DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

Indirestraits

Hi BB7 - You sound like your situation is similar to mine. I have sent £1 to my creditors with the template letter and am waiting to hear whether they agree to this. Not on DMP yet as trying this for 6 months on CCCS advice. I have done all the things advised such as opening new bank account etc. My family know nothing of all this either. I am self-employed and handle all my own finances separately plus I don't want my husband being dragged into all this - he couldn't cope with the worry. I did ring Barclaycard two months ago and asked if they would let me off paying that month and not charge interest and they agreed (as I had never actually missed a minimum payment in 30 plus years!). This month I phoned and tried it again. They let me off the payment and said they would not add interest but they have. Of course now they will have received my template letter and my £1 offering. It is a nightmare but at least I do feel that I am admitting I have no other option and doing something positive. Plus realise there's a lot of help here for us.

Indirestraits

I don't think they do credit check you if it is simply moving onto one of their other fixed rate offers. My fixed rate is up end Aug and they offered me a new one in advance so I have "bagged" this (just before "owning up" to my debts and sending my letters and offers. Worth a try anyway.

the_tooth_fairy

Triggles wrote: »

Unfortunately, just because you have been a "good" customer up until now, they still immediately seem to shift their view to "bad" customer the minute you start paying them less for the DMP. We had never ever missed a payment to any of our creditors, and we started getting phone calls and nasty letters almost immediately. And this was after we'd sent letters right away letting them know the situation and such. This is something DH found hard to get his head around, to be honest. He felt that since we had always made our payments on time every month, they should at least be nice about it and try to work with us. Not so. There is no guarantee that they will cooperate or cut interest and such. Many of ours haven't, and oddly enough some on here have stated that the same company will cut interest for one of their accounts but not for another. There just seems to be no "normal" route. We all just do the best we can, and that's all we can do, I think. Best of luck!

I agree, we entered our DMP with no 'back' payments due, and you just have to run with it. Once we paid less than the minimum payments, of course we were miles behind for the first few months. Especially when they add on interest, late payment fees, etc. What a difference when they finally stop interest though! All the nightmare from the early months seems to go away when you see how much your balance goes down with every payment. It even makes the 2 who have only reduced interest pale into insignificance. Imagine what it would be like, paying the minimum every month for years (and years).

We're all getting there. :T

ttf

the_tooth_fairy

Indirestraits wrote: »

Hi BB7 - You sound like your situation is similar to mine. I have sent £1 to my creditors with the template letter and am waiting to hear whether they agree to this. Not on DMP yet as trying this for 6 months on CCCS advice. I have done all the things advised such as opening new bank account etc. My family know nothing of all this either. I am self-employed and handle all my own finances separately plus I don't want my husband being dragged into all this - he couldn't cope with the worry. I did ring Barclaycard two months ago and asked if they would let me off paying that month and not charge interest and they agreed (as I had never actually missed a minimum payment in 30 plus years!). This month I phoned and tried it again. They let me off the payment and said they would not add interest but they have. Of course now they will have received my template letter and my £1 offering. It is a nightmare but at least I do feel that I am admitting I have no other option and doing something positive. Plus realise there's a lot of help here for us.

If you read through the earlier posts (which I did when I started and I'm sure you have), please reconsider doing this alone. It's the hardest thing, it's very stressful and in the early days of our DMP, I had people at work asking if I was ok. My reply was that I had a lot on my mind and they thought one of my parents was dying.Honestly. I've cleared up the work situation now, saying I had gone a bit mad with credit cards when I should be thinking about the future. But I can't imagine going through this without my very close family. Perhaps your husband already suspects what is going on, it's all over the news how everyone is struggling. He may be stronger than you realise and sharing this burden may be the way forward.
Keep posting and let us know how you get on ( and don't be afraid either to say back, "You don't even know what he's like, you silly moo,") that's ok too. Look after yourself.

ttf

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Triggles wrote: »

Unfortunately, just because you have been a "good" customer up until now, they still immediately seem to shift their view to "bad" customer the minute you start paying them less for the DMP. We had never ever missed a payment to any of our creditors, and we started getting phone calls and nasty letters almost immediately. And this was after we'd sent letters right away letting them know the situation and such. This is something DH found hard to get his head around, to be honest. He felt that since we had always made our payments on time every month, they should at least be nice about it and try to work with us. Not so. There is no guarantee that they will cooperate or cut interest and such. Many of ours haven't, and oddly enough some on here have stated that the same company will cut interest for one of their accounts but not for another. There just seems to be no "normal" route. We all just do the best we can, and that's all we can do, I think. Best of luck!

Wise words!

HHx

mozzyc

dmb wrote: »

I thought DMP length was a fixed period. It's a bit worrying to think it could go on longer than that quoted. Guess I might be working until I'm 70 at this rate!

Afraid not. Mine was due to end Feb next year (started 2005), but due to major problems with Lloyds adding interest (refer to past posts), it's going to go on for another 4 years. Depressing, but after battling with lloyds for so long, and thinking that it really was going to go on for years and years to come, 4 years seems pretty good in the long term.

We can finally consider trying for a baby next year now that we have an end day in sight :T

smcshane

mikon wrote: »

Hi smcshane

I have a 1 loan and an Overdraft. My worry is that the debt gets passed to Mercers who seem to hassle and hound you by phone. Strangely Barclaycard accepted my offer.

I guess I will just keep paying the monthly amount via CCCS and see what happens.

Thanks for your response.

Regards

Hi,

Mercers have never been in touch for any of my Barlcays accounts including Barclaycard, touch wood. Sometimes there is really no rhyme or reasons for accounts getting passed on.

Sx

each_peach_pear_plum

Just done the CCCS debt remedy, and its recommending a DMP.... Just gotta get OH on board!! Hopefully the difference between 2 yrs and 10 yrs will be enough to shock him!

Anyway, my question is, do I send the letters out to the DCAs if I have recieved letters from them? Or do I just send it to the bank?

eppp

dmb_2

I would send them to both. Communication is not bank's/DCAs strong point! Good luck. Hope your OH sees sense.

powerchimp

Hi all

A newbie here, yesterday was the worse day of my life and after 2 years of struggling to maintain a mounting debt, I have finally decided that I need to do something about it.

Between my partner losing a job and me having to take a 35% wage cut things have steadily gone from bad to worse.

I have spend most of tonight and the early hours trying to find a solution to my problem and having found this site and the CCCS Debt Remedy; I'm starting to feel a little better.

I used the online debt counselling service, and it recommend that I go down the DMP route. I am going to phone them tomorrow to get the ball rolling and hopefully get something done about my debt.

Hoping for better days

PC