DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

yellowpinky

Plain_Stupid_45 wrote: »

hi Yellowpinky,
I've gone through Payplan for my DMP, they've been great, everything was done over the phone, I haven't had to send them any proof of my earnings or bank statements. I gave them the balances of my creditors & account numbers & that was it! They advised me to open a 'safe' bank account not associated with any of my creditors, my salary was paid into that account so wasn't swallowed up by my overdraft.
Phone call wise, I have spoken to all my creditors when they called I was just firm & said I was setting up a DMP with Payplan, so far everyone hasn't been too bad & I've had very few calls.
Good luck

Thanks Plain Stupid 45! It just seems very intense at the moment. I had five calls today! Do they not have homes to go to on a Sunday! ? By far the worst is Egg, three calls today, and then Mint/Tesco. Also M & S, who I did pick up for as I was so irritated by then, but the man was actually quite pleasant and updated my records, and asked if I had a Ref No (I gave him the NDL one as it's all I've got so far) and mentioned things were pending with Payplan, and he said that they actually recommend PP and CCCS to people anyway, so hopefully they'll be accommodating. Also said they would not make any calls for two weeks (though they've not really been the problem caller anyway!) and I got him to remove my work number from their system too. Funnily I always do feel better after speaking to them, though the volume of calls just gets irritating. I expect it will settle down. I read that you have just started with yours and hope the teething problems straighten out for you.

I've got a Co op Cashminder account in place and my wages have just gone in, and all my DD's are set up. It almost feels like a fresh start! I do actually feel so much better using and budgeting with my own money already, as opposed to credit, it feels cleaner and more honest somehow. Also thinking of opening a Halifax Basic one as a handy back up.

Thanks for the Payplan info too. I actually dug out bank statements and wage slips in readiness, but it looks like it's more straightforward than that. Though annoyed with myself as I've found that one of the creditors addresses I gave them is wrong! There are either umpteen addresses and you don't know which one to use, or it's hard to find any at all (HSBC, in this case), and it was still the wrong one. Will phone PP tmorrow to sort it out before everything gets set up.

So pleased to see it working out for you, Apple38, posts like this are keeping me going.

Moany_Money

muddlemess wrote: »

Hi all haven't posted for a long time, but I've been reading... Congrats JOJ!

Just thought you may like to know I've just been onto Lloyds TSB website and they actually have a link to CCCS!!

Couldn't beleive it after reading all your posts about them not being very helpful with interest etc!!!

Hope they are changing as they are one of my main creditors and should be getting notice of my DMP very soon.

Hope you are all well

MM x

Exactly the same with Natwest....they have a link to the CCCS site as well!!
On the subject of Natwest I had an interesting conversation with their collections centre. They said that if you have more than one debt with them, they have to accept proposals on all the accounts before they stop interest + charges. They won't just do it for one debt. My battle with them is ongoing but I won't give up.

pinkiepie68

Well I have just spent a hectic week preparing all theinfo to send to CCCS - never thought it would take me sol ong, but I wanted to make sure that all the info was 100% correct with them. I have the added difficulty that OH works away some of the time, so I still get the calls but they won;t talk to me (however even if I tell them he isn;t there they keep calling)!! I actually felt a bit better being able to tell a couple of the creditors (Aqua & Barclaycard) that we are on a DMP - it seems as though I am doing something about it now!! I have MAJOR debt with Lloyds TSB (God help me!!) and I have not told them even though a pyt is overdue, as I bank with them and we are still waiting on confirmation of salary transfer. Same as yellowpinky, I opened a basic account with the Co-op (they also gave me a savings account) for my pay and an RBS basic for OH's pay (we plan to use his to pay all the DD's & mine to pay all the other stuff on our expenditure on the SOA we submitted.
Not sure if we did the right thing, but we put a little against everything in our SOA to CCCS and I hope I can use any little we don;t spend to squirrel (love that expression!) some money away just as an "in case be". I also felt that it gives us a bit of leeway for when we have a review and we have had no pay increases (OH hasn;t had one for 3 years & I am NHS so don;t expect one next year!).

Sorry - this has kind of turned in to "War and Peace" but it is kind of good to write it all down & get it out of your system.

Pinkie

donnajt

...DMP is now official and we have stopped all payments, had a couple of automated calls yesterday but they are going to come thick and fast from this morning..I am now 36 weeks pregnant and suffering with pre-eclampsia, apart from moving out any ideas of keeping my stress levels (and more importantly blood pressure) down?

Twit_Head

donnajt wrote: »

...DMP is now official and we have stopped all payments, had a couple of automated calls yesterday but they are going to come thick and fast from this morning..I am now 36 weeks pregnant and suffering with pre-eclampsia, apart from moving out any ideas of keeping my stress levels (and more importantly blood pressure) down?

I had a heart attack just a couple of years ago and one of the things that really worried me was the thought of all the pressure and the impact on my health.
Luckily, I have not been too bothered with calls. I think from reading other posts you must be firm and ask for all communication by post and refer to CCCS or whoever. I have been very upfront with all three of my creditors and written politely,fully and promptly to them all, still waiting to hear from one but all have responded positively.

I am sure you will find once things are set up it should all calm down a bit. Good luck to you and look after that bump! that is the most important thing. x

DMP member 330

mozzyc

Hi Guys

Been reading all the posts, and must say, after being on DMP for almost 5 years, i'm still learning so much every day.
I'm still battling away with Lloyds TSB for the interest to be frozen. The last phonecall, the guy reckons "The plan is going fine"!!! I could've screamed.
Yes i said, its going fine for you, but you know as well as we do that if it carries on like this, we'll be paying you for the rest of our lives without ever clearing it!
With £1000 interest added to the loan debt in 6 months, who can compete with that. So we just said for them to expect another letter from us soon. grrrrrrrrrrrr

Next on list is the letter of complaint to there complaints department.
After that, letter to OFT.

One question though, has anyone fallen pregnant whilst on there DMP, and had to reduce payments.
To cover maternity clothing, maternity leave and all the general and added costs of having a child.
Or is there only a set time for how long you can offer reduced payments.

Thanks

londonfraggle

Hi - I'm not an expert on any of this, but couldn't you just change your home telephone number? I'm looking to start a DMP soon - am in contact with the CCCS - and am fully expecting a deluge of phone calls. However, I spoke to BT and discovered that I can change my telephone number at no cost! I know this is a bit of a pain as I'll have to let family and friends know, but if it keeps some of the calls at bay it might help? I know I will still get calls on my mobile (which sadly I can't change as it is also the number that I use for work calls so would be impossible to let everyone know the new number) but at least you can switch a mobile phone off and also know that other members of your household aren't going to have to deal with nasty calls.

Does anyone else have comments on this? Am I mad/naive in thinking just changing your home telephone number might help a bit?

Thanks!
Fraggle

pinkiepie68

Hi Fraggle - I was thinking of maybe doing this as well. We have the added problem of my mum who is a senior citizen (she hates OAP!) living with us. Whilst she is aware of our position, I am finding the idea of her having to deal with a deluge of calls whilst I am at work hard to cope with. In addition, there is only so many "wrong numbers" we can keep convincing my 5 y/o DD we are getting.
Today was the mail deluge - 5 letters re: bank charges, an overdue letter from Aqua and an overdue statement from Barclays, but hey ho our new account details for our co-op bank came through!
So, possibly changing phone numbers would be a good thing - great to know you can do it for free.

pinkiepie

londonfraggle

Yes, I was pretty impressed with BT, and they said it would only take up to max. 24 hours for the changeover to take place. I think it is probably worth doing just to avoid some of the calls??

That said, I haven't actually started my DMP yet (appointment with CCCS not for another 2 weeks - they must be busy these days) but am hoping to start it as soon as possible.

My big worry is how long it takes to get everything sorted out? I'm due to go overseas (work not holiday) mid-September and am scared that I'm going to be leaving behind a lot of angry creditors and come back to a front door that won't open because of all the post!

Another question - because of the size of my debt and the number of creditors (14 - don't ask, it makes me want to cry) I thought going through the CCCS would be the best option. However, I have seen that quite a few people have set up their own DMPs - which I'm truly impressed with. Can anyone advise me on the pros/cons of going it alone or not? I ask because I simply feel that I got myself into this mess and I should get myself out of it.

Any advice would be great.
Thank you all v much.

Fraggle x

pinkiepie68

Hiya

I applied to CCCS as I liked the idea of having some backing behind me (if you know what I mean!) as I wouldn;t have had enough confidence to try and do it on my own. I have not got my pack through yet - only the confirmation letter and the number to start and give to my creditors (of which I/we have 19 - £ 75,000 - scary stuff :eek:). When I got the letter through I had a couple of points I wanted to clarify (averaging of of O/H's wage & me just being accepted for an increase in hours at my work)and I called them on the number in the letter. As it is August just now I didn;t see any way that it could start for September, but the lady told me that as long as it was within the first 10 days of the next month (i.e. before 10th September) they would term the DMP as beginning in September. Hope that this helps!

pinkiepie68 x