A newbie hoping to start a DMP!

Jemima09

oh good. I was worried for a min that I'd done something wrong!! I figured they must still allow us to speak to people

I was really going to cancel, so I was dead pleased when they offered that!! I've lost access to some of the channels I used to have (boomerang!), I've only got the one basic pack, but it gives me sky one which is what I watch the most anyway.

Plusnet are quite good though as an alternative, but obviously don't offer telly!! I told sky I really didn't need the telly, I'd only subscribed in the first place as prior to that I was paying the same price for just broadband, and when I joined sky I paid for telly and got broadband free.. but then they started sneaking extra costs on, £5 for broadband, couple of £1 random increases. was adding up!!

Jemima09

something tells me my mortgage company have gone a little TOO far the other way.. I'm with Northern Rock, and I guess I'm the kind of customer that they got in trouble for lending to! (although I've made all my payments to date, they're fine, they take their money before anyone else gets to my bank.)

Anyway, there was a clause in my contract saying I can have a 1 month payment holiday after I've made 9 months of payments. I took one a little over a year ago, fine, no questions asked..

It appears they now do an affordability check, and also increase your payments immediately rather than tagging it on the end of the mortgage. So he runs through the affordability thing, which is basically income, morgage, loans & CC's... and it's failed, on the basis I can't afford to pay everything. right, that's why I wanted a month off you numpty!!!

anyway, they offered to put me through to debt team who might be able to push it through, but I said no I'd rather not, not now the monthly payments increase. I don't mind tagging on an extra couple of months on top of a 28 year contract, but tagging on £10 a month when you're already over-committed, not wise at all!

So I think I'll just have to make sure my token payments start next month which should help me get by a bit.

I've just transferred the £350 balance from my virgin card onto my capital one card, as I had the room. I can now close the virgin card properly, so that's one less creditor to put a default on my file.

cherrylips30

Hi Jemima,

I'm in a similar situation - 31, live alone and have roughly £28k debt - which has racked up since I bought my house, at a steady rate of £10k per year!! Most of it has gone on home improvements, but a bit on fantastic holidays too, which I dont regret, but I realised over Christmas 08 that I couldn't carry on. I'm tired of paying off debts and want that money in my bank every month to enjoy.

So, I contacted Payplan, and started my DMP in March, I have 4 creditors - 2 cc's, 1 o/d and 1 student loan - all of which have accepted my DMP offer first time, no problems. Barclaycard gave me the most hassle - calling 3-4 times a day, but you just have to be strong and stick to your guns. They can't have what you haven't got......and if they puch you over the edge, they're likely to get nothing!! They're the only ones that haven't frozen the interest, but at least they've stopped the charges.

I'm like you - I got myself into this mess, and i'll get myself out of it. I've spent what i've borrowed, so i'm damned sure i'll pay every penny back.

Stick with it......the feeling of freedom when the creditors stop calling is wonderful.......that's just around the corner

Good Luck

Horace

Jemima see if you can switch your electricity to a cheaper provider and use something like quidco to get cashback. I use Scottish Power and my bills are nowhere near as high as yours and I also live in a flat with no gas whatsoever.

Keep a spending diary so you know where your money is going - when you go shopping make a list of what you need not what your eyes tell you that you need once you get to the supermarket.

Jemima09

cherrylips30 wrote: »

Hi Jemima,

I'm in a similar situation - 31, live alone and have roughly £28k debt - which has racked up since I bought my house, at a steady rate of £10k per year!! Most of it has gone on home improvements, but a bit on fantastic holidays too, which I dont regret, but I realised over Christmas 08 that I couldn't carry on. I'm tired of paying off debts and want that money in my bank every month to enjoy.

So, I contacted Payplan, and started my DMP in March, I have 4 creditors - 2 cc's, 1 o/d and 1 student loan - all of which have accepted my DMP offer first time, no problems. Barclaycard gave me the most hassle - calling 3-4 times a day, but you just have to be strong and stick to your guns. They can't have what you haven't got......and if they puch you over the edge, they're likely to get nothing!! They're the only ones that haven't frozen the interest, but at least they've stopped the charges.

I'm like you - I got myself into this mess, and i'll get myself out of it. I've spent what i've borrowed, so i'm damned sure i'll pay every penny back.

Stick with it......the feeling of freedom when the creditors stop calling is wonderful.......that's just around the corner

Good Luck

Thank you! only March-May for them to accept it, that sounds hopeful.

I just need to grow a backbone in the next week or two and I'll be all set :rotfl: maybe I should get caller ID put back on my landline! On the advice of someone else on this forum I've been through all my credit card accounts and removed my work number (or changed it to be my mobile) so I can either choose to ignore it or at least go into a private office.

I'm feeling a bit more free already, and it's not even started yet! I can't wait to get going, I can't concentrate on anything else right now!

Jemima09

Horace wrote: »

Jemima see if you can switch your electricity to a cheaper provider and use something like quidco to get cashback. I use Scottish Power and my bills are nowhere near as high as yours and I also live in a flat with no gas whatsoever.

Keep a spending diary so you know where your money is going - when you go shopping make a list of what you need not what your eyes tell you that you need once you get to the supermarket.

Cheers for that. I think the bill was my fault.. I've lived here 2 years, and have always paid £70-£80/month for both gas and elec until now! I have 3 electric heaters, and last year during the winter, I had 2 of them switch on morning and night for about an hour, and the other I turned on when I got home and it stayed on till 10pm ish.

This year I left the hallway one switched on but v low to just keep it ticking over. The living room started to get a bit damp so I put the heater on for about 30 mins each morning as well. and the bedroom one was the same as before, morning and night. so I think it might be from leaving the hallway one on so much. I'm also running a little dehumidifier quite a bit (to dry my washing!) but dad says that doesn't cost very much to run.

usually after summer I'm about £200 in credit (which I was this time) but I end up owing nothing/very little by the end of winter. This time I owe £300! oops. so my monthly payment went from £80-£150. I can't switch until I pay that off, and I can only pay it by adding it to a credit card!

All the heating is off now though so I might ask them if they can run an interim bill in 3 months time and see if that affects the balance and the estimates, maybe they can reduce the payment then, or I'll have paid off enough to switch..

What do you do for heating? I'm not on eco7 or anything, just have convector heaters. Is there a cheaper option as I think the hallway one is a bit old and expensive anyway.

cherrylips30

I didnt mind them calling me at first, it was good to be able to explain, but Barcalycard just took it to the extreme. In the end I knew it was them as soon as I picked the phone up, and the other end was quiet, so in the end I just hung up. Then they called me at work one day and i'm afraid that annoyed me....so I pulled no punches in telling them what I thought!!

Power to the people!! They need to realise that they can't treat people like second class citizens, just because they got themselves into a pickle. Everyone makes mistakes, and respect to all those that are trying to put them right.

Take a look at quidco for cashback on all sorts - I £145 back through buying stuff that I would have to anyway - life insurance, buildings and contents, car breakdown cover - I can't wait till I have to get car insurance renewal quotes!! My god - how sad am I?!?!

This moneysaving lark goes to your head after a while!!

Deep_In_Debt

Yep your electricity is far too high. i don't have gas and live in a 2 bed house and my bills are £70pm and that's a lot as I'm out at work all day (unless my cats are having parties and using the leccy!).

Have you read your meter recently? I got caught once by just paying estimated bills and I wasn't paying enough so ended up paying "catch up" for a year until had broken even.

Don't wish to put a spanner in the works but Crap One have only just accepted my CCCS dmp and I've been on it since January last year! It seems some creditors are better with some people and not with others. MBNA on the other hand have been brilliant from the start but others will tell you horror stories about them. Crap One are my smallest creditor and MBNA my largest, so who knows how they will react.

Good luck!

Deep_In_Debt

Sorry, just read your post again - I have convector heaters too but on the Economy 7 tariff. I just make sure that the heating is on in the winter when it is really necessary especially if I am on my own - just wear a jumper or get the duvet off the bed and wrap myself in it.

Jemima09

cherrylips30 wrote: »

I didnt mind them calling me at first, it was good to be able to explain, but Barcalycard just took it to the extreme. In the end I knew it was them as soon as I picked the phone up, and the other end was quiet, so in the end I just hung up. Then they called me at work one day and i'm afraid that annoyed me....so I pulled no punches in telling them what I thought!!

Power to the people!! They need to realise that they can't treat people like second class citizens, just because they got themselves into a pickle. Everyone makes mistakes, and respect to all those that are trying to put them right.

Take a look at quidco for cashback on all sorts - I £145 back through buying stuff that I would have to anyway - life insurance, buildings and contents, car breakdown cover - I can't wait till I have to get car insurance renewal quotes!! My god - how sad am I?!?!

This moneysaving lark goes to your head after a while!!

yeah I've just been told to use quidco for my electric as well!! I think I will look at that once I have paid off the balance!! car insurance not due till later in the year either so I'll have to try and remember!