DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

Annie_99

Hi everyone,
Can you answer a few questions.
How do I open up a new bank account, what sort of account do I need? I called CCCS yesterday and am gonna go on a DMP but am a bit unsure what I need to do... I posted on other board and everyone said to come over here. What do I do now, open up another account and transfer all DD over to it??

sunnydais

Annie_99 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Can you answer a few questions.
How do I open up a new bank account, what sort of account do I need? I called CCCS yesterday and am gonna go on a DMP but am a bit unsure what I need to do... I posted on other board and everyone said to come over here. What do I do now, open up another account and transfer all DD over to it??

Hi Annie
I'm just starting out as well and opened a Nat West 'Step Account' its a basic one without overdraft facilities which is what we need. All banks have these. I applied online and they sent the forms. I decided to do the DD transfers myself in case my bank took all my money to pay of the overdraft when they noticed me switching. I chose NatWest as I have no debts with them or their partners and affiliates.
It went very quickly even during the post strike.

Annie_99

Im gonna go and get some forms today x

ianmak

Welcome Annie.

Regards a new bank account, you need to pick a Basic Bank Account with a bank that you have no ties to, so they can't touch your money.

Most banks offer these, but are almost 'under the counter' as they don't really get anything from them.

Personally I have the Co-Op Cashminder account, which offer the basics, minus an overdraft and chequebook. You do get a Visa Electron Card, which is (very) slightly less supported than your normal Visa Delta. You also get a very good online banking option.

Once you've chosen the account, and it's setup, I phoned up each of my suppliers, with whom I have Direct Debits. So Council Tax, TV, Water, Electric etc, explained I was changing bank accounts, and most of the time they do it over the phone for you. Occasionally they'll send out a new Direct Debit Mandate.

Also remember to change any wages into the new account.

Remember not to transfer over any loans/Credit Card payments!

Expect to allow 2 weeks minimum to transfer everything over.

sunnydais

Annie_99 wrote: »

Im gonna go and get some forms today x

goodluck Annie ! Everything will be fine

Daffykjs

gabriella90 wrote: »

Hi well here goes again. ITs great to see the support on this thread. I won;t be starting my DMP until Jan due to my circumstances changing then. I'll explain all.

I've been in a bit of a pickle and now i've bitten the bullet and called the CCCS. I had my interview today but cannot start the process until i know when my last salary will be. In January my partner and i move to Cyprus as he has a job with the MOD there, unfortuantly it means me leaving my job and possibly not having a job for 2 months hopefully no longer!! This means me going into a DMP as my income will be greatly reduced I won't have any bills and will have £300 a month to cover my transport, phone and other saundries and will have to take my PLan payment from that.

I'm so scared of messing this up. I really hope that my creditors will the interest and charges. Its a pain in the butt as i'm not in the red with payments at the moment.

As i'll be on m'todd i think i'll be on here a lot more and especially once all the letters start going out. Its enough to contend with moving to another country hopefully i won't get too many calls badgering me.

good luck everyone and thank you for letting me ramble on.

xxx

Hi and welcome Gabriella (my friend at work just had a baby and named her Gabriella)

Anyway, i digress! sounds like exciting news, shame that you have to cope with all this at the same time! is there no chance you can get a job once there and a bit more settled?

hope it all goes well for you!

Daffykjs

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

Hi everyone..

Feeling quite frustrated. Been on the DMP for 8 months now and it seems that Im not really seeing a difference - the only one Im seeing a difference in is my Citi Mastercard - its almost back under its limit and that one was horrifically out of control.
However my catalogues dont seem to be going down any :mad: I know that they are but I just dont seem to be seeing a difference :huh: or maybe it just because I never had any idea of what the balances were - I just used to pay the minimum it told me to online and ignoring the statements! Im also sick to death of wrangling with Reliable Collections every month just because they dont like Kensington's payment dates :mad:

Getting a bit fed up now - my DFD seems a long time away! By the time my weekend off comes this weekend I will have worked 13 days with only one day off :eek: Think of the money, think of the money...

Hi Mrs Ryan,

Can I ask (and sorry if this has already ben explained elsewhere, I STILL haven't caught up) but are Kensington a fee charging DMP company? And if so is there a resaon why you are with them rather than one of the free ones?

Just asking because this may be why it doesn't seem to be making a dent as much as you expected! When i first looked into a DMP I spoke to a fee charging company, and they said 10 years. Then when I found payplan and went through it with them they said 5 years, for more debt (hubby's included and 2 years down the line of having my head in the sand!)

Just a thought, hope this isn't going over stuff you may already have talked about!

drpellypo

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Hello Drpellypo, It is hard at the start, isn't it? Probably the shock of it all, the phone calls, letters, and worst for us, finding out how much debt we were actually in!
My OH is becoming really thrifty! He went out last Sat, and came home with food all reasonably priced, and 3 bottles of wine for a tenner. Boy, am I gonna spoil him come Nov 2014!!

Bless! Exactly the same here. Also, we've been inviting people over who have bought wine, and we've always managed to have some for the rest of the week left over from the weekend

drpellypo

Well, I'm nearly there! CCCS wrote back to me asking for some account numbers, although I had sent them statements with these account numbers on, so not sure what that was about? Sent them yesterday anyway.

Logged into Lloyds internet banking and they have cashed my postal order. The account balance is £4 short of the overdraft limit (which is what the PO was for) but the available balance is NIL, so I'm guessing that means they've shut the account? Which is a good thing? There's also a transaction that says: FEE ERROR-REFUND and a deposit of 0.28p! lol!

Can I have a DMP support thread number BTW? Pwetty please!

drpellypo

Oh, by the way, for those mentioning shopping budgets, there are three of us, me, the OH, and our 9 year old. I have now managed to get the weekly shop down to £32 which includes the little one's packed lunches. I wonder now how we managed to spend £50-60 a week on shopping. We have cut alcohol out mind, which makes a big difference! It is very much possible to spends as little (or less!) if you are worried about your shopping being higher than you would like.