DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

Twit_Head

ianmak wrote: »

Mrs:O - Just wanted to say that I started out with 38k of debt, and £158 to pay off per month (20 year DFD) and the creditors were ok(ish) with that. Admittedly I managed to double that amount within 6 months.

In addition I'm pretty merry tonight and just wanted to say that although my budget is tight, I can still allow for a couple of nights out a month (payday being one of them...), and still just about survive. And I am NOT A GOOD BUDGETER!!!

Anyhoo, Welcome MRS:O to the gang!!!

Hi ianmak
To quote !!!!!! Emery - 'Ooh you are awful-but I like you!'
I've a good mind to report you to the DMP thought police. 'Merry tonight' indeed! Have you been imbibing money in the form of alcohol??? Shame on you
Just goes to show you can honour your debts and still have a life
Hope the hangover isn't too bad and thanks as always for your continuing help and support.
'Twitty'

Twit_Head

mamajojo wrote: »

:AHello good and lovely people who have given me hours of unknowing help and support over the last few lurking weeks!
Got loads of questions but just wanted to say hello and Thanks!

Hello and welcome!
Please don't feel you just have to lurk-jump in with both feet and join our happy band.
I am always amazed by the depth of knowledge and the contributions some people bring to this forum. Don't think it matters how far we are along with our DMP, there is always someone here to help :A and we all appreciate the support when we are at a 'down' moment.

'Twitty'

Twit_Head

mrs:optimist wrote: »

Another little update, last night I did some calculations, and it has made me stress again about giving up my job (which I have been strongly advised to do by my Dr and DH).

On DH's salary alone, assuming that all creditors freeze interest (which I know they might not, but I will assume for the sake of this calculation) then it will take 15 years to pay off our debts.

With me working, that changes to 4 years.....eeeeeeeeeekkkkk!!! How can I stop working knowing that? But how can I carry on working when it's really affecting my health and family life?

My DH has rationalised it by saying that I will be able to go back to full time work in a few years time (3 or 4 years, when DD starts school) so at that point we can really whack money into it, possibly as much as an extra £1000 per month so in the long run we will catch up with it and it will never take as long as 15 years.

Plus, my DH is in line for a promotion to Manager soon and is hoping to make Director within 10 years (he has been told he is definitely on the right track to doing this by his MD). So he has great prospects and it's not like we will have no chance of decreasing the term.

It's still all so worrying though! Wondering whether you are doing the right thing, whether I should just get my head down and struggle on for a few more years, hoping for the best that my health and marriage doesn't deteriorate?

I just keep telling myself to wait and see what the CCCS councellor says on Monday when s/he calls.

Mrs O
So feeling for you! Can only say what I have before- your health and family is the most important thing. Focus on those. It's tough to repay the money but how much tougher if your family should fall apart and your well-being should suffer?
My DMP is likely to be about 18/19 years and I am MUCH older than you. Just got to keep plugging on.
It sounds as thought your situation could improve in a few years.Wait and see what the CCCS say on Monday and try not to fret too much over the unknown, difficult thought that is.
Remember you are Mrs Optmist-keep the faith!

'Twitty'

geoffmr1

Triggles wrote: »

geoffmr1 - we're self managing it. I understand they are just protecting themselves, but we're NOT just paying nothing - we are paying a reduced amount, which I would think is better than nothing. We're trying to work with them, to the point where we specifically stated in the letter that we had the payments set up on standing order so they would get them every month, and that we were hoping to be able to bump up the payments again by end of July, as we were anticipating some changes to take place then. One would think that if I was trying to lie and cheat the system, I wouldn't communicate with them regularly to advise them of our situation and then bump up the payments as and when we can. *sigh* I guess them just returning the letter and info we sent them is a bit of a slap in the face, circumstances considering. But we'll just continue sending them the money and communicating with them, reiterating that we are sending all we can afford and leave it at that for now. I was advised NOT to send them copies of pay cheques, and as I said previously, they have no rights to see my personal bank account when the bill is in DH's name only.

Hi Triggles,

I hope you didn't think I was suggesting that you were trying to cheat the system, that comment was about people who are into debt avoidance and not really to do with dmp's.

I don't really understand why you were advised NOT to send copies of pay cheques, although I do understand the bank statements. When you set up a DMP with CCCS (I assume it's the same for payplan), you have to send proof of income. My guess would be that they don't pass this information on to creditors, but on the other side the creditors will be happier knowing that CCCS or whoever have verified the income & expenditure. If this creditor decided to take you to court you would have to produce all this stuff to the judge for him/her to make a decision on your circumstances.

iwillgetoutofdebt

Well I picked up my tracked package, and it was nothing to do with my creditors at all So all that worrying was for nothing.

My creditors all seem to have gone very quiet. MBNA and Cap 1 both sent acceptance letters last week, and there have been no phone calls from Egg for the past 3 days. I am hoping that this is a good sign, although I have still to hear from Marbles, Mint and Tesco, and, of course Egg. Hoepfully they have realised that I am trying to pay them back, and will respond soon. It will be nice not to see the poor postie struggling up the path with all the computer generated mail he has to deliver each day at the moment.

ianmak

Twit_Head wrote: »

Hi ianmak
To quote !!!!!! Emery - 'Ooh you are awful-but I like you!'
I've a good mind to report you to the DMP thought police. 'Merry tonight' indeed! Have you been imbibing money in the form of alcohol??? Shame on you
Just goes to show you can honour your debts and still have a life
Hope the hangover isn't too bad and thanks as always for your continuing help and support.
'Twitty'

All recovered now, but I was pretty bad this morning!

My nights out, stupidly come out of my food budget, so I guess that ensures I cut down on my drinking - if I drink, less food for me! I think I put £10 a month on my I&E for 'Entertainment'. Doesn't really go that far does it?

ianmak

mrs:optimist wrote: »

Oy cheeky chops! lol, looks like you are a fellow night owl! We can keep each other company in the early hours. I'm lucky to have a 2 year old that wakes up at 9.30am so I do get some sleep, honest...

I am a night owl, but I'm trying to get more early nights in! My excuse last night was payday...

ianmak

And another noobie:

girlypink 369

Welcome, and please feel free to join in!

the_tooth_fairy

ianmak wrote: »

All recovered now, but I was pretty bad this morning!

My nights out, stupidly come out of my food budget, so I guess that ensures I cut down on my drinking - if I drink, less food for me! I think I put £10 a month on my I&E for 'Entertainment'. Doesn't really go that far does it?

Haha!! I've had many a sore head from the 3 for a tenner from Asda!!
I think they make that wine from anti freeze!:beer:


Can I join everyone else who's posted to welcome the Newbies. I feel so sorry reading how frightening this all is for you at the start. We are paying our 5th payment to Payplan this week! It all really does settle down after the initial scariness, honestly!!

Oh, Geoff, Payplan didn't ask us for any proof of income, if that helps you advise. That was good stuff earlier! I hope the lady who was posting about F&F's comes back soon, I was enjoying that. Get me, only 5 months in and getting previous about F&F's! Aw well, you have to have a dream!!:)

ttf

Completely_Confused_2

Morning all!

Well I've had my regular fortnightly telephone call from Barclaycard this morning and it's the same conversation every time!

I give them Payplan's creditor phone number, Barclaycard say they won't call them! I tell them I'm paying through Payplan, blah blah blah.

They say to be sure that Payplan send them the offer. I tell them they've sent it twice!

It's getting so frustrating it's starting to make me cry! I told the woman this morning that I've noticed they're not charging me interest and she said yes we are, and it will go back on at 19.9% next statement.

Why is this so effing difficult? I feel like I'm stuck in the middle and the last time I spoke to Payplan they said they have been asked by B'card to give them 8 weeks to respond to offers because of their backlog. No one seems to want to budge and make a phone call.

Can anyone tell me, is there anything else I can do, or a letter I can write - I'm dreading Mercers coming to knock on my door down the line

I'm thinking about doing a CCA request because I've had my B'card since 1993. Any advice on that?

Many thanks, CC xx