DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 7

the_tooth_fairy

JES_F1 wrote: »

Hello everybody :wave:

I've not been on MSE for a while as I've got rather fed up with the whole 'being in debt' thing :sad: ...

Starting my DMP with the CCCS at the beginning of 2008 was definitely the best thing I could've done to deal with my debts. Apart from the initial couple of months being a bit grim while it all settled down and some 'grief' from the Nationwide, it's been going very well.

I'm able to pay a good chunk of my monthly salary to the DMP, and have even been able to increase the payments a little. It's been fantastic seeing the my debts going down - and within the next couple of months, I'll have paid off half.

So all's good ... but recently have just got really fed up and can't really properly explain why!

I love the whole MSE/DFW thing - and I've got really into checking the best deals, using Quidco, printing off vouchers (especially for meal deals in restaurants), and also being able to give advice to others. Just wish I'd done all this a long time ago! :rotfl:

The last two and half years have gone surprisingly quickly so guess the next couple of years or so will go just as fast. But think being at that mid-way point is the reason for being just being a little bit down. Bizarrely I'm fed up and delighted at the same time, if that makes sense!

Some of the stories on here make me so sad and make me realise that in the whole scheme of things, I'm one of the luckier ones. My debts accumulated from overspending rather than from struggling to pay bills.

Anyway, that all probably made no sense ... but wanted to get back into the DFW stuff, 'get positive' again, and stop wallowing in self pity!

Hmm, it's strange, isn't it how this process affects us? Thank you for that, because I'm wondering how I would react half way down the line, and you must start to think it ever ends. You have given the solution to all this angst yourself, you are lucky (imagine if you had to start all over again tomorrow!) and keep giving good advice to those of us who need it. You have done so well to be almost halfway there!
Sorry if I sound like my mum, ("There are children starving in Africa!!" when I didn't eat my dinner),please remember the 'delighted' bit and forget about being 'fed up' it's all going well!
Good Luck,

ttfx

the_tooth_fairy

powerchimp wrote: »

I have good and bad the days; the good days are when no letters arrive in the post :j I should have my DMP set for the 1st September, as the new bank a/c is finally set up, but now I have to wait 2 weeks for the boss to come back from holiday to transfer my wages to it.:(

I think once the whole thing starts I start to feel a little bit more relaxed about it.

Hi Powerchimp, Just a wee thought to you (and Miss Ellie!) I know how hard it is, all the waiting around, when you feel like you are finally taking this forward and there are so many delays. Honestly, it all settles down. I dreaded the phone ringing but after only a couple of weeks, it all stopped.
I get no hassle from anyone now, not a peep. Obviously the credit card companies are so busy with the people still living in La La Land, that perhaps they aren't worried about people like us, trying to pay them back responsibly? Glad to hear you have set up your new bank a/c.

ttfx

the_tooth_fairy

It's quiet here, this evening. Anyone would think it's Millionaires' Weekend!!!!!!

ttfx

JES_F1

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

Hmm, it's strange, isn't it how this process affects us? Thank you for that, because I'm wondering how I would react half way down the line, and you must start to think it ever ends. You have given the solution to all this angst yourself, you are lucky (imagine if you had to start all over again tomorrow!) and keep giving good advice to those of us who need it. You have done so well to be almost halfway there!
Sorry if I sound like my mum, ("There are children starving in Africa!!" when I didn't eat my dinner),please remember the 'delighted' bit and forget about being 'fed up' it's all going well!
Good Luck,

ttfx

Thank you! :)

I just have to remember the positive things - paying a good chunk off my debts each month while still having a pretty good life despite the huge debts and a DMP. And when the DMP ends, I know I can have a really good life without the need for credit cards and loans.

And I can do great things with pasta and leftovers at the end of the month!

:j

MadamMim2013

EEEEKKKKK....Mass panic....:eek::eek:

We informed the Tax credits that we had changed our bank account and gave details etc, etc. I noticed 2 days ago that they had paid me the CTC (normally 4 weekly) and WTC (weekly) but... they had only paid both about 3 days before (to our old account)

SO..
They have now changed the payment amount we will be getting each month & week (for both WTC & CTC) It will leave us £74 a month down on the income we told CCCS....:eek::mad::eek:

I was about to post the whole heap of paperwork out to the CCCS but now we're wondering what we should do, do we include a copy of the Tax Credits letter explaining whats happened?? or ring them to enquire???
It'll make things worse if we pay £198 per month (the proposed amount) when working it out using their budget sheet it should now only be £124:(

HELLLPPPP
(sorry for being a drama queen in advance):o

Twit_Head

the_tooth_fairy wrote: »

It's quiet here, this evening. Anyone would think it's Millionaires' Weekend!!!!!!

ttfx

But it is, Money Saver style! Payday was yesterday
Had a lovely but cheap day out in York today with him-who-dumped-me (but immediately realised his mistake,wants to be together again.) Why are so many men short-sighted and have mush for brains? We may be skint but I'm priceless!
2 for 1 lunch, walk by the river and free entry to the railway museum.
You can still have a life on a DMP, you just become very canny.
I think even if I did have a million pounds I'd still be scrutinising :money:money saver e-mail every week and clipping coupons etc.

For all the stressed newbies life does exist after all the argy-bargy of the setting up process. Maybe in a reduced form to that you're used to but always remember it's being paid for up front in proper money not plastic.:j
And I really WILL update my signature soon!

'Twitty'

Twit_Head

Mrsgibbs1503 wrote: »

EEEEKKKKK....Mass panic....:eek::eek:

We informed the Tax credits that we had changed our bank account and gave details etc, etc. I noticed 2 days ago that they had paid me the CTC (normally 4 weekly) and WTC (weekly) but... they had only paid both about 3 days before (to our old account)

SO..
They have now changed the payment amount we will be getting each month & week (for both WTC & CTC) It will leave us £74 a month down on the income we told CCCS....:eek::mad::eek:

I was about to post the whole heap of paperwork out to the CCCS but now we're wondering what we should do, do we include a copy of the Tax Credits letter explaining whats happened?? or ring them to enquire???
It'll make things worse if we pay £198 per month (the proposed amount) when working it out using their budget sheet it should now only be £124:(

HELLLPPPP
(sorry for being a drama queen in advance):o

Ring CCCS as soon as you are able and explain the circumstances. They have the expertise and are there to guide you.
Would speak to them first to keep them informed of what is happening. See what they say. You must allow yourself a reasonable amount for you and your family to live on, and they will support you in this.
Then probably the next step would be to phone the Tax Credit helpline to keep them in the frame.
You're going through the real cr*p times now. No need for it's all so very strange and frightening. Just take one step at a time and stick with us here.

'Twitty'

sunfleur

Hi just coming over to say good evening this Saturday night..... My home for the next few years is going to be here and over at the Long Haulers so I will be popping in a lot.

Our first payment to CCCS for dmp goes out tomorrow so the creditors should be trying to make up their mind whether they are going to accept their cut before we decide to cut back the payment and claw some back LOL (just joking)

The only concern we have at the moment is getting my car through it's MOT tomorrow, getting DH's car fixed when he goes back to work in two weeks - he thinks the timing belt has gone plus springs broken on the suspension - and paying two six month tax discs by the end of August for start in September. Once we have got through that lot and the budget settles down I think we will breath easier. We do have a mini-plan for raising some extra money for this as we won't have had time to save it up in our budget yet....

The letters from the creditors haven't really bothered us that much so far although some of them have been quite funny.. As soon as we had read up on what we could do we stopped payments to our creditors as we couldn't sustain the payments and we have, unfortunately, missed either one or two payments from some of the creditors - others not - just depends how they fell. We have managed to get our DMP set up incredibly quickly and the overall monthly payment isn't too bad really, although it's obviously not enough to make minimum payments for credit cards as they stand. We have two overdrafts to pay but we haven't heard anything from those and we were up-to-date on a loan which only had a year to go and we haven't heard form them either although we won't even have defaulted on the payments yet and they will have received a letter from us and one from CCCS even before they knew there was a problem.

We did get one letter today that made out they had had a conversation with us and then agreed a reduced payment scheme with them!!! We haven't spoken to ANYONE thanks to our great caller ID and answer phone with barring facility ;-) Of course they had made this up themselves, including a return addressed envelope to agree with them. I think we will go through our file tomorrow and see what they are all saying and send them all a friendly letter reiterating where we are and quoting our CCCS number to them all and asking them to communicate with them if they want anything as they hold the money from tomorrow ;-)

Other than that we are hoping this is the beginning of the end of credit. Our credit record will be trashed from now on for a while so we will have to get used to that. Sometimes it is the only way that you can move forward in these circumstances because there will always be something we need to buy on credit and NOT being able to do it and then getting to the stage where we can pay for things in cash and knowing how good it feels - it already does. When I buy food I know it is food bought with real money and not plastic, pretend money that we are going to have to pay back and then some.....

So glad to be here, even though it's not somewhere anyone would choose to be. Glad to be here with others who are going through the same thing.

Twit_Head

ianmak wrote: »

Listen to Auntie TF & Auntie Twitty, they always manage to cheer me up and make me feel warm inside. Where I tend to be stern and blunt with my advice and upset people (I guess I'm just a bloke). QUOTE]

Yea,yea just a bloke who can be EXTREMELY rude about a certain someone's age!
However since you also give good solid advice and devote a lot of your time unpaid to being the group administrator I reckon you also deserve a :A and the acknowledgment and the thanks of all of us
You are a :staradmin and I :heart2: and value your advice (even if you are :male: !)

'Twitty'

Twit_Head

sunfleur wrote: »

Hi just coming over to say good evening this Saturday night..... My home for the next few years is going to be here and over at the Long Haulers so I will be popping in a lot.

I think we will go through our file tomorrow and see what they are all saying and send them all a friendly letter reiterating where we are and quoting our CCCS number to them all and asking them to communicate with them if they want anything as they hold the money from tomorrow ;-)

Other than that we are hoping this is the beginning of the end of credit. Our credit record will be trashed from now on for a while so we will have to get used to that. Sometimes it is the only way that you can move forward in these circumstances because there will always be something we need to buy on credit and NOT being able to do it and then getting to the stage where we can pay for things in cash and knowing how good it feels - it already does. When I buy food I know it is food bought with real money and not plastic, pretend money that we are going to have to pay back and then some.....

So glad to be here, even though it's not somewhere anyone would choose to be. Glad to be here with others who are going through the same thing.

And welcome to you!
I too wrote open, honest letters to my creditors informing them of my financial difficulties but stating my willingness to fulfill my obligations regarding my debts to them. Bit rocky at the start but all settled down nicely now. I do believe it is important to communiate in one form or another with creditors, not just be another 'faceless' statistic. Some will be reasonable, some not but you can only try.
And 'real' money is fantastic
It's like 'flying without wings' with no credit to support you, but by heck you learn how to do it and it's just brill! Living on what you've got and seeing the debts go down-great

'Twitty'