What to expect?

woodybuzz

My OH and I are struggling to make ends meet (who isn't!!) mainly due to credit card bills and a loan (each). Rather than go down the DMP route we are considering contacting the credit card companies direct - as they suggest you do when having problems.

Our loans finish in a couple of years and when this happens we will be OK (an extra £600 a month) but I have read some horror stories on here about CCJs and C Orders which really frighten me off the DMP option. I have read some positive postings as well, but as there seems to be no logical explanation as to how some DMPs go smoothly and some horribly wrong.

I reckon we could pay about 80-90% of the monthly pyts due and be OK

What can we expect from the CC companies- if we offered say 80% of the minimum pyt for a year?

All help and guidance appreciated!

MrsTinks

Contacting the credit card cmopanies direct is basically a self managed DMP. Some credit card companied MIGHT let you reduce payments but right now I doubt it. Although ofcourse this depends on who they are. Some are easier to deal with than others.
Have you posted your SOA so we can have a look at how thinsg astand and if there are areas you can cut back on or what the best course of action is?

woodybuzz

Thanks Mrs T

Our main creditors are MBNA, RBS, Nat west, Co-op and MINT, plus a few other smaller ones. I know MBNA have a bad reputation, but again some people have posted that they have been fine with them.

I suppose its a case of we won't know until we try and hopefully it won't come to that but I'd thought I would try and see what might happen.

Has anyone else had experience of contacting cc companies and askingto make reduced payments?

woodybuzz

Anyone got anymore experiences to relate?

Jacks_xxx

Hello lovely,:hello:

We asked the CC companies to freeze interest about 2 years ago and most of them did for varying lengths of time but I don't think they would do it now.

We told them we were about to declare bankruptcy and not to expect any more payments from us - but it was such a shame cos if they'd just freeze the interest for a while then we'd be able to continue paying as usual.

Eventually after they'd tried to sell us (secured on our house:rolleyes: ) consolidation loans with their banking arm, and suggested we borrow from family etc :mad: they froze our interest.

And then we worked our @r$es off to pay the cards off as fast as we could...

When I eventually cancelled the cards the retention department bod always asked me about it all and how the heck I got them to agree to that - but there was a different perceived economic climate two years ago....and in our circumstances they got more money out of us if we kept making payments than they would have via bankruptcy.

I think if you go to them and say you're struggling the first thing they'll do is put your interest rate up and maybe your minimum % as well so if you're currently paying a 2.5 or 3% minimum they'll put it up to 5 % - with higher interest to boot so your monthly payments will actually go up quite a lot.

I think the lenders trust CCCS and Payplan over individuals, and are more likely to agree to aplan you can live with if it is within CCCS's or Payplan's parameters.

Have you done a joint SOA to see if you could rejig your budget instead?

Love Jacks xxx

TotallyBrassic

Hi,
We are in a similar position to you. Our problem lately has just been the rising cost of EVERYTHING! lol, we cannot continue to pay even minimums. After taking lots of advice in here, we have gone the cccs route, my letters are going off tommorrow to our creditors and the dmp begins Nov 1st.
My take on this, and cccs were also helpful is that most creditors prefer to deal with a compay. cccs are very trusted, and creditors want something...so we are going to pay, then try and save seperately and give cccs lump sums wherever possible in order to reduce the debt more quickly.
A little note as to why we went dmp with cccs, a friend recently tried their own dmp, it's going horribly for them, lots of threats, horrendous phone calls all hours, and so far not much joy. That swayed it for us..
Hope all my jabbering is of use, and good luck,
xx

dmbaxt

I did my own DMP, it was about 2 years ago now and I'm still on it.

Mine were with Grattan (owed over £500), Stuido Cards (owed £800), Debenhams (owed over £500 and was passed onto CL Finance), Northern Rock (owed £5600) and Capital One (owed £3200).

I saught advice from the National Debt Line website and used their income / expenditure calculator to work out how much I could afford to pay each one. I then used their template letters to write to each one and they all agreed to not only reduce my payments but to also freeze all the interest too.

So far on my DMP I've paid off Grattan and Studio - successfully claimed charges back from Studio so that helped. I now owe £182 on Debenhams, £2600 on Northern Rock and £841 on Capital One, so I'm not doing too badly. I should have Debenhams and Northern Rock paid off by March/April next year. Well fingers crossed anyway!

With Northern Rock I did have to phone them every 6 months to keep them updated on my situation, but they've now extended that to 12 months. As long as I keep them up to date they've been great. The haven't asked to see a single thing from me since setting up the payment plan, no updated income/expenditure nothing. They just ask if I can afford to pay a little more, even if it's only a couple of pounds and then they renew my plan.

Capital One have been great too. However, with them I've have to update every 6 months and every 12 months send them a new income/expenditure with a copy of my bank statement and wage slip.

Sorry to ramble!! I hope this helps a little, I know every lender is different, but so far I haven't had any threatening letters or calls and they have all been really helpful on the phone when I've had to speak to them.