALLY. that's right, they won't let you know about your own financial situation despite the fact that they are trying to help you get out of debt.

Use at your peril, no option is as bad as this one. I'd give negative stars if I could, the whole experience has been horrendous and traumatic from start to finish.

I have been with Payplan for 4 years as has my partner, original combined debt of £27,000 currently paid £45000 ish and no light at the end of the tunnel yet, currently speaking with "rip off britain" advise anyone else having problems with Payplan to do the same now.

Like so many other reviews here, my experience with Payplan started extremely well. I was encouraged to enter into an IVA over 5 years through Payplan, and they were friendly, approachable and professional. Communication was easy, and the initial process of arranging the IVA was smooth. I would give 5 stars up to this point.

However, once this agreement is in place, you are simply abandoned. Case workers change on a regular basis, queries via phone and their internal email system go unanswered, and any replies you manage to get lack any detail you may have asked for.

Two examples are a request to miss a monthly payment to make an emergency household purchase. This took over a month, and numerous attempts to have contact from Payplan, before the purchase was authorised.

The second relates to a PPI payment made into my plan. A request for the breakdown of compensation, interest, and any refund to me, still goes unanswered.

My repayment rate is currently set much higher than my budget surplus shows after my annual review, but it seems impossible for Payplan to understand this is not sustainable, and they refuse to lower it. I was even told that as I had managed to maintain these higher payments, I could obviously afford it.

I have found most (not all) case workers to be quite cold and uncaring, sometimes hostile, and very unwilling to help. You feel very much they are more interested in extracting as much money from you, for as long a period, as possible - rather than helping your agreement succeed. After nearly five years of repayments, I feel no nearer completing my plan than after my first payment.

I totally regret setting up my IVA through Payplan and suggest you look elsewhere. Once you have signed up you cannot change.

I was struggling with debt and decided to use Payplan. They helped me to clear all my debts and be debt free with an IVA. Payplan took away all the stress and dark thoughts and I would encourage anyone with debt problems to contact them. They will help to sort this out. My only one gripe is that they changed my Case Officer too many times, but I still got a 200% service.

I am taking matters to the FSA and the press in regards to this business.They are deceptive and do not like to answer questions after they have Hard sold you into an IVA.

This kind of practice when dealing with those already in highly stressful situations shows a complete lack of care for anything other than getting as much money in Fees from you as possible.

I would strongly advise anyone looking for a debt solution from a business to go elsewhere.

Sincerely

2nd review I have left for this company and since my first review, nothing has changed. I am still passed from pillar to past with case officers - I've lost count now as to how many I have had. When I call, they are never available so I speak to someone else.

Still get emails asking for my p60's - I have now sent these 4 times.

If I could change IVA providers I would, and I would also move my brother's as well, as I am the main contact for his. Today, I have found out that my case officer has changed. Again.

When people need help, and reach out for that help, they also need routine, and constantly changing case officers does not help anyone. You trust your case officer, explain everything to them, and then, , a month or so later, you need to do it all over again, so you feel like you are getting nowhere. Especially when the new case officer does not bother to introduce themselves, just sends short and abrupt emails to you, and is hard to reach. It's mentally tiring to have to repeat yourself to each new person, and I myself, have now found it much easier to not contact PayPlan at all - even when I am struggling to make that weeks payment, and not speak to my case officer even if I do need to, as it seems pointless. I find it much easier to juggle money to try and make that week's payment without contacting PayPlan at all. I honestly dread hearing from PayPlan, and wish I had gone elsewhere for help.

Stay way from them.

Do not go with this company they are terrible they bring you in with all the soft music and promises but they are just liars. I completed my iva 2 years ago with which the last 12 months were unbearable with payments that were almost impossible and stress of valuations and ppi. 2 years later I find my self stressed again with them wanting more money from a ppi claim on my mortgage I have just made that they want even though I completed 2 years ago all this company is bothered about is ripping vulnerable people off instead of helping them DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY!

Finally complete after six years off what can only be described as hell! Had a change of case officer every six months, had to double check calculations as on a few occasions the requested additional funds incorrectly! NY husband was made redundant during our IVA which was paid into IVA as classed as surplus, tho the following couple of months we still had to continue to pay with a massive drop off income, if he received a bonus this again was classed as surplus which stopped tax credit and we had to pay back as over working limit, our IVAs ran together however my husband's took a further six months to issue completion certificate, call handlers are friendly but that's the only positive, relieved it's all over

It was a very stressful time setting it all up and making the decision to Sort out things...pay plan were helpful in this phase.

Things became more difficult at the time of review each year.... Pay plan and any other IVA agency I guess really have you over a barrel, my income dropped but payments increased. I really felt I couldn't make an issue of this as options were default bad therefore bankruptcy or adding extra years onto the arrangement. Neither of these were any good!

Right at the end of the agreed term I was told by an advisor that if I was struggling to pay ( I wasn't I just stated that I wanted the agreement to end at the agreed time, I was not able to remortgage due to negative equity) then she would increase the payment term by another year. She quoted a part of the agreement re extensions without including the bit of the agreement just below it where it stated the agreement would end as per the contract if I was In negative equity. This felt to me like it was a deliberate ploy to extend the payment term...

This was quickly sorted out by another advisor ....keep hold of the contract , read it and quote it where necessary!