DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

lizzy23 · 9 February 2013 at 7:42PM

dmb wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know what the max allowances are for basic stuff like petrol etc that Stepchange use. I know food is £340 (I think) Are these standard or does it depend on income.

Enjoy the weekend folks

if you speak to them and have a good reason they will amend, i had to do it for pet insurance as i have 5 dogs, and fuel , because i commute a 40 mile round trip and OH is a dog walker and uses his van for work, i think our fuel allowance per month is something like £480 and this is whats used, and my pet out going is £100

dmb_2 · 9 February 2013 at 7:47PM

Alice_in_Welfareland wrote: »

For how many people? All depends on number in the family and not the income.

2 adults. Thanks

dmb_2 · 9 February 2013 at 7:53PM

lizzy23 wrote: »

if you speak to them and have a good reason they will amend, i had to do it for pet insurance as i have 5 dogs, and fuel , because i commute a 40 mile round trip and OH is a dog walker and uses his van for work, i think our fuel allowance per month is something like £480 and this is whats used, and my pet out going is £100

Thanks, I may need to amend as I find current allowance is not quite enough. Never seem to be able to put money away for stuff like car service even though that's supposed to be accounted for in budget. Oh well I can but ask!

moneysaymoneydo · 9 February 2013 at 10:23PM

I have a question maybe the experts on here can answer

A friend on DMP all ticking away another friend asks DMP friend to 'keep' some money in their account for him to the tune of £150k, is this possible or are their legal implications? and surely if debtors catch wind can take out the account? my friend with dmp said it is perfectly legal as other friend having mental health issues so they are keeping it safe whilst treatment is sought? just curious and i know they should say no but is this legal?

Growurown · 9 February 2013 at 11:30PM

moneysaymoneydo wrote: »

I have a question maybe the experts on here can answer

A friend on DMP all ticking away another friend asks DMP friend to 'keep' some money in their account for him to the tune of £150k, is this possible or are their legal implications? and surely if debtors catch wind can take out the account? my friend with dmp said it is perfectly legal as other friend having mental health issues so they are keeping it safe whilst treatment is sought? just curious and i know they should say no but is this legal?

Can't say whether it is legal or not but it doesn't sound advisable. There are ways of properly looking after the financial interests of people with mental health issues. This sounds more like someone wanting to hide their money.

Growurown · 9 February 2013 at 11:49PM

dmb wrote: »

Thanks, I may need to amend as I find current allowance is not quite enough. Never seem to be able to put money away for stuff like car service even though that's supposed to be accounted for in budget. Oh well I can but ask!

We found the budget very tight for food and car servicing etc. so we put everything into the budget we could claim for even it we didn't use or need it. I put in the maximum for things like dry cleaning (never bought anything that needs dry cleaning), lunches at work, smoking (never smoked either) and I put all this away for emergencies. We do a lot of miles for work too and claim a fair bit for petrol but that is needed.

I know ultimately this prolongs our debt free date as we aren't putting every spare penny into our debts, but it at least makes our life reasonably stress free. Fortunately most of our creditors have stopped interest so we aren't paying out huge amounts on interest and charges - so we will pay pretty much the same amount whether it takes one year or four years. The Halifax are still charging us for the two bank overdrafts we had and I am now thinking I might try and pay a bit extra into those accounts to bring them down quicker. Our method might not suit everyone but it works well for us. Good luck!

moneysaymoneydo · 9 February 2013 at 11:52PM

Yes i think the same trying to hide the money so can poss claim benefits, they have put mutual friend in a situation, my dmp friend has warned that worse case they would use the money to pay debts, approx £40k, is this allowed just to give someone money to keep for you? and could my dmp friend end up in trouble?

Growurown · 10 February 2013 at 12:24AM

moneysaymoneydo wrote: »

Yes i think the same trying to hide the money so can poss claim benefits, they have put mutual friend in a situation, my dmp friend has warned that worse case they would use the money to pay debts, approx £40k, is this allowed just to give someone money to keep for you? and could my dmp friend end up in trouble?

Quite possibly. If this money is being hidden in order to claim benefits then that is illegal. If your DMP friend who is 'looking' after the money knows this then they could be in trouble too by aiding a criminal act. I can't say for sure, I am not a legal expert in any way but I would strongly advise your DMP friend not to get involved. It would look pretty bad from the DMP point of view too and your friend could use this as an excuse to say no to this other person.

Have a look at this too.

http://www.money.co.uk/article/1004329-how-do-i-gift-money-without-being-taxed.htm

lizzy23 · 10 February 2013 at 7:52AM

Growurown wrote: »

We found the budget very tight for food and car servicing etc. so we put everything into the budget we could claim for even it we didn't use or need it. I put in the maximum for things like dry cleaning (never bought anything that needs dry cleaning), lunches at work, smoking (never smoked either) and I put all this away for emergencies. We do a lot of miles for work too and claim a fair bit for petrol but that is needed.

I know ultimately this prolongs our debt free date as we aren't putting every spare penny into our debts, but it at least makes our life reasonably stress free. Fortunately most of our creditors have stopped interest so we aren't paying out huge amounts on interest and charges - so we will pay pretty much the same amount whether it takes one year or four years. The Halifax are still charging us for the two bank overdrafts we had and I am now thinking I might try and pay a bit extra into those accounts to bring them down quicker. Our method might not suit everyone but it works well for us. Good luck!

This is our method too,, at the end of the day without the DMP we would never have paid it off, yes with it, it may take 7 years but at least we have a relatively normal life, don't get me wrong we do watch the pennies, but we have a relatively normal life

bertman · 10 February 2013 at 9:25AM

dmp2013 wrote: »

Ahh our first payment to our creditors went from Stepchange a few wks ago, but Ive just had an invoice from my Next account which shows nothing and has a late fee on it!! I am still stressing over the post as HSBC have not been helpful either- still charging some interest and had a late fee from them too- altho that did show stepchange's payment! Can anyone help?? Anyone had similar experiences? x Thank you x

HSBC have been our worst CC company, it took them nearly 5 months for them to register the fact that we were with SC. A lot of this has to do with an incredible backlog of details from SC and probably others. Just tell them you are on a DMP and put it in writing. They refunded interest to us last week and have now suspended interest.

DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

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