Can I reduce my payments to payplan

pluto12

Hi
I have been in payplan for nearly 1 year, and I am finding the payment hard to keep up with, and the fact that I will not be finishing paying all that I owe off for 39 years,"I will be 83" so I am asking myself is it worth struggling every month to pay £151 now it will soon be £155, do not get me wrong I owe the money, so I Will be paying it back.
Does anybody know what is the least amount I can pay each month to still be able to stay with payplan.
I have spoken with my adviser, and he said that I need to pay 3% more each year.
I am a carer, and my partner is on disability living allowance, so we have not much money left every month, the price of electricty and gas has gone up, so my surplus will be less, but my payplan adviser has told me to spend less on food, so that I can still afford my monthly new amount £155.
Can anybody give me any advice as to what to do.
Thank you for reading this
Pluto12

property.advert

Sorry but I would not continue like that. You have no light at the end of the tunnel and are in danger of it dragging you down. I'd get some advice on other options.

Ames

I'm on disability benefits and I know how hard it is to pay off debts. I looked seriously at bankruptcy, but on the advice of national debt line decided to just pay £1 token payments indefinitely. If I hadn't gone down the CCA route to make my biggest debt unenforcable then it would have been br for me. My circumstances have improved slightly and I'm planning to save £100 a month to make offers with. I'm on the highest rates of benefits, and there's no way I could afford £150 a month towards debts. I really think that you need to look long and hard at your situation, it's very noble to say 'I will pay it back', but there's a point when the cost to your standard of living and health becomes too high.

I'm also shocked that you were told to spend less on food, unless you're spending way over the odds I don't think that's on at all, food is far more important than debts. I'd be considering a complaint to his manager.

Tixy

Hi Pluto -you need to keep your message all in one thread so I've pasted your reply to this one.

pluto12 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, I am very nervous of being in debt, and I am new to this and I thought I had found peace of mind with payplan, but I was quite shocked about how much I had to pay, and the fact that it did not make much of a difference to the whole amount I owe. I was scared of being sent to court and having people call to the house.
All my creditors are credit cards, and some have only now stopped charging me interest, payplan did not help, they say that they can not make them stop.
My payplan adviser told me that the creditors expect me to pay 3% extra every year, I tried to explain that my bills were going up, he said that he can take more off my food bill.

I wonder if you could advise me who is best to deal with my problem , and what is cca.
Any advise you can give will be gratefully received.
Thank you
Pluto12

Tixy

Did you work out a detailed budget with Payplan based on your income & expenditure?

How much are you paying on your DMP each month? If your only income is benefits then it will certainly be difficult on a DMP. Did Payplan suggest just paying token payments to your debt at all?

Payplan are correct that they can't make your creditors stop charging interest or charges - it is up to the individual creditor to decide - all Payplan (or anyone) can do is to ask them to.

A CCA is the consumer credit agreement you would have initially signed when you took out your debts.

It is certainly unusual to be told to reduce your food bills. How much do you spend on food per month and how many people is that for?

Tixy

Sorry I've just seen that you have already said that you are paying £155 per month.

Perhaps you could fill in a financial statement of affairs for us using this link - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html so that we can look at your budget and see if we can understand why Payplan have got your paying so much money out of your benefits.
Like Ames says you may need to speak to someone else at Payplan to be reassesed but it may help to have opinions on your budget from some of the people on here first.

pluto12

Tixy wrote: »

Hi Pluto -you need to keep your message all in one thread so I've pasted your reply to this one.

money coming in every month £901 less £263 DLA leaving £638.

monthly income £638
building insurance £14
gas £62
electrity £92
water £47
Tv licence £12
Telephone £22
Clothing £26
Food £253

Myself and my husband are on benefits and we get £901 less the £263 DLA,they said we do not have to count, so we pretty much pay things out of this money.
We pay payplan £155 every month so that they can pay our creditors (12 in total) they say that we will of paid in full by jan 2045.
I have never done anything like this before and I am lost.
I thought that being with payplan was the answer but they keep asking me about differant services they support and do I want to change my energy suplier and various other services?
I feel that I am paying what I can not really afford but I am scared that they will tell me that they can not help me anymore and for me to seek help elsewhere, so I am sounding out my options.
Any help would be great.
Thank you
Pluto12

Shelley84

Hi,

Could you fill in an SOA from the links that have been posted? It seems there are a few expenses missing. I worked out that £638 - all bills listed leaves you with £110 a month + the £263 DLA - £155 for payplan which comes to £218 left each month. (Unless I have missed something :-) )

The SOA calculator will have everything in it that you would pay each month, fill it in and post it on here and we can all take a look.

:-)

Tixy

Hi Pluto

Well it doesn't seem like you a getting a good service from Payplan, people on here are generally happy with them as an organisation but there are the odd ones who have not got on well with them. You could try talking to them again, perhaps speaking to a supervisor or other advisor or another option might be to consider switching to CCCS.
CCCS are another organisation that arranges free DMPs. You may find that they suit you better (although I beleive the amounts they 'allow' for each item of expenditure are similar).

That said and just looking at your costs your electricity does look to be a really high amount - are you repaying any arrears on this or is this just current usage? Do the utility company have accurate readings or are they using estimates? Does you husband have any equipment due to his disability that would your bills would be particularly high.
Your water bill also seems fairly high - are you on a meter or unmeasured for this?
I think your food bill could be reduced - mostly people on here are advised to spend around £160 for a couple.
You have no mortgage or rent - is this because you own your house outright or because its paid by benefits?
Is council tax paid by benefits? (if paid by benefits I assume these are in addition to the £901 you have quoted?)

Ames

Be careful with CCCS, when I went with them they took DLA into account as income, but didn't allow me care needs costs. I've got to go out soon but I'll post more later on. I really think you need to come up with another solution though, spending the next three decades paying off debt is really not an answer for you, other people can get pay rises or promotions to bring their debt free date down, your income is going to be pretty static.

pluto12

Hi All
Yes I do have £218 left over every month, out of this I pay various medical needs, that are not covered, travel expenses etc.... I do not have much money left.
The gas and electricity is high but I have to keep the room at a certain temp "medical thing".
How do I find a SOA, and I filled in a expenitor plan but did not know how to post it on here.
All that I have previouly wrote, is exactley what I spend every month.
As I have said I am new to all this and infact only just got a old computer, so I am new to that as well.
Any help would be gratefully received and thatnk you for taking the time to reply.
Pluto12