DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 5)

newlywed

Hi althea, I rang them to say it's not convenient and re-arranged mine for 6.30pm one night so it would be after work. Perhaps ring them and ask how late they will do them? They were really nice and understanding and have since rang and asked for another review that they did there and then on the phone (rang in lunch hour from work one day).

I think I actually ended up putting mine off for a few months as I was worried about it. The actual call was about 10 minutes - if that. They just ask for your current figures, you list them. They ask if you have missed any outgoings off. Then they tell you what your new amount should be and for my first review I said ok but can you rejig it so that the DMP payments stay the same as I didn't want to upset creditors

I think they do it early in case you have forgotten anything off your outgoings, or in case you are struggling and need some help but don't want to say

Althea

Ah, great, thanks newlywed ... well if I could do it "there and then" I could always sit in the car in the car park at work and call them I just wondered, given that I know people have had problems calling them recently, whether I'd get through!!

I'll drop them an email and see what they say ...

newlywed

Althea wrote: »

Ah, great, thanks newlywed ... well if I could do it "there and then" I could always sit in the car in the car park at work and call them I just wondered, given that I know people have had problems calling them recently, whether I'd get through!!

I'll drop them an email and see what they say ...

I haven't called them recently so can't comment on getting through on the phone. But it was back in October I think that I had problems and rang to say I was struggling and could I reduce payments and they just said if you have figures there we can do a review on the phone now if that's convenient. Made my life much easier - working in an open plan office and all that

andreweduk

newlywed wrote: »

Are you already on your DMP (sorry lost track of who is starting or already started ). If so, contact them and ask whether you can reduce your next payment as a one off because of this. I did it for car MOT etc after being on the DMP a year and no-one took any adverse action against me because of it.

Your rent etc are priority bills (but I appreciate the cat is often a part of the family (ours always were)). Could you negotiate with the vet and pay half now, half next month? Realistically, what will the vet do if you don't pay it right now???

Thanks for the reply!

When we took him in, we knew it;d not be cheap, but we weren't expecting several nights in the vets at £100 per night! Looks like being upwards of £450, which we just do not have.

I've asked the vets about a payment plan, I know it's credit, but my OH is the person the vet deals with, but we both pay towards the animals. The vet said no, we must pay in full, I'm not sure how they expect us to do this! My OH was told "you'd better get asking your family for a loan", but, neither of our families can afford to loan us that kind of money

It's a good point, what will they do if we don't pay. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll have to contact CCCS and see if I can reduce my payment for 1st March, but I really don't want to do this unless I really have to.

I've been on my DMP for 4 months now, got my review next week! I'm trying to reclaim all sorts of bank/CC charges, so if there's a cheque from one of them for £500 I'll weep with relief :P

Thanks to EVERYONE on this forum! Thanks to you, I've taken control of my finances (til now!) and I've stopped hiding from them. You've been a source of so much information and support, so thank you

cocker100

Seasiders wrote: »

And finally - can I keep any credit in a DMP? I would like to keep one Credit Card for use in emergency if possible?

Hi,

It is my understanding that you are not allowed any credit whilst on a DMP. If your creditors got wind of you spending on another account they are likely to stop agreeing to the DMP. As far as they are concerned, any money you have should be usd to pay off your current debts. They would be able to check this from your credit file.

I must admit, I couldn't keep a "spare" credit card now even if you were allowed to. It would be just too tempting and I would find it harder to budget for everything each month. It would be like "oh, we can just put it on the emergency card this month!" Then before you know it, the card is maxxed out and needs to be added to your DMP!:rolleyes:

It's that spiral of debt that has got all of us here into the situation we are all in. Think of budgeting as cold turkey for spending on cards!:rotfl:

Cocker:)

elsie52

Hi everyone.

Just thought I would offer congratulations to all of you that are just starting/or recently started out on your DMP journey.

When I read your stories etc.....it could have been me writing that a year ago, but let me assure you, its the best thing I have done,.

We went with Payplan, and owed £76k....now down to £54k.....Its scary when you start out, but also the sense of relief is absolutely great. For the first time in years we have money every month for bills, food etc, and at the same time our debts are going down.

Our main creditor is Lloyds TSB.....£15k.....and they still charge us interest at £234 per month., we pay £333 to them so you can see that is not going down a great deal. We have asked them to freeze interest, but its no go. All of our other creditors have been great, Barclays, Cahoot (absolutely Brilliant ). Goldfish....not so good..
Anyway, after a year we are due a review, and hopefully things will stay the same. Its slowly going down, and we only use cash for anything we buy. We do not have any credit cards or anything else now. When we went on our DMP we cut them all up, It sometimes hits me, when the money is running low towards the end of the month, thats the time we would have used our cards without giving it a second thought. Now if we can't afford it, we don't have it. I sleep at night, and although we are on a budget, we eat well, and to all intents and purpose, we must look the same,.!...No one knows about out DMP, family, friends, work colleagues. We wanted to keep it to ourselves, I suppose if truth were told we are so ashamed and embarrassed about it, but another 3 years or so and it will all be over.

Good luck to you all, and keep using this site....I couldn't get through a day without it.

massivedebts

Good evening everyone,
Just thought I'd check in and say thanks to everyone who has given me advice, especially DLB and MNM, I can see I'm gonna need you guys ALOT to see me through this tough time! - thank you xx
Anyway, I'm feeling quite positive at the moment, so thought I'd post an upbeat note, so that you didn't think I'm miserable all the time! LOL. Having said all that, I'll probably be in tears again tomorrow, isn't this debt lark draining!
Take care all of you, and I'll post soon.

dlb

Just to cover a few points brought up today on the thread.

I did keep 2 creditors out of my dmp when i first started 3 years ago...but wished i hadnt have done so as had to pay them off from my allowed budget which then left us short elsewhere. Not a good idea when your trying to get use to a new budget!

As for keeping a credit card...my personal feeling on this is no way...you have to be serious about clearing your debts and having available credit laying around is just to tempting.
I cut up all my cards as soon as i went on dmp and no longer have a cheque book..im cash only girly all the time now and this is how it will continue...my moto if i havent got the cash then ill have to wait...this would include if the car needed repairing ect, but thats what you need to have an emergency fund for..even if its just a few quid a week to put in the pot, then you soon wont have to worry about unforseen emergencys.

Same for xmas/birthdays/hoildays..money put to one side each month so no need for credit.

You reviews are just to go over you finiancal statment and check nothing has changed and if you are managing ok on the budget, they are there to help and up and down your payments as required.
YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO STRUGGLE ON A DMP..IF YOU ARE ASK FOR A REVIEW EARLY! You should be able to pay all priority bills and shopping ect ect without worry if you can afford to do so, this is the whole point of the dmp...it has to be set up at the right figure each month for yourself or it wont work.

You should notice a huge different in the way you see things, i now know the difference between WANT and NEED, and love budgeting ahead to see if i can make any savings no matter how small they be.

Be back later
Donna
x

massivedebts

Sorry, me again! I meant to ask, what's the diff between a DMP and a Low DMP?

cocker100

massivedebts wrote: »

Sorry, me again! I meant to ask, what's the diff between a DMP and a Low DMP?

Hi,

If you mean a low start DMP, this is when your payments into the DMP are very small, conpared to the actual amount of debt.

Some people on low start DMP's pay less than £100 per month to their creditors.

CCCS or payplan will come up with a figure for you after weighing up your incomings and outgoings.