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On the right track but would really like some advice....

Hiya

I hoped someone would be able to advise me on a few issues....

Basically I owe quite a lot of money in unsecured debts, and the situation is slowly getting out of hand. My take home pay has gone down, and while I've been meeting my financial commitments, this has been through an increasing reliance on subs and selling my stuff on Ebay. I realised this is ridiculous, and can't continue as its seriously stressful and sooner or later people will get sick of propping me up financially. Not only that, but I've perhaps at best only got about 3 months worth of stuff to sell anyway, before my outgoings vastly outweigh my earnings and I'd have to start defaulting on Card payments.

Anyway, I've followed the advice on here and gone to CCCS who have recommended either an IVA or DMP, either of which would be a huge relief, since I've pretty much been living on buttons and ducking and diving for months now (not to mention the odd late payments to cards to tide me over).

I'd prefer to go with a DMP and have set the wheels in motion for this, since I don't want to feel like I'm shirking my responsibilities to pay back what I owe. The thing is I haven't hit that brick wall quite yet, and can probably keep up my payments until the DMP is in place, basically by flogging stuff, I've acted before it reached the stage of being chased. Obviously my situation would soon be untenable anyway, but have I done the right thing in being proactive and trying to address this problem before it really got out of hand? I'd hope that by trying to keep up payments for a while longer I'd be showing willing to my creditors to sort things in the best way possible. Is that the case though or will they take a dim view since I'm managing to pay somehow, even though my SOA clearly shows my payments to them are now unmanagable without some kind of arrangement? I really don't want the whole rigmarole of endless hassling phone calls from creditors because I'm only paying token amounts, since I'm also the carer for for my elderly parents and it would be difficult for them.

Cheers in advance, and thanks for reading my waffle.

Comments

  • Hi Onetrickpony

    I'm sorry to burst your bubble but your creditors won't care a fig if you default to-day or in six weeks time. Their only concern will be that you have defaulted. Your priority now should be your and your family's well being. Don't keep trying to pay unaffordable minimum payments until your DMP is up and running, pay token payments (£1) for a couple of months and use the DMP money to set up an emergency fund, DMPs can be problematical if you don't have some money to deal with breakdowns and emergencies. it really will make no difference in the long term and will make your DMP that bit easier. and please don't try to set your DMP payment so high that you can't live, you must make sure that you keep enough money to pay your priority debts and feed and cloth yourselves and yes the occasional treat. DMPs which are set up and don't do this are more likely to fail and that doesn't help anyone. You will get some phone calls but you don't need to speak to anyone, refer them all to CCCS or give them your CCCS number and tell them to deal with CCCS. Once things are up and running, it will calm down. read everything and learn everything because when you are dealing with debt, knowledge is power, you need to learn all you can so that you are fully aware of what creditors can and cannot do.

    and by the way, you can only pay what you have available, if you haven't got it, they can't have it.

    Good luck and keep posting, it will get better because you've done the hard part, admitted you have a wee problem!!
    More than Two Years in

    Doing it the Niddy way:j:j:j

  • redapril
    redapril Posts: 51 Forumite
    hi otp,

    welcome! i think the way you are feeling is something that pretty much most of us on here can relate to - that overwhelming urge to try and keep everything the same and to keep your creditors happy, but at the end of the day you will just have to take a step back and realise that they simply cannot have what you havent got. i felt exactly the same - had over 10 years of having a perfect credit file, no missed payments etc and then all of a sudden it all came crashing down after a reduction in wage.

    top words of advice from pdd - if you get phone calls just simply say 'i am not going to discuss this over the telephone, please call cccs...' they will soon get the picture and if they dont then write them a letter saying that you report them for harrassment.

    well done on taking that massive first step, just take baby steps from now on though, your debts werent accumulated in a day so wont be gone in a day either.
    LBM - JULY 2008 - Wage cut followed by redundancy made me realise how much i was living beyond my means.
    Debt in July 2008 = £30,049.59 / Debt today = £20,173.82 / Total paid off = £9,875.77 (32.86%) :D
  • Hi pure dead dopey,

    Thanks for the words of advice, I'll do this - I'm only making minimum payments out of an overdraft now, so its not as if I'm even paying with my own money :embarasse

    The main thing that concerns me and made me wonder if an IVA might be preferable is phone calls to my workplace (which would be embarrassing) or home (which would be a considerable nuisance to my parents when I'm out at work). Is there any way to stop this, I dont mind taking calls myself on the mobile, answering letters or e-mails, but anything else would be too much. Once I literally forgot to pay and Barclaycard rang my workplace and my manager took the call, which was beyond the pale as far as I'm concerned. Would creditors actually take notice if I write them and say 'only contact me via method A,B, or C and nothing else'

    Once again, many thanks for taking the time to reply
  • creditors only need one method of contacting you and you get to chose, so you can write and ask them to remove all phone numbers from their systems and only contact you by letter. They should not contact you at work and if they do (quite rare) then a snappy complaint should make them remove that number from their database. As I said, there are rules, if you don't make them obey the rules they won't, so you have to make sure they are aware that you know how it all works.

    calm and assertive is the way to deal, it can be difficult but read up on everything, read a couple of diaries, join a couple of threads, this is a good one https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3284382, lots of peeps on DMPs. Good luck!
    More than Two Years in

    Doing it the Niddy way:j:j:j

  • Hi redapril,

    Thanks for the words of support, its a bit crazy when you sit back and realise how many years you've spent trying to satisfy the creditors, and that is largely what caused the problem - trying to pay one back too quickly, building up a balance on another as a consequence, then it all slowly come crashing down.....

    You're right about the accumulation of debt too, although in my case it took longer to acquire them than it will to pay them off under the DMP that CCCS have recommended. As you say just baby steps at the moment, I'm booked to see about a new (no-overdraft) bank account next week, and once thats all sorted, its let battle commence....
  • dancingfairy
    dancingfairy Posts: 9,069 Forumite
    I believe your creditors are not allowed to contact you at work and it is against OFT guidelines. You might want to double check this and then write to your creditors pointing this out if they try this - you can also report them to the OFT which if enough people complain they will get investigated.
    If you internet banking get on their and delete all your phone details on the accounts now.
    You can also send creditors the telephone harrassment letter and again report them to the OFT if they refuse to communicate only in writing - don't put up with any rubbish. You've hit a sticky patch - you are not a crimminal and no one has to put up with bullying/harrassment.
    Best of Luck
    df
    Making my money go further with MSE :j
    How much can I save in 2012 challenge
    75/1200 :eek:
  • DevonGirl
    DevonGirl Posts: 433 Forumite
    Hi One Trick Pony

    Great words of advice from Pure dead dopey and Redapril there. I just wanted to stop by and say hello because I really do feel for you. As Redapril says, most of us on this forum have had that realisation that something needs to be done as finances are slowly becoming squeezed and you end up living on fresh air.

    The way that the debt management companies view it is that you have a life first and then pay your creditors with the amount remaining, after all there's only so much stuff you can flog on Ebay! And your intentions to pay the creditors as much as possible is very admirable but again, as PDD says, they won't give a fig about what's happened in the past, just that you've defaulted.

    Regarding the basic bank account, you can open these online or go in branch, and are a great way of being fully in control of your money. This might be useful:
    http://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/_assets/downloads/pdfs/your_money/a5_guides/basic_bank_accounts.pdf

    Also, please try not to stress too much about getting endless phone calls. I had about 6 calls a day from HSBC at one stage (I should say I started off with best intentions but each time they rang I'd have to explain my situation to a new person as they never made a note of the previous conversation, and any 'goodwill' had I towards them quickly turned to annoyance. I had been a customer to them for years, with well managed accounts, but they soon turned nasty once I defaulted), so simply went into my online account and took off all numbers except my landline. As I'm not in a lot, problem solved!

    You're not alone on this site so please do update us as to how you're getting along, and any problems you encounter, and someone will nearly always be able to help you.

    Best of luck with it all.
    DG :D

    (sorry realised some of this has been covered by Dancing Fairy whilst I've been typing!)
    LBM - March 2009, DMP Start - April 2009
    DMP Mutual Support Thread Member 297

    (Don't forget to click on 'Thanks'! Thanks!)
  • Hi pure dead dopey,

    This is great advice, and a HUGE relief to think I can fix that problem so easily, its now part 2 of my plan of attack, the new bank account will be sorted next week, so in the meantime I can write and confirm lines of communication to all my creditors, and ask for a written reply confirming this. They can ring me 50 times a day if they want, but phoning workplaces even when there isn't really any issue is out of order.
  • morning you are right, it is a stressful time but it needn't be too stressful if you make sure your firm at the beginning. Most folks feel terrible, especially if they've been good customers and never put a foot wrong before, but DF and DG say, no one at a bank will care. and sometimes that takes a bit of getting your head around.
    I always compare it to the film The matrix, you know when they drop out of what they thought was the "real" world into a horrible place that is the real world, the world of debt is a bit like that, if you don't come into contact with these guys you have no idea how badly they behave and how many times they are prepared to phone in one day! You've decided you've got a problem and you are taking steps to sort it out, they just have to believe that and let you get on with it. Good luck and keep posting, always someone here to help out and who are surviving fine in this "real" world

    Dopey
    More than Two Years in

    Doing it the Niddy way:j:j:j

  • Mrs_Arcanum
    Mrs_Arcanum Posts: 23,976 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    A good idea when you send token payments is to insist all contact is via post, this way you have a written record of what is demanded (remembering of course not to sign anything just use a different font). Also worth looking at the free debt management websites for a proper budget. The budget plans sent out by creditors make no allowance for any other creditor or leave a realistic amount to live on. They just want their money.
    Truth always poses doubts & questions. Only lies are 100% believable, because they don't need to justify reality. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Labyrinth of the Spirits
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