DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

Kudox

Gpuk wrote: »

Ok, I need some help and advice. I have 8 credit cards and an overdraft and I am struggling to pay the minimum payments. Every month I am up to my overdraft limit which is £1770 and when my wages go in they only clear about half this amount which I then have to use to pay my debts again. My minimum payments on my 8 cards total £680 a month and on several of these when I pay the minimum of £100 they put £96 back on in interest. 3 of my cards have been closed 1 by virgin (£6600) and the interest fixed at 16.9% until I have paid it off (which will be never at this rate). 1 by mint (£800) rate fixed at 21.9% until I have paid it and 1 by Alliance and Leicester (£4600) rate fixed at 17.9%. The other cards I have are Egg (£4100 currently over this limit) Barclaycard Visa (£6550 currently over the limit) Barclaycard Mastercard (£5950 currently over the limit) MBNA Platinum (£1500 my worst apr at 34.9%)!!!!! And Tesco (£1250) who have just informed me my apr is going from 16.9% to 18.9% in october!

My question is this - would a dmp help me out of this mess and what are these particular companies like when it comes to harrasment?? My OH and I own our property with no mortgage, he is terrified of balifts but also forbids me to secure any loan/mortgage etc on it. Can the creditors refuse a dmp because of this?? I bring home around £1250 a month this is including working tax credits and child benefit. But after I have paid out for all the bills and my credit cards we have about £25-£30 a week to spend on shopping, clothes, shoes etc on 3 of us - we are just about managing but it can't go on for much longer as i'm not getting anywhere and our heads are just above water - if something happened out of the blue I wouldn't be able to do anything as there is NO spare cash. My OH doesn't work as he is at home looking after our young son, we looked into him getting a p/t job but once we took out bus fare and having to pay a child minder and took into consideration the loss in benefits, it's just not worth it, also if our son is ill , which he is quite often unfortunately, I would have to call in sick and lose a days pay so it's not worth him doing that either.

I'm just a bit worried about everything really, mainly how the card companies will react - and do i need to get a new bank account if i'm going to do all this as i take it once i do this barclays will stop my overdraft?!?

Please help me!

Hi, you need to try to speak to cccs or payplan to get some advice on this. You can also do an online debt remedy on the cccs website without putting in personal details, to get an idea of what they'd suggest.
If you were to do a DMP it's best to set up a basic bank account elsewhere, and if your overdraft was going into the DMP you'd have to do this anyway.
As far as whether you're allowed to do a DMP when you don't have a mortgage , it really shouldn't make any difference, they may not like it but if you can't afford to live then thats all that matters.
Creditors treat every case differently, one person might find them great, the next may not be so lucky. The point of a DMP is that you only pay what you can afford, and if you can't afford more then they can't have it no matter how they treat you.
Good luck with sorting everything

Gpuk

I have got an old account with Halifax which I just logged into online to see if it is still ok , seemed to work so i'd just need to order a card and cheque book, it doesn't have an overdraft on it so no temptation to build up more debt!

Gpuk

Do you have to get rid of sky tv and also what about internet and mobile phone - actually i'd like to cancel my phone!

Kudox

Make sure Halifax is not connected to any of your other creditors though, or this could cause problems.

Kudox

Good on you Toffee Penny for your PPI reclaiming success:beer::j:beer::j, you deserve it after fighting them so long.
It's good to hear peoples success stories, it gives everyone a real boost.

Just a little update from me, some of you may remember I got a ccj from RBS, which I was paying, then RBS wrote to say I had stopped paying my agreed arrangement.:mad:
I phoned them to ask what was going on and it turns out that they'd had it set aside as they had instructed solicitors "in error":rolleyes:
I have wrote RBS a very strongly worded letter of complaint for putting me through all this and have had a reply to say they are investigating so we'll see how that goes.
Keep up the good work everyone and keep posting.

Gpuk

Kudox wrote: »

Make sure Halifax is not connected to any of your other creditors though, or this could cause problems.

How would I find this out?

The cards I have are -

MBNA
Virgin (MBNA)
Alliance and Leicester (MBNA)
Barclaycard Visa
Barclaycard Master Card
Egg
Tesco (Royal bank of scotland)??
Mint (Royal bank of scotland)??

I've already probably got a poor credit rating as I am over my limit on 4 of these cards, would anyone give me another bank account??

Gpuk

Actually just like to say thanks for all the advice so far from everyone! x

yellowpinky

Gpuk wrote: »

How would I find this out?

The cards I have are -

MBNA
Virgin (MBNA)
Alliance and Leicester (MBNA)
Barclaycard Visa
Barclaycard Master Card
Egg
Tesco (Royal bank of scotland)??
Mint (Royal bank of scotland)??

I've already probably got a poor credit rating as I am over my limit on 4 of these cards, would anyone give me another bank account??

Hi GPUK, you've done the right thing coming here

You need to apply for a basic bank account, a no frills one with no credit facilities (Eg, no overdraft, no cheque book). Looking at your creditors list (you share most of mine) none of them have links with Halifax as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure if they would do a credit check if you are reactivating an old account? (I'm not the best person to ask on this). If you ask specifically for a basic bank account there should be no credit checks. Halifax do a basic account called Easycash if you need one. My basic "safe" account (away from any connections with my creditors) is the Co Op Cashminder, and is ticking along nicely now. There are others too, National Debtline has a list.

YPx

Twit_Head

muddlemess wrote: »

Bad news on the default charges and interest but at least you should be able to claim those back! Thats my worry too the initial increase!

Good luck with your begging letter, keep us informed of the outcome!

MM x

Thanks. I was SO worried before I started my DMP about harrassment/interest increasing etc. etc but like so many others before me on this thread you do gain the confidence to deal with things (although had a 'down' moment the other night)

DMP still the best way to go, so good luck with your letters!

DMP Member 330

scouselad1974

Good morning everyone

After months of trying to contacting Dell to inform them of my DMP and update my address details I have finally had a response via email, thanks to the guys on here finding it for me over the weekend.
Low and behold a Default notice arrived yesterday at the correct address, strange as I never emailed them until late Saturday afternoon, so obviousley they had my correct detials all along and have been playing silly !!!!!!s :rolleyes:

Anyway I am just after a bit of advice as I don't fully understand exactley how much they say that I owe.

Would you have a look at it for me and let me knowwhat you think ?

Thanks in advance