DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

[fermi]

Once again the old thread was getting a bit large, so here is a fresh thread.

The previous thread can be found here: Click ---> DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 8)

Or click here for the last page of posts on the old thread. ---> Last Page

Good luck with your DMP everyone.

[Hopelessly Hopeful]

Originally Posted by antonic

I now have £1130.82 left to pay out of £23678.14 or £1130.82/£23678.14 x 100% = 4.77 % left to pay !.

95% paid off, brilliant!

HHx

[jubilee14]

Originally Posted by antonic

I now have £1130.82 left to pay out of £23678.14 or £1130.82/£23678.14 x 100% = 4.77 % left to pay !.

antonic that is brilliant news well done nearly there. I am at the other end but reading posts like this gives me a spur to keep going.

[Hopelessly Hopeful]

This thread is worth subscribing to

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...d.php?t=291326

HHx

[catandy]

a question for all those that are a bit more savvy and knowledgeable than me -

I'm currently paying nominal payments to all co's as on JSA and not enough money for stepchange to set up a formal DMP until situation changes / improves.

all but 2 of the CC have accepted reduced payments and frozen interest and fees, just aqua and vanquis havent

I have a job lined up but doesnt start until May (meaning that nominal payments will have to continue for at least another 4 or even 5 months (till I get my first paycheque again). Obviously if I pick up another job or temping work in the meantime I will be in a position to pay more quicker...

anyway I've been offered 5K cash from my mum, no interest, pay her back if/ when I ever have it in the future... the offer is open until mid March. I plan to accept it and use perhaps £500 of it clearning my rent arrears and suspended eviction on my property so my kids and I dont end up homeless - housing benefit will cover rent in its entirety whilst I'm out of work this is just arrears that need clearings.

that leaves me 4500 over to clear some balances... enough to clear vanquis and aqua in their entirety but if I do that surely the other CC co's will feel rightly aggrieved that I'm favouring others over and above them and put the interest rates back into play. I will be in a position to resume paying them all back at the minimum rates + some extra as soon as I get my first full paycheque in June so that will start making inroads into the balances.

ok so do i pay them all a % or pay the 2 interest paying cards of completely or ??? dont know what to do and change my mind with the wind at the moment as to whats the best thing to do.

thanks in advance!

[RonniesMummy]

Originally Posted by catandy

a question for all those that are a bit more savvy and knowledgeable than me -

I'm currently paying nominal payments to all co's as on JSA and not enough money for stepchange to set up a formal DMP until situation changes / improves.

all but 2 of the CC have accepted reduced payments and frozen interest and fees, just aqua and vanquis havent

I have a job lined up but doesnt start until May (meaning that nominal payments will have to continue for at least another 4 or even 5 months (till I get my first paycheque again). Obviously if I pick up another job or temping work in the meantime I will be in a position to pay more quicker...

anyway I've been offered 5K cash from my mum, no interest, pay her back if/ when I ever have it in the future... the offer is open until mid March. I plan to accept it and use perhaps £500 of it clearning my rent arrears and suspended eviction on my property so my kids and I dont end up homeless - housing benefit will cover rent in its entirety whilst I'm out of work this is just arrears that need clearings.

that leaves me 4500 over to clear some balances... enough to clear vanquis and aqua in their entirety but if I do that surely the other CC co's will feel rightly aggrieved that I'm favouring others over and above them and put the interest rates back into play. I will be in a position to resume paying them all back at the minimum rates + some extra as soon as I get my first full paycheque in June so that will start making inroads into the balances.

ok so do i pay them all a % or pay the 2 interest paying cards of completely or ??? dont know what to do and change my mind with the wind at the moment as to whats the best thing to do.

thanks in advance!

I personally would say pay the ones with the higher interest, which are the two who havent frozen them.
The other creditors won't know you have cleared them, so I don't think it will affect the frozen interest, I may be wrong though..!

[Enough Now]

I am so motivated by the decreasing debts of fellow thread members. Well done!

Echoing what another poster has said, I now (month 3 of DMP) look forward to my post arriving so I can open it up and update my spreadsheet with my new balances. This is opposed to not opening my bills as I couldn't face the reality of how much debt I was in.

What a turnaround in mental positivity and feeling in control of the situation - finally!

:-)

[ant192]

Quick question for anyone in the know. I have been on my DMP with CCCS (stepchange) for about 14 months now. One of the creditors was halifax ultimate reward. since i started with DMP the account is closed and i cannot view it online. I am still paying the £10 account fee, but cannot sign up for the services online such as phone insurance, presumably because my account is closed. Can Halifax continue to take the fee but not offer the services? Am i within my right to request a refund of the 14 x £10 for payment of a service that i cannot receive?
Thanks

[Time to face the music]

Originally Posted by catandy

a question for all those that are a bit more savvy and knowledgeable than me -

I'm currently paying nominal payments to all co's as on JSA and not enough money for stepchange to set up a formal DMP until situation changes / improves.

all but 2 of the CC have accepted reduced payments and frozen interest and fees, just aqua and vanquis havent

I have a job lined up but doesnt start until May (meaning that nominal payments will have to continue for at least another 4 or even 5 months (till I get my first paycheque again). Obviously if I pick up another job or temping work in the meantime I will be in a position to pay more quicker...

anyway I've been offered 5K cash from my mum, no interest, pay her back if/ when I ever have it in the future... the offer is open until mid March. I plan to accept it and use perhaps £500 of it clearning my rent arrears and suspended eviction on my property so my kids and I dont end up homeless - housing benefit will cover rent in its entirety whilst I'm out of work this is just arrears that need clearings.

that leaves me 4500 over to clear some balances... enough to clear vanquis and aqua in their entirety but if I do that surely the other CC co's will feel rightly aggrieved that I'm favouring others over and above them and put the interest rates back into play. I will be in a position to resume paying them all back at the minimum rates + some extra as soon as I get my first full paycheque in June so that will start making inroads into the balances.

ok so do i pay them all a % or pay the 2 interest paying cards of completely or ??? dont know what to do and change my mind with the wind at the moment as to whats the best thing to do.

thanks in advance!

1) Rent arrears as priority debt

2) Clear anything still charging interest, highest interest first

3) Start emergency fund

Great news on the job

[Time to face the music]

Originally Posted by Enough Now

I am so motivated by the decreasing debts of fellow thread members. Well done!

Echoing what another poster has said, I now (month 3 of DMP) look forward to my post arriving so I can open it up and update my spreadsheet with my new balances. This is opposed to not opening my bills as I couldn't face the reality of how much debt I was in.

What a turnaround in mental positivity and feeling in control of the situation - finally!

:-)

Keeping or regaining some control is what it's all about

[Time to face the music]

Originally Posted by ant192

Quick question for anyone in the know. I have been on my DMP with CCCS (stepchange) for about 14 months now. One of the creditors was halifax ultimate reward. since i started with DMP the account is closed and i cannot view it online. I am still paying the £10 account fee, but cannot sign up for the services online such as phone insurance, presumably because my account is closed. Can Halifax continue to take the fee but not offer the services? Am i within my right to request a refund of the 14 x £10 for payment of a service that i cannot receive?
Thanks

When we started our debt free journey, we had several accounts with benefits at a premium cost. One of our first actions was to cancel these services and change to basic accounts.

I think Halifax would argue the case that you should have cancelled this account and moved to a basic account before you started your DMP. However it's worth a try so give it a go and see how you get on.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes

[Julie67]

Morning all,

First token payment has been cashed by Tesco CC but not had any correspondence yet from anyone. Does this mean Tesco are going to accept SC offer. Will have to wait and see.
Have a good Saturday all J

[dmp2013]

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

[Hopelessly Hopeful]

Originally Posted by Julie67

Morning all,

First token payment has been cashed by Tesco CC but not had any correspondence yet from anyone. Does this mean Tesco are going to accept SC offer. Will have to wait and see.
Have a good Saturday all J

Just means they have cashed it. It will go in the right direction. Generally speaking most have found Tesco reasonable.

HHx

[Hopelessly Hopeful]

Originally Posted by dmp2013

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

All fairly normal at the start. The first month my debt rose by 2.5%. Write to them, ask to reconsider. Quote OFT guidelines re not increasing dent, that you are with a charitable DMP provider and committed to pay the debt etc.

Good luck

HHx

[dmp2013]

Thank you HH, I was getting soo worried, just spoke to Next- I hate ringing people as don't feel I am very good on the phone, but they were helpful but HAVEN'T recieved money from Stepchange and it went out on 13th Jan, so dont know whats happened there?? I have emailled stepchange, but cant ring them as only open mon-fri. They did refund the charges though whilst they wait to see what happens- so that was decent of them! Thanks soo much for your reply though as that does make me feel better xx

[jubilee14]

Originally Posted by dmp2013

Thank you HH, I was getting soo worried, just spoke to Next- I hate ringing people as don't feel I am very good on the phone, but they were helpful but HAVEN'T recieved money from Stepchange and it went out on 13th Jan, so dont know whats happened there?? I have emailled stepchange, but cant ring them as only open mon-fri. They did refund the charges though whilst they wait to see what happens- so that was decent of them! Thanks soo much for your reply though as that does make me feel better xx

Hi DMP 2013 usually SC take money on 1st or 10th of month and creditors are paid by the 25th of the month so there is a lagg. I paid token payments for two months while setting up even though my DMP started on month 2.

and am in month 4 and have only just agreed with HBOS loan to accept arrangement as although they finall accepted money from SC they still claimed they hadnt received my income/expenditure even though i have a Hfx cc that had accepted it. Big companies with all different depts tend to take a while. On the whole with the exception of interest charging ( which is at their discretion) they recognise your attempt to pay and cant not accept. It will take a while but it will start to settle down. Dont worry it does settle down after the early bumps.

[Hopelessly Hopeful]

Originally Posted by dmp2013

Thank you HH, I was getting soo worried, just spoke to Next- I hate ringing people as don't feel I am very good on the phone, but they were helpful but HAVEN'T recieved money from Stepchange and it went out on 13th Jan, so dont know whats happened there?? I have emailled stepchange, but cant ring them as only open mon-fri. They did refund the charges though whilst they wait to see what happens- so that was decent of them! Thanks soo much for your reply though as that does make me feel better xx

As Jubillee say SC dont pay preditors until the 25th and they often say not recieved, especially at the start. It will get better

HHx

[dmp2013]

Hi Jubilee14 that is what HSBC keep saying to me- that they havent recieved incomings and outgoings expenditure etc, I have sent them countless Stepchange letters and yet today I recieve a letter from them asking for a signed letter that states a third party is dealing with my debts!!!! They seem soo unorganised!! Have they stopped your interest charges? My husbands bank Santander have been fab but HSBC have been dire! I really hope they sort themselves out soon. As everyone else been pretty good: MBNA-very good, Next- very good (apart from not recieving money :-/ ), Santander-great, Halifax-pretty good and Barclaycard-very good! Hopefully it will all calm down. Thanks again for your replies :-) x

[jubilee14]

Originally Posted by dmp2013

Hi Jubilee14 that is what HSBC keep saying to me- that they havent recieved incomings and outgoings expenditure etc, I have sent them countless Stepchange letters and yet today I recieve a letter from them asking for a signed letter that states a third party is dealing with my debts!!!! They seem soo unorganised!! Have they stopped your interest charges? My husbands bank Santander have been fab but HSBC have been dire! I really hope they sort themselves out soon. As everyone else been pretty good: MBNA-very good, Next- very good (apart from not recieving money :-/ ), Santander-great, Halifax-pretty good and Barclaycard-very good! Hopefully it will all calm down. Thanks again for your replies :-) x

i have four creditors three with HBOS( OD, Loan and Credit card) 1 with BCard. (credit card)

HBOS O/D still state reserves right to charge interest but doesnt show on my statement so when settling account at the end it might be an extra added on.

HBOS CC- took a while to get them to reduce any interest but last week agreed to following a complaint letter they are re-paying interest and charges on next month but will still charge 12% apr

HBOS Loan - not willing to freeze interest at the momemnt but as a loan most of it was upfront. They are sending me a cheque for £20 for the amount of times i have had to phone.

Bcard - they accepted it straight away and seem to have a sliding scale as to what interest they apply against your debt and ability to pay. Said i am going to be charged 6% but statement shows 0 at present so am cautious it wil be added on at the end.

I would recommend writing a formal letter as after polite letters that werent really responded to as soon as i wrote formal complaint and mentioned FOA things started to happen.
Time to Face the Music hasd a great template.