New DFW - Learn from my pain!

funkycat06

thank you for such a great post

Consumerist

saltnvinegar wrote: »

I have been getting some O/T at work too which means I will hopefully be able to pay my debts off more quickly than I anticipated.

Hi SnV,

Thanks for the update. Hope you enjoyed your Christmas and here's wishing you a more prosperous new year.

Just as a point of information, how do you work any extra debt payments into your DMP? Do you save the available cash until the DMP is next up for review or do you make ad-hoc payments to individual creditors?

Hope you don't mind me asking.

saltnvinegar

funkycat06 wrote: »

thank you for such a great post

Thanks Funkycat! You're welcome

saltnvinegar

Consumerist wrote: »

Hi SnV,

Thanks for the update. Hope you enjoyed your Christmas and here's wishing you a more prosperous new year.

Just as a point of information, how do you work any extra debt payments into your DMP? Do you save the available cash until the DMP is next up for review or do you make ad-hoc payments to individual creditors?

Hope you don't mind me asking.

Hi Consumerist

Happy New Year to you too!

Its a good question as I haven't yet decided myself yet how I'm going to work this.

The 'official' line is that any additional income is split between creditors in a pro rata calculation much the same as surplus income.

However as my O/T is irregular I don't want my creditors to start expecting regular overpayments if this isn't possible (and I still have a few who are being completely unreasonable and unco-operative so don't want to give them more reason to be).

The other issue is that although I have an emergency/contingency fund built into my budget this was already wiped out a couple of months ago due to a big garage bill for repairs to my car.

So currently I'm thinking of putting a chunk of the O/T aside to cover any further emergencies and then when I have enough O/T equivalent to a couple of months 'surplus' income splitting this prorata'd between my creditors).

SnV

wookiebob

Brilliant post, thanks so much! I've been through hell with DCAs, credit cards and consolidation loans, but luckily stuck to my guns budgeted and managed to pay my dues and have now managed to clear everything. Things for me are manageable now, but your post reminds me to be careful. Thanks!

Consumerist

saltnvinegar wrote: »

The other issue is that although I have an emergency/contingency fund built into my budget this was already wiped out a couple of months ago due to a big garage bill for repairs to my car.

I agree that you should restore your contingency fund as a first a prioity. You must have a cushion to protect yourself against life's little mishaps.

As regards overpaying your creditors, I assume your DMP arrangements are reviewed periodically so I would suggest holding back any extra payment until a review comes up and decide then how much you can afford to distribute. Hopefully, one-off overpayments at set periods will discourage creditor's over-expectations for increased regular payments until you can reasonably afford it.

All the best to you and yours.

nortyspender

hello s n v ,

have just officialy joined this forum after lurking in and out the last few days.
i have been so worried about the debt we are in and have today filled out online the debt remedy programme on the cccs site, spoken to an advisor and am now waiting for my pack to be emailed to me with reguard to setting up a DMP.

we have opted for a DMP at the mo while the mortgage interest rates are still low... but as they are going to rise at some point in the future.. we will be faced then with the prospect of an IVA or a revised DMP, hence i want to get as much of this off as we can before things get worse.. our combined debt is just over 41k to 6 creditors... im so ashamed at disclosing this. my nerves are in shreds atm..even tho we have not defaulted on anything as yet.

The important thing is facing upto the debt and the consequences which i am a bit nerved by but i wanted to thank you so much for this thread... it has made me feel a little better about standing up and dealing with it inside of hiding away.

so once again thank you and good luck :T:T:T:T

Consumerist

nortyspender wrote: »

have just officialy joined this forum after lurking in and out the last few days.
i have been so worried about the debt we are in and have today filled out online the debt remedy programme on the cccs site, spoken to an advisor and am now waiting for my pack to be emailed to me with reguard to setting up a DMP.

Hi nortyspender and welcome to the forum. You should give yourself a pat on the back for starting to address your issues before the train has hit the buffers. You will have time to prepare for what needs to be done.

To start with, it might be sensible to open another current account now and plan to transfer your income, out of the reach of your creditors, when the time comes. But don't transfer your direct debits. You will then be able to pay creditors in your DMP by standing orders which will remain under your control.

Why not start a new thread to keep us posted on developments.

eyeopener2

Hi SnV

i was just reading your note about Payday UK and how you hadn't heard anything but still paid them.

This is a prime example of how creditors treat cases differently. I was threatened repeatedly by their hired goons Keyes Whitlock and then palmed off to Mackenzie Hall! And my payments just stayed the same..so they paid McHall to collect exactly the same amount from me.

Bizzarre people.

saltnvinegar

wookiebob wrote: »

Brilliant post, thanks so much! I've been through hell with DCAs, credit cards and consolidation loans, but luckily stuck to my guns budgeted and managed to pay my dues and have now managed to clear everything. Things for me are manageable now, but your post reminds me to be careful. Thanks!

Thanks Wookiebob

Its also good to hear from someone who has gone through it and is now out the other side of the tunnel!
:beer: