A newbie hoping to start a DMP!

Jemima09

Hi All, sorry for the ultra long post!!

I've been reading MSE for a few months now, and decided to join tonight, having just applied for a DMP through CCCS. I may be needing some moral support!!!

My situation has come about from my own spending, over comitting on credit so I couldn't afford minimum payments, and then having to live on credit until the end of the month. I take full responsibility and in no way do I want to shirk out of what I owe.. I just need a bit of help paying it!
I'm nearly 30, live by myself (with the exception of the cats, but they don't pay their way..), and have been gradually sinking for the last 5/6 years. It's really come to a point where if I don't do something now, I'll have to sell up and move back home, and confess to the parents what kind of state I've let it get to. So if I can sort myself out before that happens I'll be very pleased.

I've had my sky subscription knocked down to £3 a month (which includes broadband), and switched my £25 mobile contract to a PAYG, where I'm spending about £10-£15 every 2 months (top up one month and get free texts all month, then spend the credit the next month), spread the credit card debts out, as it was all on one card (MBNA) who then doubled my rate and put my min payment up by more than £100 extra a month.. not helpful!

I thought it was about to get a little better, but after using the heating this winter (how dare I?) nPower have just whacked my payment up from £80 to £150! again, not helpful. I've now switched the heating off and got my blanket out!

My parents have already helped me out but I can't take any more from them, it's not fair. I don't mind ruining my credit rating for the next 6 years (how long CCCS think it'll take me to pay back) because quite frankly it'll be ruined for longer than that if I carry on like this.

This is the statement of affairs, based on the CCCS budget (my own budget actually left me with more remaining to pay to debts, I've not been short by this much each month, but on the other hand, I've not been setting aside money to pay for the annual car service/MOT/tax etc, it's always gone on the credit cards):
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1536
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1536
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 542
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 17
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 136
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 148
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 17
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 21
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 22
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1264

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 80000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 81500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84982....(542)......6.49
Total secured & HP debts...... 84982.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg Loan.......................7500......216.......7.9
Capital 1 Credit Card..........1800......65........21
Mint Credit Card...............3900......89........NaN
Barclays Overdraft.............3000......30........0
Sainsbury Credit Card..........3900......90........20
Virgin Credit Card.............350.......25........35.9
Total unsecured debts..........20450.....515.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,536
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,264
Available for debt repayments........... 272
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 515
Amount short for making debt repayments. -243
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 81,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -84,982
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,450
Net Assets.............................. -23,932
Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.
Note - the mortgage also includes an unsecured loan, so it's not really neg equity, the flat is worth around £75-80k I suspect, and my mortgage itself is around £73k. The loan is tied in to the mortgage deal, same rate, same time period, so it's not being included in the DMP.

So. Here's hoping. There's definitely areas of slack for me in that budget. I can spend less than that on groceries, easily (when I try, but it's very hard to try when you know that no matter how much you try you still won't bring your outgoings down to less than your income!), I don't have my haircut every other month (£10 a go, so that's what the budget assumes), and I don't spend that much a year on health stuff (although I will start putting it away for dental treatment as I'm bound to need something one day..)

Does anyone have experience with the CCCS and the creditors that I have listed? Given that I have actually been making payments to them, for the full amounts, albeit, some have bounced (since November-ish), but I've paid the amounts due before the next statement date, by going over my OD limit and using other cards to transfer. So I've incurred lots of bank charges, but as far as the lenders are concerned I'm not overdue. Also I've never defaulted on the loan as that gets taken on the 1st of the month, after pay day. Is that likely to affect whether the lenders accept my DMP or not? It's clear from the statement that I can't actually afford to keep on like this.

How long does this take to get set up? I only sent the online application off on Friday, so I am just being impatient here, I just wondered if anyone had any idea of the timescales involved. When should I expect to hear back from CCCS? I'm wondering whether I should ring my mortgage company and ask if I can take a payment holiday (am allowed one month a year).

Thanks for listening! I may be needing some help staying on track!

Has anyone got any good suggestions for helping stick to the budget? I've so far thought of setting multiple accounts up for different savings, one for car, one for ground rent/service charge, one for dentist etc. I already usually take cash out to do grocery shopping so I'm limited to what I spend, and CCCS have also suggested getting a cash card account rather than debit card. Any ideas for budget tracking?

bubbles0169

hi youll get alot of support here:)
try looking at this(click on it) thenif you need any more help we'll try
i had a CC with capital one, they accepted my DMP
i would say that if you think itll help take the mortgage hol, but if you dont really need it at the mo it may be best to start as you mean to go on

MRSG2B_2

Firstly, well done on getting help, like me I'm sure you'll come to see it as the best thing you ever did!

There is a really helpful forum on here for people just like us, where you can ask any questions and just generally get support....you should take a look!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1360759&page=195

Good luck x

MRSG2B_2

Just in response to your questions on here, my plan is through CCCS and they've been fab! It doesnt take long for them to send you the info in the post, once you send back your signed agreement and statements you generally get your welcome pack back in about a week, and the plan starts on the 1st of the following month.

Make sure you cancel all your direct debits and set them and your wages up to be through your new bank account (I got mine with Abbey and OH got his with Barclays, both are equally good and allow you a Visa Electron or connect card so you can still pay for things online/in shops)

Next step is to make token payments to your creditors of £1-£5 as a gesture of goodwill.

I've only been on DMP for 2 months but no problems as yet, had 3 creditors accept in writing, and rest seem to have frozen interest on statements so far!

If your payment holiday doesn't incur any charges it might be worth doing this and putting the money in savings for emergencies....always good to have a little in reserve just in case car plays up etc. x

Daffykjs

Welcome Jemima,
As MRSG2B says come and join us over on the DMP support thread. (and I think she's answered all your questions)

I think you're doing fab already. you seem to have it very together with all the different accounts etc!

staying in budget is what i've found the hardest part. some months i've managed and it's seemed relatively easy, but then because of that i've got complacent and the next month haven't done so well (I'm about 3/4 months in).

You've definitely done the right thing and will be very pleased you have!

Jemima09

bubbles0169 wrote: »

hi youll get alot of support here:)
try looking at this(click on it) thenif you need any more help we'll try
i had a CC with capital one, they accepted my DMP
i would say that if you think itll help take the mortgage hol, but if you dont really need it at the mo it may be best to start as you mean to go on

That's good to know about Capital one, thank you!
I guess I keep reading on here about different people struggling to get their DMPs accepted by different lenders, so it worries me. Although to be fair, Cap1 I think have been the least threatening when I've been late with a payment (although annoying did make up for it by taking 2 months worth.. twice!! so I'm even worse off in the bank!)

Jemima09

MRSG2B wrote: »

Just in response to your questions on here, my plan is through CCCS and they've been fab! It doesnt take long for them to send you the info in the post, once you send back your signed agreement and statements you generally get your welcome pack back in about a week, and the plan starts on the 1st of the following month.

Make sure you cancel all your direct debits and set them and your wages up to be through your new bank account (I got mine with Abbey and OH got his with Barclays, both are equally good and allow you a Visa Electron or connect card so you can still pay for things online/in shops)

Next step is to make token payments to your creditors of £1-£5 as a gesture of goodwill.

I've only been on DMP for 2 months but no problems as yet, had 3 creditors accept in writing, and rest seem to have frozen interest on statements so far!

If your payment holiday doesn't incur any charges it might be worth doing this and putting the money in savings for emergencies....always good to have a little in reserve just in case car plays up etc. x

Thank you for all that! I'll take a look through the support thread.

Well I've probably left it a bit late this month, but hopefully I'll have my CCCS stuff through to make token payments next month (for the ones due later in the month, which are the ones I can't afford) and then get the DMP started from 1st July.

I think I'm going to stick with barclays, CCCS said they're ok with DMPs, and to be fair, aside from whacking on charges every month, they have been quite helpful! I've found a nice friendly person who works there and was very nice and didn't make me feel bad at all, so I'll go back and ask if I can see her again to get the new account set up.

My mortgage holiday doesn't change the payment at all, just means I'll pay a bit extra by the end... but given there's still 28 years to go.. I'm tempted. Like you say, I could use some to start off my savings pots.

Jemima09

Daffykjs wrote: »

Welcome Jemima,
As MRSG2B says come and join us over on the DMP support thread. (and I think she's answered all your questions)

I think you're doing fab already. you seem to have it very together with all the different accounts etc!

staying in budget is what i've found the hardest part. some months i've managed and it's seemed relatively easy, but then because of that i've got complacent and the next month haven't done so well (I'm about 3/4 months in).

You've definitely done the right thing and will be very pleased you have!

Well that's my problem.. I'm good at drafting budgets, not so good at sticking with them! The worst thing though (which is the trap I am in) is that if I draft a budget, and the income/outgoings don't work to start with, I've no inclination to try and stick to the limits I've set! If I drew a budget and I was meant to end up with £3 left over, I'd try my hardest to stick to it (and then obviously something unexpected comes and messes it all up!!)

The budget pots actually occurred to me because CCCS were setting aside my yearly payments for things like ground rent (we don't actually pay that but do pay a service charge/insurance) and car maintenance, which I have NEVER factored in before, as they're not "monthly" costs. but of course it means I never have them when they are due, so they go on the cards. So I'm going to set aside the amount CCCS have allocated. If I end up with more than I need, then I can give them a little extra.

There appears to be flexibility in my numbers, so hopefully I'll not have too much trouble staying within them for the majority. I'll have to assess it for a few months, see how consistent I am!

Daffykjs

Jemima09 wrote: »

Well that's my problem.. I'm good at drafting budgets, not so good at sticking with them! The worst thing though (which is the trap I am in) is that if I draft a budget, and the income/outgoings don't work to start with, I've no inclination to try and stick to the limits I've set! If I drew a budget and I was meant to end up with £3 left over, I'd try my hardest to stick to it (and then obviously something unexpected comes and messes it all up!!)

The budget pots actually occurred to me because CCCS were setting aside my yearly payments for things like ground rent (we don't actually pay that but do pay a service charge/insurance) and car maintenance, which I have NEVER factored in before, as they're not "monthly" costs. but of course it means I never have them when they are due, so they go on the cards. So I'm going to set aside the amount CCCS have allocated. If I end up with more than I need, then I can give them a little extra.

There appears to be flexibility in my numbers, so hopefully I'll not have too much trouble staying within them for the majority. I'll have to assess it for a few months, see how consistent I am!

This is a very very sensible and something I really ought to do. not happening at the mo tho! (As altho we have things on there we don't actually use there are things we do actually have that aren't allowed on the budget, such as our sky package and phones)

Jemima09

Daffykjs wrote: »

This is a very very sensible and something I really ought to do. not happening at the mo tho! (As altho we have things on there we don't actually use there are things we do actually have that aren't allowed on the budget, such as our sky package and phones)

How come your phones aren't allowed? the CCCS asked me to input my phone charges so I did.. is that bad? although I've cancelled my contract and got PAYG which gives me free texts the month I top up.. so I top up one month, pay nothing for 30 days, then use up credit the next month.

for sky, i'm currently not paying anything as I rang up to cancel (was going to go to plusnet for £6/month broadband). they gave me TV package for £3/month and said if I moved my calls to them I could have free broadband again! I'd already paid that month too so I'm in credit for a while and they're just taking the money out of that.

The offer ends in august so I'm hoping they'll extend it, or I'll have to cancel and go to plusnet. I can't go without broadband! I assume that's allowable?

Daffykjs

I'm with payplan and phones are allowed but there was an upper limit for the amount which i think we were over. we have the landline plus a mobile each. my mobile contract was high so i've changed it to the most basic one, so it should be ok now. also at the mo hub's calls are payed for by work but this will obviously only be while he's at the job he's at now.

that's a great deal you got with sky. i thought ours was good but nothing like that! i might have to ring up to 'cancel'!!!

never heard of plusnet!