Advice re self managed DMP

JWM

Looking for some advice re self managed DMP please.

Have posted my SOA previously and got some great help, now with everything reduced I still can’t meet the minimum’s but its not as bad as I thought it was.

So, I have CCs with:

• MBNA A&L (at limit – 29% they won’t reduce)
• Egg (at limit – mixture of 5.9% LOB and 15.9%, 3% min payment)
• Abbey (at limit 0% till March)
• Tesco and M&S (on good LOB deals that I can pay normally (so these two can just carry on)
• Citi, Debenhams, Barclaycard – unused total of £4K available
• Abbey Overdraft (£5k available, dipping in and out)
• NR Loan (5.5 years left, have heard that they always go for a charging order so would like to keep paying normally)

I don’t want to go on a CCCS plan if I can avoid it as I would rather cope myself – reasons are many and varied, I’m sure they suit a lot of people but not me right now. Have given it a great deal of thought, and want to try to cope on my own for now.

So in the next 4 months (due to loss of OT and bonus) we will be maxed out.

So questions:

1. Should I take all my available credit now? Ie If I write to Egg, Abbey and MBNA (A&L) and ask them to reduce payments, will this result in the 3 available cards being withdrawn?
2. If I offer a reduced payment for my Abbey card can they just nip in and take the money from the current account?
3. I am looking to switch accounts to avoid the above happening, if I did but kept the Abbey mortgage coming out of their and just paid the equivalent in monthly, would I still get the good OD rate that they give if you pay in more than £1K? Mortgage is more than that.
4. Finally – does anyone have any experience of dealing direct with any of the above companies?

Thanks very much.

~Beanie~

Should I take all my available credit now? Ie If I write to Egg, Abbey and MBNA (A&L) and ask them to reduce payments, will this result in the 3 available cards being withdrawn?
I don't understand why you would want to take all your available credit? Yes, they probably will stop you using the cards if you are not meeting the minimum payments but I thought you wanted to repay your debt, not continue to use your cards?

If I offer a reduced payment for my Abbey card can they just nip in and take the money from the current account?
Yes they can.

I am looking to switch accounts to avoid the above happening, if I did but kept the Abbey mortgage coming out of their and just paid the equivalent in monthly, would I still get the good OD rate that they give if you pay in more than £1K? Mortgage is more than that.
I would have thought so but don't know for definate.

I don't have any experience with the above companies so can't answer your last question, sorry,

JWM

Thank for you comments, perhaps I didn't make myself clear, the 3 cards aren't being used NOW, but I will need the cash to pay bills which are due in in the next 3 months. So should I make sure all the cards are maxed before I tell anyone that I'm in trouble?

Obviously I want to pay off the debts, but right now bills need to be paid from the cards before I cut them up.

Everyone will be paid the full amount I owe, it might just take a few years.

MyLastFiver

Jesus - No! Stop! Do not borrow any more money. You can't afford to pay back what you already owe.

If you still can't afford to live without using credit then you need to look again at your SOA. If you CAN afford to live without borrowing, then why would you want to "take all available credit"?

It sounds like you still think of a credit limit as an income opportunity. It's the opposite.

JWM

OK, I think I'll leave it there.

Obviously my situation is not ideal but paying the mortgage and house repairs has to be done.

Of course I would prefer to stop without spending the £4k I have as avilable credit but right now that isn't an option.

Everyone's situation is different, please don't judge when you know NOTHING about me

MyLastFiver

OK sorry for answering your thread asking for advice. I'd hate you to think I was judging you. It sounds like you're doing fine as you are. Good luck.

JWM

I was asking for advice on the situation I find myself in.

I am not fine, I'm scared witless to be honest.

But I've planned, calculated and worried constantly about this for about a year.

The house repairs must be done but aren't due for payment till May. All I really want to know is should I struggle on till then when everything is maxed out or ask half of the creditors for help now.

The point I'm making is I've gone over all my options and this is it.

MyLastFiver

How much are your house repairs? Do you have enough in your overdraft to cover it? If so, then this is a more flexible form of borrowing than putting it on the CCs. You wouldn't even need to default as there's no minimum payment required.

You have two options I think:

1. I have never suggested this before (and I doubt CCCS would recommend it either) but seeing how you must park this debt somewhere, could you think about, in the meantime at least, keeping up your obligations to Abbey but dropping everything else? As you say, you can't meet the min pyts and it's only a matter of time before you default anyway. Stop paying 'em (apart from Abbey), make token payments of £5 per month for a few months. This will free you up some cash to go towards the bill in May. Once this bill is paid, look again at your finances. You may decide that a comprehensive DMP is the right thing to do at that stage.

2. The other option is to do a comprehensive DMP now. Rather than keeping your creditors in the dark in order to get access to another £4K in May, just drop everything, stop paying them for three months, and add the housing repair bill to the liabilities column of your SOA. This would be the most transparent and "proper" way of going about it.

Your creditors will not quibble with you needing to repair your house, but if you suddenly go into them for a large sum one month, then dwefault the next month saying you can't pay, then that looks bad and I doubt they'll give you much sympathy.

My suggestion to you is to take option 2. It's the most honest and open.

Genuinely, good luck to you.

JWM

Thank you.

I would prefer to be honest, so I think option 2 is a good one.

I think I'm just putting everything else off as I completly terrified about admiting all this.

You have given me some new options to think about.

Lucascain_2

I agree that maxing the limits on the card is a very bad idea.

Clear case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

MyLastFiver's advice is the best you can take.

Good Luck.

Caroline73_2

What don't yu do a SOA?