DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

effect56

Hi Guys I really need help I currently have app 25k of debt some joint with my oh. We have looked on cccs and they advise dmp. as it stands just now I have not missed any payments on any debit.
Please can you help with follow questions:

I have a old current account with a bank not involving any my creditors can I keep this acc and transfer my direct debits?
I have savings of 3k in an account with one of my creditors, however this is my daughter money that has been saved from birthdays x mas ect, what will I do with this.
should I make token payments for the next few months prior to setting up dmp with cccs.
My husband has a tesco cc that is 0% int for next 10 month opened recently can this still be added to dmp.

Any help would be great, as i am walking about in a daze, cant get my head round it all and the thought of interest rate rising I see myself not being able to feed my family. help.

Hales82

effect56 wrote: »

Hi Guys I really need help I currently have app 25k of debt some joint with my oh. We have looked on cccs and they advise dmp. as it stands just now I have not missed any payments on any debit.
Please can you help with follow questions:

I have a old current account with a bank not involving any my creditors can I keep this acc and transfer my direct debits?
I have savings of 3k in an account with one of my creditors, however this is my daughter money that has been saved from birthdays x mas ect, what will I do with this.
should I make token payments for the next few months prior to setting up dmp with cccs.
My husband has a tesco cc that is 0% int for next 10 month opened recently can this still be added to dmp.

Any help would be great, as i am walking about in a daze, cant get my head round it all and the thought of interest rate rising I see myself not being able to feed my family. help.

Hi

Well done for posting and doing something about your debts. Last month me and my husband were in exactly the same position as you. We had our Lightbulb moment and realised we could not go on living with our level of debt.

I'm still new to this but I'll try and help with your questions:

1) I think you should be able to keep your current account. We had to open new ones as we had a Credit Card and overdrafts included in the DMP with our bank. We now bank away from our debts.

2) Your daughters money will be fine, you won't be expected to use it. Although I would open a Young Savers account or something and put it in there (when opening our new accounts we opened a savers for both our sons at the same time).

3) We made token payments for what was due in February. Until then we had been managing to pay (but then having to live on credit). Once we'd given all our figures to the CCCS we cut up the cards. The only way we've been able to live this month is by paying token payments. This has also enabled us to save a bit (a few hundred) for a rainy day. We no longer have credit cards to fall back on if something crops up so it's important to us.

4) Yes, the Tesco card will be added to the DMP. ALL your debts have to be.

I can honestly say it's been the best decision me and my husband made. It's been a bit stressy changing direct debits etc, and we've started to get calls/letters from creditors but there was no way we could carry on (or maybe we could have for another year, but it would be living on credit and by 2012 we'd be looking at bankruptcy, not a DMP).

I'm enjoying the challenge of sticking to a budget, it's very satisfying to look at my account and see figures in the black and know exactly what's in there is mine. We're also hoping to get some savings behind us, for the first time ever. Looking back I can't believe we had such a blase attitude to money.

Good luck with your journey x

ianmak

effect56 wrote: »

Hi Guys I really need help I currently have app 25k of debt some joint with my oh. We have looked on cccs and they advise dmp. as it stands just now I have not missed any payments on any debit.
Please can you help with follow questions:

I have a old current account with a bank not involving any my creditors can I keep this acc and transfer my direct debits?
.

Hi ya and welcome. Agree with all of the above, just make sure that the old current account DOES NOT have an overdraft (get it removed if it does), as you will not be able to have any credit whilst on the DMP.

SHELLSHOCK

Thanks Suze!

No it's my DH account and he's not great at dealing with things like that. I know him, he would get drawn into a long conversation with them! He's the type who knows their life story within 10 minutes!!! Of course they won't speak to me as its not in my name.

I think I'll write again and reiterate what I said about removing phone numbers. Does anyone have any template letters or wording I could use?

On a plus side I have just changed my husbands car insurance and have saved us £12 per month and £40 cashback! Yay!!

effect56

Hales82 wrote: »

Hi

Well done for posting and doing something about your debts. Last month me and my husband were in exactly the same position as you. We had our Lightbulb moment and realised we could not go on living with our level of debt.

I'm still new to this but I'll try and help with your questions:

1) I think you should be able to keep your current account. We had to open new ones as we had a Credit Card and overdrafts included in the DMP with our bank. We now bank away from our debts.

2) Your daughters money will be fine, you won't be expected to use it. Although I would open a Young Savers account or something and put it in there (when opening our new accounts we opened a savers for both our sons at the same time).

3) We made token payments for what was due in February. Until then we had been managing to pay (but then having to live on credit). Once we'd given all our figures to the CCCS we cut up the cards. The only way we've been able to live this month is by paying token payments. This has also enabled us to save a bit (a few hundred) for a rainy day. We no longer have credit cards to fall back on if something crops up so it's important to us.

4) Yes, the Tesco card will be added to the DMP. ALL your debts have to be.

I can honestly say it's been the best decision me and my husband made. It's been a bit stressy changing direct debits etc, and we've started to get calls/letters from creditors but there was no way we could carry on (or maybe we could have for another year, but it would be living on credit and by 2012 we'd be looking at bankruptcy, not a DMP).

I'm enjoying the challenge of sticking to a budget, it's very satisfying to look at my account and see figures in the black and know exactly what's in there is mine. We're also hoping to get some savings behind us, for the first time ever. Looking back I can't believe we had such a blase attitude to money.

Good luck with your journey x

Hi Sorry I should have made my question clearer the 3k is in my name just now I am planning to remove from that account and put in a saver account for my daughter in her name could rbs chase me for that 3k as the money is in one of their accounts and I have outstanding loan of 5k with them.

Hales82

effect56 wrote: »

Hi Sorry I should have made my question clearer the 3k is in my name just now I am planning to remove from that account and put in a saver account for my daughter in her name could rbs chase me for that 3k as the money is in one of their accounts and I have outstanding loan of 5k with them.

I think if it is in an account in your name and it's with a bank you have debts with then yes, I think they can take it under their right to offset.

I'm not sure if it's in a young savers account, you'd still be the main account holder (I am for my son's accounts). To be honest I wouln't take a chance, if your current accounts are away from your debts I'd open a Young Savers there and bank it away from the debt. Better to be safe than sorry I think.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will be along to give better advice

Hopelessly_Hopeful

SHELLSHOCK wrote: »

Hi,

Just thought I'd catch up with you all. Haven't been on for a week because our laptop died :mad: Just what we need at the moment! Trying to find a cheapish one on ebay.

We have got our confirmation through from CCCS to say they will take our first instalment in 1 March so thats good. Got a few letters, Santander seem to be ignoring the fact that I wrote to them but have had a letter from LloydsTSB to acknowledge my difficulties. Of course they are still going to charge me interest and fees??? Thats helpful, thanks guys!!

The biggest problem at the moment is Barclays Partner Finance. I wrote to them with the token payment and they bombarded my husbands monile with at least 10 calls a day. I then wrote to them to ask them to take all numbers off their list and to communicate with the CCCS and us in writing. They are still calling all the time and texting! They haven't acknowleged any of the letters, what do I do now?

Any advice will be gratefully received!

I just want to get started and am looking forward to working around our new budget and new spending ways. Both my husband and I have completely changed our mindset and just want to deal in cash now. We are going to withdraw our weekly budget every Friday and then not use our debit cards again until the following Friday.

I am feeling very impatient but know that tomorrow I could be feeling completely different (its a rollercoaster!)

Welcome onboard. Hope you have a smooth start up. My advice is send Barclays the only communicate in writting and please dont your behaviour is causing me stress and may be intepretted as harrasment as I have responded to you type letter. Send it recorded delivery and ask them to acknowledge receipt. If they make another unreasonable contact refer to your letter again in writting and advice them if it happens again you will report them to the ombudsman. Third time, report them!!!!!!


Let us know how you get on

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Hales82 wrote: »

I think if it is in an account in your name and it's with a bank you have debts with then yes, I think they can take it under their right to offset.

I'm not sure if it's in a young savers account, you'd still be the main account holder (I am for my son's accounts). To be honest I wouln't take a chance, if your current accounts are away from your debts I'd open a Young Savers there and bank it away from the debt. Better to be safe than sorry I think.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will be along to give better advice

I'd remove it ASAP and put in account in your daughters name, they will snaffle it, trust me! Expect some grief for it but you will get less hassle if you do it sooner rather than later. Wouldn't hurt to ask your DMP advisors about it too

HHx

sickasachip13

Hi Effect 56,
Re: the 3k for your daughter - I think the bank can take it if its in your name, I certainly wouldn't chance it and would get it out of their and into an account in your daughter's name before the bank gets a sniff of your financial situation... I look to putting it into another institution - doesn't the PO do kids saver accounts?

Your old bank account - does it have any debt on it, or an overdraft available? If it has debt it would have to go into the DMP. If it has an OD you need to ask them to withdraw it as this would constitute 'available credit'. Are you sure it is still a live account? We thought we had an old one to use and just before starting the DMP process prepared to move all the DDs we needed to 'save' across to it and found that the bank had closed it. Luckily our credit record was still clean at that point and the bank allowed us a new account (but did put an OD in place which we immediately cancelled). There was a lot of juggling for us as we tried to transfer DDs out of our old accounts and timing the DMP and letters etc - it was all very chaotic and stressful for a few weeks.

I'd recommend getting prepared - get your paperwork in order, check out your bank account, set up a kid's account for your daughter and get the 3k out, I set up an excel spreadsheet so I could track everything, and bought new filing boxes specifically for each debt under the DMP.

It does get easier, it's just a bit hectic at first!

Hales82

Had a very nice letter from MBNA just drop through my door saying they accept our DMP payment offer. They're not stopping interest altogether (boo!) but have reduced it to 3.6% per annum and will not add any charges to the account.

What a fab letter to get on a Friday So far all we've had is demands for payment from our creditors.

I do have one question, do I need to tell the CCCS that MBNA have accepted the terms?