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DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 5)

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  • crafty1
    crafty1 Posts: 107 Forumite
    Hi Crafty

    I put down £400 for 2 adults 2 children as our monthly budget for food. Sometimes I spend over £100 one week stocking up on freezer stuff and meat, other weeks I could spend £70. I have yet to master feeding the whole family for £5 a week :rotfl:I'm not that disciplined :o

    Don't leave yourself with the amount dead on, allow yourself a bit extra and if you over spend one week you know you are still within budget and can cut back the next. If you underspend then you have a few extra quid to play with during the month.

    If CCCS estimated amount is ok for your family then go with their £383 but they do allow up to £420 (I think) for a family of four. Just remember not to skint yourself too much when setting up your new budget, it's easy to fall into the trap of looking at your debt free date and upping the payments to get the end date closer but just remember the cost of living, daily expenses for your family.

    Thanks, that's what I thought, I don't want to leave myself so tight we can't manage otherwise its unrealistic. I refind my budget last night and its looking like we'll have surplas of around £670 to throw at debts whose minimum payments are over £1k so about 70% of what they're used to getting - just hope they satisfied with this!!
    Off to a kids party now and then onto in-laws and am going to try not to think about money all afternoon!
  • MRSG2B_2
    MRSG2B_2 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Hey all,

    Haven't posted in a little while as was trying not to panic myself, however had a letter on Saturday from Next and wondered if anyone had experienced the same and what they did?

    Basically, back at the beginning of my plan they said they'd accept my offer of £7 per month and would freeze interest, however the statement I received from them on Saturday said I'd failed to make a minimum payment, and they've added a service charge of £5.66 to my account!

    Anyone else had this problem, and if so, did you do anything about it? Its only my second month on plan and bar harassment from HSBC this is the first issue I've encountered!

    Thanks guys, hope your plans are all going ok xx
    :j Only 5 years until I'm debt free! :j
    DMP start date: 1st April 2009

    DMP mutual support thread member no.304
  • DevonGirl
    DevonGirl Posts: 433 Forumite
    Hey MRSG2B

    I don't have any dealings with Next (although I do have HSBC - :mad: what a nightmare they are!) but I remember reading on the 'Ask a CCCS Counsellor a Question' thread that creditors do have the right to charge interest / change their minds about accepting a dmp payment pretty much at will, so I'm not sure if you can win that one. Maybe contact your dmp provider to see what they say?

    Glad your dmp is going well other than that! :beer:
    DG
    LBM - March 2009, DMP Start - April 2009
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member 297

    (Don't forget to click on 'Thanks'! Thanks!)
  • Skintlady
    Skintlady Posts: 63 Forumite
    Anyone having problems with GE capital they are phoning me constantly, the phone went at 8am this morning, i ran all the way down to answer it and it just hung up, this is happening about 3-4 times a day!!! i never get to talk to them because the insatnt i answer it hangs up. Surely this constitutes harrassment!!! i don't care if its an autodialer they have driven me insane!!
    Thinking of serving them with a nice harrassment letter!!!
    proud to be facing debts of 16000k
    will be debt free in 3 years 9 months:beer:

    Nothing is too scary now!!!!!!

    DMP support thread member no:273
  • MRSG2B wrote: »
    Hey all,

    Basically, back at the beginning of my plan they said they'd accept my offer of £7 per month and would freeze interest, however the statement I received from them on Saturday said I'd failed to make a minimum payment, and they've added a service charge of £5.66 to my account!

    We had the same problem with them. After an initial agreement to our DMP they needed to get our payments before the 25th of each month (statement date), however the CCCS don't send payments until the 25th so our payment plan was rejected and a service charge was added, and they threatened to pass our account onto a DCA.

    We contact the CCCS who sent out the paperwork again and we also phoned NEXT to explain the situtation and now everything is okay as Next made one of our payments appear 1 month later/earlier ?? than it did so that we now make our payment 20 days before the date required.

    Hope that helps

    Becks
    LBM: 20/01/09 Total Debt: £104,050
    Curr Bal (25/08/12): £46,109 (55.6% Paid):j
    DMP Start Date: 01/03/09
  • Daffykjs
    Daffykjs Posts: 413 Forumite
    MRSG2B wrote: »
    Hey all,

    Haven't posted in a little while as was trying not to panic myself, however had a letter on Saturday from Next and wondered if anyone had experienced the same and what they did?

    Basically, back at the beginning of my plan they said they'd accept my offer of £7 per month and would freeze interest, however the statement I received from them on Saturday said I'd failed to make a minimum payment, and they've added a service charge of £5.66 to my account!

    Anyone else had this problem, and if so, did you do anything about it? Its only my second month on plan and bar harassment from HSBC this is the first issue I've encountered!

    Thanks guys, hope your plans are all going ok xx

    i guess coz they didn't 'say' they wouldn't charge they are pushing their luck. hopefully it will stop but if i was you i'd speak to the DMP people so they can try again to get everything taken off. some of mine are still charging i think.

    Definitely send a letter Skintlady!
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member No 261
    Debt at start of DMP (Jan 2009) = 46,147.86 Now = 36,826.98
    DFD = [STRIKE]Jan 2014[/STRIKE] May 2013 ([strike]60[/strike] [STRIKE]52[/STRIKE] 41 payments to go)
    NSD:Nov 12/12:jDec 9/10 Jan 5/10
    Slowly but surely
    :coffee:
  • Daffykjs
    Daffykjs Posts: 413 Forumite
    Well, I've really f**ked up my budget this month! I get paid on the 25th (22nd this month I think, and hope) and last month i almost went into o/d so had to pay money in but it was only a couple of days before payday.

    This month it's happened now! Almost 2 weeks before!! so i have to go to the bank today and pay in money from bills account (which is now not as much coz of last month) so i don't get charged!

    Really really annoyed at myself! The first couple of months i seemed to be able to make the budget work, but the last couple of months it just hasn't! I bought a camera coz i thought i had enough spare! but obviously i didn't! and can't take it back coz they don't allow you to (something about people buying them to go on holiday then bringing them back!) i don't just seem to know how much money i have! it seems different in my head than in reality!

    Also coz moneyhas gone into my old account and I can't get it, it's basically lost!

    Just so angry that i can't stay in budget! And worried about how I'm going to make this work long term! especially when my hubby finally comes home, coz it's when he's home that the budget seems to go out the window (more my fault than his however, not blaming him).

    Argh!!

    I just hope it will work itself out and in future i'll just have to be more careful!! But it's not fun and I'm back to that worrying about money feeling again!

    Sorry for the rant!!
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member No 261
    Debt at start of DMP (Jan 2009) = 46,147.86 Now = 36,826.98
    DFD = [STRIKE]Jan 2014[/STRIKE] May 2013 ([strike]60[/strike] [STRIKE]52[/STRIKE] 41 payments to go)
    NSD:Nov 12/12:jDec 9/10 Jan 5/10
    Slowly but surely
    :coffee:
  • newlywed
    newlywed Posts: 8,255 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    daffy - erm 2 years into the DMP and I still get that :o

    Some months I seem to have money over so the next month I think I can have a bit of spending money - then we seem to run out of everything like batteries, light bulbs, washing powder, etc and I'm broke again and wondering if I've enough to put petrol in the car.

    Been better recently - I opened several accounts to try and dish my money out into pots. I've got a spending account which is for me money (the one that is always emptied), a savings account for gas/electric (prepay), one for petrol, and one with no online access at all for car repairs etc.

    I've found the less online access I have, the harder it is for me to use money from other budgets - the gas, petrol and car repairs money goes out by standing order each month now so I'm not looking at my main account thinking I've got all that much money left without thinking where it is all allocated to ;)

    That's been working better, but this month has gone pear shaped (due to unexpected bad news) and I have about £20 left for food, but still have petrol and gas money :o
    working on clearing the clutterDo I want the stuff or the space?
  • 2spicy
    2spicy Posts: 338 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Month 3 into our DMP and things are going fine.
    We have a monthoy allowance of £420 for the 3 of us, and rarely ever spend more than £70 a week.
    Hubby has been able to work from home for the last 2 weeks due to having to prepare documents for a project he is working on so thats 2 weeks travel money also not spent :)
    Weve estimated that if we can go on like this ( food plus the other odds like haircut allowance and pet allowance) we will beable to afford a holiday, so, as the car insurance isnt due until November, we are going to break the rules and book a family holiday somewhere cheap (spain etc). with the money set aside. Now the stress of our debts is being managed, I feel we need a family holiday
    LBM - Oct - 08 DMP Started - Feb -09
    Total Debt - £77,688 .00
    DMP Support Member - 259

  • Daffykjs
    Daffykjs Posts: 413 Forumite
    Thanks Newlywed!! Good to hear it's not just me! And maybe I need these lessons once in a while to remind me I can't completely forget about money (what got me in the mess in the first place) and that until it's sorted I have to keep on top of it!

    2spicy, that sounds lovely! great news.

    We've got a few days in June in Cornwall (cheap offer thing, have to suffer a presentation whilst there for the privelege, uh oh) but at the mo I'm just feeling nervous about it and that we won't have enough put away. gonna be a real challenge for me to budget on holiday! But bring it on! Can only make me stronger and better at it! (I hope! ;)
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member No 261
    Debt at start of DMP (Jan 2009) = 46,147.86 Now = 36,826.98
    DFD = [STRIKE]Jan 2014[/STRIKE] May 2013 ([strike]60[/strike] [STRIKE]52[/STRIKE] 41 payments to go)
    NSD:Nov 12/12:jDec 9/10 Jan 5/10
    Slowly but surely
    :coffee:
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