DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

yellowpinky

Belated happy birthday wishes to Muddlemess :beer: Not the most ideal birthday starting your DMP on the same day but this is the start of things getting so much better.

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Can I ask anyone out there who's with Payplan when does the amount you paid in show up on Justabank? Mine went out yesterday but still not showing up. Think I'm a bit jittery cos its only the first month but I'd still like to know. Also heard someone who's with CCCS say they don't pay creditors until later in the month. Do Payplan do the same?
Thanks in advance.
ttf

Re: Payplan payment times - my payment to them leaves my bank account on the 8th, appears in Justabank on the 10th. The payments go out on the 15th and I've seen on statements credited payments appearing on the 17th. I'm not sure how to work it so that PP's payments fit in with creditors' payment dates, as all mine are at different times of the month anyway, so I'm just letting it happen when it happens.

An update on the the HSBC "is it an acceptance or a dodgy loan proposal?" paperwork I had last week, I e-mailed Payplan offering to send a copy of the paperwork for them to check over. They said this is what HSBC tends to do, and once they'd looked it over they told me they wouldn't recommend it as lumping together my c/card and overdraft into one "loan" gives them the potential to a) charge higher interest on the combined amount, and b) chase me more. They said it was ultimately up to me and they would update their records if I decided to go ahead, but I never felt comfortable with the idea of signing my life away so I'm going to take their advice and leave it.

Best of luck to those starting/considering DMP's, and hope everyone is well. Still peaceful - even the post has gone quiet though that might be to do with the postal strikes! Started Christmas shopping this weekend, it will be my first budget Christmas for a long time :eek:

YPx

the_tooth_fairy

Cheers Hun, thanks for that.
My DFD is Dec 2014 - I'll be 50 (and a half)
Hopefully a bit wiser!

Have to say, I had a real fit of the giggles this morning when I read on the Justabank website that, "We do not accept Credit Cards as a form of payment"
I know it's no laughing matter but really...

snowymalone

We've been on our DMP with CCCS since June - and then we got a letter on Saturday saying they're going to ring up and do a review with us in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any idea why they'd do this so soon - nothing's changed in four months, except our life insurance premiums have dropped a bit.

That said, when we switched insurers two months ago we did get a couple of thousand quid surrender on the old policy, but as we have no access to credit any more we immediately spent that on getting some essential and overdue stuff done in the house, buying furniture (the old stuff was on its way out, and certainly wouldn't have lasted another seven years until the DMP ends), and supplying our son with the extortionately expensive software and equipment he needs to complete his music A level (they say it's optional, but at the same time make it quite clear that without it high grades are a bit less likely...)

Anyway, could this windfall - which has been and gone - have any bearing on this puzzlingly early review?

geoffmr1

snowymalone wrote: »

We've been on our DMP with CCCS since June - and then we got a letter on Saturday saying they're going to ring up and do a review with us in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any idea why they'd do this so soon - nothing's changed in four months, except our life insurance premiums have dropped a bit.

That said, when we switched insurers two months ago we did get a couple of thousand quid surrender on the old policy, but as we have no access to credit any more we immediately spent that on getting some essential and overdue stuff done in the house, buying furniture (the old stuff was on its way out, and certainly wouldn't have lasted another seven years until the DMP ends), and supplying our son with the extortionately expensive software and equipment he needs to complete his music A level (they say it's optional, but at the same time make it quite clear that without it high grades are a bit less likely...)

Anyway, could this windfall - which has been and gone - have any bearing on this puzzlingly early review?

Hi snowymalone,

Please don't worry yourself about this review, there's nothing sinister behind it. When I started my DMP with CCCS a couple of years ago they done the same thing with me, it's really to check everything is going ok. Make sure you still have all the financial figures to hand that you previously gave them & it will take no more than about 10 minutes to do.

They will neither know or care about the fact you spent that 2k on essentials. I wouldn't even mention it, it's not like they monitor your bank account. As long as your being as truthful as you can be then there is nothing to worry about. Nobody can spend every single penny they get on repaying debt no matter how much we'd all like to at times (to reduce the DMP length), everyone has Christmas & birthdays to pay out for & emergencies do come up.

I've had several reviews with CCCS over the past couple of years & have never had a problem or been questioned about anything. Apart from when I first joined them I've never even had to provide proof of the figures I provide such as tax credits or wages etc. I could do if they asked but they never have.

geoffmr1

On a different subject (away from DMP's), how bad are MBNA. In 2002 I took out a £3000 personal loan with them in which they basically forced me to take PPI (one of numerous bad decisions I took back then which led to my debt & eventual DMP). I took the loan to buy baby equipment as our first child had just recently been born & I could barely afford food due to my loss of employment.

Anyway I started the PPI reclaim in Oct 2008 & my complaint was upheld in Feb 2009. MBNA continued to deny any wrong doing & fought with the Ombudsman for months. Well back in July '09 they eventually relented & whilst still insisting they did no wrong agreed to payout the £769 PPI plus interest at 8% & £200 compensation on a goodwill basis within 8 weeks.

It's now October & I've still not received a penny, I called them only to be told that the loans department are trying to work out how much the refund should be with interest. It's amazing how it didn't take them 10 minutes to work out how much I owed them including interest & charges when I couldn't pay them the remainder of the loan (about £350).

DevonGirl

Well said, geoffmr1, I agree with everything you've said to snowymalone - good advice. I've been a bit of a worrywort recently, worrying about every penny and my DMP, and while I admire those on the PAD (payment a day) thread, it's true, you have to live while on a DMP, and emergencies do come up.

Just looking at your signature, you've paid off £20k on your DMP in 2 years - any tips you can give the gang, have you managed any F&Fs or do you just have a high monthly amount you pay? I owe £26k, CCCS payments are approx £260 p/m and DFD is 2018 - (must admit I'm considering bankruptcy at this point in time, but anyway...)
Thanks
DG

londonfraggle

ianmak wrote: »

There's a college near me who teach hairdressing. They do a similar thing, but charge. A small amount obviously though. I guess you could look for something similar near to you?

Following advice on here I phoned my local college and discovered that they do have a salon etc so have now got a lovely new haircut all for the princely sum of £10 - very chuffed!! So thank you all for that fab advice! Even more excitingly they do other "bits and bobs" for super cheap prices. Admittedly the haircut did take 2 hours but for only a tenner I would say that was well worth it!

Well - an update on my DMP. It's all with the CCCS now. They are contacting all creditors now making offers etc. Anyone have any idea how long this bit usually takes? I'm going to leave it til the end of the week then give them a call back to see where we're at. So far all my creditors have been suprisingly nice to me - lets hope it stays that way.... I'm going away on business this weekend for a week and would really like to know that the ball was rolling before I went away. I'm feeling nervous/sick/jittery but I suppose this is always the way at the beginning.

Hope you all had lovely weekends - I managed to clean my entire flat and even fixed the loo seat - am feeling very DIY and smug today!

Have a lovely monday everyone.

Fraggle x

geoffmr1

I'll apologise now as I just know this will turn into a very, very, very long & probably boring post. Its really to answer DevonGirl's question as to how my DMP has come down so much in two years & also for the people who follow this site but are too embarrassed or too shy to post.

Prior to me joining the DMP club in 2007 I was seriously in debt (£36500) & had no way of paying it, my debt had been much worse than this, however I moved from the bright lights of London to a small village in Suffolk during the property boom just so I could release some equity from my house to pay some off. I hadn't used credit in months or for some of my cards even years, but the debt continued to build at a rapid rate due to charges & interest plus the fact I couldn't meet minimum repayments. At that time I had no knowledge of DMP's or that such a thing exsisted & to be honest I had never even heard of the National debtline, CCCS or Payplan let alone contacted them.

I remember I used to be at home watching television & every other advert used to be for Ocean finance or some other debt company talking about consolidation loans, it made me feel physically sick as I genuinely couldn't see any way forward for myself. I wasn't working as I'd been made redundant so I had no chance of one of these loans, I used to go out the room or turn the tv over whenever one of these adverts came on (how silly I feel now about those days). I had a pile of letters (around a foot high) of correspondence & bills 80%+ of which went unopened, the only ones I would open were letters I didn't believe to be from any of my creditors (even that I got wrong half the time). If the phone were to ring I wouldn't answer it & would feel sick, I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat & was a complete wreck, all the while trying to pretend to my two little children & rest of my family everything was fine.

Things eventually changed for me when I got a temporary Christmas contract at a local firm, delivering & installing televisions. The guy I was working with out of the blue started talking about his prior debt & how the best thing the previous government did was setting up the national debtline, his circumstances mirrored my own. I didn't feel like I could tell him my own position as he was on top of his debts whereas until he mentioned the debtline I hadn't even heard of them.

I still put it off for a few weeks through fear of being judged but eventually made the call to the debtline. They couldn't have been more understanding or helpful, they went through everything & told me about DMP's. They contacted CCCS for me & put everything into place to start my plan. I don't think I've ever felt such relief in my life. I was finally doing something.

My DMP started in October 2007 & everything seemed to be going fine, my largest creditor Goldfish accepted the DMP straight away for a year even though they were only going to be getting about £25 a month on a £16000 debt. Some creditors I never heard from but they accepted the plan, the one creditor I was to have problems with were HFC but I didn't know that until months later, I just started letting things go over my head & forgot as much as possible about the debt. I had a great Christmas all paid for with cash (no credit) & was really looking forward to 2008 as being a new start. Then on my birthday on January 18th we had been to the London Boat Show to see how the other half live, we'd had a fantastic day which changed when we got home. I had a letter from Weightmans solicitors regarding my HFC debt, they wanted me to agree to a voluntary charge on my property or they would go for a CCJ & a charge anyway along with an increase of my debt from £9000 to £16000, again the feeling of sickness returned. I spoke to CCCS who reassured me to ignore them and that they wouldn't get a charge as I was sticking to my payment plan. I felt happy again only to have Weightmans phone me & the guy on the phone tell me that CCCS were talking rubbish & that they would get a Charge on my property (they even boast on there website how many successful orders they have obtained). I phoned CCCS again & this time got different advice, now they were saying that Weightmans probably would get the Charge as Judges were just awarding them now once they have successfully obtained the CCJ & a forthwith judgement. I was mortified, I know from others how charges can prevent you being able to remortgage & certainly at preferential rates which is what people in debt need, especially as my mortgage is with Northern Rock who were a mess back then.

Anyway as I was slightly stronger then due to the DMP I started looking around at forums online & found the CAG forum. They were great & along with the National debtline gave me the confidence to fight. I did waiver a few times especially when I received the court papers through, but by then I felt I had nothing to lose so I requested a copy of my CCA. They did eventually supply one but clearly it wasn't enforceable, I continued making my monthly payments & tried to negotiate but they wouldn't listen. This fight went on for basically a year, I had to attend the Judges chambers 3 times to fight my corner & each time their solicitor seemed to get the upper hand. Eventually we got a court date through for the 20th Dec 2008 (I couldn't believe it, Christmas is my favourite time of year & was going to be ruined again along with the fact I was going to have to miss my youngest childs first ever nativity play). Anyway I refused to back down & on the 19th Dec Weightmans phoned me agreeing to reduce my debt & accepting the CCCS payment which was already in place, I had won. That victory was so important as it gave me the belief to fight against them all, since then I have had numerous victories with the Ombudsman & my debt has significantly reduced from the £36500 to £16400. I haven't ignored any debts I've continued to pay, however I refuse to pay charges or interest on unenforceable agreements, I will only pay back the money I actually used. This along with bank charges & ppi has allowed me to wipe that £20000 off my debt.

I'm still on a very long term DMP which will probably outlast most people on here. I believe my DFD is 2026, I can only afford to pay £83 a month towards my debts. It's a long time I admit but I have managed to pay off a few of the smaller debts quicker with F&F offers, others have been paid off through refund of charges & MBNA's will soon be gone when they stump up the ppi shortly. My DFD is coming down all the time, but I will never overstretch myself having learnt the hard way. If that means debt repayments for the next 16 years then so be it at least I can continue to live & also means that whilst my kids never get the best stuff around they also don't miss out because of my own stupidity.

Once again I apologise for the essay & congratulations to anyone who managed to read it without falling asleep!!

JillyOJolly

ianmak wrote: »

I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, the settlement figure is when you're paying the whole lot off. The £30k is due to the extra interest that they would have earnt through you paying the debt off for the next few years. I think. They did a similar thing to me on my loan.

As I say, I could be wrong, but I have a feeling this is what the issue is.

just reading on catch up so forgive me if someone has already put this.

Any settlement figure will depend on the interest on any loan and when it is due. Even if you are not on a DMP and you finish your loan early your settlement will be higher than what your balance of the day is. This is because loans are taken out with a percentage of interest on top (their little payment for giving you the money). If you pay off your loan early they wont get "their little payment" so when you want to settle early they give you a higher balance its because they will have added the interest they would have got if you had paid the whole amount. For example if you had a £100 loan over 10 months with 10% interest, but decided you could pay it off after 5 months, as well as the remaining balance, any interest you would have paid over the 10 months will also be added. Phew, hope that makes sense, I went round the houses a bit there.

This doesnt matter whether you are on a DMP or not, so please dont think just cos you are now strapped they are stinging you even more. They arent, they just want paying for the money they gave you when you needed it.

JOJ

ianmak

Cheers Geoff, that was a brilliant read, and encourage us not to just bend over and let them screw us all over!