DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

AmyV_2

Hi all

I have not been on the DMP support thread for quite some time. I tend to get a bit obsessed with it and then I start feeling quite down and thinking the worst (which never happens to be honest!). So I am sorry I am not much support to others. Hopefully I will be when I can see a bit more light at the end of the tunnel.

I would like your thoughts please on something. I know TimTheBear back in the summer had a similar situation, but I don't know the outcome.

My husband is on a DMP (since end of 2008), and it'll take about another 4 years to pay off the debt. However, each year, when he gets a payrise, he tells the CCCS and they agree an increase in payments. He pays a considerable amount and wants to pay it off as quick as poss (it is a huge debt though!) as I am able to pick up a lot of the other "normal" bills thankfully.

However, the last time he increased his payments, some credit card companies increased his interest rate considerably telling him they considered that he could "afford to pay more interest".

Despite repeated requests, one of them in particular refuses to reduce the interest and refuses to send the debt to a debt collection company (which he asked them to do).

I think the "rate-jacking" rules apply (extract below) whereby if he is already on a DMP they cannot increase interest. However, they say they are in their right to do it. I know the rule isn't law, but it is a code of practise.

No increases for those with debt problems

"We will not increase interest rates in the following circumstances. Where a customer has failed to make the minimum contractual payment requested on the last two or more consecutive monthly statements; or Where an agreed repayment plan is in place in respect of the account; or Where we have been formally notified by a not-for-profit debt advice agency that the customer is in serious discussion with it."

Translation: They won't increase your rate if you've fallen behind on payments by two months or more, or those who have sought help from a debt advice agency

I know the debt is my husband's fault but he is doing everything he can to pay it off, but charging interest that swallows up most of his monthly repayment to them is not helping to reduce the debt. It feels like he'll never be rid of it (and I feel as bad as if it were my owndebt)

So now we are looking to go to the Financial Ombudsman for a decision, but has anyone else got the Ombudsman involved, and what was the outcome?

Thanks!

Time_to_face_the_music

Hello everyone

I have just spent the last couple of hours reading through the posts on this thread and terrifying myself and cheering myself up in pretty equal parts.

My OH and I are about to start a CCCS DMP but are waiting for our new Co-Op bank account to be set up before we can submit all the paperwork and cancel/reset up DDs etc. We have managed to get ourselves into about £81000 worth of debt and it's most definitely time to face the music.

From reading this thread, it seems some people advise starting to pay token amounts before the DMP comes into place, therefore allowing them to put a bit of money aside for emergencies when in the DMP. Have I got this correct? If so, do I just pay this in the normal way, direct bank transfer in my case, and let the creditors know the reason why?

I currently bank with Lloyds TSB and also have an overdraft and huge credit card bill with them, though I did actually cancel the credit card some time ago and have just been paying it off but not making much impact. Am rather concerned about some of the negative stuff I have read here about Lloyds, are they really that bad?

I have dozens of other questions too but will keep this relatively short so as not to bore everyone silly. Just wanted to finish by saying that the help, support and camaraderie I have seen here is what encouraged me to post, I would normally just lurk and read and worry even more.

Thanks for your help :T

typhoo_2

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hello everyone

I have just spent the last couple of hours reading through the posts on this thread and terrifying myself and cheering myself up in pretty equal parts.

My OH and I are about to start a CCCS DMP but are waiting for our new Co-Op bank account to be set up before we can submit all the paperwork and cancel/reset up DDs etc. We have managed to get ourselves into about £81000 worth of debt and it's most definitely time to face the music.

From reading this thread, it seems some people advise starting to pay token amounts before the DMP comes into place, therefore allowing them to put a bit of money aside for emergencies when in the DMP. Have I got this correct? If so, do I just pay this in the normal way, direct bank transfer in my case, and let the creditors know the reason why?

I currently bank with Lloyds TSB and also have an overdraft and huge credit card bill with them, though I did actually cancel the credit card some time ago and have just been paying it off but not making much impact. Am rather concerned about some of the negative stuff I have read here about Lloyds, are they really that bad?

I have dozens of other questions too but will keep this relatively short so as not to bore everyone silly. Just wanted to finish by saying that the help, support and camaraderie I have seen here is what encouraged me to post, I would normally just lurk and read and worry even more.

Thanks for your help :T

Welcome to the foum! I myself am also a newbie with debt at approx 30k. Someone will be around to answer any and all of your questions soon!

redhead36

I'm thinking of setting up a dmp so after advice please, is this the right place?

up to a few years ago hubby earned good wage, had car allowance and worked locally so i worked part time to pay for nice things for the family. as the interest rates started to go up we switched to a fixed mortgage.

then disaster happens. Hubby made redundant, we think we're ok took out mortgage insurance/card insurance etc so for 12 months we were ok.

after 12 months still no job, mortgage areas and nearly lost house. Hubby got new job just in time.

now however hubby is on a lot less money, works miles away so fuel costs are high. still have the same bills to pay as years ago too
i work in a 25hr wk job but driving is invovled so my fuel is high too.
we want to pay it all back and took things on when we were financially secure.

i struggle with depression and we lost FIL on new years day 2012 so things really getting on top of me. hubby doesnt know how bad its got as tried to hide it from him whilst his dad was in hospital.

we have 3 kids at home and 1 at uni if that makes a difference.

please help

Joyanne

redhead36 wrote: »

I'm thinking of setting up a dmp so after advice please, is this the right place?

up to a few years ago hubby earned good wage, had car allowance and worked locally so i worked part time to pay for nice things for the family. as the interest rates started to go up we switched to a fixed mortgage.

then disaster happens. Hubby made redundant, we think we're ok took out mortgage insurance/card insurance etc so for 12 months we were ok.

after 12 months still no job, mortgage areas and nearly lost house. Hubby got new job just in time.

now however hubby is on a lot less money, works miles away so fuel costs are high. still have the same bills to pay as years ago too
i work in a 25hr wk job but driving is invovled so my fuel is high too.
we want to pay it all back and took things on when we were financially secure.

i struggle with depression and we lost FIL on new years day 2012 so things really getting on top of me. hubby doesnt know how bad its got as tried to hide it from him whilst his dad was in hospital.

we have 3 kids at home and 1 at uni if that makes a difference.

please help

Hi I know it's all very worrying at the mo, I am still new to this but I started my dmp this month and it's stopped my worrying and sleepless nights, my DH hours were cut right down at the beginning of dec so without his income we were stuffed. I went on CCCS website and completed the debt remedy which is on they're site. They advised that I went on a dmp and here I am. I did most of it online and they are a company that doesn't charge any fees, they were brill with me and it only took a month to set everything up and in the mean time I paid £1 token payments to my creditors, which gave me some breathing space. Payplan is another free company which sets up dmps and I've heard they're good too. Everyone on this forum is great too, if it wasn't for this forum I'd be in a right mess. Hope that helps, any questions then post them here, hope that helps x

Joyanne

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hello everyone

I have just spent the last couple of hours reading through the posts on this thread and terrifying myself and cheering myself up in pretty equal parts.

My OH and I are about to start a CCCS DMP but are waiting for our new Co-Op bank account to be set up before we can submit all the paperwork and cancel/reset up DDs etc. We have managed to get ourselves into about £81000 worth of debt and it's most definitely time to face the music.

From reading this thread, it seems some people advise starting to pay token amounts before the DMP comes into place, therefore allowing them to put a bit of money aside for emergencies when in the DMP. Have I got this correct? If so, do I just pay this in the normal way, direct bank transfer in my case, and let the creditors know the reason why?

I currently bank with Lloyds TSB and also have an overdraft and huge credit card bill with them, though I did actually cancel the credit card some time ago and have just been paying it off but not making much impact. Am rather concerned about some of the negative stuff I have read here about Lloyds, are they really that bad?

I have dozens of other questions too but will keep this relatively short so as not to bore everyone silly. Just wanted to finish by saying that the help, support and camaraderie I have seen here is what encouraged me to post, I would normally just lurk and read and worry even more.

Thanks for your help :T

Hi I think most people sent £1 postal orders to the address on their statements. If you have debts with your bank, overdraft, cc, then u need to set up a new bank account that isn't linked to any of your debts, a safe bank account for wages and priority debts. Hope that helps abit x

Joyanne

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hello everyone

I have dozens of other questions too but will keep this relatively short so as not to bore everyone silly. Just wanted to finish by saying that the help, support and camaraderie I have seen here is what encouraged me to post, I would normally just lurk and read and worry even more.

Thanks for your help :T

Oh and no one gets bored here or thinks ur questions are silly, that's why I love it here x

BlushingRose

redhead36 wrote: »

I'm thinking of setting up a dmp so after advice please, is this the right place?

up to a few years ago hubby earned good wage, had car allowance and worked locally so i worked part time to pay for nice things for the family. as the interest rates started to go up we switched to a fixed mortgage.

then disaster happens. Hubby made redundant, we think we're ok took out mortgage insurance/card insurance etc so for 12 months we were ok.

after 12 months still no job, mortgage areas and nearly lost house. Hubby got new job just in time.

now however hubby is on a lot less money, works miles away so fuel costs are high. still have the same bills to pay as years ago too
i work in a 25hr wk job but driving is invovled so my fuel is high too.
we want to pay it all back and took things on when we were financially secure.

i struggle with depression and we lost FIL on new years day 2012 so things really getting on top of me. hubby doesnt know how bad its got as tried to hide it from him whilst his dad was in hospital.

we have 3 kids at home and 1 at uni if that makes a difference.

please help

The first thing I would suggest is to go here http://www.cccs.co.uk/ and use their 'debt remedy' tool. You'll need details like bills and whatnot, but afterwards it'll advise you on what the CCCS feel would be best for you.

How old are the three kids at home?

The other thing to do would be to post a SOA in here (or in it's own thread, whichever you prefer) and folks will be able to advise on areas that you might be able to cut down on.

Em586

not sure if anyone here can help but thought I'd try... my son has just been awarded DLA. I haven't had a letter yet, but a lovely surprise lump sum when I checked online banking tonight, so I presume that's the 8wks of back pay from when we applied.

I asked yesterday when I spoke to CCCS how it works, as the money is meant to be for my son. He said we declare it as income, but then add the amount into our expenditure accordingly. Does anyone have experience of this? I just worry that if our 'sports/clubs/activities' budget goes up by a fair bit as we put down money for swimming lessons, extra soft play, etc. (he has cerebral palsy- so those are things that will help his muscles by being active!) and our clothes/shoes budget goes up another large amount (for special shoes) that our creditors won't be impressed with our level of spending in those areas! We also won't always need the full amount each month, but will need to put some into savings (his) for when we need big spends like new buggy, car seats, extra pairs of shoes........ do we just add this to the 'emergency fund' bit or somewhere where we have no spends, say 'medical/accident insurance'?

Standingtall

Em586 wrote: »

not sure if anyone here can help but thought I'd try... my son has just been awarded DLA. I haven't had a letter yet, but a lovely surprise lump sum when I checked online banking tonight, so I presume that's the 8wks of back pay from when we applied.

I asked yesterday when I spoke to CCCS how it works, as the money is meant to be for my son. He said we declare it as income, but then add the amount into our expenditure accordingly. Does anyone have experience of this? I just worry that if our 'sports/clubs/activities' budget goes up by a fair bit as we put down money for swimming lessons, extra soft play, etc. (he has cerebral palsy- so those are things that will help his muscles by being active!) and our clothes/shoes budget goes up another large amount (for special shoes) that our creditors won't be impressed with our level of spending in those areas! We also won't always need the full amount each month, but will need to put some into savings (his) for when we need big spends like new buggy, car seats, extra pairs of shoes........ do we just add this to the 'emergency fund' bit or somewhere where we have no spends, say 'medical/accident insurance'?

I think maybe that you should put down these extras as medical care with a comment stating cerebral palsy. I doubt you would be expected to use any this allowance for your creditors. I definitely think it should be listed seperately as even if you do not use it all one month your son may need it the next. Are you already in your DMP as surely you will not need to declare it until your annual review in any case?