Dmp/br

Anon83

Hi All,
Been struggling with a lot of debt for a while.
My kick up the butt was finding out i was pregnant.

I am a little confused with how to proceed.
Do i do a DMP/BR now whilst i am on full pay and just managing payments. Although this is from cutting back EVERYWHERE, even essentials.
Or do i wait until i have my baby and do it then when my income is halved but do to a hopeful housesale will have no mortgage (living with parents)
What essentials are you allowed when living with parents ie board money, food, baby supplies?

Thanks for any help.
Just unsure if to do now or wait.
xx

rennes123

Hi anon 83,the first thing I would suggest is to contact one of the debt agencies,we are with cccs,they have been great,we have a dmp (for the past 18mths) with them,but are now going br,also keep posted on this forum,this lot have-literally-saved me. we have been struggling for years with debt,and coming on here has helped to make sense of it all. You will get there. x

Anon83

rennes123 thank you for the reply.
Can i be ever so forward and ask how come you are heading to BR now. Was there problems with the DMP?.
Just wondering if DMP's actually work. What if interest is not stopped?
I have emailed CCCS just with my first post. To see if i should start the process now xx

Hanky3

I was on one of these for nearly three years prior to going bankrupt.

My own experience of a DMP was very negative. Because you're relying on the 'good nature' of the creditors to listen to reason, to suspend interest and charges, I found that most of my time was spent dealing with a new batch of random fees/charges with the people administering the DMP and also my creditors. They didn't want to take into account my dire change in circumstances (separation and subsequent divorce) which left me up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

In these three years I paid more money then I could afford (prior to the DMP my outgoings on debts were £600 per month, with the DMP this was reduced to £400 per month which left me with less than £80 disposable income to live on for the entire month.

I didn't pay anything off my debts, in fact the overall debt increased by approximately £2,000. And I found myself completely stuck.

Looking back, losing my job in June meant I simply couldn't pay this £400 anymore and I chose - after seeking financial advice from various charities - to go bankrupt.

The DMP people dropped me like a stone when I couldn't pay, after hassling me for payment in a far worse way than any bank had ever chased for money. And only after I went bankrupt did I receive some sensible correspondence from a bank - suggesting a payment plan to clear my debt with them over the next five years with no interest/charges added. Weird, really - they knew I'd gone bankrupt and been released from this debt when they sent me this.

So I'd say from my own experience DMP's don't work too well. I went with a fee paying company (stupid I know, but really wasn't thinking straight at the time of setting it up). Maybe the charities that offer fee free DMP's work better?

They couldn't be much worse.