DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

leese2504

Hi hun,

Hope you have had a good week off so far, how are you getting on with HSBC any progress yet? xx

Eupho

leese2504 wrote: »

Hi hun,

Hope you have had a good week off so far, how are you getting on with HSBC any progress yet? xx

hellooo Leeeese :wave:

nope.. BUT!.. they are back to calling me about 6-8 times a day (less than before I know) .. I'm wondering if it's a different department.. because I saved 3 numbers (that called me from them) on my phone.. (so I know whose calling. _pale_ haha)

Anyhooo.. when I was getting all those calls before they were from HSBC2 ..
Those have stopped.
All the calls now are from HSBC3 ..

(maybe because one might be my loan.. and one was my credit card?) ..

Anyhoooo.. :rolleyes:

I have had a lovely week off!.. :j Been pottering around the garden, making yummy dinners (on a tight budget :rotfl:) ... But actually starting to get a bit bored now. I haven't see ONE adult.. except for when I have been shopping etc.. haha!
:wave:

DevonGirl

Eupho wrote: »

hellooo Leeeese :wave:

nope.. BUT!.. they are back to calling me about 6-8 times a day (less than before I know) .. I'm wondering if it's a different department.. because I saved 3 numbers (that called me from them) on my phone.. (so I know whose calling. _pale_ haha)

Anyhooo.. when I was getting all those calls before they were from HSBC2 ..
Those have stopped.
All the calls now are from HSBC3 ..

(maybe because one might be my loan.. and one was my credit card?) ..

Hey Eupho

Very, very sneaky, but I went onto HSBC internet banking one evening after 9pm (when they stop calling for the day) and removed my telephone number. Simple as. :rotfl:Keep checking to see if they've put it back in but nope, no contact number. Phone is quiet now!! Worth a try?

Has been replaced with a daily international number which doesn't come up - just INTERNATIONAL on my phone screen. Main suspect is Citibank, but innocent until proven guilty and all that...

DG

tass

massivedebts wrote: »

Hi AMW
Did a budget review today with CCCS. Am now grrrrrr. When I first set it up last Sept, they told me I could have £20 for school trips a month, £6 newspapers etc. Today I have been told the most I can have for school trips is £10!!! And £5 for newspapers, and it seemed that everything else I had they said nope you have to have this and it was lots less. Even told me one thing I had I could no longer, they gave me it last time! So this has nicely pushed up the amount I can pay back, however, I was just managing as I was :-( My kids both doing swimming at school once a week at a cost of £1.30 each! Then every week they bring letters home needing a £1 for this that and the other or £3.00 if its something special coming into school. I told the women this but she said tough basically. I am disillusioned with the whole thing now, because it appears to me that once you start the plan they want to cut back and bump up the payments. I would have preferred a hike of £20 a month, not over £60! Also the way she worked the income out, x it by 12 and dividing. I don't get that figure in my account every month she came up with. Was thinking of going it alone and was using the update to then jump ship. Wish I had never done an update with them and jumped ship and done it myself. I can't now for 6 months go back and say I earn less etc. Am feeling slightly miffed to be honest. I want to pay all back I owe but at an affordable rate. I didn't have this problem when I first joined ??? Why are figures your allowed for clothes etc going down?? Also, never realised if you had big things to pay out for like car repairs etc you are supposed to inform them and they tell you creditors you can only make smaller payments that month etc. Sorry for the moan but I think in their eyes from what was said DMP's are to run no more than 10 years my new payments bring me under that. To be honest the women I had must have had PMT as I didnt find her as pleasant as people I have dealt with in the past. x


Sorry to hear that you're having a tough time after your review. Sounds really strange that they are reducing the amount of money you're allowed for each section, clothes, kids pocket money etc.
When I set my budget with CCCS (only started Apr 09) they CCCS guy up'd alot of what I thought my expenditure for each would be as he said I need to be realistic and can't leave myself short.....I hope he didn't do this so that in 6 months time they can tell me that I can only have half what I'm allowed now.!!:eek::eek:
Have you posted on the CCCs thread maybe you just got 'Miss Grumpy Drawers':p when you called so perhaps a different CCCS person may make you feel a little more positive.
Well done for getting through your DMP to this stage:T, keep smiling and please either post on the CCCS board or call again to spk to another representitive to restore your faith in CCCS.

Take care and let us know how you get on!

MD xx

We found this with our review this time. We have two teenage sons and they told us that £10 per month was enough for pocket money for them. We don't give them loads of money anyway because we just can't but the woman was actually quite cheeky I thought. She said this is the amount that is recommended. Why then do kids whose parents have a low income get £30 per week just to go to school... We got the newspaper line also. This was our last review with CCCS because we are in the fortunate position of being able to sort everything out at the beginning of the new year. This is our seventh year on our DMP with no problems up until now. I would seriously be considering going it alone if we were having to carry on with the DMP beyond the next few months. It did occur to me that maybe the woman was just having a bad day.

at_my_wittsend

Thanks for the replies.
Just annoyed me that when first started those were the figures they came up with and this time they have cut them right back. They did say they had been getting a hard time off creditors and needed to be more realistic in line with what a Court would allow as they were being to generous. Not sure I will make it on the new payments but will be either straight on the phone or doing my own thing. As much as I hate Lloyds, god I love to annoy them. I don't mind phoning them, they are so glad to get me off the phone by the end of the call! In fact they instigate hanging up. I am concerned in 6 months time I know I cannot up the payments - Lloyds advised me they only expect a £1 or £2 upage in payment every 6 months and will accept. Anything less or no change they will chase you. Bit of a pain but will plod on. Have a small amount of old gold jellery to cash up and am going to put it back to pay one of my small debts off, of course when I am changing to do my own plan also hoped to have saved up another small amount to pay another at the same time, plan scuppered as don't see how I am going to survive. Have £15 to get me through the weekend - buy food, petrol and lunch for kids for school beginning of next week! That's me not eating, only good thing about plan is the weight loss lol. Anyway, good weekend to all. Onwards and upwards as they say. In time things will get better for us all. x

bigmommamuppet

tass wrote: »

We found this with our review this time. We have two teenage sons and they told us that £10 per month was enough for pocket money for them. We don't give them loads of money anyway because we just can't but the woman was actually quite cheeky I thought. She said this is the amount that is recommended. Why then do kids whose parents have a low income get £30 per week just to go to school... We got the newspaper line also. This was our last review with CCCS because we are in the fortunate position of being able to sort everything out at the beginning of the new year. This is our seventh year on our DMP with no problems up until now. I would seriously be considering going it alone if we were having to carry on with the DMP beyond the next few months. It did occur to me that maybe the woman was just having a bad day.

I've just had my 1st review with CCCS and I had put down £20 pocket money for my two little ones, CCCS didn't question it even though they're 5 & 3 plus £37 for school lunches and £20 I think for other activities. I also increased my fuel budget & car maintenance fund with out any problems. Mind you I did up my payment by £300 per month so maybe they're happy that the payment is going up so they overlook the other things.

If they ever got funny I would defo take over the plan myself as I couldn't realistically live on any less :rolleyes:

Becks

ianmak

Eupho wrote: »

Bums! ... but £21 is better than nothing... and really.. really DO go and look (sign up if you havent already) with one of the cash back sites. You'll be kicking yourself after if you dont.. :rotfl:

I can't recommend Quidco enough. So far this year I've received 7 quid for applying for a co-op account that I was rejected for (I ended up with a cashminder account...), £28 from Swiftcover car insurance (very cheap btw) and just waiting on 14 quid for signing up to a free trial with Lovefilm. You can always leave after the trial.

It's great if you're not in a hurry for cash, and always a nice surprise when you get it.

Toffee_Penny

Hi all :cool:

Interesting to read others thoughts on CCCS, I have always found them extremely helpful and polite apart from the one who kept trying to persuade me a realistic option was bankruptcy, hmmm yeah so is winning the lottery but hey ho!

Don't want to be shot down in flames on here BUT are you really putting down the truth to the very last penny on your budget? For instance during the set up of our DMP, the recommendation set by CCCS for us for fuel and parking was £108. Way too much and there is no way I use this amount so I said I used £60 instead. This gives me room every month for a spare tenner or so as I usually put in about £10-£15 a week. We were given a recommended amount of £383 a month for food for 2 adults 2 children but we increased this amount to £420, we can usually spend about £70-80 a week. So when daughter asks to go to town with mates or wants a few quid for a school meal, money is available. I also put down that I have meals at work, I take a packed lunch most days.

See what I mean?

I'm not saying to people lie on their budget but over estimate a little and be realistic in how you spend your money each month, if you sometimes catch the bus then put down your bus fares even if you walk most of the time. Sometimes having the odd extra tenner in your back pocket really makes a difference during the month.

Many choose to set up a DMP because of the flexibility as you are both able to live your life and pay your debts comfortably without struggling. We are due to have a review and are looking to increase our payments by £50 - £80 per month. OH is back at work alot more than he was and my wages have increased slightly. We could if we wanted pay more than that but we would have to watch our pennies down to the last one every month. Yes ok our debt free date would be closer but we choose not to put ourselves under that much pressure month by month.

We are paying our debts but still have money to have the odd treat now and again. We have both stopped smoking and don't live it up at the weekends at pubs or clubs in fact we are very boring - work, home, work, home so if we take a trip to Pizza Hut or have a pub meal one month then that to us is our big treat.

So whilst I might tweak the figures on the budget here and there it is not cause I'm swanning around dripping of gold or planning all inclusive holidays. It's about giving us le-way (have I spelt that right?) throughout the month. I'm done with watching the pennies every month, we used to struggle so much pre-DMP days. It's nice to have a few quid in the back pocket and enjoy life but this time we are alot more sensible. There is no splashing out on shopping trips and buying toys and clothes, we buy what we need now not just cause we want it and seem alot better off for it.

Sorry to waffle on but I hope this helps someone if you are genuinely struggling with your budget. It is far better to over estimate than under estimate. A month is a long time when you are counting the days to pay day!

ianmak

Absolutely right TP.

6 months on and I'm still struggling. PP made me over budget after I put low figures down, and at the end of the month I still have little money left. It doesn't really take into account nights out, or any alterations to the plan (unless you tell them - but you don't want to do that every month?). I feel you really have to look ahead for any pitfalls ahead, you never know what's round the corner...

Toffee_Penny

ianmak wrote: »

Absolutely right TP.

6 months on and I'm still struggling. PP made me over budget after I put low figures down, and at the end of the month I still have little money left. It doesn't really take into account nights out, or any alterations to the plan (unless you tell them - but you don't want to do that every month?). I feel you really have to look ahead for any pitfalls ahead, you never know what's round the corner...

Hi Ian, good to catch up with you again :beer:
I'm sure I read on here (or could be CAG forum) about Payplan being more strict with the budget than CCCS. I mean when we first started our DMP we put £50 a month for fags! Apart from the fact we were stupid enough to spend that each month on the things I'm sure Payplan would have raised eyebrows and told us to cut down, so CCCS maybe were a bit more lenient in this instance as they didn't question the total in the box.

I think it is all too easy to fall into the trap of adjusting to live on this new budget so quick after getting rid of all the credit. You are also desperate to impress the creditors by appearing to account for every last penny. I don't think the guilt of being in debt ever goes away until you have paid back every last penny but are the creditors getting restless and putting pressure on the debt charities to do more to get their money back quicker? Or does it just depend on what advisor you get?

Either way I enjoy reading how we are getting on and what we have all accounted for on our budgets. We have a hamster but I don't think I could include it on our DMP when it asks 'do you own any pets'? I would feel a fraud :rotfl: