I need help - Debt Management Plan

mikon

Happyhaddock

Its good to hear from you. The thought of letters, phone calls worries me I really feel sick at the thought but it reassures me to read your comments. The short term pain for the the long term gain is what I am trying to keep focused on.

Did you get a letter stating that all creditors had been informed?

happyhaddock_2

Hi, yes once I had accepted the plan CCCS sent me the "official" paperwork showing my SOA and what payment were to be made to each of my creditors. I also sent a DMP letter together with a £1 postal order good will payment to each one to let them know that I was starting a DMP. No normal monthly payments were made this month, apart from prority ones mortgage etc, and all our payments have been paid into the new account away from the overdraft. This is to build up a cushion with which to start the DMP next month if you carried on paying as normal you wouldn't have the DMP money "spare":)

Just had a thought, does your wife know what position you are in, my OH knew we had the debts and trouble meeting the minimum payments but was still quite suprised to see it all in black & white. We've both had a major lifestyle change though and after talking it over realised that we don't want any further credit and will be quite happy living within our means from now on, oh and we've 3 kids so it can be done.:)

mikon

Yes my wife does know. We are worried about the letters that may be sent. Does CCCS handle all the letters on your behalf or do you have to respond. I have loans with Northern Rock, Barclays, Citi, Coop I feel ill with worry. I may consider remortgage I do not think I can cope with letters and phone calls I do not want my children to know about the problem. Have you encountered any problems with creditors?

happyhaddock_2

Please don't make yourself ill, it's not worth it, at the end of the day it's only money:o. We also thought about remortgaing, as we've done the previous THREE times:eek: but it doesn't solve the problem and only increases the amount you owe. We realise now that we didn't wipe the slate clean we just changed who we owed it to, and then we started mounting up the debt again:o.

I've not heard anything from my creditors yet, the ones that I've spoken to, instigated by me:p, have just made a note of my CCCS reference and they have taken the £1 P/O. I know it will probably come but I'm more than ready to take them on and am commited to repaying them on my terms:)

Oops had another thought, if you go to the CCCS website www.cccs.co.uk you can do the online debt remedy, it's 6 pages long and you input your incomings and outgoings and then it tells you the best option. It recomended a DMP for us

berna123

Hi Mikon. I started my DMP with CCCS in December. It is the best thing i ever did. I had three credit card debts with Barclaycard, MBNA and Egg. When you sign up with CCCS they send you template letters to send to your creditors explaining that you have entered into a DMP. The people at CCCS are very helpful and friendly and will answer all your questions. All the letters from my creditors stopped as soon as i sent these template letters. The only letters i got from my creditors said that they accepted the terms of my DMP. If you get phonecalls from your creditors just refere them to CCCS and give them your DMP number. There are template letters on this site that you can send telling them not to ring you that you will only correspond with them in writing. That way there is no chance that one of your children will ever answer one of these calls.
Good luck with everthing. Give CCCS a ring, you will not regret it.

mikon

berna123 wrote: »

Hi Mikon. I started my DMP with CCCS in December. It is the best thing i ever did. I had three credit card debts with Barclaycard, MBNA and Egg. When you sign up with CCCS they send you template letters to send to your creditors explaining that you have entered into a DMP. The people at CCCS are very helpful and friendly and will answer all your questions. All the letters from my creditors stopped as soon as i sent these template letters. The only letters i got from my creditors said that they accepted the terms of my DMP. If you get phonecalls from your creditors just refere them to CCCS and give them your DMP number. There are template letters on this site that you can send telling them not to ring you that you will only correspond with them in writing. That way there is no chance that one of your children will ever answer one of these calls.
Good luck with everthing. Give CCCS a ring, you will not regret it.

Thank you I will take your advice and give CCCS a ring. Thank you and good luck for the future.

Poosmate

Hi Mikon and welcome to DFWland.

As you haven't missed any payments to any of your creditors yet is there any possibility you could revamp your outgoings to increase your disposable income?

Are you getting all of your services, utilites, insurances for the cheapest possible rate? Are you using cashback sites to earn cash on the money you are spending on these costs?

If you could post your SOA on here the people here may be able to offer advice on reducing your costs further and you won't need to go on a DMP. You can use this link:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Also if your use this link:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

it will give you an idea how to pay off your debts in the correct order paying less interest. The end date can be a bit scary - mines about 8 years away, but even if you can pay an extra £20 per month off the right debt it will make a big difference.

Also, circumstances change, as you pay off one credit card you may be offered interest free periods from those creditors (or existing creditors - I have). So your debt is more flexible.

Using your computer to earn it's keep is addictive. Join a cashback site like Topcashback or Quidco. I am about to get £70 back for buying my car insurance through Quidco. The policy cost £20 more than the cheapest I found not on Quidco but with the £70 cashback, makes it £50 cheaper! Yay!

Hope that doesn't confuse you further and good luck.

Poo

mikon

One further Question well 2 actually.

When the DMP is up and running will I continue to get demand letters from the creditors for the lifetime of the DMP or will they stop once the creditors agree the adjusted monthly payment.

Secondly does anyone have experience of DMP with

Barclays Credit Card
Barclays Loan
Coop Finance
Northern Rock
HFC
M & S Finance
CITI Finance
Argos
Next


Any advice on these companies and how they view DMP would be appreciated.

Thanks

mikon

Could anyone advise me on which company provides the best service for DMP. I am about to embark on one and have spoken with the National Debt Helpline and read alot of positive comments on this forum about CCCS. Thank you to all who contributed to my last post.

My concern is which of these companies work the hardest to freeze interest charges.

I have read that CCCS to not work that hard at freezing interest payments as they are paid by the creditors to secure as much money as possible is this true.

"One individuals experience of CCCS is that they didn't work very hard at freezing interest. They have seen their debt increase even though the DMP has been in place for over 3 years!."

This individuals debts increased rather than decreasing see comments below

I have also learnt that CCCS get paid by the creditors based on what they collect for them. This explains why they did not point out to me that my larger debts did not have interest frozen because they were receiving a nice income every month."

I understand that the DMP company cannot guarantee freezing the interest/charges etc but surely I should not end up worse off. I want to pay my debts off but need to do so on a reduced payment.

Can anyone answers thes questions and which providers is the best

National Debtline or
CCCS
CAB

My creditors are :

Barclays
Barclays Visa
Co-op Finance
Northern Rock
CITI
Marks & Spencers Finance
HBC
Argos Store Card
Next Store Card

Has anyone had a DMP which include these creditors and how did they respond and react to the DMP.

1. Did they freeze interest/charges?

2. Did they harass you for payment or deal with the DMP company? (This is what I am dreading as I want to pay my debts and I will but I need the payments reduced)

3. How long before the creditors stop harassing you and deal with the DMP Company or do they pester you for the life of the DMP?

4. Has anyone ended up in court as a result of their DMP?


Finally I know I need to address this problem and a DMP is the best option I have not defaulted yet but the thought of embarking on a DMP just worries me and I am constantly feeling sick, but I need to do something.

If you have any other advice I have missed please post. Any help is appreciated.

Poosmate

Hi Mikon, I've just posted on the thread you've just read.

I wonder if the creditors are getting less likely to freeze interest because there are so many more people applying for DMP's now that ever before.

I also wonder how many of the people expressing dissatisfaction at the service of the charitable DMP providers are those who have only just entered into this method. Many people have sung their praises on this forum for quite some time. Why now are people becoming dissatisfied?

Interesting.

Poo