DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

Toffee_Penny

To Pumpkinsoup and Copperboom

It is only a suggestion about fiddling your budget (bloody hell I hope no one from CCCS is reading my posts otherwise I am well deaded :rotfl:)

Our debt free date is 2016. We agreed we would skint ourselves to be debt free if it was only going to be for a year but 5 years is a bloody long time having basic everything - no pub meals now and again, no bottles of wine at the weekend, no chocolate treats :eek: I owe people money, I am ashamed but I deserve a life too and even criminals in prison get to have nice dinners and treats now and again!

No I know I messed up, god I thought about it today being back on here that I have owed Lloyds TSB money on a card or loan since I was 19. I am now 32! Talk about depressing but I will get there in the end, we all will. :beer:

Toffee_Penny

MissPriss wrote: »

I sent out my "freeze" letters without signature and have had a couple of snotty letters back from the banks saying that as I hadn't signed the letter, they couldn't action my request. They were perfectly happy to cash the postal orders I included though. They can whistle, as far as I'm concerned. If they'll take my money, they can take my unsigned letter. Tesco even included a small dot dot dot section for me to put my signature in - just randomly (not on a copy of the letter I sent, so they could have applied that signature to anything. They are so crafty.). As if I'm going to fall for that!

Just print your name Miss Priss on any future letter to them, that will be fine. There have been tales on here whether a creditor lifts signatures but I haven't heard from anyone it being done to.

copperboom_2

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

To Pumpkinsoup and Copperboom

It is only a suggestion about fiddling your budget (bloody hell I hope no one from CCCS is reading my posts otherwise I am well deaded :rotfl:)

Our debt free date is 2016. We agreed we would skint ourselves to be debt free if it was only going to be for a year but 5 years is a bloody long time having basic everything - no pub meals now and again, no bottles of wine at the weekend, no chocolate treats :eek: I owe people money, I am ashamed but I deserve a life too and even criminals in prison get to have nice dinners and treats now and again!

No I know I messed up, god I thought about it today being back on here that I have owed Lloyds TSB money on a card or loan since I was 19. I am now 32! Talk about depressing but I will get there in the end, we all will. :beer:

I know you were suggesting rather than insisting, but I was kind of planning on doing the same thing anyway! My debt-free date was going to be eight years away if I scrimped (I'm on a low income) and I agree with you that not to the occasional nice thing for that long would do far far more harm than good. I as susceptible to depression and living a miserable and completely broke existence could cause me to relapse - and in fact has, in the past, leading to me opening my first credit card and spending like mad. I know I've been stupid but I'm punishing myself enough mentally. I don't need to live on gruel and water for eight years to punish myself any further!

I'm young and at least I've made the mistake now and not at the end of my life when I've got lots of money and a house to lose. Don't get me wrong - I don't want to go mad buying fancy clothes and eating out every night, but especially considering I've been unemployed for almost year (why I'm in debt in the first place), I don't want to have absolutely no spending money, either. As my salary increases I'm going to pay larger and larger chunks off and hopefully will be debt free sooner rather than later, and happy in the mean time

the_tooth_fairy

Spongbong wrote: »

Hi!

My husband and I are right at the beginning of our DMP; we owe £23,000 in loans, credit cards and overdrafts and have only recently accepted that we really can't carry on as we are.

We have no CCJs, no defaults or late payments so it's frightening because we are basically going to have start defaulting on everything! We are doing our DMP through CCCS and haven't even sent the letters out yet because we're waiting for our paperwork to come through about our new bank accounts first.

I am so nervous about it all but we're living off credit all the time and it just can't go on.

I have a question:

What do we do if a creditor refuses our DMP but doesn't take us to court? Will we just go on for eternity incurring massive interest and fees?

Thanks all.

Hello and welcome, yes, we had no defaults or late payments when we started, and it was really scary sending token amounts. Please try not to worry (easier said than done!) but you are trying to sort this out fairly, paying back what you owe. In an earlier post, I said that it is really important that your creditors know you haven't vanished from the face of the Earth.
In answer to your question, of our 10 creditors, only the 2 smallest ones still charge, albeit a nominal interest fee, and that is because we are still within limits of minimum payment, and they won't hand the debt over to a collection agency. I hope that makes sense, it seems that the earlier you accept what's going on, and try to fix it, some of them are still determined to make money out of you.
On a lighter note, look at the big picture, you are going the right way, and when things settle down, you can see what you would have paid in interest as fivers in the fire every month, with the overall debt going nowhere. Keep posting, we are all here!

ttf

Toffee_Penny

copperboom wrote: »

I know you were suggesting rather than insisting, but I was kind of planning on doing the same thing anyway! My debt-free date was going to be eight years away if I scrimped (I'm on a low income) and I agree with you that not to the occasional nice thing for that long would do far far more harm than good. I as susceptible to depression and living a miserable and completely broke existence could cause me to relapse - and in fact has, in the past, leading to me opening my first credit card and spending like mad. I know I've been stupid but I'm punishing myself enough mentally. I don't need to live on gruel and water for eight years to punish myself any further!

I'm young and at least I've made the mistake now and not at the end of my life when I've got lots of money and a house to lose. Don't get me wrong - I don't want to go mad buying fancy clothes and eating out every night, but especially considering I've been unemployed for almost year (why I'm in debt in the first place), I don't want to have absolutely no spending money, either. As my salary increases I'm going to pay larger and larger chunks off and hopefully will be debt free sooner rather than later, and happy in the mean time

Good on you! well done on the job front too :beer:

the_tooth_fairy

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

Hi Spongbong

Think about this.....

You owe £23k to various creditors, how many minimum payments months will you have to make to be debt free? OR how many DMP payments will you have to make to be debt free? One has an end sight, a finish line, a light at the end of a very dark tunnel, the other is a bloody nightmare way to live every month.

I used to feel so sick and angry with frustration over some of the creditors charging interest and late payment fees etc whilst paying a small DMP payment to them. I thought 'what is the point? why do I not just throw my purse down the bloody drain each month for the good I am doing' I couldn't understand why they didn't want to help, why they couldn't sympathise, after all I had been a great customer and they had made £1000s out of me already.

However for the few creditors that do charge a small amount of interest some of them don't. The figures on the statement are reducing, might be a little amount but it's all going in the right direction. DOWN!

Keep with it, most creditors will pass debts onto DCA's eventually after they realise they will not get a bigger payment from you and this will help with added fees. Debts will reduce and one day you will be debt free :j

Hey, TP, it's great to hear from you again, I said exactly the same thing about Sainsbury's credit card, having been a customer since 1992. They have been the bane of my life since. Nasty beggars, never again.
As you say, even with small amounts, it goes the right way, imagine minimum repayments! Twenty years, anyone? You could murder someone and be out earlier!
BTW, am not considering that at the moment (mind, if that snoring goes on much longer...ha ha!)

ttf







ttf

Toffee_Penny

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Hello and welcome, yes, we had no defaults or late payments when we started, and it was really scary sending token amounts. Please try not to worry (easier said than done!) but you are trying to sort this out fairly, paying back what you owe. In an earlier post, I said that it is really important that your creditors know you haven't vanished from the face of the Earth.
In answer to your question, of our 10 creditors, only the 2 smallest ones still charge, albeit a nominal interest fee, and that is because we are still within limits of minimum payment, and they won't hand the debt over to a collection agency. I hope that makes sense, it seems that the earlier you accept what's going on, and try to fix it, some of them are still determined to make money out of you.
On a lighter note, look at the big picture, you are going the right way, and when things settle down, you can see what you would have paid in interest as fivers in the fire every month, with the overall debt going nowhere. Keep posting, we are all here!

ttf

Agree with you ttf, OH Halifax overdraft has been the worst to charge overdrawn fees lately, debt has risen from £150 to over £500 :eek: yet others who are owed £1000s have been great and not charged a penny.

I think Halifax overdraft are deliberately piling charges on so they can sell debt on to DCA for a decent price. :mad: At least if they do this then DCA will be more accepting of DMP payment.

the_tooth_fairy

ianmak wrote: »

Keep meaning to mention, has anyone been watching Super Scrimpers on channel 4? Quite an eye opener and a bit extreme, but very interesting.

I really love that programme! Yes, it is a bit out there, but surely anyone can learn something new?
Wasn't it great to hear from TP again, Ian, I was a newbie but you must have known each other for ages!

ttf

Jamesdf5

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

To Jamesdf5 and all the newbies who are worried about setting up a DMP with CCCS or Payplan please read on

Excuse me shouting! I don't mean to be so common but I want to reassure you all that there is absolutely nothing to worry about setting up a DMP with CCCS or Payplan charities.

• Creditors will accept your DMP and regular payments from CCCS/Payplan because they will have every minute detail about your income/expenditure. They know CCCS/Payplan have been realistic with setting up a monthly budget and will accept payments from them.
• Every penny you pay each month is going towards your debt and not in the pockets of someone who works for GREGORY bloody Penfold :mad: Creditors will be MORE willing to hold off interest and charges when with CCCS/Payplan than any fee charging company.
• If creditors know you are with a fee paying company they are more likely to kick up stink and not play ball. Why can't Halifax or Lloyds or whoever you owe to have that £30 monthly fee you are paying Gregory? If someone owed you money would you be pleased they were giving £30 a month away for nothing when it could go in your pocket and pay you?

I cannot stress enough the importance of setting up a realistic budget when starting out. You cannot be expected to live on beans on toast every day until you are debt free, whilst there is nowt wrong with beans on toast (I like mine with a sprinkling of cheese!)it would be one miserable long road to being debt free let me tell ya!. You are allowed a bit of a life honest! The creditors can be like Great Whites sometimes but even sharks have a heart!

DMP Budget advice



The CCCS website is completely confidential and you can tweak budget figures up or down to suit what I mean by this is......

• do you wear glasses? No? well you do now, put whatever the maximum they will allow you for eye tests, glasses per month
• don't eat much? well now you do, try and put a little extra in the groceries box
• take a packed lunch to work? well now you have meals at work
• have teenage kids? well they all catch the bus to school
• don't smoke? well now you do put something in this box

See where I am coming from? It may not be entirely honest I know but retune your budget to allow a few extras and this could add a few tenners in your pocket here and there. It does not get checked on but it's the difference between having a little something over at the end of the month to make life a bit more bearable than miserably wishing for every payday because you are skint to the bone month after month.

After your DMP is all set up and running and you are budgetting well or have a little bit more to pay towards your debt then you can always ring CCCS up and say you would like a budget review and arrange to pay more. Your debt free date will be nearer and the creditors will be happier. It's a win win.

Hope this helps! Stay strong x


Note to everyone - I surprised myself with all that good advice and I think it's worth a bar of Cadbury's from y'all

OMG WOW! You cheeky little thing. I had wondered if I should take up smoking I thought that CCCS might audit my changes! That is amazing advice & that has cleared up everything that was worrying me. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I've had about £25k debt on average for the last 11 years and now I might finally lose this disgusting thing called "Being trapped by credit cards". I almost feel that doing a DMP is my two fingers up to them for being so easy to hand out credit to me when I was young and stupid!!! Can you believe when I was between 18 & 20 I managed to get about eight different credit cards from varying companies all with reasonable limits!!! And for the last 10 years as I grew to understand what the hell I had done it was too late! They deserve a bit of interest loss!!

This site is amazing. Thank you again

PS can someone Pin Toffee Penny's advice for all to see please?

Thanks Toffee. Here's a Fruit and Nut

JD xxx :money:

antk4

After thinking my trouble with Santander was over they phoned again tonight (3rd time today). They are looking for bank statements, pay slips, lists of other creditors, mobile/work phone nos and payments to show willingness to service my debt. They have already received £70 this month. What should I do now?