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

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning folks

Loubylou, they sound pretty standard, it's a pain isn't it?

Way to go E2. Good luck. I'm very busy at work including weekends just now but plan to bombard Hellifax before Christmas.

Just had payday so about to update my signature My DMP payment reduced by 4% after my review so slightly less than projected but we have to live and good to know that CCCs are responsive. Every little helps as they say.

Hope everyone having a good weekend.

HHxx

eyeopener2

Hi HH and everybody!

I'm itching to update my sig as well, although I will have to wait till pay day onTuesday, when 9 debts become 8 and I drop below my first target of £20k.

E2

newbeginning_2

E2, how come you've paid one off? is it a pay day loan?

Hope everyones doing well.

eyeopener2

Yes I had three payday loans and CCCS prorated the payments to pay the majority to those first. One went a couple of months ago, one will go next month and then maybe the last in February.

CCCS base the repayment plan on contractural payments so they got the most (Payplan work diffferently I believe). Similar thing with two of my creditcards that had similar balances, as they had slightly different minimum percentages they receive very different monthly payments. SO 7 months in, i'm rid of two

In a way its been perfect for me as it shows progress and I am, or will be, dealing with "normal" lenders now. As a result I will be increasing my payments to the other lenders when these have gone so it keeps them happy. Its worked quite well so far.

candypop

Hi everyone - sorry not been around for a while but i have been keeping uptodate with posts. Was stressing about Christmas but am okay about it now. really pleased with myself for buying pressies with cash this year and not on cards.Only a few more to get for DS keep looking for bargains. DMP seems to be going okay Halifax still charging interest taking £78 out of the £91 CCCS pay. have sent letters but getting nothing back. Dont have a printer at home so have to use one a work which is difficult may ask CCCS if there is anything they can do. Does anyone know if it is okay to take out cover on central Heating boilers whilst on a DMP, mine is getting old and have looked into british gas and Scottish power cover it will be around £13 a month just dont fancy it breaking down and being lumbered with a big bill needs heating especially with the weather we are having at the mo. I have emailed CCCS to ask but does anyone have a idea. Many Thanks

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Hi All

That sounds positive E2

Thanks for that Ted. I am planning to pop a lottery ticket in cards for those we have agreed not to buy for. Not exactly a half way house but at least we can all share the dream.

Candy, for your sanity and relationship with CCCS I'd get it agreed with them in advance but yes I have insurances included in my DMP. Hopefully you will get a speedy response.

I've had my slow cooker on chugging away with warming filling meals for the freezer. Can't believe what I used to spend on pre packed rubbish. See there is some good to fall out of this

Hope everyone's having a lovely snuggly weekend

HHx

Mephista

Good morning everyone.

While its a cold one, I'm in a good mood. Got some more pressies over the weekend and am a step closer to finishing up. As you all say, it feels good to pay for them in cash and the bonus is that there is no big bill waiting for you in January.

Thanks for the tip about Green Metropolis -I'm taking a look and I might make good use of it. We've been doing a massive clearout of the house recently and I had loads of books that I either gave to charity or just threw away. Lots of them were hardbacks (I used to belong to a bookclub) so I'm gonna take a good look at this site and see if I can get a little money back on them instead. Excellent advice - thank you.

I've a busy week this week with dinners for christmas and birthdays so with any luck I can budget my way through them in a sensible manner!:A

Thinking of you all and hoping that the New Year brings us all good news, less debt and a new lease of life!!

newbeginning_2

Morning all, we've got thick snow here .

Rang CCCS for my review last week and they have more than doubled my payment :eek: which I'm really worried about as the OH's wage can vary massively, they wouldn't let me lower it said we have to see how we go. On the plus side if we can stick to the new payments it would mean we'd be debt free quicker. Will have to see how that one goes.

Just had a letter from a DC it would seem that Lloyds have sold me, which I'm pretty pleased about - they might stop charging me every month now!

Hope everyone else is doing okay. x

brokepaolo

Hello,

I started a DMP with Payplan in September and am paying £145 per month towards it which really is the absolute maximum I can afford in my bid to clear about £10k of debt. My DMP payment goes out on the day I am paid my salary, the 20th of each month but this month my salary was paid on the 19th because the 20th was a saturday. I checked my online banking and it said the payment had gone to payplan and that my other essential bills had also gone through which left me with enough money for living expenses. What with it being Christmas next month, I decided to book my train ticket to see my Dad early, in order to save money on the fare, I also bought some christmas presents in advance so as to avoid having to buy them after my next payday, the 20th of December, and have to negotiate with the hordes of shoppers in town..

I thought I'd be ok with my expenditure on the above but I've just noticed that my DMP payment was actually returned to me by my bank a few days after it had originally gone through. I've calculated that it literally is a matter of about £20 overlap in the amount I spent on the christmas shopping and train fare which I bought at the weekend clashing with the £145 dmp payment leaving my account over the weekend.

Needless to say, the money that was returned to my account was money I honestly believed to be mine to spend, I check my online balance almost daily and it never seemed considerably up or down to me, certainly not to the tune of £145.

Now I'm extremely worried that my creditors will go ballistic over me missing a payment so early on into my DMP. I'm also frustarted that this has happened because of something as small as £20, especially considering that £40 automatically goes from my bank account to my savings account held with the same bank. There's no point in my raising this with my bank though, they'll just tell me the bleedin obvious and tell me that I should have prioritised my payments over the weekend before doing the christmas shopping etc.. fair enough..

Mind you, I also noticed that there was no correspondence from Payplan regarding the missed payment other than it showing up ont heir website that my last payment was in october. I'm sure they're busy dealing with hundreds of other cases and it really is up to me to ensure my dmp is up to date.

does anyone have any experience of what happens when a DMP payment is missed? with Payplan? I can't afford to make the payment this month and to make the payment next month on top of the standard £145 would be highly unlikely too as I'm stretched enough as it is.

I have payment insurance on the dmp but that's just for situations like sudden change of circumstances or death..

I feel bad because it just goes to show what tight rope my finances are when within the space of a weekend, a direct debit that goes out the same day as my salary going in is returned because what I spent at the weekend got out first..

Ellieseleven

First of all, thanks for the advice and template letter regarding Mercers constant phone calls. They are very much appreciated.

Can I ask another question? Would you consider 18 calls in one day harrassment?

We have written to Mercers asking that they deal with us in writing, we have given them our CCCS reference number. We have contacted the CCCS to explain that they are asking for SOA etc. before considering reduced payments and they have re-sent eveything to them but..... they continue to hound us, asking for two payments and they will credit two payments?, threatening to send someone around to the house, threatening us with court action, hammering us with late payment fees, over credit limit fees, high interest fees etc.

If they continue to ignore our attempts to sort this out, is our next step to report them?

We are really at the end of our tether, OH is not answering any of the calls as he doesn't trust himself to stay calm

Any advice is really welcome

Thanks
Ellie xx