Payplan - Appointment tomorrow night what should I expect?

bumblebee_3

Hi there,

I have been actively using MSE for the last couple of weeks and have got brilliant support thanks. :money:

I have got an appointment with payplan tomorrow night to go through my earnings and wonder what sort of thing I should expect? I am not expecting the call to end all my problems but I hope it will be a good kicking off point to clear my debt.

Like everyone else I have had my 'lightbulb' moment in the last week or so and one minute I am kicking my butt for being so stupid and feel really ashamed of my situation and the next minute I am frantically looking for a higher paid full-time job and a part-time job and searching mse for extra ways I can save money. Just wish I was somewhere in between :rolleyes:

Hoping I will feel more settled tomorrow night about things, anyone had similar experiences with payplan?

Many thanks

severussnape

hi bumblebee

don't worry a bit about it, when we had our meeting call with them we were worried (its only natural) but Nicky was really nice even though all the debt is in my oh name (he had a cold and i couldn't understand what he was saying) she talked to me about it and it passed over in no time.

They don't judge you or want to know how you got into debt they just want to help.

poppy52

Hi Bumblebee. I have to admit that I cried after my phone call to Payplan because I felt so much better! It made me feel that I had taken the very first step towards solving my problems and that I was no longer alone. Nobody in real life knows about my finances and that's quite stressful. Phone call was fine - they went through all my debts, amount owed to everyone and names of all my creditors. I was terrified when they added it all up - I had never done that! They went through my story, took details about my salary, went through an income/expenditure plan and advised on that, told me to open a basic bank account with a bank I owed nothing to, and suggested I would be OK with a DMP. I had to adjust some of the budget when they sent the paperwork (my son lives with me in uni holidays and they had allowed nothing towards his expenses; he has a holiday job but uni costs a lot even with a student loan and a job) and they changed the forms. They were not at all judgmental - said I owed a huge amount but they had clients who owed more, said my excess income was a good amount and creditors would be fine with it. I have nothing but praise for them - sometimes they can be slow to answer queries but I think that's simply volume of work. The best thing is I don't dread answering the phone any more and horrible letters have more or less stopped. If any creditors contact me I simply parrot that I am with Payplan, give them my ID number and tell them to contact them. Payplan has a great on-line facility where you can see how your money is divided up, can see your debt reducing every month and even have a debt free date listed. You can email your case officer from there too. Honestly, you will feel like a new person afterwards. And sites like this provide tons of moral support and good advice.

bumblebee_3

Thanks.

I am hoping to have a similar feeling tomorrow evening Poppy!

Thanks for that, they were incredibly nice when I called for the appointment but I was worried about what to expect when going through the appointment.

I was looking at the dmp on their website and that looked like a good option if I could get it, I desperately want to see the light at the tunnel here and not be in a worse situation in 6 months time.

Daft, stupid question - I take you are left with a reasonable amount of money to live on? Whilst putting as much money towards the debt as possible...

I honestly don't know what I would do without everyones support on this site!

poppy52

Yes, not luxury but enough. It will be better after a year because then I will have saved up the amounts allowed for clothes, new glasses, emergencies etc. They also allow money for things like prescriptions (I think £5 per month) - I can't remember the last time I needed one (touch wood) so I guess I could save that and use it for something else. But for the 3rd month running I have money left in my new basic bank account at the end of the month - not a lot, but some. It's a bit hard for some things because I have just got a really good job with a nice expense account but I'm living on about half of my salary because the other half goes to Payplan. So friends think I am well off when I am not. I also have to pay upfront for travel expenses (I travel all over the place for work and sometimes have to stay in hotels) and claim them the following month so I need to budget for that. Lots of hotels won't take electron and you can't buy train tickets with it - I have just got a pre-loaded credit card called Cashplus - it has a mastercard logo so you can use it everywhere you would use a credit card but you have to preload real money onto it and therefore aren't using credit. I only use it for trains and hotels. And I am not missing my other real credit cards at all - it's amazing how quick it is to adjust to spending real money! Not having cheques is OK - I hardly ever used them but I need to pay an accountant next month (until September I was self employed and accountant has just done my last tax return) - think I may have to pay her with cash, luckily she is very cheap.

bumblebee_3

That is good as I currently don't budget for anything like so think doing that each month will make me feel a lot more secure as well.

Do you have a house? I have a mortgage payment each month I take it they take things like that into consideration? I would hate to lose my house (up to date with all payments there!).

poppy52

No, I rent but they will take your rent or mortgage into account. Don't forget things like insurance (they even allowed my pet insurance and money for cat food). I did try including things like night out at pub but they said that wouldn't be allowed, and I should pay for that out of other things. So food is £200 per month for me and a pro rata sum for my son when he is home from uni - if I want a night out I budget from that. Same for Sky - I downgraded to the basic package. We can't get Freeview where I live - can't even get Channel 5. There's loads of budgeting advice here though and in some of the other chat forums on MoneySavingExpert.

bumblebee_3

Thanks for all the advice Poppy - much appreciated!

Feel much better about talking to them tomorrow night now.

poppy52

You're welcome Bumblebee. Let us know what happens tomorrow. I am just so relieved that I found a site like this just when I was beginning to despair. I used to go to bed every night worrying about debt and debt was the first thing I thought about every morning. I still spend a lot of time thinking about it - but a lot less, and my stress levels have gone down too. I know I'm in it for the long haul - 2012 is my debt free date by which time I will be 58 - but at least it will be before I retire! In fact I am so relieved that I nearly called my new kitten Payplan - luckily my son wouldn't let me and he is called Winston.

bumblebee_3

No problem Poppy will let you know what happens.

I have been the same with sleeping, in fact I can't remember the last time I had a decent nights sleep. Hopefully that will change soon.

You are doing so well Poppy and you have definitely inspired me tonight to have a more positive attitude to it all!

My cat is already called tinker but we could always make payplan their middle name eh lol!

jellycat40

Hi Poppy, I have just looked at the Cashplus Mastercard. it is probably an answer to a big problem we have booking hotels etc. Thank you so much for telling the forum about it.

Louise :A