To anyone considering entering a DMP with PayPlan and has low level amount of debt, save yourself some time and ask them outright what is the minimum debt level in order for them to assist you! I would have loved to have given PayPlan a 5 star review, I really would but unfortunately can’t do so. My experience with this debt advisor has proven to be more stressful than expected. I sought debt advice from PayPlan having being referred to them from the Citizens Advice website over a year ago and they assisted with putting me into a DMP, at the time my debts were just below 5k and I had an average salary at the time, but my living costs in London were quite high so it was proving damn near impossible to clear my debts with constant interest charges being added with different creditors - PayPlan were reluctant to assist with a DMP to begin with stating I did not meet the desired debt level threshold for them to enter me into a DMP, however following a further assessment of my ability to be able to communicate with all my creditors, they agreed to assist me. I was keeping up with payments and managed to get my debts down to 3.5k but unfortunately was made redundant at the start of this year and through advice of the CA entered into a Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space). I made PayPlan aware of the breathing space and that I wouldn’t be able to commit to the DMP payments for 2 months, to which I was told the DMP would be put on hold and to get back in touch with them to complete an outgoings review (these are done annually and I was due to do one) and resume payments once my breathing space has ended. During this time, I found work, albeit a considerable lower paying job but was in a position to resume affordable payments and first working day after the breathing space has ended contacted PayPlan only to be told my DMP had been cancelled completely and that I would have to set up a new case file, after 40 minute phone call going through my details again, relaying information on my debts (all the ones that had been in my DMP prior to be made redundant) I was told my debt level was too low and that I could not enter another DMP. At this point I was told the ideal debt level would need to be 6k minimum in order for PayPlan to assist with a DMP, at no point was this ever relayed to me when I contacted them to inform them I had been made redundant and would need a 60 day break in making payments to my DMP, I find it very disheartening that the debt I was getting down through PayPlan is now impossible to clear with assistance because of this communication oversight, had I had been made aware this would have happened I would have prioritised keeping the DMP open even if it meant putting priority bills on hold during my breathing space. PayPlan have failed to ensure I was fully aware of what I was agreeing to - this was a massive oversight on their part, its very disappointing. I'm now at a loss as to what is the best course of action, the best they could do was send me debt management information documents which pretty much mirror the debt advise found on the Gov dot UK website.
