DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

debtfreewannabe321

Hi All

I've just sat down to go through all of my paperwork regarding creditors & CCCS and have to say feeling very disheartened right now

I know this will only be my 3rd month of paying into it, but so far only one creditor has stopped interest ( a vanquis card with our lowest debt ) and the rest are closing accounts and defaulting, or just sending me a default each month, with late charges & not closing account.

I don't know whether to write to each company again asking them to reassess and see if they will stop it or just leave it to settle...although currently (just checked interests) I am paying most of my £295 a month onto interest, and on some of these debts this is not even enough to cover the minimum interest let alone pay anything off the balance. I really don't know what to do? Sorry I only ever seem to come on this thread to moan but you seem the most knowledgable concerning all this....opinions pls??

massivedebts

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Hi All

I've just sat down to go through all of my paperwork regarding creditors & CCCS and have to say feeling very disheartened right now

I know this will only be my 3rd month of paying into it, but so far only one creditor has stopped interest ( a vanquis card with our lowest debt ) and the rest are closing accounts and defaulting, or just sending me a default each month, with late charges & not closing account.

I don't know whether to write to each company again asking them to reassess and see if they will stop it or just leave it to settle...although currently (just checked interests) I am paying most of my £295 a month onto interest, and on some of these debts this is not even enough to cover the minimum interest let alone pay anything off the balance. I really don't know what to do? Sorry I only ever seem to come on this thread to moan but you seem the most knowledgable concerning all this....opinions pls??

Hey DFW!!

Don't feel disheartened! Things WILL get better I promise!! It's still early early days for you!

We have 4 debts with MBNA and at the start of our DMP they just kept piling on the late charges and interest....after about 6 months I gave them a ring and spoke to a great chap who really seemed to have empathy with our situation and said he would look to get all the interest and charges refunded...and he did!

I believe many posters on here would probably write a letter and ask them to stop, it certainly can't hurt, and it might make you feel better, often dealing with something that is getting you down is half the battle;).

Keep battling on and things will get better for you, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel even if it seems a million light years away at the moment!

Take care
MD x

sunnygirls

Hi im after advice again ,im hoping to set up a dmp and am raring to go ive done the debt remedy and it all seems fine but the total i put in for my husbands wage is an average is this ok ? Some weeks he earns £600 (after loads of overtime ) the week after he may earn £320 his basic with no overtime ,there is no set pattern to his earnings .

Bettingmad

sunnygirls wrote: »

Hi im after advice again ,im hoping to set up a dmp and am raring to go ive done the debt remedy and it all seems fine but the total i put in for my husbands wage is an average is this ok ? Some weeks he earns £600 (after loads of overtime ) the week after he may earn £320 his basic with no overtime ,there is no set pattern to his earnings .

I would be very careful putting in an average wage figure as your potential payments will then be based on the average ammount. Ask yourself how you would manage if he didn't get any overtime for an extended period. Are you going to do a self managed DMP or a managed one with CCCS or Payplan?
If it was me I would only be providing the basic figure, as and when you get extra overtime, put it one side where an extra payment could be made in a lump sum later.

sunnygirls

Im doing one with cccs , and ive got to send wage slips in ,i agree with what your saying but will cccs accept this as his earnings when most of his wage slips show more than basic wage . I would ring to ask them but they are closed .

Bettingmad

sunnygirls wrote: »

Im doing one with cccs , and ive got to send wage slips in ,i agree with what your saying but will cccs accept this as his earnings when most of his wage slips show more than basic wage . I would ring to ask them but they are closed .[/QUOle TE]

I would think they will be used to this scenario, the other thing I would be wary of is be realistic with your monthly expenses such as groceries. I notice on here when people are asked to put their SOA up the comments are usually to shave things to the bone. A DMP is a lengthy process and you will need money to live to a reasonable standard through the month otherwise the DMP will be very difficult.There is a sheet available that lists what are reasonable expenses. I have to go out now but will find the link for you when I come back.

cavegirl

massivedebts wrote: »

Good evening!:j

I haven't posted on here for a long long time, however I 'check in' regularly to see how everyone's getting on with their DMP journey.

For those of you that don't 'know' me, I first posted on this thread in January 2009 when I thought my world was ending, we were drowning in debt! We had never missed a payment but we were struggling with robbing peter to pay paul. I couldn't sleep and knew we we had to do something. I contacted CCCS and had the option of BR or a low start DMP. I was so embarrased about the amount of money we owed (in fact to this day I don't think I've ever admitted the amount on here!:o) and as we really couldn't face the thought of BR we opted for the DMP route with a DFD of a miilion years away!

After we had first committed to the DMP the feelings were immense! My head was spinning.....I couldn't stop crying, I worried non stop at the start especially about baliffs knocking on the door and charging orders, I was so scared that I was making a huge mistake for the family.....how wrong I was! We are now over 2 years into our DMP and I have to be honest that until now (I'll explain in a bit) I very rarely think about our debt. We don't have a lavish life (anymore) but we get by and even have the odd treat here and there!;). The one thing I learned very early on was not to set my CCCS budget too tight.....We are long time DMP'ers and I realised that we needed to be realistic with our budget for it to be able to work...and so far it has! We had the odd nasty phonecall to start with, but I don't think we have rec'd a call in over 18 months. We get regular statements from our 9 creditors and all but 1 has stopped all interest and charges.

If you're new to all this lark and thinking of a DMP, I know the worries you have I know all about the things that will be buzzing around in your head, I know how scared you are and I know that you feel that you have a 101 questions that you need answered, I know that the feeling of taking this step can be petrifying, but trust me you can do this!!!!! and after a while you too will probably agree that the DMP was possibly one of the best decisions you ever made!

Don't ever underestimate the power of the support that you receive from the people on this thread....the regular posters that give up their time to support us and give us the answers to our questions are amazing! I feel like a little bit of an intruder on this thread as although I often check in and read eveyone' s posts, I don't take the time to reply and support as so many of you do. If it hadn't been for the likes of these wonderful people in Jan 2009 I don't think I'd be where I am today so...THANK YOU!!:T:T:T:T

Going back to the beginning of my post (sorry so long!.. that's what happens when you don't make the effort to post regulary ), I was wondering if any of the long time DMP'ers had ever missed a month's CCCS payment?.... and if so what happened?......I am hoping to miss this month's payment (car trouble) but am concerned that it will 'rock the boat' and will cause my creditors to start adding on charges and interest etc......can anyone help with this please?

Anyway, thank you for having me on your wonderful thread, keep up the good work guys :beer:.
Take care
MD xx

Hi I am a newbie to this site but have been on a DMP with CCCS for 6years. I have reduced my payment on a few occasions over the last 6 years and generally the creditors are ok. They might phone you up. But i find by calling them first and with a reason for the reduction they are all generally ok. Creditors seem to prefer a continuing payment rather than a completely missed payment
Good luck.

Mrs_Trouble

Hello everyone, hope you're having a nice Bank Holiday weekend - it's nice as there's no post

My first payment has gone to CCCS on Saturday but I am a bit worried about what to do with a few creditors.

I haven't heard from Mint, Tescos, NRAM but MBNA have accepted. My next payment to them isn't due until

I was due to pay my two Barclaycard cards on 28th April and 3rd May, I thought about trying to pay the minimum so I didn't get a missed payment (stupid I know) but when I logged on to their accounts there was no option to pay the minimum payment and it appeared as if it wasn't even due - does that mean they have accepted?

I am due to pay the minimum payment on 12th May to Santander for £123, my DMP payment of £158 is due to go to them when CCCS send it on 28th - I am worried about a load of phone calls and wonder if I should pay a token payment to BC and Santander until the full one goes or should I do nothing at all?

Any advice anyone??

marcstephenthomas

Hello everyone

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience of switching from a fee charging DMP to a self-administered DMP?

My girlfriend is currently paying around £130pm to a company which takes a £35 fee..this is obviously a ridiculous waste of money especially as her total debt is around £5000 (to make matters worse her payments regularly reach one of her creditors late and she is often charged a late payment fees of £12).

So she is considering doing her own DMP but is scared about what her creditors reaction will be and about them hassling her. To my mind it should be to their benefit as they will be receiving more of the £130 each month because there will be no fee, but in reality I don't know if this will be the case.

Should she just set up standing orders to each creditor and send them her monthly budget and a letter explaining that she will be managing her own DMP in future? Any advice would be appreciated.

grantalien

marcstephenthomas wrote: »

So she is considering doing her own DMP but is scared about what her creditors reaction will be and about them hassling her. To my mind it should be to their benefit as they will be receiving more of the £130 each month because there will be no fee, but in reality I don't know if this will be the case.

Should she just set up standing orders to each creditor and send them her monthly budget and a letter explaining that she will be managing her own DMP in future? Any advice would be appreciated.

She could opt for payplan on CCCS who would administer the DMP and NOT charge a fee - 100% goes to her creditors and they are recognised by creditors, could be less stressful that going it alone (if she is worried that is) :beer: