DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

Triggles

We took the last couple hundred out of our overdraft, but mainly because we needed to pay rent and council tax and such, and everything is up in the air between two accounts. The last thing we needed was the bank to allow a direct debit to be reinstated or take the full payment for a loan we were going to make a token payment on, and leave us with no money to provide for rent and groceries and nappies. We also don't know for certain if DH's upcoming paycheque is going to get deposited into our old account or our new one - and since by then we will have missed a loan payment and a few others, we don't want to have to worry about it being kept by the bank or frozen in our account. We also withdrew money to pay for car repairs (to the dreadful tune of £550 for a cracked head gasket and broken water pump!) that we weren't anticipating. Again, we withdrew it in cash as we simply couldn't afford risking that the bank might freeze the account and not allow DH to use his bank card to pay for it. It did pretty much wipe out our overdraft, but we've been coming close to maxing it off and on over the past six months anyway. Other than the amount of our benefits to cover immediate essential expenses and money to cover car repairs, we didn't spend or withdraw more than we normally do. I will have the receipt for the car repairs, plus obviously our rent and council tax and such, so if it ever comes into question, we can produce them (if need be) to show why it was needed.

I can certainly understand if someone who never used their overdraft suddenly emptied it, but we absolutely have been living in it for the last year, barely zeroing it out (and sometimes not even that) when DH gets paid each month.

Northstar68

Triggles wrote: »

We took the last couple hundred out of our overdraft, but mainly because we needed to pay rent and council tax and such, and everything is up in the air between two accounts. The last thing we needed was the bank to allow a direct debit to be reinstated or take the full payment for a loan we were going to make a token payment on, and leave us with no money to provide for rent and groceries and nappies. We also don't know for certain if DH's upcoming paycheque is going to get deposited into our old account or our new one - and since by then we will have missed a loan payment and a few others, we don't want to have to worry about it being kept by the bank or frozen in our account. We also withdrew money to pay for car repairs (to the dreadful tune of £550 for a cracked head gasket and broken water pump!) that we weren't anticipating. Again, we withdrew it in cash as we simply couldn't afford risking that the bank might freeze the account and not allow DH to use his bank card to pay for it. It did pretty much wipe out our overdraft, but we've been coming close to maxing it off and on over the past six months anyway. Other than the amount of our benefits to cover immediate essential expenses and money to cover car repairs, we didn't spend or withdraw more than we normally do. I will have the receipt for the car repairs, plus obviously our rent and council tax and such, so if it ever comes into question, we can produce them (if need be) to show why it was needed.

I can certainly understand if someone who never used their overdraft suddenly emptied it, but we absolutely have been living in it for the last year, barely zeroing it out (and sometimes not even that) when DH gets paid each month.

Exactly the same with us Triggles, our car failed its MOT last week, it's needed for OH's work, break pads and shoes plus cost of MOT, it has crippled us now, plus OH came home with no wages tonight, he just wasnt paid, hence why I had to cancel our 1st of the month direct debits and why I needed to take out our last £300 of our overdraft. This will be the last time because our overdraft facility is being removed on the 1st December. It will be on our DMP too so this was the last time. Our pattern since April has been the same, money has gone in, cleared the overdraft but then gone again due to all the things that needed paying.
today I have felt sick to the stomach, tension headache, not good, it was my little one's 4th birthday and it was damn bloody hard to keep a smiling face. In all my life I have not experienced anything like this and today I am struggling. We also had a huge row when he came in, the OH, then off he trotted again leaving me to hold it together for the children's sakes. I wish I could walk out the door for a few hours without thinking who's going to look after the girls etc.
Sigh.
Sorry for going on a bit there, not a good day. Im sure it will be better once all the paperwork is processed. #
Thank you as always for listening and being there, god I must sound awful!

Triggles

Northstar - I know - it looks bad, and I know we were all discussing it - and then our car took a nosedive. And we needed the money. TBH, we don't normally withdraw the money, we use our bank card to pay for things, but with the direct debits being cancelled and some of them for debts to our bank, we were afraid they would take the money anyway and leave us nothing for rent or council tax, which was due this week or groceries. The car breaking down (thankfully we have roadside coverage!!) and needing repair has just been the last straw. We were not in a great mind the other night and when we went to use a credit card (stupidly), it was declined, which on reflection is probably a good thing, as it was a stupid spend, but we were just sooooo stressed and wound up, we resorted to old bad spending habits. That particular card actually did receive their full payment this month, as it went out before the direct debit could be cancelled, so at least I feel a little better about that. We're both annoyed with ourselves and really embarrassed that we could so easily slip back into that bad habit. We've sat down and agreed that it won't happen again. I've written our budget out, and I'm keeping receipts for groceries and such, so we can look them over at the end of the month to see where we can cut down or where we've spent more than we should have.

I think that is one of the hardest things about this - just starting out, you feel good that you're doing something to fix the problem, but occasionally you feel down and aggravated and it's just sooo tempting to spend money to relieve a little frustration. Have to be strong about it and keep each other in check.

bailey59

Flippen heck, I posted a reply to the overdraft thing this afternoon, after I typed it all I was told the forum was being worked on and lost it all!!

Anyways, its ok geoffmr1, I didnt think it was aimed at anyone particular and it was a valid point to bring up. I only wanted to tell everyone my situation but after reading my post I think it could have been misread so I wanted to clear any confusion up about my overdraft. The last thing anyone should do is take on extra debt just because they are going on a DMP and think it can just be added to the debt. TBH if I had sat down and thought about it I would never have touched an overdraft. I never saw it as a bank loan at all. It was too late when I realised that to clear my overdraft I would need at least 2 months wages in one go. So no misunderstanding at all, I just wanted to clarify my post.

And just so you all know you are not alone tonight my hubby has come home from working away and all I have done is nag him instead of being loving and gald he is home. When we need all the love we can get why is it that you just cant seem to be loving?

JillyOJolly

LittleMissSkint wrote: »

Hello everyone!

As with any other day ther have been good points and bad points to this day!

The Good:
My first payment shows up today on the CCCS Website in my DMP area :j:j:j . I also went and got a pack of 20 littlest pet shop toys for my middle daughters birthday - she'll be 4 next week. She loves those things and they were reduced by £10. Can't wait to see her face when she gets them :beer:

The Bad:
I have started getting texts from a company called SRJ, I have no idea who they are or what they want - I read somewhere they are connected with Fredrickson Int so I wonder if Fred have passed our Tesco card debt to them and we just haven't got the letter yet. In which case I don't know if CCCS sending our payment to Fredrickson will be pointless I assume if that's the case Fred will tell them though, or I will receive a letter from these SRJ folk.

The Ugly:
Major fight with OH. We've been together since I was 18, 8 long years ago....we don't generally fight but my goodness we went for it today! I gave him back his engagement ring and everything. :eek:

I'm taking a moment on here with my fellow DMPers to just take some time out and chill, before I explode with stress!

I hope everything is goin well with you lot. Won't be long now and you'll be seeing your first payments in too! :cool:

Fredrikson and co dealt with my catalogue bill and they were great. I never heard from them once it was all set up. not a single peep until I noticed the last payment and I rang them to check and were more than happy to send me a letter to tell me all was paid. (before DMP days).I told them what i could afford and thats all they took.

Mrs_Ryan

I can see the points about overdrafts etc. I used one of my catalogues to buy some bras about a month before it went into the DMP, but at the time I had asked not to include that particular catalogue as it was the only place I could buy bras in my size reasonably. (Only other option was Evans at about 15-16 a pop and they are very ugly)
However I realised I wouldnt be able to keep up the payment and asked for it to be included. Everyone was fine though - but this was for something unfortunately I couldnt do without for reasons I cant really go into on here but I did feel so terribly guilty about it!

Triggles

We have one credit card that has a £67 balance on it. Rather than put that through the DMP, which would multiply it by charges and such, we're going in today and paying it off in cash. That way we can at least feel good we've paid ONE off.

geoffmr1

bailey59 wrote: »

its ok geoffmr1, I didnt think it was aimed at anyone particular and it was a valid point to bring up. I only wanted to tell everyone my situation but after reading my post I think it could have been misread so I wanted to clear any confusion up about my overdraft. The last thing anyone should do is take on extra debt just because they are going on a DMP and think it can just be added to the debt. TBH if I had sat down and thought about it I would never have touched an overdraft. I never saw it as a bank loan at all. It was too late when I realised that to clear my overdraft I would need at least 2 months wages in one go. So no misunderstanding at all, I just wanted to clarify my post.

Thank you bailey for clarifying that, the last thing I want to do is upset anyone on here. We have all been through hell with these debts & obviously some are still going through all the different processes now.

I only brought it up because I was getting really worried that people reading through who didn't really understand DMP's & are too afraid to post or speak to anyone would think it ok to empty an account (be it an overdraft or remainder on a credit card etc) & then try to put that on a DMP. Of course its entirely possible that person could get away with doing that, but someone else might find themselves up on a charge of getting money by deception (or some other terminology).

In my case I had an overdraft of £800 with Nationwide & because it went slightly over on a couple of occasions (by two or three pounds) they decided to withdraw it completely. How can anyone repay £800 just like that especially if they needed an overdraft in the first place, anyway I was being hit with £300-£350 charges each month for something they caused. Thankfully I have since got all my money back from them through the hardship route & that debt is cleared (they won't remove the default though, although it does say satisfied).

I can also understand all those who are having problems with their OH's. All this debt stuff was left to me, including dealing with all the threatening calls & letters. I even had to do all the court stuff alone & it was very tuff. It seems one person takes on the responsibility & the other carries on like nothings wrong.

Triggles

I only brought it up because I was getting really worried that people reading through who didn't really understand DMP's & are too afraid to post or speak to anyone would think it ok to empty an account (be it an overdraft or remainder on a credit card etc) & then try to put that on a DMP. Of course its entirely possible that person could get away with doing that, but someone else might find themselves up on a charge of getting money by deception (or some other terminology).

We did consider it, discussed it on here, but then ended up with a whole different situation. We withdrew monies that were coming in (benefits) in order to pay our rent, council tax, and groceries. Then we ended up withdrawing approximately £600 because the car broke down (£550 in repairs was the estimate), which pretty much maxed out our overdraft. We are still worried that DH's paycheque may go into the old account instead of the new one, leaving us without money to pay the rent, if the account was frozen for any reason due to the DMP or because the overdraft is maxed. Now, of course, I'm worried it will look bad, but at the same time, it was all for legitimate reasons. God, this whole DMP thing is a minefield! And the timing is horrendous for the car, but what can we do but repair it? As we are in the process of cancelling direct debits and moving everything over to the other account, we couldn't risk a direct debit accidentally going through and not having the money to pay for the car. For us, unfortunately, the car is a priority.

Twit_Head

geoffmr1 wrote: »

I can also understand all those who are having problems with their OH's. All this debt stuff was left to me, including dealing with all the threatening calls & letters. I even had to do all the court stuff alone & it was very tuff. It seems one person takes on the responsibility & the other carries on like nothings wrong.

Love conquers all but money divides? Seems to be there are those who think they have their own personal money tree and those who need to stuff the fivers under the mattress. It all adds to the wild roller-coaster ride that is the DMP