Debt Free Direct

dubiousone

Hi all. I've spoken to DFD regarding struggling with the monthly payment (missed 1 but they've not been in touch). I explained an example that we have been allocated £3.38 per day per person for groceries i.e £420.00 a month for family of 4. He said this can't be amended as it is a government guideline and everyone is allocated exactly the same amount for groceries.

Is this true?

I mentioned other discrepencies and he just said "we can't amend anything, sorry". So that's that, I thought I'd best ring and try but got no where.

Has anyone else approached DFD about their expenditure and hence surplus for creditors?

spenderblender

We are with DFD they are useless. We had our first review due Nov and I wrote in with all paperwork stating that we no longer got csa payments. They totally ignored this and I had to phone them in Jan to find out what was happening with the review. They phoned two days later to say all was ok and just to carry on paying as normal I stated that we were finding it difficult to get the money together for Jans payment as we were down on our money and she wasn't bothered. Just said to make the payment and she would put us forward for a review.
They sent out paperwork for us to fill in and we missed jans payment , they were soon on the phone but we are now gonna miss febs payment. Waiting for them to fail the IVA now, decided to go BR. We might as well cause you are still an outcast in an IVA just as much as being as BR but at least with BR it would all be over max 3 years.

anniecave

I live off £2.12 per day food (just worked it out from my spreadsheet). And I eat healthily and well.
Where do you go shopping? Do you buy lots of ready meals or do you cook meals from scratch? Do you eat much fast food?

paulmx3

£420 per month on an iva for family of 4 is quite generous compared to many on an iva.there are guidelines and to be fair i think you are actually well above them.

dubiousone

It does sound generous but that £420 includes meals for 4, packed lunches for two kids and myself for 12 hour shifts. It also includes houshold cleaning and hygiene products etc. The £3.38 per day I was using as a calculation, it doesn't just go towards living. People considering BR are being allowed £550-600 for groceries, but again this includes household items too.

spenderblender

Shopping wise it is best to try and do shopping onlin. That way you can see what offers there are and also do a bulk buy scheme. If something is on offer that you need weekly buy enough for a few weeks, this will free up money other weeks for another bulk buy, by this I mean butter, washing powder, dof foods ect. It does work and always make a list of what you run out of so that is the first thing in the trolley. I did get my shopping down to £80 per week doing this for the four of us, no animals tho.