Its a long road's rambling diary...

itsalongroad

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longforthesun

Hi I am not 100% sure but I think that if you stay with your current lender then they do not credit score unless you are borrowing more money so you may well be able to get a fixed rate in Dec, but hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along. We are on a DMP with CCCS we can only afford £150 at the moment but hoping to up this. Lloyds told me they would not accept our DMP and would continue to charge interest etc till we gave them more money, served them with a CCCA request (got a load of rubbish in the post from them but no CCCA) next statement came in no interest or charges not sure if the CCCA request got to them or it is just coincidence (SP).

moo2moo

Rather than £20 a month dry cleaning suits why not invest in some machine washable ones. Obviously not cheap tat as they look dire and you wear a suit for a reason but the Rohan range of suits, especially the Envoy and Globetrotter, wash and wear extremely well and they're often in the sale or affordable via E-bay. http://www.rohan.co.uk/default.aspx?language=en-GB

Alternatively you can use Tesco Clubcard deals at Johnsons dry cleaners so £20 in dry cleaning would cost £5 in Clubcard vouchers.

Keeping_Positive

Hello

Just a couple of things that might help.

1) a spending diary can help concentrate where monies go. With a full time job, partner working part time and the four kids I imagine life around yours is hectic! http://www.spendingdiary.com/

2) Get your partner and yourself signed up to sites such as quidco, pigsback, onepoll, moneybackmadness. Just 5 minites a day for a few months can raise extra cash that can be used towards birthdays, extras etc.

3) £492 is still high for groceries. Why not look at the grocery challenge on the old style board. Its great for ideas and tips. I think you could save £100 a month fairly easily and put that in a savings account. That could be used for emergencies and or to maybe offer full and final settlements?

Good luck

penguin83

Try this linky -it is quite a long thread but hopefully the info you need is there if I remember right you get 18 stamps a month for testing Royal Mail delivery times etc x x

firesidemaid

just a thought....

if you're visiting someone in hospital for a week ask the ward if there is any reduced parking fees for this - often there is.

Kandipandi

longforthesun wrote: »

Lloyds told me they would not accept our DMP and would continue to charge interest etc till we gave them more money, served them with a CCCA request (got a load of rubbish in the post from them but no CCCA) next statement came in no interest or charges not sure if the CCCA request got to them or it is just coincidence (SP).

Hi, I went on DMP with CCCS a few years ago and LLoyds TSB (CC) were the only ones who wouldn't play ball, however - they did freeze the interest and i have been off the DMP for ages now but im still paying LLoyds - and no interest is being charged, so its taking ages to pay off but interest free (so to speak).
GL with your challenge

itsalongroad

HI

Did they freeze the interest after selling on to a DCA or after a defualt....roughly how long did it take them?

Thanks

longforthesun

Hi itsalongroad from what I have read about lloyds they do not have a set procedure some folk get them to freeze interest straight away, some after its sold on and some don't ever get it frozen just reduced, but interesting to read kandipandi saying that even now their off the DMP lloyds have still frozen interest.

Hope all is well with you.

Kandipandi

No it was never on the DMP they wouldnt do it but they did agree a sensible payment (about £25/month on £3k) and frozen interest. Never sold the debt on i still pay them direct and the interest has been frozen for over 2 years now.

Pooky

Re Dry cleaning - Invest in a steam cleaner and you'll be able to steam clean all your suits etc - I do DH's weekly - the creases just drop out and I leave them on a hanger on the line for an hour to dry out completely - any stains on the lapels (mucky eater that he is) have come off really easily with a steam and gentle dab.

The advantage of a steam cleaner being that you can use it for so many other things too.