DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

jles49

Who are your creditors and did you have to phone them yourself to stop the interest. Have Dmp 1st month with cccs and have had default letters
thanks jles49

muddlemess

yellowpinky wrote: »

Thanks JOJ. I scrupulously log all phone calls and letters, both made and received, and make notes on any conversation I've had and take names etc. I never thought of taking it to a complaint so will await any follow up and go from there! The female also expressed how disappointed she was I hadn't arranged a payment plan with them, I recall now - ("you could have come to us, but I see you've gone to Payplan . . .") .

JoJoB, glad your husband's PP interview went well. And Muddlemess, I hope it goes through ok for you. What you've done so far sounds very efficient! I didn't know what to do about my signature so just left it off altogether, though now wish I'd just signed differently. I felt incredibly relieved after my int last week then the rotten MBNA phone call prompted another "God what have I started?" moment, where it's really brought home to me there is no going back now. But this is so much better than the horrible uncertainty of two months ago where I really didn't know what was going to happen to me. I can't believe how far I've come now! It's so helpful following everyone else's progress on here, and glad to see so many going well.

Re: the PPI claiming, I'm not sure what claim I've got really - most of my applications I can remember involved ticking a box on the application form saying "Yes, I do want Payment Protection", thinking, "Well, it'll be useful if something happens and I can't keep up the payments, ironic as that is now). But will continue reading and reasearching.

I'm about to cancel my all PPI's for starters anyway, does this sound right?



Dear Sir/Madam,


Ref: Account xxxxxxxxxxxx

I am writing to inform you that I wish to cancel the Payment Protection scheme on my credit card, ref: account number above. Please could you ensure that this is terminated immediately, and I would appreciate it if this is acknowledged in writing.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

Thanks for your reply, it really is appreciated, I hate being out of my depth and, although you wouldn't believe it from my current situation, I like to be organised and in charge of what is happening to me!! (LOL)

Although I'm no expert your letter sounds great. I rang Tesco CC the other day to cancel mine (albeit the third attempt!) and this time they put me through to a seperate dept who asked me all sorts of questions and before I knew I'd answered most of them then I asked what they needed to know all this for and she told me that it was because I was still covered for the next 30 days and she needed to make sure all the details are still correct! Prob messed it up for me to make a claim now!! EEEKKK

Good luck

MM xx

whichwaynow_2

Hi all

I have spent the last few evenings reading this entire thread and have been trying to take in all the information and brilliant advice posted by all you helpful people. I have completed a debt remedy online with CCCs and they have recommended a DMP. We have a total of £31,000 over 8 creditors, we have never missed any payments but have been late paying a couple of times. However, in making all the payments it has meant our overdraft with HSBC keeps exceeding its £2,000 limit, and is currently £800 over that, therefore HSBC keep charging us £175 every month. It's a vicious circle and I am 99.9% convinced that a DMP is the only way we will ever get out of it.

I am just really worried that none of our creditors will accept our offers or stop the interest and we will end up being in a worst state than now.

Please convince me that starting on the DMP is the right thing to do

dannynixon

Can you afford to live? If the answer is no, then a DMP is the right thing to do

yellowpinky

muddlemess wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, it really is appreciated, I hate being out of my depth and, although you wouldn't believe it from my current situation, I like to be organised and in charge of what is happening to me!! (LOL)

Although I'm no expert your letter sounds great. I rang Tesco CC the other day to cancel mine (albeit the third attempt!) and this time they put me through to a seperate dept who asked me all sorts of questions and before I knew I'd answered most of them then I asked what they needed to know all this for and she told me that it was because I was still covered for the next 30 days and she needed to make sure all the details are still correct! Prob messed it up for me to make a claim now!! EEEKKK

Good luck

MM xx

Thanks MM, grateful for the feedback! I agree, the only way sometimes I can keep going with all this is to be super-organised! Having letters to write and procedures to go through just keeps you focused and concentrating on the next step doesn't it?

I'm sure you'll get sorted out with your PPI, and in claiming it. Tesco are one of my creditors too - they sound like they being very sneaky in getting another thirty days' worth of cover! I can imagine even a simple thing like cancelling the insurance they're going to make as awkward as possible, urgh.

Hope you get on ok.

YPx :beer:

whichwaynow wrote: »

I am just really worried that none of our creditors will accept our offers or stop the interest and we will end up being in a worst state than now.

Please convince me that starting on the DMP is the right thing to do

Whichwaynow, I'm just on the point of starting my DMP and I have all those worries you have too. I just think back to how much worse it was when I first had my LBM and before that, struggling and borrowing and being in a major panic all the time for months on end, and never want to go back there, and I'm sure you've been through that too. Starting a DMP means you're addressing your situation and trying to do something and pay back your debts, which counts for much more than just falling into arrears and avoiding your creditors. And there are so many success stories!

Hope this helps

snowymalone

whichwaynow wrote: »

.. I am just really worried that none of our creditors will accept our offers or stop the interest and we will end up being in a worst state than now.

Please convince me that starting on the DMP is the right thing to do

I think we all have that fear in the beginning, but I have to say that all of our seven creditors (bar one, and they're notorious for being difficult) have accepted the offered payments and frozen the interest, etc. And we're talking MBNA, Barclaycard, NatWest etc here.

Look at it this way - as dannynixon said, could you afford to carry on the way you were? No. You'd have hit the wall before long, no available cash on which to live, cards all maxed out so no more access to credit. Before you know it you're going cap-in-hand to relatives, friends.. or worse unlicensed or dubious sources.

With a DMP you can actually breathe. After a short-ish while the letters and phone calls tail off. Yes, you'll probably have to make some sacrifices, but they're rarely life-altering, and they're a hundred times more preferable to the direction in which you were heading. You learn to operate within a realistic budget, to live within your means, and TBH our quality of life is on balance much better without the stress of creditors breathing down our necks, the "Oh God can we afford to buy groceries?" question coming earlier and earlier each month.. and on the positive side we're learning to appreciate what we have already, when we actually need something - which often we've found we don't - then hunting for bargains, discovering days out that don't require a £100 float, etc.

Also, look at it from the creditors' POV: of the remaining options open to you, had you declared bankruptcy they'd potentially get absolutely nothing, and had you gone for an IVA they may have recouped less than half of the debt. With a DMP they at least have a fighting chance of getting back the money outstanding as it stands on the day they agree.

Honestly, whichwaynow: a DMP is quite probably the best favour you'll have done yourself. Get the form filled in as soon as, and you won't look back. Best of British .

Snowy.

londonfraggle

Hi - I have some questions that I'm hoping some of you extremely knowledgeable people might be able to answer...

I'm waiting for my appointment with CCCS which is later this week. I have, for the first time, not paid some of my creditors this month (3 of them - although with the rest I am all up to date). The three I haven't paid have started to chase me, of course. I have told them that I am waiting for my appointment with CCCS and gave them my ref number, and actually all of them were v nice.

I won't actually be able to start my DMP (or whatever route CCCS recommend to me) as I can't get my salary moved from going into my current account to the new account until next month's (September) salary payment.

So my question is really in what order should I do things? I was thinking of the following, but would be really grateful for some advice. I'm pretty scared of messing up!

1) Appointment with CCCS end of August
2) Beginning of September - continue making payments to those creditors that I can afford to (including priority payments such as rent, council tax, utilities, tv licence, landline etc), and send letters to the others advising of financial hardship and sending token payments (any advice as to what letters I should send and also amounts? Also any advice on whether I should send any letters/tokens of payments NOW to the 3 companies that I haven't paid this month?)
3) Once my company has confirmed salary to be paid into new account cancel ALL direct debits with old bank
4) Set up priority direct debits with new bank
5) Presumably at this point CCCS will have given me advice on what letters to send to ALL creditors (who will by now know something is up as I will have cancelled all direct debits)?
6) Anything else I should do while waiting for my appointment with CCCS (apart from getting all the information etc ready - I have taken a day off work this week to do all of that in advance of the appointment)

I also have some questions that I hope someone might be able to answer
1) I have a mobile phone contract - I am not in arrears with this at all. I am also in contract with them until February 2010 and they won't let me reduce my tarriff at all. Can a DMP demand that you give up your phone at all? I use mine a lot for work (although I do get the work usage back on expenses) and really do need it (I travel a lot for work and use it as both telephone and email). How do I factor this into a DMP? Should I just declare my personal usage and kind of "ignore" the work usage for purposes of the DMP. It balances out as I claim it back every month? I have a couple of other work expenses every month too - again, I claim them back and always get the money back fairly quickly - should I even mention these on the DMP??
2) Can anyone lead me to the letters about a) why I'm starting a DMP - financial hardship etc. I have no "major" reason - i.e. no illness, or redundancy or anything like that, it has all just got harder and harder over the last couple of years, the last 12 months in particular with costs of living going up and my bonuses being stopped at work. And really I stupidly and sick makingly overextended myself every month - robbing peter to pay paul. I was hoping someone could point me to a letter that I could use that was suitable for someone in my situation? I obviously want to try and make sure that my creditors accept my DMP offer?
3) Also - I live with someone who doesn't know about this so I'm really hoping to try and keep the phonecalls to a minimum! I've read that you can request that all contact with your creditors is done via post and/or email. Can anyone advise me on the best way to do this? I am also considering simply changing my land line phone number to keep calls to a minimum, but then of course I will need to ensure the communication is done my post as they won't be able to get hold of me by 'phone!

Sorry for all the questions. With my appointment with CCCS looming I am getting very anxious and nervous. I know I'm doing the right thing but it seems like such a huge hill to climb. So any others bits of advice and encouragement would be very gratefully received.

Hope you all have lovely days!
Fraggle x

katkins2

Hi,

I too am starting out on the long road of becoming debt free. My DMP with CCCS starts in September and I like many people are feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing.

I just wanted to say a massive thankyou to those that post on this board for their words of support, kindness and advise. You do all make a difference to people's lives. I for one would still be digging deeper and deeper into debt and losing sleep each night over my debts if I hadn't found this board. I don't post much as I don't feel I have much advice to offer as still relatively new to all this but I do read everyday.

I have a long way to go (approx 8 years if the creditors freeze interest)but it does actually feel quite good to know that I am taking control of the situation at long last. Spending just what we earn each month is actually a good feeling.

Once again a massive thanks to all you guys, ur doing a great job. :T

Katkins x

bigmommamuppet

Hi Fraggle

Hopefully I can answer some of your questions,

2) Beginning of September - continue making payments to those creditors that I can afford to (including priority payments such as rent, council tax, utilities, tv licence, landline etc), and send letters to the others advising of financial hardship and sending token payments (any advice as to what letters I should send and also amounts? Also any advice on whether I should send any letters/tokens of payments NOW to the 3 companies that I haven't paid this month?)

Firstly send token payments to the 3 companies that you have missed. Also next month I would cancel all your non priority DDs and not pay any of your creditors only your priority bills and send token payments (£1) and a covering letter (CCCS will give you a form to fill in to send to your creditors, also National debtline's website has some good template letters)

1) Mobile Phone etc.
Mobiles are fine on a DMP, as long as the usage is fair I think £20-£30 is acceptable. Also just put down your personal usage and ignore the business expenses. Same as any other business expenses.

a) why I'm starting a DMP - financial hardship etc. I have no
The reason I stated was over commitment on credit and nobody has said a thing about it.

This is the letter I sent:

Re:- Account/Reference Number ?????

I’m are writing to inform you that I’m seeking advice and assistance from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service regarding my current financial difficulties.

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to meet your monthly payment request so please accept the enclosed cheque for £1 as a token gesture of goodwill.

I would appreciate if you could hold any action on the above account for a period of at least 28 days.

Also, during this period, could you please freeze interest and/or any other charges accruing on the above account.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

3) I've read that you can request that all contact with your creditors is done via post and/or email.
There is a letter kicking about on here and again on national debtline's website to request communication in writing only and a follow up harassment one. Bear in mind not all companies stick to this and they still may phone you. The best way I have found in reducing the calls is to actually answer them and explain the situation and then they seem to be happy and leave you alone. Not everyone has had this experience and creditors seem to act differently from 1 day to the next.

Good Luck for Friday

Becks.

whichwaynow_2

Thank you all so much for your positive comments. I know deep down that it is the way to go, so have today requested all the forms from CCCS and now just need to wait for them to arrive.

My debt free date is 7 years away, so will be on this board regularly, I'm sure, for advice and help along the way.