Advice required

right_track

Hi,

I'm currently in a DMP with Payplan and I'm paying £100 a month (this was as much as I could afford at the time when I entered into the plan) to 3 lenders to clear about £9,500 (I'll update my signature with exact figures etc later ).

The interest has been frozen on all accounts.

My question is - At the moment I can afford to pay back more, up to an additional £200 a month on top of the £100 I'm already paying each month. Should I invest this extra £200 a month in a savings account?

My thinking is that if I'm saving it in a different account then when it reaches a reasonable figure I can offer my creditors a lump sum as full and final settlement. If I suddenly start paying Payplan £300 a month and my circumstances change for whatever reason (the threat of redundancy being one) then the creditors will expect it to stay at £300 from now on.

Thanks in advance for all advice

rog2

right_track wrote: »

My question is - At the moment I can afford to pay back more, up to an additional £200 a month on top of the £100 I'm already paying each month. Should I invest this extra £200 a month in a savings account?

Have you spoken with Payplan, yet, r_t? You should, really, advise them of any change in your financial circumstances, although you would be under no obligation whatsoever to increase the payments to your creditors.
I tend to agree with you, in that if you do increase payments then this would, probably, be accepted as the new 'norm' by most of your creditors, and with debt repayments, it is much easier to negociate up, rather than down.
That said, Payplan may be able to advise a way of 'overpaying' some, if not all, of your creditors without tying you into long-term payment increases.
It's definitely worth asking the question - otherwise, like you, I would be tempted to put the extra money into a savings account - especially if the additional money is only there on a temporary basis. That way, you may be able to save enough to start contemplating a few 'full and final settlement offers' to some of your creditors.

right_track

Thanks for the reply, I think I'm going to put the extra money in a savings account and then let Payplan know when I have a lump sum.

I guess as far as full and final settlements go I'd be in a better position if Egg, Halifax & RBS sold the debts on to a debt collection agency.

tina_3

hey,

I notice you are in an almost the exact position i am... I still have egg loan which i am now about to stop paying (in the hope they will quickly pass my debt on), i did have two credit card debts with halifax but i found them a nightmare to deal with (i had many grounds to report them for harassment!) they eventually passed me to blair, oliver & scott with whom i have had no problems with. i have debts amounting to around 9k and also plan to save like crazy for a year to hopefully pay them off... There seems to be a few people that advise CCA requests but i'm going to avoid that route, as my debts are credit cards and a loan i should imagine they have all the paperwork signed and in order! best of luck to you, let me know how you get on :-)

tina x