Dmp and pregnancy

Glitterkitty1 · 8 July 2014 at 3:54PM

Hi everyone I am a newbie here so I'm sorry if I have posted this in the wrong section!

Me and my partner are currently on a dmp with stepchange, we started last October and apart from one creditor being a nightmare it's all going smoothly

I was just wondering what would happen if I got pregnant? We currently have a 3 year old daughter and would love to have another but at the moment the only way we could do it, would be to reduce the monthly payment to stepchange. Is this possible? Will it make my creditors have hissy fits because the amount they agreed to has changed? I don't want it have another baby if it's going to cause too much stress and worry with nasty phone calls and threatening letters, but at the same time I hate not being able to complete my family due to being rubbish with money in the past.

Any help, info or advice would be great. Thank you!

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newjam · 8 July 2014 at 4:01PM

Hi,

I new too!!!

I would say if you think you could still handle your debts and its not going to make a huge difference to go for it.

I was dealing with stepchange for a while and i was in the understanding that you had to have a minimum of £5 per month going to each debt to keep your DMP going. Maybe speak to Stepchange about this too and ask if this is something your able to do.

Glitterkitty1 · 8 July 2014 at 4:48PM

Hi

Thank you for your reply. We are both working, so it would just be reducing the amount during maternity leave.

Hmm maybe I'll speak to stepchange and see what they suggest, thanks xx

bargainbetty · 8 July 2014 at 5:01PM

I'm quite prepared to be flamed for this, but perhaps you could wait a year or two and get yourself on a more even footing financially before you decide to have another child. Raising a child doesn't have to be hugely expensive, but you are deliberately giving up one income which greatly reduces your ability to clear your debts.

Unless there is a genuine reason for your age being an issue, I'm sure your family wouldn't be harmed by an extra couple of years difference between the kids.

Is you current home big enough for the large family? What additional costs will you incur with the new child? Did you keep all the stuff from the first, or will you be buying again? How can you arrange for those costs to be covered under your DMP and not add to your debts.

Personally, I'd rather not have it all hanging over me at what should be such a happy time - I'd want to have as much cleared as possible before I thought about expanding the family. You might hate the fact that your previous actions mean you have a delay, but it wouldn't show much respect for your situation if you wilfully scrap the plans this soon.

I'm sorry, I know that might sound harsh, but it seems irresponsible to make that decision without there being some overriding medical need to do it now, rather than in a year or two.

National_Debtline · 8 July 2014 at 5:11PM

Hello there,

We often speak to callers who encounter a change in their circumstances. In fact it's the key reason why people fall into unmanageable debt in the first place - loss of job, illness ,relationship breakdown, having children and retirement to name a few.

If your circumstances do change the very first thing to do would be to complete a financial statement. This allows you to see how much you'll be able to to offer your creditors. Stepchange may well allow you to continue with a DMP by paying a lesser amount. Alternatively, there could be other options available to you. These could include either paying token payments to the creditors or potentially an insolvency-related option such as a Debt Relief Order or Bankruptcy.

Here's a brief guide to the various options you have to deal with your debts.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Depth_Charge · 8 July 2014 at 5:14PM

Glitterkitty1 wrote: »

Hi everyone I am a newbie here so I'm sorry if I have posted this in the wrong section!

Me and my partner are currently on a dmp with stepchange, we started last October and apart from one creditor being a nightmare it's all going smoothly

I was just wondering what would happen if I got pregnant? We currently have a 3 year old daughter and would love to have another but at the moment the only way we could do it, would be to reduce the monthly payment to stepchange. Is this possible? Will it make my creditors have hissy fits because the amount they agreed to has changed? I don't want it have another baby if it's going to cause too much stress and worry with nasty phone calls and threatening letters, but at the same time I hate not being able to complete my family due to being rubbish with money in the past.

Any help, info or advice would be great. Thank you!

Hi

Welcome to the forum

Just going on the limited information provided

Have you options other than A DMP?

Have all options been fully explained including formal insolvency solutions?

Your options in the future could be different to what they are now depending on your circumstances.

You and your family come first every time in my book

A fresh start can be the answer rather than constant struggle, hassle and worry.

More information might help

Could you put up your SOA?

Genuine best wishes

DC

Monkeyballs · 8 July 2014 at 5:18PM

Hi,

I'm a single guy with no kids - just thought I'd throw that in now for context

I'm with Betty here, while I'm sure that you would be able to make adjustments to your repayments to allow for he cost of another kiddie you need to stop and take the emotion out of it.

If I was going to do anything then I'd flip the scenario on it's head and start looking for other ways to really batter the existing debt down as soon as possible, this could mean another job?

Pay what you owe off faster as I'm sure there's no more incentive than being able to afford to have another child

Good luck with whatever you decide to do though

MB

pickle_me · 8 July 2014 at 5:26PM

I'm inclined to agree with bargainbetty, but for me it would depend a bit on how old you are and how long your DMP is likely to run.

If you're 35+ then despite your circumstances there's an argument for having a second child sooner rather than later, in case you find that a few years down the line you can't.

If you're under 35 and your DMP is likely to be over in a few years then I would hold on - personally I'd rather not have another child when finances were really tight. Much less stressful to do it once you're debtfree and can save properly for mat leave.

But if you're not likely to be debtfree for another 5+ years ... I would struggle to put my family plans on hold for that long, even though increasing your family might not be the most sensible thing to do.

shop-to-drop · 8 July 2014 at 5:34PM

I agree with the others, unless there is a legitimate reason that you can't, then you should wait a few years to have another child.

You say you were irresponsible with money in the past so seems like you now feel you can recognise when you can't afford to have something you want. This is your ultimate test to prove yourself. Good Luck

GettingOrganised · 8 July 2014 at 8:07PM

I'm sure you would be able to offer new repayments if your circumstances change. Whether or not now is the right time to have another baby is a totally personal choice.

Personally, I have had to come to terms with the fact that we will not have any more children. We would have another tomorrow, but, in our current financial position it is absolutely not viable. It took a long time to accept this, and once or twice, I considered just getting pregnant anyway and then dealing with it. I try to remind myself that I'm very lucky to have our beautiful daughter and try to be thankful for what I have instead of thinking about what I haven't got.

jaydeeuk1 · 8 July 2014 at 10:33PM

I'm expecting our 2nd in December, daughter is 2 and half. We're both in our 30's and would have liked kids earlier but wanted to be in a good position financially first, that meant me paying the majority of my £20k debt off. It was a really good way of me focusing on my debt and gave me a great reason to see it through.

Having children isn't a right, and if we thought that we would struggle financially or the government/tax payer paying for everything there is no way we'd bring a child in to the world, no matter how much they would be loved. Child poverty would disappear overnight if would be parents waited until they were financially comfortable.

Dmp and pregnancy

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