Changing to self administered DMP

jcorbygas

We set up DMP with CCCS starting 1st August and it was a great relief to us, but after a couple of months of no interest quite a few companies are putting it back on in some cases due to the date that CCCS send out payments.
I was wondering if anybody had changed from CCCS to self administered DMP and if so did the creditors accept this or was there more hassle with phone calls etc. and them asking for more money.
I am quite prepared to write more letters etc and send the payments myself each month but not have to deal with phone calls (or rather OH would not be able to cope with them)
Also, I know when a DMP is set up it has to be fair to all creditors and that is why the amounts are set by CCCS but is this set in stone (the reason being is that I want to get rid of the overdraft with Lloyds as they are being the most stupid to deal with despite banking with them for over 30 years)
Thanks anyone for their advice

Hax

I move from CCCS to a self-managed plan about two years before my DMP was due to finish. The creditors were fine with this so long as I kept up the normal payments. You'll probably get a phone call once a year from each of them just to check that there aren't any changes to your circumstances that could result in you clearing the debt early.

Good luck!

saltnvinegar

jcorbygas wrote: »

We set up DMP with CCCS starting 1st August and it was a great relief to us, but after a couple of months of no interest quite a few companies are putting it back on in some cases due to the date that CCCS send out payments.
I was wondering if anybody had changed from CCCS to self administered DMP and if so did the creditors accept this or was there more hassle with phone calls etc. and them asking for more money.

I am on a self administered DMP although I didn't move from CCCS. A lot of my creditors accepted my proposal with no problem and froze interest and charges.

TBH I doubt it was actually the payment date that caused your creditors to unfreeze interest. Do you have this in writing from them that if payments are made on a certain date they will freeze interest again?

jcorbygas wrote: »

I am quite prepared to write more letters etc and send the payments myself each month but not have to deal with phone calls (or rather OH would not be able to cope with them)

If you do go for it make sure you set up Standing Orders not Direct Debit. Some creditors may claim that they don't have the facilities for Standing Order but this is rubbish. They want you to set up a DD so they can control the payment amounts. Stand firm and if necessary use a phrase such as 'so you are refusing to accept a payment from me'. They should back down pretty quickly.

As for the phone calls - change your number. A minor bit of hassle I know but it doesn't take much to inform all your friends of the new number and whats worse? Having to send a text out to your friends or call them up on your new number or deal with the harrassing phone calls?

I did this myself and its heaven knowing when the phone rings its not going to be some DCA.

jcorbygas wrote: »

Also, I know when a DMP is set up it has to be fair to all creditors and that is why the amounts are set by CCCS but is this set in stone (the reason being is that I want to get rid of the overdraft with Lloyds as they are being the most stupid to deal with despite banking with them for over 30 years)
Thanks anyone for their advice

You do need to be careful with this. If (and I mean highly highly unlikely) a creditor took you to court you would want to show that you have treated all your creditors fairly. If you haven't done this then it's not going to look too favourably on you.

However if you can show that you have treated all your creditors fairly and that the creditor taking you to court has acted unreasonably when presented with all your financial information then its not going to look favourably on them.

However you may want to save up a lump sum (if you have irregular payments such as eBay sales, overtime, bonuses etc) and then pay off the individual creditor balances one at a time (especially if they are adding interest). Again, theoretically, you should split a lump sum fairly amongst your creditors, but you do have this flexibility open to you managing things yourself.

The benefit of this also is any lump sum you save up can also be used for emergencies etc.

Good luck if you choose to go down this route. It is a little more stressful (certainly to start) but at the same time greatly satisfying knowing you are handling things yourself.

Best

SnV

jcorbygas

Thanks SaltnVinegar for your comprehensive reply.
I think I will stick with CCCS for a while yet but write to the creditors who have put interest back on again to find out why and then go from there.

jacnorm

We are with cccs at the minute but from june next year we will have to do things ourselves and I have ben worried about doing so. It has been so much easier since cccs took things over and we did change our phone numbers as was suggested by saltnvinegar and yes it is a minor problem but, it did give us some peace. I just hope it continues to run smoothly when we switch to self managment

dancingfairy

To be honest the creditors are under no obligation to freeze interest and charges - helpful I know . Have a chat with CCCS, find out why the companies are adding interest again and take it from there.
I have no idea whether you would have more success dealing with them on a personal basis or not with regards to stopping interest.
On another note some take a while to accept the dmp but I'm not sure if they initially accepted why they would suddenly change their minds unless it's say the 6 month period is up and you have to re-request it or some other such nonsense.
Good Luck getting it all sorted though.
df