Self dmp 1 year on

leese2504

Hi all,

Not posted on here for sometime but as its been 12 months since I first decided to tackle my debts thought I would update you all.

This time a year ago I felt so scared and alone as I finally realised I could no longer live on credit. This site has been amazing for me. I have cleared £5000 off my debt and although I still have around 4-5 years left before I am debt free I am well on the way to recovery. All my creditors have accepted reduced payments with very little hassle off them.
Natwest
HSBC
MBNA
Northern rock
Citi cards
GE Money

I did the DMP myself so I could keep some control and yes at the beginning was bombarded by phone calls, which I ignored at first. But did find in the end was far easier to sort out reduced pmts by answering the calls, I just clearly advised that I wouldnt stick to anything unless was put in writing.

Just thought it would be inspirational for some people to read the post as I was in a bad place 13 months ago and it feels great to pay for things out of my own money that I saved up for. I look forward to monthly payments as I can see my balances reduce.

Good luck x:D

mikon

Leese2504

It is good to hear from someone who is someway down the debt free line. I am just embarking on a DMP with CCCS. I am constantly worrying/feeling sick, headaches about the what ifs and in particular the debt collection agency. It is good to hear from people that things do get better however at this moment in time I cannot see how. But thank you for posting. My DMP lasts for 10yrs although I am expecting to reduce it with larger payments in 2 yrs. An advice is much appreciated.

leese2504

Hiya,

You feel exactly as I did, who are your creditors? Northern Rock for instance wouldnt accept my DMP at first until I called them, which I put off for months, eventually I built up the guts to ring and after a 10 minute call it was sorted. You are under no obligation to speak to your creditors especially if you're going through a debt man company. I am confident in a few months time you will feel so much better, I lived off credit for such a long time that I felt my confort blanket had been taken away from me :eek: but it feels so good paying for things out of my own money. 10 years feels such a long time but things change and eventually you will be back on your feet enough that you can gradually increase your payments. ( I have increased all mine this year ) not by alot but its removed 12 months off my DMP. All I can say is your doing the right thing, good luck and please PM if you have any questions.

leese2504

By the way one of mine are with a debt coll and I haven't had a single peep out of them : )

lushbu246

hey
ive been on mine for 6 months and its only now becoming less stressful. i didn’t take the calls from the banks as they would hound me to go on a flexi plan with them and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Set up my dmp when I couldn’t use my credit cards or make my payments any longer but the interest rates the banks charged meant I wasn’t actually paying of any debt.

i eventually started to take some calls from the banks and Halifax agreed to lower interest rate so my payments now make a dent. HSBC are the only ones who wont accept my DMP and are selling my debt on- however my nice contact at payplan told me not to worry about this as the new creditors are more likely to accept reduced payments.
feel like weight has been lifted. ive become a serious money saving devotee and hoard my little bit of spare cash like a miser!!!
this has been a big wake up call for me-i look at my bank online at least twice a week. i open all my letters and answer my phone. i put £20 a week into a savings account for monthly bills and put £20 a week away for luxuries-holidays, birthdays, unexpected bills and xmas etc.
feel so much better-even though I wont be debt free for about 4 years-hopefully 3 if I get a better job in the meantime I just feel like im tackling it and feel much more hopeful for the future .

leese2504

Best thing I ever did since getting into debt was to face truth and start to pay it back. Funny how creditors are with different people, HSBC were fantastic and gave me 0% for a whopping 24k debt. Yet other people have found them a complete nightmare. Its so nice to here from people further into their debt man plans, i am sure it inspires people to bite the bullet and deal with their debt and reduce their fear of the unknown so to speak. keep up the good work everyone

mikon

leese2504 wrote: »

Hiya,

You feel exactly as I did, who are your creditors? Northern Rock for instance wouldnt accept my DMP at first until I called them, which I put off for months, eventually I built up the guts to ring and after a 10 minute call it was sorted. You are under no obligation to speak to your creditors especially if you're going through a debt man company. I am confident in a few months time you will feel so much better, I lived off credit for such a long time that I felt my confort blanket had been taken away from me :eek: but it feels so good paying for things out of my own money. 10 years feels such a long time but things change and eventually you will be back on your feet enough that you can gradually increase your payments. ( I have increased all mine this year ) not by alot but its removed 12 months off my DMP. All I can say is your doing the right thing, good luck and please PM if you have any questions.

My Creditors are :-

Barclays
Barclaycard
Northern Rock
M & S Money
Citi Credit Card
HFC
HFC
Next
Co operative Bank
Argos Card

I have sent DMP letter and £1 token payment.

Received letter from CITI today telling me they were charging me £386 interest and £12 charges on a debt of £12,000 this is quite worrying as my debt is just getting bigger.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Regards