Debt Management Plans

Any debts that are considered as “priority debts” cannot be added to your Debt Management Plan. This includes mortgage or rent repayments, any fines or taxes owed, child maintenance, TV license, Hire Purchase used to buy essential items, Council Tax, and Income Tax. In addition, only debts in your name can be added to your Debt Management Plan.

If you need to discuss a priority debt then our Priority Debt Team will be happy to help you and can be contacted on 0161 228 6194.

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Your monthly payments are distributed equally and fairly to your creditors on a pro-rata basis minus fees.

This means that the creditors that we manage for you are paid an amount based upon the size of the balance you owe to them. This way creditors cannot complain of any unfair treatment, which is key to minimising unnecessary contact from them.

Before you agree to enter a Plan, we will provide you with an estimated timescale taking into account the amount you owe and what you can afford to pay.

Debt Management Plans are an ‘informal’ debt solution which means that the payment level can be increased or decreased as your circumstances dictate, which may in turn increase or decrease your estimated timescale.

As the agreement is informal, we will do our utmost to get interest and charges frozen, but this cannot be guaranteed. It is also important that you maintain the agreed payments to your plan as failure to do so could extend your estimated timescale.

We will regularly update you on your projected timescale to manage your expectations for completion, whilst giving workable solutions to reduce it.

• DFH has been in the industry since 2004, which has enabled us to build fantastic and strong relationships with creditors, and more importantly our customers.
• We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
• We make sure we invest heavily in our systems, employees, and processes, with the objective being a smooth journey for all of our customers. We value your time and peace of mind.
• We are approachable, engaged, and will do everything in our power to ensure that every customer receives the best service possible as they complete their journey.
• We will be with you for every step, all the time.

If you make payments by Standing Order or Bank Transfer, DFH has no control over this, meaning any adjustments to your payment would need to be made by you directly with your bank. This can usually be done online or through telephone banking if you are unable to visit your local branch.

If you would like us to take payment via your debit card each month, we need the usual details to do so. For security purposes, we would never recommend sending this kind of information in a written format. Please call us on 0161 228 6194 to either set up a continuous payment authority or update the debit card details we hold. Please note, we cannot take payment by credit card.

In the initial stages of your Plan, it is common to receive some contact from your Creditors whilst the Creditor Liaison Team at DFH work on negotiating arrangements for you. This team are experts at making sure arrangements are put in place that benefit you and make your Plan run smoothly.

If a Creditor calls you, we advise you to ask them to put a hold on contact for 30 days to allow time for the negotiations to progress.

However, if at any stage you are concerned by any contact you receive, please get in touch. You can also find further information here.

A review is important as it enables us to evidence what would be an affordable and sustainable amount for you to pay in to your plan. Ordinarily, this will be completed once every 12 months, however, should your circumstances change during that time (for example a change in employment, living arrangements, or anything else that affects your income and expenditure) a further review can be completed when required. To make the review as accurate as possible, we usually request copies of recent bank statements and wage slips.

If you have the option of clearing some or all of your debts, please call us to let us know how much you have at your disposal, or fill in our Debt Settlement form. We will then contact your creditors to confirm the balances and to negotiate on any potential reduced offers in the hope of saving you money. If this is something you wish to explore further, please call us on 0161 228 6194.

At any point, a creditor may sell your debt to a 3rd party to collect or employ them to manage the debt. This is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. All correspondence and payments will go to the new party from then on, and in most cases no additional costs will be incurred or passed on to you. Any correspondence you receive from 3rd parties should simply be passed straight to us either via email or the pre-paid envelopes provided. We will do all of the rest.