DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

pinkpower

Hi everyone, feeling cross this evening. After yet another 2 phone calls from Egg this week, I had an e-mail asking me to call them. Each time I explain about being with CCCS and they say oh yes - sorry we won't bother you again. And then do just that. Tonight I e-mailed back and told them to contact CCCS if they wanted to talk about the proposal. I wouldn't mind as much (well, I probably would:) ) if they had bothered to respond to the offer CCCS muct have sent them nearly 2 months ago. GRRRR

whichwaynow_2

Haven't posted for a while, but have been reading thread with interest. My DMP is all set up and ready to start on 1st October. Have heard from one of our biggest creditors today, MBNA, and they have agreed to stop all interest and charges. Hope the others, are as easy although have a feeling they won't be. Have an overdraft and loan with HSBC, they have written offering a consolidation loan - errr no thanks. It's thanks to those that I am in this position!

Haven't had any phone calls so far. Have to say it is definitely the best thing I have done. Feel so much better for sorting our debts out this way. Wish we had done it sooner. It's so nice to feel in control and am enjoying sticking to a budget!

Thanks to everyone on this thread, you are all such a great support and source of knowledge and encouragement.

Good luck to everyone on their Debt Free Journey x

muddlemess

Hi all, received a letter from Lloyds today reminding me that my overdraft with them is due to be reviewed early Oct and that they will be withdrawing the facility from this time!
Any ideas what happens? They have my notification of DMP but hopefully starting 1 OCT!

londonfraggle

Hello all.

I have spoken to the CCCS and we've agreed to start my DMP on 1 November rather than 1 October to a) make sure I have informed all of my creditors - as there are a couple (my bank with overdraft and personal loan) I am waiting to inform until I know that my salary is going into my new basic account and b) to make sure I have enough to cover my priority bills in October with flatmate moving out and new one moving in. I have to say it was a huge relief to know that I wasn't going to have to go begging on the streets for the month!

But...have a question. I will be sending my creditors token payments in October - again! Can anyone recommend a good letter as of course this will be the second token payment they've received from me and I want to try and keep things smoothed over with them until the CCCS contact them in October with the offers. I haven't had too many phone calls yet (perhaps because I've changed my home telephone number - heheheheh) but am sure once they receive a second token payment it will prompt a deluge. So...any advice on how to deal with this would be great.

Hope you're all happy and having a lovely week and that the DMPing is going well!

Fraggle x

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone... just checking in for an update... havent been on here for ages!

Everything still going fine for me. Only spanner in the works is Simply Be, who claim Kensington havent spoken to them and keep adding interest, and Kensington claiming Simply Be are liars!!! Oh, its all fun and games until someone loses an eye!! :rotfl:
Biggest surprise is CitiCard, who rolled over and played ball without a single peep. Interest and charges stopped more or less straight away, no objections.
NatWest tried to play silly beggars by claiming they had recieved the payment late but the hairdryer treatment from Kensington resolved that and I havent heard anything else. Santander (Evans card) have passed to CL Finance but they have said the payment is fine, and just carry on paying.
It feels really good not to have to worry about things - however I may have a potential problem which I dont wish to bother Kensington with yet, but Im just thinking ahead.
OH is a postal worker and his wages currently cover all the bills. Mercifully, the mortgage is very small and that isnt an issue. However, if the threatened strike goes ahead and goes on for what seems like forever as in some parts of the country, we could start running into trouble without his wage. We have a combined income of about 35k basic, but with my unsociable hours payments its probably about 38k. However the majority of that is his, and we will struggle on my wage alone.(I work full-time and my hospital has a policy of strictly no bank shifts for full-time staff)
In this situation, would I be able to reduce my payments possibly to my DMP just until OH goes back to work? We're praying that we wont need to do this but I have ot think about it - any advice would be gratefully recieved!
Mrs_R xx

ANY_CHANCE

Mrs Ryan, glad to hear most of your creditors have accepted the reduced payments.
If your income drops i would let them know straight away and adjust the payments accordingly.

I was in a similar situation where income had dropped and i kept trying to pay the same amount and ended up almost in a bigger mess beacause i was worried what they would do if ireduced payment.

Now i pay £1 and for now that seems fine with them. Halifax passed on to blair oliver scott which is good because now there is no interest being applied & CL finance were fine too

Alty_Blue

DMP question. THis maybe stupid, but knowing these boards, hopefully you'll go easy on me. We are at the stage when we may have to take a DMP out. A couple of questions
CCCS or Payplan?
Daft question alert - Will they build into the calculation money for birthdays and Xmas, and one of payments like Car tax and MOT etc. PLease go easy on me because I am feeling throwing myself off a high bridge at the moment. THankks everyone.

DevonGirl

Alty_Blue wrote: »

DMP question. THis maybe stupid, but knowing these boards, hopefully you'll go easy on me. We are at the stage when we may have to take a DMP out. A couple of questions
CCCS or Payplan?
Daft question alert - Will they build into the calculation money for birthdays and Xmas, and one of payments like Car tax and MOT etc. PLease go easy on me because I am feeling throwing myself off a high bridge at the moment. THankks everyone.

Hi AB
Don't worry, there's no such thing as a stupid question! It's a complex business this debt malarky!!

CCCS or PayPlan - I suggest you look at both websites and speak to them both and see which you prefer as they do seem to have slightly differnet approaches. Most people on the DMP thread seem to be on one of those, with the remainder mananging their own DMPs. As far as I know they are both offer free advice and support - definitely don't go for a DMP with an organisation that charges.

With regards to the budget question, I can only answer as far as CCCS are concerned as my DMP is with them, but yes, car tax and MOT are included in your budget, as well as AA/RAC and upkeep/maintenance costs. I would advise you to get a realistic figure of how much your car costs you per annum (rather than keeping it low to please your creditors), as I made this mistake and then when my car failed its MOT, I had to lower a month's DMP payment to pay for the repairs. (Only 1 creditor kicked up a fuss, mind ).

Birthdays and Christmas I think are loosely budgeted for but over a year, so the idea is to save up.... I too would appreciate advice on this one - I am currently trying to squirrel away a few quid a month from other areas of my budget ahead of Christmas.
Hope this helps
DG

fermi

May be of interest to some....

MSE News Article: Debt management firms may face regulation

Discussion thread: Debt management firms may face regulation

Link to the consultation papers if you want to have a read:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultati...nt-schemes.htm

Debt management schemes - consultation paper (PDF 0.28mb 56 pages)

Debt management schemes - impact assessment and annexes (PDF 0.50mb 58 pages)

2spicy

pinkpower wrote: »

Hi everyone, feeling cross this evening. After yet another 2 phone calls from Egg this week, I had an e-mail asking me to call them. Each time I explain about being with CCCS and they say oh yes - sorry we won't bother you again. And then do just that. Tonight I e-mailed back and told them to contact CCCS if they wanted to talk about the proposal. I wouldn't mind as much (well, I probably would:) ) if they had bothered to respond to the offer CCCS muct have sent them nearly 2 months ago. GRRRR

If all else fails, send them the harrassment letters asking them to contact you in writing only.