DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

midge101_2

Hi all,

I am in the early stages of setting a DMP up with CCCS. They recieved my agreement signed today. I have managed to pay my bills upto to now so I dont have any CCJ's or anything against me. But now like many now starting to worry how im going to pay them. Some of you may think Im making a mountain out of a mole hill as they saying goes. I owe £7000 on a loan, nearly £4000 on a credit card and I have a £1300 over draft which I permanently live in. Im nearly at the end of it.

I know its partly my fault and im sick of worrying weither will the cost of living bills etc, had a paycut too, am I gonna go over my overdraft. So I decided to go on a DMP.

Now im having 2nd thoughts about it. I just wanted some advice? Am I doing the right thing?

Any advice would be approecated. Thanks

antk4

We were in the same position as you, making minimum payments and no arrears. In January we realised we needed to do something about our finances and set up DMP with CCCs. I have to say its the best thing we've done. Its nice to see the credit card balances actually going down each month. Good luck

Twit_Head

ukjs1976 wrote: »

I've been on a DMP since October 2010. I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling of "sick to the stomach panic" I had when I realised the reality of my situation. Anyway, the DMP took all the fear and panic away and continues to do so. What it also does is mean that I have a fairly big chunk of my pay deducted (nearly straight after pay day) to pay off my debt and leaves me with not much to live on. So my way of coping without going broke before next pay day is very regular logging in to my bank acount on the internet so I know "where I stand" and how much I have left to live on..until next pay day. It's not fun, it is boring.. but I would not swap it for the alternative again.

Well done you for having a "cunning plan" (as per the very vintage comedy programme 'Allo 'Allo!)
Therefore "I vill say this only once":) - I don't think it really matters how you keep track - as long as you do! Whatever system works for you is the best one.
I have an Excel spreadsheet. Get paid at the end of the month, then all the essentials - council tax, utilities, insurances, CCCS etc.etc are set up to come out on the 1st on D/D. So every pay day it's a case inputting wage received, and adjusting the monthly D/D amounts (keep a note of all those on a calender) to establish exactly how much is left to live on. Then a quick mental calculation to split into petrol/food etc allowance to have an outline of how the month ahead is looking. And then (getting tired just reading this! ) I keep a record in an old-fashioned cash book so every cash withdrawal/penny is accounted for.This way I know exactly what actually is in the account and not just a projected balance.
Apologies, it all sounds very complicated but becomes an ingrained habit.
As you say, however you keep track , all of this is boring, and no fun at all
It's also extremely hard work if you are new to budgeting. An alien concept;quite frightening to realise where you money is going and how quickly, when you are used to relying on the C/C to back you up.
As ukjs says you find a way of coping, and it becomes a way of life. And yes a better one - you might not have much, but at least you are now in control

'Twitty'

massivedebts

midge101 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am in the early stages of setting a DMP up with CCCS. They recieved my agreement signed today. I have managed to pay my bills upto to now so I dont have any CCJ's or anything against me. But now like many now starting to worry how im going to pay them. Some of you may think Im making a mountain out of a mole hill as they saying goes. I owe £7000 on a loan, nearly £4000 on a credit card and I have a £1300 over draft which I permanently live in. Im nearly at the end of it.

I know its partly my fault and im sick of worrying weither will the cost of living bills etc, had a paycut too, am I gonna go over my overdraft. So I decided to go on a DMP.

Now im having 2nd thoughts about it. I just wanted some advice? Am I doing the right thing?

Any advice would be approecated. Thanks

Hey Midge!
You're definitely doing the right thing!! I don't think I know of anyone on here who doesn't say " it's the best thing they did" - it's very hairy scary at the start and you will have doubts, we all did, but trust me you'll be posting on here in a few months reassuring another newbie that they're doing the right thing!;)
take care
MD xx

Twit_Head

midge101 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am in the early stages of setting a DMP up with CCCS. They recieved my agreement signed today. I have managed to pay my bills upto to now so I dont have any CCJ's or anything against me. But now like many now starting to worry how im going to pay them. Some of you may think Im making a mountain out of a mole hill as they saying goes. I owe £7000 on a loan, nearly £4000 on a credit card and I have a £1300 over draft which I permanently live in. Im nearly at the end of it.

I know its partly my fault and im sick of worrying weither will the cost of living bills etc, had a paycut too, am I gonna go over my overdraft. So I decided to go on a DMP.

Now im having 2nd thoughts about it. I just wanted some advice? Am I doing the right thing?

Any advice would be approecated. Thanks

Hello to you
If you're struggling but having 2nd thoughts about a DMP have you another plan in place? Win the lottery? Win 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Rob a bank?
Sorry - I don't mean to sound harsh but how are you realistically going to live? Many of us on this thread spent months robbing Peter to pay Paul. Shifting this bit of money from here to there but eventually you have your 'light-bulb' moment and realise you're deep in the mire and there ain't no place to run anymore
A DMP is not a bundle of fun - it's difficult living to a strict budget if you're not used to it. However, your incomings/outgoings will be looked at and you will have a realistic amount to live on. The peace of mind, knowing you are paying back what you owe, but still having money to live on is priceless.
Often there is not too much 'fault' for being in this situation. Life has a way of dealing you a bad hand sometimes.
Maybe speak to CCCS again if you have further questions/doubts? And re-visit here. We all try to help and support each other when we can.
Hope this helps you a little

'Twitty'

jcorbygas

There seems to be quite a few of us in the position where we will probably have to reduce our monthly payment to CCCS this month - because OH is self employed, and the work has been down this last month if we paid our normal amount we will not be able to pay the other bills ie mortgage next month.
I am really loathe to reduce the payment as things are really quiet on the creditors front and most of them ie 10 out of 13 have stopped interest and I am worried they will start charging it again/phone calls etc. Could anybody who is on a DMP and has reduced their payment for a couple of months by quite a lot ie half let me know how their creditors reacted.

Thanks

TWINKLE

jcorbygas wrote: »

There seems to be quite a few of us in the position where we will probably have to reduce our monthly payment to CCCS this month - because OH is self employed, and the work has been down this last month if we paid our normal amount we will not be able to pay the other bills ie mortgage next month.
I am really loathe to reduce the payment as things are really quiet on the creditors front and most of them ie 10 out of 13 have stopped interest and I am worried they will start charging it again/phone calls etc. Could anybody who is on a DMP and has reduced their payment for a couple of months by quite a lot ie half let me know how their creditors reacted.

Thanks

That's the position I am in. I am also loathe to reduce the payment as the creditors may raise their head again!

mikon

fairsats wrote: »

Yes...I get a statement every month..and they have lowered interest to .695%

Fairsats

CITI had stopped all interest on my payments. I am concerned that OPUS may have re-applied interest and I am not aware of it because I have not been receiving statements.

Thanks.

Mikon

mikon

TWINKLE wrote: »

That's the position I am in. I am also loathe to reduce the payment as the creditors may raise their head again!

Jcorbygas and Twinkle

I am in a similar position to you guys and have made a reduced payment this month and will be doing a review next month to reduce my monthly payments.

I guess some of our creditors will understand and others will not but we have to survive.

Regards

Mikon

Mrs_Trouble

Midge - I completely agree with Twitty, I had 2nd, 3rd, 4th thoughts about a DMP and now wished I had done it years ago - convinced myself I could sort it but in fact I couldn't. I'm only at the very start of a long journey and still not quite ready to write down the figure I owe :eek: but I'm getting there.

Had statements from Mint and Tescos today which are both RBS - they have obviously been notified of my DMP as my access is restricted to my online account but the statements are just as normal, asking for normal minimum payment and advising me of the interest for next month - is this about right? Thought it might be too soon to ring them and would wait to see what happens with statements next month once they've received my first DMP payment and then see what happens.

Agree with Twitty (again!) about keeping track. I have Microsoft money and it is fantastic, it lets me budget for food, petrol etc and also lets me budget for the bigger things, tells me when I go over budget and I can forecast how much I have left after food, petrol, and other general spends - couldn't live without it and I can look over the month how I have done. It also has a debt planner in it so I can show how the debts will hopefully start reducing.

Having just checked the bank account we have two weeks until payday but the bank account looks the healthiest it has for years :j Have a load of stuff to ebay, just need to find the motivation to do it now

OH has been told he is due to have a payrise and a bonus and we are going to put some money away towards F&F's eventually as a long term plan.

Hope everyone else has had a good Monday