Without a paddle... support for anyone starting a DMP in 2010 (part2)

ljm23k

true27 wrote: »

Oh I'm with you on that LJM, I'm already planning for it! Have decided to be 100% ready, down to the frozen veg, by 30th November! I'm looking forward to a stress free December this year!

My DD wants art academy for the DS in her stocking, Amazon are taking orders at almost half the RRP so I will def be hiding that one away!

Heres to a frugal and stress free Christmas!

newbeginning_2

true27 wrote: »

Oh I'm with you on that LJM, I'm already planning for it! Have decided to be 100% ready, down to the frozen veg, by 30th November! I'm looking forward to a stress free December this year!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I say that every single year!!!

Never happens but I'll try again this year

depressedwithdebt

Hi everyone

I have tried going through a lot of the posts here, but at 161 pages it could take me forever to read it all!

I have posted on the debt-free wannabe site setting out my horrendous financial position. I have loads of really helpful suggestions, and they primarily seem to suggest entering a DMP. I have been on the CCCS site, done the online calculation, and this suggests I should pay about £750 a month for 5 years and 9 months for me debts to be cleared. This seemed quite good to me, as I am paying more than this each month (which adds to the debt problem) and seemed like a good way to proceed.

However, I have now been looking into DMP's and am properly bricking it. I feel really sick and worried after reading up on DMP's as it seems I will be hounded and pursued by my creditors who may not even agree to a DMP and who might seek a CCJ or charging order against my property (which only has £15k equity in tops).

My creditors are Barclaycard, Barclays OD, Natwest Visa, Natwest OD, Natwest Charge Card, Citicard, egg, Cahoot (Santander), Northern Rock loan, Virgin Credit Card and an AA loan.

I have seen posts suggesting that Natwest (especially the OD) are unlikely to reduce payments and often go for Charging Orders, as do Northern Rock, egg and Virgin. I have also seen posts saying they may sent debt collectors around to my property.

I am now so scared. My wife knows we have some debt, but not the full extent of it, and I don't want her put through the hassle of debt collectors and court cases.

I am kind of being put off a DMP, but cannot consider bankruptcy because of my job (bankruptcy=no job) so wonder what everyone's thoughts are on DMPs with these creditors??

Any suggestions would be great!

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Evening DWD and welcome to the thread.

I'm a little short on words this evening, it's been a long week but just wanted to wish you well. You'll see that most people here say DMP was best thing they did. Apart from some gripes about wanting to self administer you will see that most people find this a preferable route and wish they had done it long times ago. As PDD says there's no such thing as bank loyalty so have this in mind. Information is power and we are developing lots of intelligence to help each other here and on the other DMP support thread. DMP is about accepting responsibility and paying it back but it's also about rehab and being able to live in the interim. Do take some time out to read the pages, sooooooooooooo useful to help keep a lid on the anxiety, learning more and having strength from reading posters journeys. Hollow away, ask away and scream and shout if you need to. Do laugh with us too. Life's too damn short to let it be the only focus. You will be amazed how much joy we can squeeze out of a packet of wackos and a bottle of aldi wine!

My advice is tell wifey. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. The best things in life really are free.

I'll end there before anymore cliches spill over!

In your dark moments think day by day you are a step closer to DFD. I can't tell you the buzz you get when you start to see the figures going down and still having a smidgen left at the end of the month.

Let us know how you get on and shout up if you need an ear.

HTH

HH x

true27

Hi DWD!

The first steps are the scariest!

In reality, yes the creditors probably will bombard you with phone calls. So you send a letter asking them not to or you'll report them to the FSA. Or (like me) you pull the plug out of the phone. Looking at your list, I know some guys on here have had problems with Nat West, Citi and Egg but having said that, everyone's experience is different. But at the end of the day, if you're making payments to them (and CCCS will pay them whether they've accepted or not) then if they apply for a CCJ, they won't actually gain anything. It's not a cheap thing to do to apply for a CCJ and if they're getting money out of you, even if its only £1 a month, the likelihood is that they won't go down that route. They can't get a charging order without a CCJ. If you're making payments regularly and the judge can see that, that will only go in your favour.

I echo HH in her advice to tell your wife. I know it won't be an easy conversation, but its one that you need to have. She's going to need to be on board, even if the debts are all yours. I think you'll find she'll be understanding.

If bankruptcy isn't an option, then neither is an IVA. A DMP is your best bet.

Yes, its scary. But it will be the best thing you've ever done.

Keep posting, let us know how you get on

mamajojo

Welcome DWD and well done for finding us and taking those first and as True said most scary steps.
Wise words from HH and True - I can only agree with them.
We started the dmp creek paddle in January, and so far egg have been quiet after their inital desire to talk on the phone, barclaycard have been good too, both stopped interest and charges. I would if I was starting this again do an extra month of token payments to get an emergency fund set up...something we still need to sort out!
Let us know how you go.

mamajojo

:DHello
Found my way back and am trying to dodge children, not working as smallest one has found me ah well at least all he can do is mess up my typing(no help neede there!) and he can't read...

Hope everything's nice and quiet on the dmp front for everyone, I'm back to being scared of the posty, not sure why other than the flurry of defaults popping through the post box and a range of computer generated letters....filiing filling waiting for our 180 days to be up for hsbc then we'll see what happens when we are passed to dca.

Well we had a good dmp holiday though I missed you! Couldn't even try and catch up with dh's work phone as there was no signal at all! On the beach no matter what, in the rain, sea mist and sunshine, the small ones had a ball screaming at the sea as the ran in and out of it! Only one trip to a & e ds lost the ability to walk - for 24 hours unexplained - but really what can you expect from us, ds the younger was poorly too he didn't crack a smile for 4 days but still screamed at the sea and threw sand in my eyes repeatedly! The bargain accommodation was carp and lots of things didn't work, washing machine, cooker!!! so trying to get a partial refund.

DH has just asked me how much is left to spend on my birthday next week....mmm that' be nothing.....should i feel grumpy about that? I think I do - bad mama!

Take care guys x

Triggles

We're on a self-managed DMP, but don't post in here too often. I tend to lurk more, unless I have something specific to say. We're doing the CCA requests right now, just to see where we are on our debts.

I agree that it will be nice to see people in here in the run up to Christmas, as it can be a rather stressful time for many and the support will be helpful to all of us. We've already made quite a start in our Christmas presents, as we've spotted things over the summer in sales.. easily over halfway done. We don't have a huge budget for Christmas - I can't see us spending over £200 in all. We've probably spent about £50 so far. Still have some shopping to do, as well as the Christmas shopping for food, including ingredients for Christmas cake in September or October. Plus we use the money built up on our Nectar card to help with the holiday foods. Christmas cards are already purchased last year, so just postage costs. DH & I have agreed to purchase a set of DVDs that we both would like as a joint present to each other, and then we have a limit of £10 to buy each other a gift "from" DS2 & DS3. We've cut back on who we buy gifts for - as younger relatives grow up and become adults we tend to revert to cards as we do for their parents. A lot of people we know are in financial cutbacks as well, so nobody is offended by it - I'd say some are relieved as well. I would much prefer a card from someone than have them spend money they don't have to buy us a present. And we've scrapped the habit of buying in a bunch of booze for when people visit around the holidays. It's too expensive to keep a whole bunch of different types (as everyone always seems to like something different, don't they?), so we have a few bottles of wine in when it's on sale and pretty much leave it at wine, tea, or coffee (or hot chocolate if we have it). Nobody's complained so far (and even if they did, wouldn't they look rather rude?).

Looking forward to seeing how everyone is doing over the next few months!

candypop

depressedwithdebt wrote: »

Hi everyone

I have tried going through a lot of the posts here, but at 161 pages it could take me forever to read it all!

I have posted on the debt-free wannabe site setting out my horrendous financial position. I have loads of really helpful suggestions, and they primarily seem to suggest entering a DMP. I have been on the CCCS site, done the online calculation, and this suggests I should pay about £750 a month for 5 years and 9 months for me debts to be cleared. This seemed quite good to me, as I am paying more than this each month (which adds to the debt problem) and seemed like a good way to proceed.

However, I have now been looking into DMP's and am properly bricking it. I feel really sick and worried after reading up on DMP's as it seems I will be hounded and pursued by my creditors who may not even agree to a DMP and who might seek a CCJ or charging order against my property (which only has £15k equity in tops).

My creditors are Barclaycard, Barclays OD, Natwest Visa, Natwest OD, Natwest Charge Card, Citicard, egg, Cahoot (Santander), Northern Rock loan, Virgin Credit Card and an AA loan.

I have seen posts suggesting that Natwest (especially the OD) are unlikely to reduce payments and often go for Charging Orders, as do Northern Rock, egg and Virgin. I have also seen posts saying they may sent debt collectors around to my property.

I am now so scared. My wife knows we have some debt, but not the full extent of it, and I don't want her put through the hassle of debt collectors and court cases.

I am kind of being put off a DMP, but cannot consider bankruptcy because of my job (bankruptcy=no job) so wonder what everyone's thoughts are on DMPs with these creditors??

Any suggestions would be great!

Hi I started by DMP on 1st April and to be honest it has been one of the most scarest things and I have ever done but if I hadnt I would have carried on spending on my CC's on day to day items ie food/petrol and worrying myself sick about it all. dont get me wrong i still worry but at least I can sleep and am dealing with my debts. I am with virgin cc and they accepted me straight away for a year and stopped interest and charges. Barclaycard accepted but still charge 3% interest which they are entitled to. I also have a loan with Northern Rock who accepted DMP for 6 months initally they wrote to me a few weeks ago for a updated budget statement which CCCS sent after my review and I havent heard anything else since. I didnt received many calls or letters . Barclaycard where the only ones to ring at the start of it all at work :eek: which was scary. I rang them back later to give them my CCCS ref number and havent heard from them since. I still worry about what else can happen but am more settled that I am reducing my debts instead of them increasing.

Please give CCCS a ring and speak to a counsellor they are really helpful.

Ellieseleven

depressedwithdebt wrote: »

Hi everyone


I have posted on the debt-free wannabe site setting out my horrendous financial position. I have loads of really helpful suggestions, and they primarily seem to suggest entering a DMP. I have been on the CCCS site, done the online calculation,

However, I have now been looking into DMP's and am properly bricking it. I feel really sick and worried after reading up on DMP's as it seems I will be hounded and pursued by my creditors who may not even agree to a DMP and who might seek a CCJ or charging order against my property (which only has £15k equity in tops).

thoughts are on DMPs with these creditors??

Any suggestions would be great!

Hi DWD, I'm in the very early stages of setting up my DMP with CCCS and at first I was so worried about what was going to happen to us that I was a nervous wreck. We should have gone down the DMP route 12 months ago but because I was frightened of losing the house and worried about the effect on our credit file we soldiered on getting more and more in debt hoping that things would get better (which they didn't). So, 12 months on and we have made the decision to go with a DMP, after the intial week of missing CC payments where I was a total mess and so worried about what was going to "happen" to me. I am now feeling better in myself, much of the stress of trying to pay credit cards has lifted, the CCCS have been great so far and this forum has been my lifeline:T

I have spent hours going through the threads on this forum and find other people's experiences have helped me through those early days. It's a difficult decision whether to go on a DMP or not and only you can decide but so far (4 weeks in) I am still glad that I have made that decision and keep thinking to myself "Do I really want any more credit?" and the answer is "NO!"

Take care
Ellie xx