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

Mephista

Loubylou2 wrote: »

Welcome Mephista. We too are in the early stages of our DMP and have found this forum an absolute life saver for support. I honestly would have cracked as would feel so isolated.
As you say its impossible to tell family. Like you my mum would be horrified and even the thought of that makes me feel ashamed.
BUT at least we are finally taking action and as others have said we have all paid so much in interest to these financial institutions already!

Today I had a scary sounding message from Buchanan clark & wells (Collection agency for Post Office/BOI) on the answer machine. It tells us to ring and says .This is NOT a marketing call. It sounds automated as its quite robotic & stern sounding. I take it we just ignore? OH is away on a work course this week anyway. They should have had my recorded letter today giving the Payplan no and copy of our SOA so why are they ringing?
Will I ever stop being scared?

Hi Loubylou

Sounds like we have a lot in common except for the constant harrassment it seems.

Never never never let these phonecalls scare you. They always made me angry or annoyed and were a constant distraction but they never made me afraid. I just wish that these people would sometimes truly listen when you speak to them - some do some don't. I always feel its the luck of the draw.

I personally would not answer it. My friend has a policy that she never answers a call she doesn't recognise. If they want to make things more official and get in contact with you - they will write and that way you've got evidence in your hand to seek proper advice - from whomever:)

Loubylou2

tedsd wrote: »

Hi Louby,

they will get the letter this morning. You can't do anymore than explain what is going on to them. Unplug the phone for a few days, if only in the evenings, tell your friends your landline is playing up so you only take calls from people you know on your mobile, and if you do listen to their messages take no notice - it's hard I know, but it does get better. I have been on my DMP for 3 months now and haven't had a phone call since it started. When I've had the odd letter, I've written back, explained, AND said that I was sending a copies of their letter and my response to CCCS. Never heard again.!

Hang on in there, it'll be ok. Keep posting, one of us will be here to give you all the support you need.

I'm working from home today so will keep popping by to check you're ok.

Ted

Thank you. I am finding the support from you all very emotional at the moment. I just got in from work and no phone call yet. Just checked Justabank(Payplan) and the debt from BOI/Post office has now been moved to Buchannan, Clark & Wells. Still showing as pending. But I suppose its not rejected (yet.)

Still nothing from Nat West. I just hope thats not because they are saving up a big shock for us as its one of the larget debts. Unfortunately we consolidated everything into two big loans (plus the Post Office CC) some time ago when OH's salary was much better and i'm afraid that could cause us bigger problems now as the amounts are considerable.
Anyway thanks so much.
LL

Mephista

tedsd wrote: »

Hi Mephista,

I wouldn't worry too much about your payments decreasing - that is the point of a DMP, it is an informal agreement and creditors do know that circumstances change plus if you need to, you have your GPs backing re being unable to take on extra work.

The most important person here is you and your health - NOT the creditors - they will have to wait and they can't have what you haven't got!!

I guess for you, your medical condition causes constant pain but also total frustration with being unable to do what you want to.....

Keep posting and let us know how you go on. We'll all help as much as we can.

Ted

Hi Ted

You sound so much like my family - not that they know my situation but about my health!

They are always going on about it and I refuse to let it take control of me. Any form of serious stress really affects me badly so I always have to have a bit of a freak out for an hour an then calm myself down otherwise I suffer big time.

I think we all sound like we are from similar backgrounds in the sense that most of us had good incomes one way or another, didn't really worry about the borrowing because we knew we could afford the payments .... until something went wrong! My career had went from strength to strength. I NEVER would have imagined myself in this position and I always feel like I'm making excuses when I say but its not really my fault. Truly, though, in a sense that's how I feel. My "series of unfortunate circumstances". I could write a book on my trials and tribulations. Entertainment factor alone would be worth it!

I'm really glad I found this site. There is a lot of info and help on these forums but I find it helpful to lock onto one and truly find genuine loyalty and support from those who are going through exactly the same problem - especially when some of us have made headway.

Thanks so much Ted.:T

Mephista

tedsd wrote: »

Hi Loubylou,

try not to worry. If anything, I found the creditors with the largest debt were easier to deal with and it was the smaller ones who were a pain but they are all on board now. If you read back to my early posts I was on here quite a bit blubbing and in a panic,(I spent 5 months on token payments) so I know it's hard...BUT....

It'll be ok!

Ted

Hi Loubylou

Weird as it sounds, I totally agree with Ted. That's exactly how it worked for me. Its almost like the less you owe, the more they are in your face about it to the point of pettiness. They should take the stance I have to with my salary (or for some of us lack of) and be thankful that something is better than nothing!!

eyeopener2

Same with me, the big loans (tesco 6k, Abbey 4k) were fine, cc were ok around £2.5 k each, it was the payday loans that were the pain really so don't fret too much.

louise*_2

some great advice there from ted and others some of which i will take some advice from myself after 2 consecutive days of calls from mbna!
the 2nd one was worst and after repeating myself for over 10 mins and answering questions i finally cracked up and hung up on them
am about to do my 2nd lot of token payments to everyone so i can pay my dad back something for his holiday.

eyeopener2

louise* wrote: »

some great advice there from ted and others some of which i will take some advice from myself after 2 consecutive days of calls from mbna!
the 2nd one was worst and after repeating myself for over 10 mins and answering questions i finally cracked up and hung up on them
am about to do my 2nd lot of token payments to everyone so i can pay my dad back something for his holiday.

Don't knock yourself out about it. If they are not listening to you then what are you supposed to do?

Write them a nice letter explaining your situation AGAIN (no doubt) and complain about the calls you are getting. Say your making attempts to pay back your debts and the frequency of calls is hampering your ability to deal with it, or something along those lines.

If it gets too much, unplug your phone and only answer your mobile to people you know.

How many more token months will you have?

Ellieseleven

Hi everyone,

Just dropping by to see how everyone is getting on and things seem to be o.k. with you all.

I've had my first statement from CCCS and the amount that we owe is coming down! Yaay!!

Just started my new job so have been busy for the last week and not had much time to come on here to update but life seems to be getting back to normal and we are keeping within our budget so that's good;)

Take care everyone
Ellie xx

louise*_2

hi ellie so pleased you got a new job sorry if i missed that before. :T

as for token payments this will be our 2nd and last lot we are planning to make our first cccs payment on 1st november, i am still planning to pay my dad back just not as quickly as we originally planned (dec) he said he would rather we tackled this dmp head on as he knows how stressed i have been about it all.

i am still getting the hbos overdraft letters for my current account
the hbos loan nothing since first phonecall saying 30 days breathing space.
next cashed token payment but nothing else, except a vip sale invitation :eek:
had red letter from additions
nothing from Very
and 3 phonecalls 2 text messages and 4 letters from mbna who seem to be the most annoyed at the dmp want to know why after never missing payments, why i can't just pay £271 by debit card right now, why i can't ditch cccs and make a payment plan with them etc etc :mad:

thanks for the advice i think i may try another letter

GibbsRule_No3

louise* wrote: »

and 3 phonecalls 2 text messages and 4 letters from mbna who seem to be the most annoyed at the dmp want to know why after never missing payments, why i can't just pay £271 by debit card right now, why i can't ditch cccs and make a payment plan with them etc etc :mad:

HSBC tried that with me, even wanted me to take out a loan. So just stick to your guns. Seems it is a banks plan of action especially if we have been good payers until our light bulb moments.

"Budget" I think that is the word that I forgot and now I have one it makes so much sense. Not to say I didn't enjoy the things I had used the money for that I didn't have. I just have to remember those good times:)