HELP - What happens if refused a DMP/DAS???

jenpenny

Hi

I have posted previously about the beginnings of our journey to be accepted into a DAS. Today I have almost lost hope of this happening after a nasty phone call from marbles.

we have a brilliant money advisor from CAB dealing with us and this week all our financial details and proposals goes out to all our creditors. Today marbles phone me to ask for another token payment(i made one at the start of the month). When I explained that we were dealing with CAB and could she correspond with them(giving our reference number) she became quite arsey and basically said if we were going with CAB to get a debt repayment programme set up they(marbles) would refuse it as i used my card in february. I explained though that the whole reason we were now going down this route is because ALL our wages goes on repaying the min payments on our credit cards and anything left on the credit cards we have to use to buy food for our family. Is this true, just because we have been living on credit then we will be refused a payment plan with a scottish DAS? She said, if you have a debt problem you should not have been using credit. I thought - good one, yes, I have a debt problem and am using crdit to live and obviously want that to stop - this is why we have consulted CAB:mad:

Any advise? I am now terrified we will not be accepted for the DAS - what would we do then?

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. She is just a drone in a call centre, whose sole purpose in life is to get money out of you to up her bonus. She has nothing at all to do with any decision making on a DAS.

jenpenny

Thanks foggy brain - that has made me feel better!

Do these drones really get bonuses the more money they get from you. She was demanding I pay another token payment today even though I did so earlier this month. She said I would recieve a phonecall every day until I did so:(

FoggyBrain_2

Some do get "target" bonuses. Threatening a phone call everyday borders on harrassment. Of course you don't have to answer the phone, or, if you do, don't respond to security questions. Another trick is to let them call and place the handset in front of the radio for five minutes.

jenpenny

Thanks - good ideas:rotfl:

debtfree2016

Hi Jenpenny, foggybrain ir correct....
if they want to phone you let them waste their own money on the phonecall.... when i ever receive a call from a cold caller i just tell them to hang on for a minute as i have someone at the door... the phone then goes into the drawer until they hang up..... great sense of well being..
keep your head up...

lifewaiting

As everyone has said, just ignore them. The majority of people that rung me during my DAS set-up had never even heard of the scheme. All sorts of threats were made like CCJs, charging orders, wages arresstment etc. despite me repeatedly explaining that DAS protected me from any form of dilligence.
At first I panicked at the phone calls but then realised that these people were only very poorly trained call centre staff reading from a script. I was constantly asked for a reference number as these are used by debt management companies but not CAB. In the end my CAB advisor made one up and I just quouted CAB00001 which they wrote down parrot fashion !
If your DAS advisor thinks your income and expenditure is reasonable it is extremely likely that your DAS will be approved even if some creditors reject it. I think some of mine accepted and some didnt bother to reply so consent was deemed.
If the calls are really upsetting you, consider a change of number or just screen them using Call Minder. However, they will stop soon and you can start to get on with your life.
Use the surplus cash you have available at the moment to do any car repairs, household repairs etc. so that when you start paying into your DAS you dont have any unexpected emergencies.

Good luck

jenpenny

Thank you lifewaiting, can I ask how long it took for your das to be set up? Our proposal forms are going out next week.

We will have quite a high monthly payment leaving us quite tight! However, better off than we are now living off credit and borrowing to pay off debt. Cannot wait to be secure in the das.

lifewaiting

Jenpenny

I replied in another thread you had posted but it took about 4 months in total for my DAS to be set-up.

As far as the monthly payement is concerned, try not to make it too difficult to manage each month. I found CAB quite flexible on the amounts I detailed in my expenditure. There is a temptation to stretch yourself as much as you possibly can to allow the highest possible amount of money to go into your DAS but do remember that fuel, food, gas, electricity etc. are all going on constantly so make sure you leave yourself a little breathing space.

jenpenny

I see you did of course Lifewaiting. Have re read that, thanks! The issue is we have a huge debt, and have to bring our DAS into a 10 year plan max(says our CAB money advisor, also part time so things taking a while!)otherwise it will probably be rejected. So we are looking at a high monthly payment. We will be better off in 2 years when we stop paying nursery fees so things will be tight for a while!