DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

massivedebts

Good evening my fellow DMP'ers:j:j

I thought I'd take the rare opportunity to post an update on how lil' old me's been getting on since starting my DMP with CCCS 6 months ago................for those of you who were about at the start of my journey..............6 months ago!?!?!? I hear you all cry:rotfl:.

For those of you who were with me at the start of my journey....THANK YOU:AI couldn't have started down this road without you!! . . . and for those of you who regularly support this thread .....THANK YOU:Aas I couldn't have got to this stage without you all!!:A
The support that you give to everyone on this thread is AMAZING, so many of you take the time to post regularly, there is always someone who comes to the rescue for us 'oldies' - get me classing myself as an 'oldie'!!!! and also who give the encouraagement and belief that they are doing the right thing to all the newbies who finally pluck up the courage to post.

I have just had a 6 month review with CCCS, I'd been bricking it as I had read a little while ago on here that someone's budget had been reduced dramatically and had been asked to remove certain items from their budget.....now bearing in mind my DMP dfd is about a million light years away and ideally they like DMP's done and dusted within about 10 years I thought for sure I'd be expected to cunger up a huge increase in my payments, however that was not the case! The girl at CCCS was lovely we went down line by line on each item and she asked me what I needed etc....anyway the upshot was that my payments have remained the same and she has confirmed that my budget is all within the guidelines so I'm a happy bunny:T:T.
We owe approx £66k to 9 creditors....:eek::eek:
N/R loan - no probs - 1st to accept dmp and not heard a peep since
Tesco loan - as N/R
M&S loan - as 2 above
MBNA cc (me) - stopped all charges & interest
TESCO cc (DH) - just charging the odd £12 here and there - no interest
HSBC - overdraft - !!!! - charging me £80 interest monthly , twice what I'm paying them................nice!
MBNA cc (DH) - !!!! - charging 2 x £12 fees monthly and £70 interest - we pay them £38 per month
Virgin cc (DH) - As MBNA above
Can't even think who the other one is off the top of my head!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway that's me 6 months in ......a whole heap happier....:D with a light at the end of that tunnel that gets brighter and brighter each day.

GOOD LUCK to all of you braving your debts...............don't be embarassed.............you should be proud that you've got this far. I used to be so embarassed that I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell anyone about our situation, but I've found the confidence to tell 3 of our closest friends and it's been the best thing we could have done as now when money's involved they always check if we can afford it and if we can't they'll adapt whatever we're doing to the old MSE way so that we can do it too.:cool::cool:

Keep it up guys and to all of you regular posters supporting and encouraging................THANK YOU SO MUCH.......you're changing people's lives.:A

Take care :beer:

MD xx

Twit_Head

DevonGirl wrote: »

My CCCS dmp is fairly tight (I've been far too honest with them and left myself with nothing ), so there's no extra money for overpayment. I'm barely surviving as it is!

Hi DevonGirl
Understand and SO feel for you! Keep the faith though-you'll get there in the end. I too have no entertainment/holiday/presents allowance in my budget. Have £10-00 per month for emergency/all sundries-duh???
Gritting my teeth and living with it - I borrowed it, I'll pay it back, but slightly perplexed (not a criticism folks!:)) by recent posts about entertainment expenditure.
Happy with CCCS but does anyone have opinions of different budget allocations between companies? Managed to claw back slight 'pleasure' spend from E-Bay sale but thought budget was allocated for basic living expenses???
Good wishes to all my fellow DMP members-keep on with the good work-it's NOT on the card:T

Twit_Head

massivedebts wrote: »

Good evening my fellow DMP'ers:j:j

Anyway that's me 6 months in ......a whole heap happier....:D with a light at the end of that tunnel that gets brighter and brighter each day.

GOOD LUCK to all of you braving your debts...............don't be embarassed.............you should be proud that you've got this far. I used to be so embarassed that I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell anyone about our situation, but I've found the confidence to tell 3 of our closest friends and it's been the best thing we could have done as now when money's involved they always check if we can afford it and if we can't they'll adapt whatever we're doing to the old MSE way so that we can do it too.:cool::cool:

Keep it up guys and to all of you regular posters supporting and encouraging................THANK YOU SO MUCH.......you're changing people's lives.:A

Take care :beer:

MD xx

Chuffed it's going so well for you. Was fair overcome with emotion at your post - cue lots of tissues!!!
So agree about sharing with people - told close friends and have had nothing but support. Good luck to you :beer:

pinkiepie68

Hi Twit Head
I have only just begun on my DMP route and I have loads of debt. When I completed CCCS online debt remedy I had never even visited this site so I was even more of a novice than I am now, but when I completed the remedy, I decided to put figures in for all categories that we reasonably spend in (& even a littl ein those we don't), even down to saying we buy newspapers when we only buy 1 per week, but I use this allowance to apy for my daughter's swimming lessons & dance class (I know that OH & I have been clowns with money & had crappy circumstances but I want her to suffer as little as possible). I reasoned that if I was living a virtaully hand to mouth existance for the duration of our DMP (between 6 & 9 years depending on the date our CSA payments end), we would never completely learn our lesson as we would go through the "hunger and burst" scenario every payday (like so may others (daffyks, bigmammamoppet etc) all mentioned and I know will probably still happen to me anyway!!!) Also, since finalising my paperwork with CCCS we have had a couple of surprise reductions (CSA payment reducing & arrears finishing due to reassessment and mortgage fixed deal ending and our mortgage going down!!), so I am going to wait a couple of months before informing of this reduction in priority payments to give us a further cushion in our Co-op saver account. (Conversely, our electricity has gone up by £ 20 per month due to arrears following estimated readings, so what goes round comes round.)
I just feel that I am wary of being on the phone to CCCS every time I have a change, as I feel that if they keep going back to my creditors to either reduce or even to increase my payments every little bit of time , it is a bit like poking a wasps nest (I keep hoping that they will forget about me!).

Maybe I have the wrong attitude, but I hope that by doing things in the way I am trying, we will be able to slightly have the best of all worlds (I.e. pay the debt, not affecdt DD too much and still have a little cushion) after all, if we had been more careful with our cushion in the 1st place we would not have got into so much bother!!

PP68 x

JillyOJolly

massivedebts wrote: »

Good evening my fellow DMP'ers:j:j

I thought I'd take the rare opportunity to post an update on how lil' old me's been getting on since starting my DMP with CCCS 6 months ago................for those of you who were about at the start of my journey..............6 months ago!?!?!? I hear you all cry:rotfl:.

For those of you who were with me at the start of my journey....THANK YOU:AI couldn't have started down this road without you!! . . . and for those of you who regularly support this thread .....THANK YOU:Aas I couldn't have got to this stage without you all!!:A
The support that you give to everyone on this thread is AMAZING, so many of you take the time to post regularly, there is always someone who comes to the rescue for us 'oldies' - get me classing myself as an 'oldie'!!!! and also who give the encouraagement and belief that they are doing the right thing to all the newbies who finally pluck up the courage to post.

I have just had a 6 month review with CCCS, I'd been bricking it as I had read a little while ago on here that someone's budget had been reduced dramatically and had been asked to remove certain items from their budget.....now bearing in mind my DMP dfd is about a million light years away and ideally they like DMP's done and dusted within about 10 years I thought for sure I'd be expected to cunger up a huge increase in my payments, however that was not the case! The girl at CCCS was lovely we went down line by line on each item and she asked me what I needed etc....anyway the upshot was that my payments have remained the same and she has confirmed that my budget is all within the guidelines so I'm a happy bunny:T:T.
We owe approx £66k to 9 creditors....:eek::eek:
N/R loan - no probs - 1st to accept dmp and not heard a peep since
Tesco loan - as N/R
M&S loan - as 2 above
MBNA cc (me) - stopped all charges & interest
TESCO cc (DH) - just charging the odd £12 here and there - no interest
HSBC - overdraft - !!!! - charging me £80 interest monthly , twice what I'm paying them................nice!
MBNA cc (DH) - !!!! - charging 2 x £12 fees monthly and £70 interest - we pay them £38 per month
Virgin cc (DH) - As MBNA above
Can't even think who the other one is off the top of my head!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway that's me 6 months in ......a whole heap happier....:D with a light at the end of that tunnel that gets brighter and brighter each day.

GOOD LUCK to all of you braving your debts...............don't be embarassed.............you should be proud that you've got this far. I used to be so embarassed that I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell anyone about our situation, but I've found the confidence to tell 3 of our closest friends and it's been the best thing we could have done as now when money's involved they always check if we can afford it and if we can't they'll adapt whatever we're doing to the old MSE way so that we can do it too.:cool::cool:

Keep it up guys and to all of you regular posters supporting and encouraging................THANK YOU SO MUCH.......you're changing people's lives.:A

Take care :beer:

MD xx

Hi

Chuffed to bits for you too. Its a great feeling when you get that control back! Well done you. We are all here and you are here for the newbies who are taking their tentative steps. I know I could not have done what I did without this site and when noone else understood or was there to share that little bit of excitement, you were all there.

Big up for DMPing :kisses:

Gpuk

Hi everyone , just another update from me. Went and opened a bank account with Co-Op today lady was lovely I asked for the basic account and she didn't even try and upsell to a different one (relief)! It should be open withing 48 hours so then I can register from online-banking and bob's your uncle! Very pleased as I really didn't want Halifax to know, Egg still calling me daily (5 times today a new record). I'm just ignoring them until everything has been set up and then I will speak to them, they'll probably faint with the shock whn I finally pick up

Thanks to everyone who posts on here as it makes it a little less scary and lonely! I will let you know what all my creditors say in due course!

sugarplum85

Hello everyone

I am new to this board :hello:

Long story short me and my partner started our DMP in 2007 and have made positive head way in paying off our debts.

Unfortunatley my partner has accrued two CCJ's and a charge on his half of our house from First plus. Northern Rock who are the largest of creditors failed to obtain a charge but First plus managed it :mad: This wasn't due to us failing to pay the CCJ, First plus didn't agree with what the judge ruled so they went on to pursue the charge.

I'm not worried because we do not aim to move untill all debts are paid in full and the charge is lifted. They just wanted to secure the debt the jammy monkeys plus they can't enforce sale of property unless we fail to keep up payments (Thats how the judge explained it to us)

Any way i'm glad there is a board here because it is nice to see people who are in the same situation as us (not that debt is a good thing) therefore we can all relate to each other :j

Take care every one xx

bigstuw

Morning all,
Not posted here before, but been reading the MSE forums for almost a year now. We are coming up to our first annual review with Payplan, so not sure what to expect from them as part of the review, but the feeling of starting a DMP and taking control back of our finances has been extraordinarily positive.

We had an original debt of over £77000 to 14 creditors, all caused through our own fault of over living for a few years and then juggling the debts from creditor to creditor for about 12 months. In fact my only regret is not starting the DMP a year earlier, we would potentially have "only" owed 60K, but hey ho a regret is simply a waste of energy!

Part of me and certainly my OH have quite enjoyed the challenge of living frugally, I'm sure others on this board also get great satisfaction from working out that a good healthy meal for the family has come in at well under £10, and in our house of 6 (all with healthy appetites) that is a constant challenge. The biggest problem has been clothing, especially school uniforms for the 2 eldest as they have changed schools (started High School last year and this year) and the uniforms have set us back close to £600 in the last 12 months, ridiculous for a state school, and would have been more if not for the 2nd hand shops at the schools!

So, 12 months in to our DMP we have repaid nearly £13K, and while most of our creditors have stopped interest, a couple still charge us, and the current schedule takes us into 2014, which sounds a long way off but isn't really. The thing I remember each time I get angry is that we got outselves into this mess, and we are determined to pay back every penny we owe. It's a life lesson isn't it?

On the whole things aren't that bad, myself and my OH tend to go without to ensure the children don't suffer too much, but it has also been an important lesson for them about living within means and being careful with money and possessions. If something gets broken, we cannot afford to replace it every time after all. We have also managed to pay for OH to do her NVQ Level 2 in hairdressing, which while it has cost us £700 (money saved on train fares while I was ill), in the long term will bring in another wage each month, in fact over the last 2-3 months around £300 has been earned already, and she doesn't qualify for another 2 months!

The worst part of this year is that with all the anxiety that had built up with the financial pressure, and work being incredibly stressful (14-15 hrs per day at one stage), I also managed to squeeze in a severe breakdown in March. Thankfully work was supportive and after a few months in a clinic (thank god for private health cover) and an interesting concoction of drugs I am now back at work, more focussed and determined than ever to get us back on track.

I now look at the fact we are in a DMP as a positive thing, I feel it's like admitting to being an alcoholic or a drug addict as in we were addicted to a lifestyle we could not afford, and we are now facing up to it and dealing with our problem. I know a number of people on these forums are in financial straits not through their own fault (unlike us), and they are the ones I have the most sympathy for.

Still, lets have a big hurrah for the simple cheap things in life such as walks in the woods, family picnics, charity shops, freecycling, our health and the many many more things that give us pleasure without a big bill!

Good luck all!

WorriedofSurrey

Hi Devongirl

I was in exactly the same boat as you, was brutally honest with CCCS and had every penny accounted for in eagerness to pay it off quicker, two months down the line and we were really struggling by mid month (even though we had been ebaying/car-booting). I gave them a call and they were absolutely fantastic, we talked through every outgoing again and now the DMP has been reduced by almost £200 per month. Obviously it will take us longer to pay it off, but at least we know we have money for food, fares etc.

I think the whole success of a DMP is getting the balance right between paying everything off as fast as possible and being able to live without thinking of money every waking moment.

Massivedebts that was a great post, I am only a few months is but have never in my life felt as in control as I am now, and that's a good feeling.

WoS

mozzyc

DevonGirl wrote: »

Hey mozzyc
Thanks for this interesting post. I'm in a similar situation with one of my creditors whom I pay £17 per month on a current account overdraft (which is now un-used - have switched my account to another bank), with them charging me £15 per month, so I am only paying off £2 per month. The overdraft is £960, so this debt is going to take a long long time to clear. My CCCS dmp is fairly tight (I've been far too honest with them and left myself with nothing ), so there's no extra money for overpayment. I'm barely surviving as it is!

My question is, is there a way of getting the interest stopped? I've tried a letter on the National Debtline website in which I told the bank concerned that all my other creditors have accepted the DMP, but just got a reply saying, sorry, no we won't freeze the interest. Is there any way forward? Should I ask CCCS to write to this creditor? Not sure whether to claim back bank charges at present as they are probably only £200 in total (bad enough, I know). Can you give me an idea about how you phrased your complaint letter - may be worth giving this a try.
Many thanks for any help you can give me....:D

HI!

I haven't heard back from Lloyds yet, but have only just sent the letter, so waiting to see. But basically I wrote

OFFICIAL COMPLAINT
Account Number - 000000000000


Dear Sir/Madam

We have written to you a few times now explaining about our financial difficulties. We have done what was advised on your website, and contacted Payplan to help with our debts. In 2005 we started up a debt
management plan to help pay back our creditors and reduce the amount owed.

Since starting the dmp in 2005, we have managed to reduce most of the debts we owe, with the help of most creditors stopping interest, enabling us to pay it off.
But after many requests from ourselves and Payplan, you have refused to help us pay off what we owe by adding interest to the loan every month, and over the past 4 years, after paying £202 per month, we have actually seen our balance go up, if not, remain the same. From December 2008 to July 2009, we have had £1000 interest added to the account.

Right now, by not being able to clear this debt in any possible way, it is putting our debt management plan at risk, with yourselves and our other creditors.

According to the consumer credit act - an example of unfair practice is

2.10 d. applying unreasonable charges, for example, charges not based on actual
and necessary costs

2.10 e. applying charges which are disproportionate to the main debt.


In order to help us pay off our debt to you, we request that you freeze the interest, and all interest added to the account be paid back from the time we first informed you of our financial difficulties in 2005.

If this is not possible, we request that the debt please be passed onto your Consumer Debt Recovery Department, so that the interest is stopped and that we may receive a figure that we can work towards clearing.

If you are unable to help us with our financial difficulties by not working with us and Payplan with the debt management plan (even though it is advised on your website to contact them to deal with debt management), by freezing the interest on our loan and we have not heard from you in 8 weeks, we will do what is advised by yourselves and will be writing to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

We hope that you work with us to help clear our debt and pay back the original loan amount and look
forward to hearing from you shortly.

Yours Faithfully

To be honest with you, its completely up to the creditor if they want to freeze the interest. There's nothing more you can do but keep pushing for it. Get you dmp company to also write and request that the interest gets frozen. And if i were you, i'd keep a template letter of the request to freeze interest letter on your desktop, change the date, and re-send it every month. That's what we are doing at the moment.
Good luck, and feel free to ask any more questions. Been on my dmp for 4 years now, and have faced all kinds from my creditors!!