DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

grantalien

I am now about 1 year in so I thought I would give a brief synopsis of my DMP journey - hopefully it will offer some hope to those of you that have just started.

We started with a whopping £63k worth! and our lightbulb moment occurred one bleak October day in 2009 when I was thinking about how I would be able to do food shopping!

DMP entered (via Payplan) and life straight away felt better (having that budget really helped us and to be honest we were struggling so badly before we are almost better off!)

first 3-4 months it was phonecall, letter, text etc etc - some fine, some not so fine BUT you MUST stick to your guns and not be bullied - have belief in your budget and the amounts designated for each creditor. We spoke to each creditor - I found this easier as I wanted them to know what my intentions were.

after month 4-5 most had agreed and the calls etc settled right down - 2 did not play ball!
HSBC (my largest credit at £20k) did nothing as they were getting over 50% of the original payment - they effectively told me that nothing would happen at the rate of payment for 12 months - I'll come back to that!

Nationwide and their in house KPR were utter b******s and totally inept to boot - they eventually took us to court (after 12 months) and gained a CCJ on our credit cards (At the same rate as my DMP after they had tried to whopping monthly amounts and a charging order - (see my previous posts for details of my glorious victory over these idiots)

To finish it off I increased my payments by 5.5% from November and had a letter on Saturday from HSBC formally accepting my terms.

Everyone is on board or sorted for now...this may change as the debt climate is a fickle one but for now its all good!

To finish - IT IS WORTH IT compared to the living hell of living on credit and minimum payments etc - to be honest we have been good at budgeting and have managed to do boys Christmas etc - clever shopping, cashback and ebay etc.

Chin up and on your go - remember stick to the plan, show willing and remember the feeling of dread before the lightbulb moment - you do not want to go back there.

mom23

Hi Grantalien
It's posts like yours that do make me feel it is worth it and believe me i've read them all!!
Think it's more to do with being in a state of "Limbo" at the moment with the bank acc ,OH's HR and basically how it is all going to pan out.
In theory once the DMP is up and running we should have more to play with each month and be able to put away for emergencys(sp) etc but in practice who knows!!
This month is tight as i had already paid the min repayments on a few of the CC'S, that's why if i can get everything sorted ie the wages etc into new acc by the beg Dec it will make things easier regarding xmas etc(have been selling bit's and bob's on ebay) although the kid's are aware that "Santa" is not very well off this year!
Many thanks for your post i am prob in "a feeling sorry for myself " mode this am and need a kick up the backside to get me motivated, have loads of ebay parcels to pack and post and the house looks like a tip after the weekend!

jasperconran

Hi guys,

thank you all so much for your kind words and support.

I have just filled out the CCCS dmp request on their web. I am a bit concerned though as their figures dont add up! I have been completely honest and put everything down and according to their summary we should have £1,300 left over each month!!!! I wish!!!! If we did have that much then their summary says we would be debt free in 3 years! if we had that much left over each month, I wouldnt be going to CCCS for help in the first place!

What should I do? wait to hear from them? or shall I call them myself?????


help!!!

grantalien

jasperconran wrote: »

Hi guys,

thank you all so much for your kind words and support.

I have just filled out the CCCS dmp request on their web. I am a bit concerned though as their figures dont add up! I have been completely honest and put everything down and according to their summary we should have £1,300 left over each month!!!! I wish!!!! If we did have that much then their summary says we would be debt free in 3 years! if we had that much left over each month, I wouldnt be going to CCCS for help in the first place!

What should I do? wait to hear from them? or shall I call them myself?????



help!!!

If you have been honest then it could well be that much! - Have you included everything (from phones to subscriptions etc etc..) You have to remember that after the £1300 had been divided up you have to stick to budget as best you can so dont leave yourself short - There are parts of the budget that maybe more than you were expecting (that happened with me - food haircuts etc..)

I was the same but prior to DMP that excess is being swallowed up in credit - thats the point ofthe DMP to bring it back into an affordable repayment plan - prioritising priority debts and allowing you to live day to day to a budget.

chin up - you will get there!:T

Wanna_B_Debt_Free_Free

Wanna_B_Debt_Free_Free wrote: »

Hi all!

Well its Friday the postman has just delivered the mail and low and behold there are some threatening letters from our good friends at HSBC. I knew there would be some some DMP related mail before he even put it through the door, well it is Friday after all!

The letters are final demands for a loan and after speaking with PP I am hoping after this last hurrah to be passed onto their in house debt collectors and fingers crossed not the courts route:eek:

Anyone else had some heart warming mail this morning we probably all have its Friday!!!!!!!:D

Wanna B

Hi All, I hope everyone is well?

Well after that letter last weekend, I received two lots of letters this weekend this time with better news!

After ten months HSBC have finally acknowledged our DMP and in a round a bout way have accepted our payment plans for our old accounts and loan which totals around £11,000:eek:

Its so true about just hanging in there one week its threats of court and solicitors the next they have accepted?!

Hang on in there people!!!

Wanna B

jasperconran

grantalien wrote: »

If you have been honest then it could well be that much! - Have you included everything (from phones to subscriptions etc etc..) You have to remember that after the £1300 had been divided up you have to stick to budget as best you can so dont leave yourself short - There are parts of the budget that maybe more than you were expecting (that happened with me - food haircuts etc..)

I was the same but prior to DMP that excess is being swallowed up in credit - thats the point ofthe DMP to bring it back into an affordable repayment plan - prioritising priority debts and allowing you to live day to day to a budget.

chin up - you will get there!:T

thank you I hope so! I think I was just soooo shocked to see them say we have that amount left over! lol so we dont see it. if not I will have to rethink the figures etc,

I was sort of doing our own dmp but barclaycard have still been putting interest etc on, now I have advised them that I would like to reduce my payments by £50 I have had 15 calls from them since Saturday:eek: I even had some last night which I think is absolutely disgraceful. They have never done me any favours! I was advised by letter yes we will freeze all charges, yeah right! The only ones who have been fabby I have to say have been Egg. started off threatening etc, soon gave up.

hope this gets sorted soon, I am sooooo depressed and I wake up every morning filled with dread and despair. As I have said, I am dealing with all of this on my own:(

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Wanna B - well done

Jasper - I agree with Grant. Really make sure everything is acounted for to be honest I found the CCCS sheet quite comprehensive so a useful tool for this.

Mom it will start to get easier. What date are you looking to start your DMP payment? If you have already sent payment it may be worth doing £1 token next month and start the month after to give yourself an 'emergency' fund. I only send one month of tokens but you don't appear to get treated any differently if you do two or three. Its possible to get bank account set up and wages transferred within a matter of days I know as I applied at the weekend and my wages were in new account by the following Thursday so it's all doable if you chase it.

HHx

powerchimp

An update from me

The main reason I found myself in the situation that put me into going into a DMP was because back in May I had to take a 20% pay cut and we were living on the edge and this pushed us right over.:(

Good news today is the for the next 7 weeks I'm going to be paid at my full rate of pay, this at least means we will be able to have a better christmas than expected but will have 15% taken off again in the new year:( I guess that extra 5% back will only help to cover the VAT increase.

Bad news is Tesco CC are still charging interest so only half the DMP payment is coming off the balance.

mom23 wrote: »

Have got to make some token payments this week should i send them with a letter?

A couple of months before we started our DMP we couldn't met the minimum payments on the CC so were only paying what we could, I did speak to the CC company and told them that I was trying to sort out my finances. Once we knew we were going on the DMP we sent out a token payment along with a letter explaining everything.

The months leading up to going on the DMP were scary but now we are 3 months in things have settled down and I don't dread the phone ringing or the post through the letterbox.

We're managing to stick to the budget (so far) and even manged to go out for a meal at the weekend, something we haven't done in over a year.

It's not easy but it's better that the way it was before the DMP

PC

whybother?

Hi all

I know it hurts and it feels never ending but stick with it! I remember exactly how it felt too and feel for you all.

I was 25 when I jumped into a DMP because I just couldn't manage anymore. Those years are meant to be the times of your life but it was nothing short of a nightmare...watching your friends being able to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted while I felt like I was stuck in a black hole with no way out.

It isn't easy - I was never the most disciplined with my finances but soon learned that I had to be. Roll on 6 years, everything is paid off and the relief is unbelievable! The beauty of it is that you soon realise how much you waste given the opportunity.

Suddenly I am in a position where I have the disposable income but appreciate what I have and am now in the position where I can actually save...having learned the need to budget (and just how painful that was) I now have complete control over myself!

Again, I know exactly how some of you guys are feeling but there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel and it is definitely worth it

Good luck!

Bubbahut

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread.

Went to my husbands redetermination hearing and the judge changed the monthly repayment from the ridiculous £979 per month to £70, however the solicitor asked for the judgement forthwith so they can now apply for a CO which she agreed

So now just waiting to see what they do next, hoping that they don't try to force us to sell the house.