Help needed re DMP!

missindependant

Afternoon All

Apologies if this should be somewhere else!

I have finally come to the decision to deal with my finances and sort things out the proper way instead of just burying my head in the sand each month thinking the problems will go away.

I feel very ashamed that I have got debts of £20k with nothing really to show for them.

I took out a professional loan for further education after my degree to do Law, though I intend to complete the study I am apprehensive about the LPC as it so expensive and without funding from a firm it looks like my dream will not realised. I have paid for the course (Law) so will finish it but with everything else going on I can not give anything my full attention and my work is suffering (both employment - full time and study - part time)

I am about to fill out and send off the documents I received from National Debtline re a DMP and I remember being asked if I could meet my repayments due for this month (I called 4 Jan 2011).

I was told that if I was going into a plan then I don't have to make the payments due for this month.

I am really struggling to meet even the minimum payments and feel this is my nest option to take some of the pressure off.

Can anyone advise on this or give me any general advice about their experiences on setting up DMP and how they are coping now?

I have not told anyone about my debt and would like to be in contact with others in a similar situation, maybe to counsel and chat to when things seem so awful like they do now.

Any help from you would be greatly received.

joolz43

Hi there, you have taken the main step in the process by facing up to your debt problems and acknowledging that struggling to get by while having a terrible quality of life and making no inroads into your debt is no life at all. The first couple of months after taking that step, while the information is sent out to creditors and while they realise they haven't received the payments they expected are difficult. They will ring you constantly, write and make unpleasant and essentially untrue threats, but at the end of that time you will find that most creditors begin to accept the payments and hopefully will stop charging interest. The support you can get on here is brilliant, and you may well be able to find individual people you can have more personal and private conversations with.

I started my DMP getting on for 5 years ago with the CCCS. The initial decision and conversation with CCCS took a great weight off of me, and they were great with their ongoing advice. Creditors were persistant and the mounting number of defaults were unpleasant, but gradually the calls and letters stopped and we began to manage life within the confines of our budget - a budget where there was actually money available for food etc, but didn't take account of sudden disasters like appliances breaking. But generally it gives a much better sense of achievement as you see your debts come down.

The other main thing is to make sure you open a new, clean bank account before you do anything else so that you can have any salary paid into it and so that the bank cannot 'steal' any of your money. This of course needs to be with a company that you have no other debts with.

Best of luck!

missindependant

Whilst I am in this process am I right in thinking I can make a goodwill payment along with a written letter explaining what is happening? I just can't cover everything this month and if I can make a nominal payment then this will help me greatly.

Thanks

missindependant

Thank you to Julie for the advice, greatly appreciated!

Pink-Angel

Hi there, well done for realising there is a problem and for doing something postive about it. I don't know how things work with a National Debtline DMP. I'm in the process of setting up a DMP with CCCS, they've been really helpful. Their advice has been to make a payment to my creditors during this interim period, albeit if it's less than my mnimum payment. This is what I've had to do with one of my credit cards, as I'll have no money for essentials (ie food) if I pay the full amount. If you are unsure, you could always give National Debtline a ring.

Jinx

You can do your own DMP or use one of the fabulous charities....

I did my own DMP - it was/is really simple.

1. I added up how much I owed (and was mortified and horrified!!!) and what percentage of the total debt each creditor was owed
2. I then did a workable budget to see how much I had left each month after paying essentials such as mortgage etc
3. Worked out how much each creditor would get each month.
4. Wrote a letter to them all enclosing my budget and telling them that I had no choice but to break my contract and they will receive xx amount each month recurring online payment (Ive always used recurring onliine pays, I control and cant forget!) Also asked for interest and charges to be stopped. All did....
5. Received defaults for all my accounts, trashing my credit rating
6. Continue paying each month, changing amounts up and down to match circumstances and informing companies in writing
7. Use MSE for support on debt free journey- highly addictive!!!

It takes time and does hurt a bit (ok a lot sometimes!) but you CAN do it and the time passes really quickly. Good luck :j