DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

HardWorkingMum

susiewong1 wrote: »

Hi Melanie,

Glad to hear you have taken the first steps to become debt free like myself. Had to post, as your situation is very similar to mine except I am 1 year ahead so can hopefully give you some helpful advice about what is to come.

Started my DMP with CCCS in Feb 09 owing money to

MBNA Credit Card £1060
Sky Credit £4869
HSBC O/D £1000
HSBC Mastercard £1597
HSBC Loan £5649

Total Debt £14,175.00

After working out my personal budget CCCS came up with a figure of £205 per month which was a lot more manageable than the £400+ I was struggling to pay out each month just on debts.

Within 1 month of my DMP starting both MBNA and Skycard (now known as Barclaycard) wrote to me saying that they were accepting my reduced payments and freezing the interest for 1 year and will then review the situation.

Unfortunately HSBC were not quite so understanding, probably not surprising as it was them that I owed the most money to. I had banked with HSBC for 13 years, given them over £2000 in bank charges, never missed a loan or credit card payment yet when I went to them before Christmas 2008 telling them what a mess I was in and could they increase my loan so I could consolidate all my other debts they basically just sent me away saying they couldn't help me. That in turn was what prompted me to seek out a DMP.

HSBC have harrassed me both on the phone and more recently via the post determined not to accept the reduced payments, and won't acknowledge the DMP at all. They have added arrears and late payments charges to the loan, pressurised me in to taking a managed loan (CCCS advised me against this), are adding interest to the overdraft every month and the credit card.

I knew from the start it wasn't going to be easy, but to be honest HSBC have made it a lot harder than it needed to be.

If you do start getting the phone calls, and mine were 4 or 5 times a day from different numbers as early as 8am and as late as 8.40pm go into your local branch and ask them to take your landline number off their computer system. They were happy just to have my mobile number which I then kept on silent!

7 days ago I received a Final Notice from them, so hopefully 1 year on I may finally get passed over to a collection agency which I think will be the best outcome now, as the interest and charges might stop.

I hope I have been of help and I really hope you have a better experience with them, please keep me informed.

One year on and getting the DMP has been one of the best things I have ever done. I was a terrible shopaholic spending over £500 a month on rubbish basically and I now have a budget that I stick to of about £40 a month! I have a bank account with no overdraft and now actually get interest paid to me for being in credit!

I know it is scary at first but it does get easier, and even though I am not due to be debt free until 2015 at least we are all doing something about it and there is an end in sight:j

Thanks you so much for replying! I imagine HSBC will be the most difficult to deal with for the same reason. They also have the best evidence of how I have meneged my £ over the last 18 years! :beer:

I am due to start the DMP on 1st March, and have been to Barclays to open a basic account... however this takes 2 weeks as it is processed at Head Office and because it is a basic account they don't offer the usual transfer of DD / SOs so I will have to do all of this manually. Therefore I am still going to have Febs wages paid into my normal HSBC Account where all my DDs ars as I won't have a chance to get them moved over in time.

As a result, I don't want to send the letters out to my creditors yet, in case they just take whatever is available in my account (which isn't much, but I use my overdraft to live on!)

On the plus side, I have been having a dispute with the Child Tax Credits office, and they finally agreed I was right and paid me c. £1500 and agreed that we will get £50 a week (this seems like a lot!) in future.:j Again I can't give them the details of the new account yet as they haven't arrived! To be on the safe side I have transferred the lump sum (£1500) into my A&L account which only has a £500 overdraft, but no DDs etc so I know I can get to it. This leaves me in the same situation with them... not sending them the letter yet incase they decide to keep it!!! At the moment I am just taking out £200 per day until I have all the cash at home... this might seem a bit drastic, but I want to pay back my parents £500 because they have helped us so much recently. I want to spend some... a new pair of much needed shoes for my son, a couple of hew shirts for work. Nothing extravagant, just basics that we have deprived ourselves of for so long. And I want to keep the other £500 for car servicing, emergencies!

Would I just be better off contacting the CCCS and suggesting we start the DMP from 1st April instead? then the tax credit £ would tide us over and cover the difference for 1 month and it would give me a chance to move all the stuff to the new account when it arrives?

I don't want to delay it, but have a feeling that both HSBC and A&L are likely to kick up a stink when they get the DMP notices after they have just seen £1500 go through the accounts and straight out again!!!

Any advice / thoughts welcome.

Thanks, Mel

katkins2

Hi all, I've just posted this on the main forum but thought that maybe some of you more long term DMPers may know the answer.

Just wondering if anyone knows the situation re taking out insurance when on a DMP?

I've been making payments to CCCS for 6 months now and during that time have been defaulted by one creditor. Its that time of year when I need to renew car and home insurances. I pay monthly at the mo by DD and being on a tight budget can't afford to pay the renewal premiums in full. Being quite into the MSE way of thinking now, I really would like to see if I can get better deals using the cashback sites but am concerned how my credit rating will affect this. Do Insurance companies carry out credit checks if you want to pay your insurance monthly?

Anyone any experience of this?
Many thanks in advance.
Kat

Twit_Head

katkins2 wrote: »

Hi all, I've just posted this on the main forum but thought that maybe some of you more long term DMPers may know the answer.

Just wondering if anyone knows the situation re taking out insurance when on a DMP?

I've been making payments to CCCS for 6 months now and during that time have been defaulted by one creditor. Its that time of year when I need to renew car and home insurances. I pay monthly at the mo by DD and being on a tight budget can't afford to pay the renewal premiums in full. Being quite into the MSE way of thinking now, I really would like to see if I can get better deals using the cashback sites but am concerned how my credit rating will affect this. Do Insurance companies carry out credit checks if you want to pay your insurance monthly?

Anyone any experience of this?
Many thanks in advance.
Kat

Hi Kat
If you flip back a page on this thread you will see I asked a very similar question recently. (Thanks to 2spicy for providing a full and comprehensive answer. :T)
I think maybe some will but I'm going to go for it. On a DMP your utility bills are a priority so I think most of us will have been honouring these and it's the 'credit' part of the budget that has faltered
Hope you get something sorted. I'm in the mood now to take on the 'big boys!'
'Twitty'

the_tooth_fairy

StillStanding wrote: »

Hi all,
Hope the DMP's are all going well, I had a shock from Halifax today. My 6 months plan with them has ended and now they are adding interest and charges like its going out of fashion!!!! Debt is going up instead of down
On the plus side at least my MBNA credit card should be paid off by the end of the year so that will be 1 gone!!
Any advice on what to do about Halifax would be much appreciated!!! (I have to resist the urge to put my foot through the TV screen everytime I see the cringeworthy "High Five" advert)

Don't talk to me about the ruddy Halifax!!! I know just how you feel - they can high five themselves to Christendom as far as I'm concerned. They stuck £6k of interest on our a/c overnight and have had the cheek to bill us £25 EACH (its a joint a/c) for late payments through the DMP. :mad:

On a (much lighter!) note, it will be SIX months of our DMP on 1st March! We even survived Xmas and everything. It makes Nov 2014 much more achievable and nearer. Hope everyones plans are moving forward with success. Good Luck!

ttf x

the_tooth_fairy

Hey, Twitty - you go get dem Big Boys! I'll hold your coat...

ttf x

katkins2

Twit_Head wrote: »

Hi Kat
If you flip back a page on this thread you will see I asked a very similar question recently. (Thanks to 2spicy for providing a full and comprehensive answer. :T)
I think maybe some will but I'm going to go for it. On a DMP your utility bills are a priority so I think most of us will have been honouring these and it's the 'credit' part of the budget that has faltered
Hope you get something sorted. I'm in the mood now to take on the 'big boys!'
'Twitty'

Hi Twitty and thanks for your reply. I saw your post just after I'd posted mine...doh!

I think ur right, may aswell just go for it. Afterall, whats the worst that can happen, they turn me down and I have to stay with my current provider.

Take care
Kat:)

pure_dead_dopey

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Don't talk to me about the ruddy Halifax!!! I know just how you feel - they can high five themselves to Christendom as far as I'm concerned. They stuck £6k of interest on our a/c overnight and have had the cheek to bill us £25 EACH (its a joint a/c) for late payments through the DMP. :mad:

On a (much lighter!) note, it will be SIX months of our DMP on 1st March! We even survived Xmas and everything. It makes Nov 2014 much more achievable and nearer. Hope everyones plans are moving forward with success. Good Luck!

ttf x

They (Halifax) must be getting extra commission to-day for upsetting people, anytime you want to start the high fiving retribution, let me know, I'll be right there with you.:mad::mad:

the_tooth_fairy

pure_dead_dopey wrote: »

They (Halifax) must be getting extra commission to-day for upsetting people, anytime you want to start the high fiving retribution, let me know, I'll be right there with you.:mad::mad:

Haha! I've just cancelled out most of my reply to you, because reading it back it sounded like Hitler as his worst!!!:o
I'm with you tho!!

ttf

Twit_Head

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Don't talk to me about the ruddy Halifax!!! I know just how you feel - they can high five themselves to Christendom as far as I'm concerned. They stuck £6k of interest on our a/c overnight and have had the cheek to bill us £25 EACH (its a joint a/c) for late payments through the DMP. :mad:

On a (much lighter!) note, it will be SIX months of our DMP on 1st March! We even survived Xmas and everything. It makes Nov 2014 much more achievable and nearer. Hope everyones plans are moving forward with success. Good Luck!

ttf x

Ooh Tooth Fairy, it lightens my heart to read your post and hear your Irish fighting talk! :A
Sorry you're still having such a c**p time with one of our wonderful and helpful banking institutions
If only I'd won the Euromillions last week I could have lightened your load and invited you to share a drop or two with me to celebrate!
Didn't though so shall we roll up sleeves together and kick them where it hurts? (Sorry all you blokes!)
'Twitty'

the_tooth_fairy

Twit_Head wrote: »

Ooh Tooth Fairy, it lightens my heart to read your post and hear your Irish fighting talk! :A
Sorry you're still having such a c**p time with one of our wonderful and helpful banking institutions
If only I'd won the Euromillions last week I could have lightened your load and invited you to share a drop or two with me to celebrate!
Didn't though so shall we roll up sleeves together and kick them where it hurts? (Sorry all you blokes!)
'Twitty'

See what I mean Twitty? I just go off on one with these cretins in the Halifax, they really wind me up. Even on the phone they are patronising, (apparently I live in Ireland, not NI, and have no idea where England even is), one member of staff even asked me "Well, what do you expect US to do"?. You're the Customer Relations Department, love, YOU tell me!!!!! How much further up the food chain do I need to go to speak to someone who hasn't just lifted their head out of muddy gloop? It truly beggars belief.

I'm getting over it though, honestly...:o