H & H Debt & Dispute Solutions Limited.

 

Debt Management Plan

 H & H will deal with your creditors, debt-collectors and bailiffs – Sheriffs on your behalf (Only available to fee paying Client’s). The fee relating to Dispute Mediation is separate and the fee is subject to individual assessment.

In addition to this we will also assess the facts surrounding any Court proceedings issued to you by your Creditors, for FREE. Please note that Court proceedings and attendance in court are not part our Debt Management Plan.

All your credit cards, loan repayments and other debts are reduced to an affordable monthly payment, based on your current financial circumstances.

We can often arrange to freeze interest and/or other charges on the accounts with your creditors.

Introduction

 H & H aims to ensure that your current financial problems are brought under control with a view towards you regaining control of your financial situation going forward. To that end we aim to be completely transparent in all our dealings with you, and these business terms explain our commitment to you and yours to us. They will be at the centre of our relationship, and our contract with you, so please take time to read them carefully.

  Important Note

However, Business Terms are subject to change, and when changes are proposed or made, our client’s will be notified in advance of the implementation.

1.      Definition of terms

"Agreement" means the agreement between you and us, made on these Terms of Business.

"Cleared Funds" means (i) any cash, postal orders or banker's drafts made payable to us which we have received from you; (ii) any monies which we have received into our bank account or Client Account from you by whatever payment type.

"Client Account" means the account where any monies held on behalf of our clients.

"Client Authority Form" means the form enclosed with these Terms of Business which, you sign to give us the authority to contact your Creditors and to act on your behalf, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

"Creditors" means all of the people or businesses you have told us you owe money to and who are included in your Debt Management Payment Plan.

"Fees" means the Initial Administration Fee £30 and the Monthly Fee. An estimate of the total Fees payable by you to us under this Agreement is set out in your draft Debt Management Payment Plan issued by us.

" Initial Administration Fee " means your initial payment for us to set up the administration of your debt management payment plan, which is paid by you to us as an initial fee for our Services, and which is not used to pay your Creditors.

"Monthly Fee" means the monthly Fee payable for our Services. This is an amount equal to 15% of your available Monthly Payment for distribution to your creditors, apart from your first Monthly Payment which is the Initial Fee, subject to a minimum of £20, the maximum is subject to the assessment of you debt.

We offer a discount where there is more than 1 debtor who lives in the same household, and who joins our Monthly Payment FEE. However, this is limited 2 per household. Ask for details.

"Monthly Payment" means the total amount which is paid every month by you to us throughout the payment plan, apart from your first monthly payment which is the Initial Fee, this is made up of the monthly repayment to be made to your Creditors, and our Monthly Fee and any other payments as instructed or agreed with you..

"Monthly Repayment" means the part of the Monthly Payment to be paid by us on your behalf to your Creditors.

“Debt Management Payment Plan " means the programme of monthly payments by which you repay your creditors through us and pay for our services, prepared by us based on the information provided by you, as revised from time to time.

"Terms of Business" means these terms of business.

2.      Appointment and Term

 You appoint us and we agree to act on your behalf, as debt counsellors and debt adjusters and to provide the Services.

This Agreement shall ONLY commence when we receive your signed contract, Terms of Business, completed Client Authority Form, receipt of the Initial Fee from you in Cleared Funds. This shall constitute acceptance and existence of an Agreement between you and us.

This Agreement will continue for the Term, unless ended earlier by you. In this respect you are required to give 28 days notice, any funds in the client account shall be reconciled in favour of us so as to meet the administration fee in informing your creditors of your cancellation.

You have a right to cancel our agreement at any time during the first 14 days of the Term. "Days" here include Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, which must be in writing.

3.      What H & H will provide

Based upon information provided by you, we will review your income, outgoings and living expenses and prepare and issue to you with a draft Debt Management Payment Plan in respect of those types of debt which do not fall within the exclusions set out below. This will indicate a monthly payment which in our opinion is affordable by you. It will also include the total Fees payable by you to us for the Services which we are proposing to provide under this Agreement and an estimate of how long it will take you to repay your Creditors.

If your circumstances worsen and you are unable to meet the payments set out in the Debt Management Payment Plan, all efforts will be made to re-negotiate with your Creditors and arrange revised payment to your creditors. We will in any event periodically review your financial position, normally every twelve months or earlier if your, Creditors insist, prepare and issue to them an up to date Income & Expenditure plan.

We shall provide to you a periodic statement listing your Creditors, the status of any negotiations with them, the monthly repayments made to them and the fees which we have charged you. This is subject to the review period, which is usually 12 months, but sometimes earlier subject to your Creditor requests it.

You will be updated as to the important communication between us and your Creditors, but all other times we shall continue to deal with it in accordance with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidelines. If you receive any correspondence from your Creditors you must forward them to us without delay.

We will distribute the monthly repayments amongst your Creditors in accordance with the Debt Management Payment Plan normally within 14 working days of receipt of the monthly payment from you in Cleared Funds. If there is a delay in any payment which is not beyond our control, We shall take the appropriate action to put you in the position you would have been in if the payment had been made within 14working days in Cleared Funds and shall make good any additional interest which has accrued and any default charges that have been applied to the account as a result of the delay.

4.      What H & H won't do - we WILL NOT lend you money or offer you any credit facilities

We do not provide the Services in relation to secured credit, such as hire purchase arrangements, secured loans and mortgages, rent (including rent arrears), utility bill payments (including arrears), council tax payments (including arrears) and other similar debts, within the Debt Management Payment Plan.

Such Services, and others, are regarded as Disputes and are covered under a separate Agreement

 We are not Solicitors and therefore cannot give you any legal advice. However, we are able to discuss your legal issues with a Network of Legal Firms and/or Legal Consultants to establish a solution to your problem. We can if it becomes necessary obtain names of Firms that specialise in your field of dispute, often from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, that are able to provide you with the necessary legal advice. We do not have any involvement in this appointment, and as such it is entirely between you and the Firm of Solicitors in question. 

We will not arrange for anybody to attend any court hearing on your behalf, unless we expressly agree with you to do so, but only in relation to your Debt Management Payment Plan, and if so we will charge an additional fee for such service as agreed with you in advance of the court hearing.

5.      Clients Responsibly

You must provide us with full, accurate and truthful details on the form we provide to you of your net income, outgoings, Creditors and dependants and you must also provide us with details of any outstanding judgments against you or any actual or threatened court proceedings. You must, where possible, send to us copies or originals of documents to confirm these details.

You must make the agreed monthly payments to us in accordance with the Debt Management Payment Plan.

You must allow us to negotiate on your behalf with your Creditors.

You must send us originals or copies of all correspondence you receive from your Creditors so that we can deal with them on your behalf. If originals are provided we can only return them to you if you request this prior to posting.

During the Debt Management Payment Plan Term, you must not make any payments direct to your Creditors unless you have notified us in advance that you propose to do so, and we have agreed that such payment can be made. However, we will withhold our agreement if we have good reason that, in you doing so, it compromises what we are attempting to achieve.

You must tell us immediately if your circumstances change.

During the Term you must incur no further debts, whether on credit or otherwise, other than those relating to your normal living expenses.

6.      How you may end this Agreement.

        You have the right to cancel this Agreement at any time but in writing giving 28days notice and the terms of financial reconciliation as stated above will apply in full.

7.      How H & H may end this Agreement.

We may end this Agreement at any time by giving you 28 days written notice if any of the following happens:
(a) You fail to make two successive Monthly Payments; or
(b) You are otherwise in serious breach of this Agreement or have persistently committed a series of minor breaches (even if any one individual breach would not necessarily be regarded as a serious breach on its own); or
(c) You become bankrupt, file a bankruptcy petition, make an arrangement or composition with your Creditors generally, or make an application to a court of competent jurisdiction for protection from your Creditors generally.

8.      The effect of ending this Agreement.

When this Agreement ends:
(a) our duties and obligations under this Agreement will come to an end;
(b) your liability to your Creditors will continue to the extent that any amounts you owe to your Creditors remain outstanding over and above the repayments made to them under the Debt Management Payment Plan; and
(c) You may within 30 days of the end of this agreement request us to send you copies of all paperwork received from you or your Creditors that is in our possession.

9.      Personal information.

We agree to keep confidential all information received from or about you. We will not pass this information to anyone else without your permission, except in line with our data protection.

10.  Data protection statement.

Please read this statement carefully as it explains what personal information we collect about you and how we use this information.

We collect personal information about you both directly from you when you apply for our Services and from your Creditors as authorised by your Client Authority Form. We may also collect further information as a result of managing your Debt Management Payment Plan.

We will use your personal information to provide our Services to you, and

You should let us know in writing giving the name of the person that you authorise to deal with your account on your behalf, and you may let us know if you do not want us to use or disclose your personal information to that person other than general enquires. You may if you wish to amend the way we communicate with you.

Other than as set out above we will only disclose your personal information to the extent required by law, court order or as requested by other government or law enforcement authority..

You may contact us by writing at any time to the Data Protection Officer at our address or if you want to request a copy of the personal information which we hold about you or to ask us to amend any inaccurate information held by us. If you request a copy of the personal information which is held by H & H, we will charge you a fee of £10.

Please note that we may record and monitor your calls to us to help us to improve our service.

11.  Additional Terms

All Fees are exclusive of any applicable value added tax (VAT) or other sales tax. Please note that although the provision of our Services is currently VAT exempt (as of January 2010), this position could change in the future. If it does change we shall notify you and amend your Debt Management Payment Plan accordingly.

We may transfer our rights and obligations under this Agreement by giving you written notice of such transfer.

All notices sent under this Agreement, shall be valid if sent by second-class post.

This Agreement sets out the entire agreement and understanding between you, the client, and us, the service provider, and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings or arrangements (whether oral or written) relating to the provision of the Services.

You acknowledge that You have entered into this Agreement in reliance only on the representations, warranties and promises specifically contained or incorporated in this Agreement and, except as expressly set out in this Agreement. H & H shall have no liability in respect of any other representation, warranty or promise made prior to the start of this Agreement unless it was made fraudulently.

We shall not be deemed in breach of this Agreement or otherwise liable to you if we are prevented or hindered from performing our obligations under this Agreement by reason of any event beyond our reasonable control.

If any part of these terms and conditions is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that part shall be deemed severed from our agreement which will otherwise remain in full force and effect.

Any failure on our part to insist on strict performance of any part of these terms and conditions will not be deemed a waiver of our rights and remedies in respect of any future breach

 H & H may vary these Business Conditions from time to time and will write to give you at least 30 days’ prior notice of any changes.

12.  This Agreement is governed by the law of England & Wales.