DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 6)

thestealer

PayingMyDebts wrote: »

Quick question - I'm on a DMP, my wifes income is about to drop by a few thousand, can I reduce my payments to part compensate ?

You should be able to drop the payments to fully compensate for the loss of income. Contact your DMP company (assuming you are with one), they will adjust your budget and the payment accordingly.

That's the beauty of a DMP, it's flexible.

I guess if you are handling your DMP yourself you would have to redraw your budget and send it to all your creditors.

Remember the mantra..."They can't have what you haven't got!"

Shel

Hi.

I am currently doing a DMP with CCCS. most of my creditors have gone quiet and seem to have accepted what i'm doing apart from my major debt Halifax. They have since passed the debt onto Albion debt recovery and as they have the phone number for my parents home (where i was living when I took out the loan) they have called there several times saying its in my interest to call back.

I can't possibly tell my parents about my debt, is there anyway for me to stop them calling there. I thought if i answer my mobile to them and ask them to stop calling there they may continue as they would know its why i answered my mobile.

any advice?


My second question is I have just started a new job so my pay is slightly different and my first month quite considerably lower. I am due to make my payment by 10th May, would it be too late to discuss reducing this payment with CCCS and if so is this likely to stir up trouble with the creditors that have gone quiet?

Julie67

We are just starting our Self Administered DMP hopefully to begin with the new payments in June. The five letters with token payments and letters etc are sitting on the dining table waiting to be sent recorded delivery on Tuesday when the post office opens:eek: Very scary. Our main creditor is HSBC. I have heard they can be reasonable. Not too worried about the others as they are relatively small amounts, which we hope to be able to offer F & F after a few months of living off a reasonable budget instead of trying to rob Peter to pay Paul. Twithead it really helps hearing from someone a year down the line. Have you managed to make as much headway as you would have hoped??

harvey180

I'm on a DMP with CCCS which is running well with the exception of one company that has issued court papers back in Jan and is going to regester a CCJ against me in the next couple of weeks.

I've spoken on the phone with them and they have offered to accept £2500 ish for the £5000 ish that we owe them as a final settlement. They are willing to accept 3 equal payments over the next 3 months.

I can cover this with a little help from family and avoid the CCJ but wondered what the chances of my other creditors pushing me harder for settlements if I pay this one off and I can't deal with a number of creditors coming after me at once for final settlements.

Has anyone any experience of targeting debts in this way? I know CCCS advise treating everyone equal but the thought of being £5k less in debt for a payment of £2.5k is very tempting.

Many thanks,

H

newlywed

newbeginning wrote: »

Thanks Twitty, I only started DMP in Feb, so it always makes me feel better about stuff when I see that someone further on then me see's it as a right decision IYSWIM.

I'm 3 years in. Was almost half way paid off. then OH lost most of his self employed work. Now I've been made redundant, searching desperately for a job but still nothing so far.

Just a quick call to CCCS has dropped the DMP payment to minimum (£5 per creditor). It wouldn't have been that quick and easy if I was still trying to pay the minimum payments on all my debts by myself.

My only, single wish about the DMP - is that I did it earlier!!!!!

newlywed

Shel wrote: »

They have since passed the debt onto Albion debt recovery and as they have the phone number for my parents home (where i was living when I took out the loan) they have called there several times saying its in my interest to call back.

I can't possibly tell my parents about my debt, is there anyway for me to stop them calling there. I thought if i answer my mobile to them and ask them to stop calling there they may continue as they would know its why i answered my mobile.
any advice?

My second question is I have just started a new job so my pay is slightly different and my first month quite considerably lower. I am due to make my payment by 10th May, would it be too late to discuss reducing this payment with CCCS and if so is this likely to stir up trouble with the creditors that have gone quiet?

I rang the bank and told them to take the number off as I don't live there anymore and gave my new landline number. I just told my parents the bank had a routine query and I'd sorted it

You can ring them to ask for an urgent review. It may be too late to change the direct debt but you can get them to skip it and then pay them directly via bank transfer or post office.

I dropped my payments a couple of times. One creditor squawked a bit but soon shut up. They can't have what you haven't got and the DMP is meant to give enough to live on, with the remainder going to debts.

Ring CCCS and have a chat with them - they are really nice and understanding.

newlywed

PS - sometimes I disappear from this thread as concentrating too much thinking time to my debts and DMP does my head in.

Sometimes you need to just forget the total debt a little bit and work on keeping to your budget instead

newlywed

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

2) They say they are going to report the arrangement with credit reference agencies for upto six years after the balance has been settled in full. - does anyone have any information on this guys? I thought they had to issue a default and it was 6 years from that being issued, not 6 years after final clearance. Not that I ever want credit in future but would like to shop for a better mortgage rate in a few years time. Advice please!

They don't HAVE to default you. If they do issue a default notice it is 6 years from date of default. But if they mark your credit file, Arrangement to Pay or DMP then this will stay on file through your whole DMP and therefore will also show for 6 years after that.

I have seen from this site that it is unlikely to be as damaging as a default notice on your file as it shows you are actually paying something and trying to sort it out.

Some of my creditors have given me a black Default, others have marked it DMP or Arrangement to Pay.

Apparently if you go for a "whole of market" mortgage broker (or something like that) then they can help you find a better deal for your situation. But I rent, so can't comment directly on that, sorry. But some on this thread have managed to remortgage in the past.

harvey180

I'm on a DMP with CCCS which is running well with the exception of one company that has issued court papers back in Jan and is going to regester a CCJ against me in the next couple of weeks.

I've spoken on the phone with them and they have offered to accept £2500 ish for the £5000 ish that we owe them as a final settlement. They are willing to accept 3 equal payments over the next 3 months.

I can cover this with a little help from family and avoid the CCJ but wondered what the chances of my other creditors pushing me harder for settlements if I pay this one off and I can't deal with a number of creditors coming after me at once for final settlements.

Has anyone any experience of targeting debts in this way? I know CCCS advise treating everyone equal but the thought of being £5k less in debt for a payment of £2.5k is very tempting.

Many thanks,

H

tinkerbell12

Ooh Harvery that does sound really tempting - sorry I don't have any advice as we haven't been able to raise any extra cash as of yet. Pretty sure CCCS would frown upon it but I may be wrong. Sure someone will be along here soon to help you.

I have nipped on as I haven't been on here for a while to spread some news which may be of help to some newbies:

- I have just checked my account and we have finally paid £20,000 of our debt to CCCS! It feels soooooo good to reach that milestone. It is still not quite half of our debt (eeekkk, yes it really was that bad) but still a massive achievement.

- We have had some problems with Northern Rock showing a missed payment every month on my credit file for one loan and not the other. I had to fight and fight nearly going to the financial ombudsman but eventually they agreed they had made a mistake and my credit file is now showing all payments made on time again.

I am still on maternity leave and we are just about coping and it is tough but our payments are still the same. I have also managed to sort out returning to work part time so life is good!

Life on a DMP can be a good one (and it won't last forever, even if it feels like it!!)