DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 5)

massivedebts

Evening all.:j

Keep positive DG..it will get better I promise.:T You wouldn't be human if you didn't have the odd down day here and there:o . We were exactly the same as you and Mcrfan, always made payments never missed one ever I don't think, but we just couldn't carry on robbing Peter to pay Paul so that we could always make those payments:rolleyes: .
I may be tempting fate:eek: but we haven't rec'd any nasty calls or letters ...............fingers crossed. There are the horror stories that you may read, but they're very few and far between, just look back through this post and most of it is positive.:A
Chin up my little cookie, we all here for each other.;)
Take care
MD xx

Useless_with_wonga

Hi,
I am stressed out!!!!!! totally fed up and had enough of the whole situation.
Basically we went on a DMP in Oct last year with 49K of debt. Have been attacking it relentlessley with adivce and guidance from this forum(Thanks guys:T )
Anyway our major creditor 27K unsecured loan and overdraft have been taking the DMP payments over the last 6 months not a word from them nada, nothing. We thought all was going well we had managed to up our payments slightly and the debt was reducing slowly but still reducing.
Today get a letter from solicitors on behalf of major creditor totally unexpected wanting full payment of the 27K or payments nearly £200 over what we are paying them already on the DMP or they will take us to court.
What a bunch of a********.
Have written back to them saying we can't afford anymore have no savings no assets no equity so tough you get what we are paying and thats it.
Thing is in 9 to 12 months time i can see we will be in a position to increase what we pay quite considerably but not at this moment in time.
Invited them to petition for our bankruptcy because we have had enough of it now totally disillusioned with it such a shame because we have worked hard at it but i can't give them what i don't have and feel we would be better off bankrupt

DevonGirl

Hi ad1jnl and mcrfan!

Thank you both so much for your replies and support. Sounds like we're all in the fairly early stages of debt management and it's good to know there are others in the same situation - although it's not something I would wish on anyone. Hopefully things will settle down for everyone once we've paid a few months of DMP and the creditors have got the message that we cannot pay them what we don't have. (My new mantra - CCCS counsellors say it all the time I find!)

Mcrfan - I'm really concerned about your panic attacks and can completely understand how you feel. I've been on antidepressants for some time over the worry of debt (plus other things but anyway..). People on this site may have differing opinions on the use of medication to deal with stress, but I find it works for me! And (being slightly tongue in cheek here), at least my CCCS budget plan covers prescriptions! In all seriousness, last year before I had my light bulb moment I was finding myself at the end of the month weighing up between food, petrol and prescription. And sometimes the prescription lost, which in retrospect is crazy. But please mcrfan, speak to your doctor if you need to as surely no debt, and no amount of reckless spending, is worth bad health for. As ad1jnl points out, credit has become way too easy to get and the banks don't seem to care how we will pay it back.

I too am worried about people contacting me re my debts. It's a bit sneaky but I've gone online and changed my contact details for my creditors. As you live with your parents, maybe change your details to just your mobile number (delete home phone) and e-mail, thereby keeping it manageable. If all else fails you can block their numbers on the phone and change e-mail.

But to be fair, the various creditors I've spoken to so far have been ok. They asked for extra payment - I said no - they said this may lead to all sorts of nasties like default letters, passing to a DCA, bailiffs etc, which scares the hell out of me, but I just replied that I was on a DMP - speak to the CCCS please. From reading most of the 149 pages (!!!) on this thread, I gather that these threats are commonplace and part of their way of getting extra money out of you. I guess we've just got to hold firm - deal with calls politely but say you have no money and advise them to call the DMP provider for more info on your budget etc.

As far as calls to work are concerned, I've removed my work phone number online from the various banks, but remember that banks do sometimes call people so if that happens to you, just tell your colleagues they were querying a payment or something.

I doubt if it's worth their time sending out bailiffs etc - can you imagine how much that costs! So all the more reason to remain polite but firm with calls so it doesn't get that far.

Hope this helps. Hopefully a more experienced DMP-er will post a reply to put your mind at rest. But just remember, you are NOT alone so please don't feel isolated.

Best wishes

Useless_with_wonga

Off out running to clear my head back soon......

cocker100

DevonGirl wrote: »

I doubt if it's worth their time sending out bailiffs etc - can you imagine how much that costs! So all the more reason to remain polite but firm with calls so it doesn't get that far.

They cant send any bailiffs to your house without first taking you to court. Only then, you would have to default on a court order for this to happen.

Some DCA's have internal "field collection agents" who think they have the same rights as a bailiff. THEY DO NOT!!! In fact, they have as much right to enter your property as a paper boy!!! If they come calling, inform them that they are trespassing and tell them where to go!!!

Cocker:)

cocker100

Useless_with_wonga wrote: »

Hi,
I am stressed out!!!!!! totally fed up and had enough of the whole situation.
Basically we went on a DMP in Oct last year with 49K of debt. Have been attacking it relentlessley with adivce and guidance from this forum(Thanks guys:T )
Anyway our major creditor 27K unsecured loan and overdraft have been taking the DMP payments over the last 6 months not a word from them nada, nothing. We thought all was going well we had managed to up our payments slightly and the debt was reducing slowly but still reducing.
Today get a letter from solicitors on behalf of major creditor totally unexpected wanting full payment of the 27K or payments nearly £200 over what we are paying them already on the DMP or they will take us to court.
What a bunch of a********.
Have written back to them saying we can't afford anymore have no savings no assets no equity so tough you get what we are paying and thats it.
Thing is in 9 to 12 months time i can see we will be in a position to increase what we pay quite considerably but not at this moment in time.
Invited them to petition for our bankruptcy because we have had enough of it now totally disillusioned with it such a shame because we have worked hard at it but i can't give them what i don't have and feel we would be better off bankrupt

Are the seperate accounts for under £25000? If so, they are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and therefore you can send them a CCA request to see if the debt is actually enforceable.

If they dont come up with the goods, they cant take you to court to enforce the debt.

Have a look at the following thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=767025

Dont worry, we are all in this DMP thing together. Always remember, they cant have what you haven't got!!!;)

Cocker:)

Toffee_Penny

yo yo yo homies how are we all doing?

Had to take a break from here for a bit as it was just getting too much, I became obsessed. I used to pop on the computer just to check on my email and have a look on here and would end up spending most of the night on here almost every day, as much as I enjoyed the laughs and giggles it was not good at all when you have work the next morning and certainly not good on my 'real' life constantly talking, sleeping, eating debt, debt, debt to OH.

You need to give yourselves a break from time to time and I really hope that doesn't sound patronising. I hope some of you can understand what I am saying. I would think about debt at work, race home to see the post, researched on google every DCA and I just thought I have to stop, take a step back, its not good for me or my family to get so stressed over something that cannot be changed over night.

I know it is hard to get rid of that horrible gut feeling you have when you start out on a DMP but it does fade with time. The fear turns to anger and you do start to fight back. In the end the credit you always relied on and wanted becomes a thorn in your side.

It seems the creditors have forgotted who we are, we have had hardly any statements. They all seem to be very silent since the ol' ppi reclaim so haven't anything to report apart from Great Universal not having a CCA that onfo will come in handy if they charge me £12 again!

Stay strong and take care all of you xxxx It is so good to read so many supportive posts.

Rachel

DevonGirl

They cant send any bailiffs to your house without first taking you to court. Only then, you would have to default on a court order for this to happen.

Some DCA's have internal "field collection agents" who think they have the same rights as a bailiff. THEY DO NOT!!! In fact, they have as much right to enter your property as a paper boy!!! If they come calling, inform them that they are trespassing and tell them where to go!!!

Cocker:)

Thanks for your help Cocker:beer: That's a great relief.

I see you give some good advice on this thread. Sounds like you know your stuff about this sort of thing. It's a shame your target audience weren't all in debt, we could pay you for your advice!!!! :rotfl:
DG

Useless_with_wonga

Hi Cocker,
Yep same creditor 2 debts. had 25K unsecured loan paid as per contract for 2 years reduced balance to 23K then defaulted. They loaded the interest on making it 28.5K !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! other was overdraft of 1K loaded interest on to 1.4K. Got botht down to 28K combined by paying DMP X 5 .
No contact from them at all then this:mad:
Thing is we went to them worried about debt their advice which we stupidly took was consolidate hence the 25K loan.
We have worked sooooo hard to deal with this and now they kick us in the teeth. Seriously tempted to throw in the towel and go bankrupt. If they just left us alone i know we can sort this. Basically we are over comitted for the next 12 months after which i seriously think we can tackle this debt at about £600 PCM which is nearly double what we are paying now.
Re the CCA i have it ready to take to the PO tomorrow obviously doesn't apply for the overdraft but thats the least of my worries.
Fairly sure they will be able to produce it though as i can remember the day we signed it as though it were yesterday. This debt thing has accumulated over years.

sillywhenyoung_2

Hi all

Thought it was about time i stopped lurking at poked my head in!

Been looking around on here for a couple of months now, have in the last week changed bank accounts and swapped priority DD's, sent my token payments out and now waiting for the fun to begin, feel like i have a fair idea of what to expect from reading up on here constantly.

After years of ignoring things i have now taken action, i split from my partner last year and the maintenance payments for my lovely kids has tipped me over the edge financially, am just waiting to hear back from Pay plan after sending off all my info, one thing that always worried me was MBNA hassling the hell out of me, and sure enough the day i cancelled the DD they was on the phone, averaging 4-5 calls a day this week. nothing from anyone else though yet, apart from a couple of letters, not answering the calls as i just dont have the time at work, (i usually have people sitting with me to do work)

Anyway, this is the start, with 53k of debt i have a hell of a long way to go!!:mad: but know it has to be done and am confident about getting my head down and dealing with it now, due to come off fixed rate mortgage in december and last statement has shown providing interest rates don't go bananas again it will knock £500 a month off for me so that will help things go down a bit more i hope!! also sent off all my loan and bank charge letters under the hardship clause so will see what comes, already had a reply from the loan saying in light of my circumstances it has been passed on and they will look into it, not sure if this was standard or not, was expecting them to say it's all on hold so do one!

Right rant over , just wanted to say hello and thanks for everyone on here for all the advice that is going around, nice to see people in the same boat getting on together :T.

Silly when young (very.)