DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Newchapter

Well done. you've inspired me

Time_to_face_the_music

2spicy wrote: »

I have said this numberous times ... its a "Game" .. you can work it in your favour. you donot have to live like a church mouse... there are allowances for haircuts / pets / dental etc and you should take as much out as you are permitted. Use this to make like a little more bearable.. put it away for Birthdays or Christmas (or car repairs) .. that way the creditors get their money, you show commitment and even if its a £5 bottle of wine once a month, you get to remind yourself your not a bad person and shouldnt be punnished.

I wish I had read this post before we set up our budget, we definitely did not leave enough room for manouevre in our eagerness to be paying everything we could off our debt. Fortunately I have found that some of our unwanted clutter is very desirable to some ebayers plus my OH has managed to get some examination marking work so we will be able to pay for the MOT work on our car and still pay a bit extra off.

Thanks for an inspiring and very helpful post 2spicy and well done on getting so far :T

Time_to_face_the_music

925pws wrote: »

Hello everyone

Haven't been on in a few days. Got the word, am out of a job in a month or so. Forms were sent off to CCCS but no word yet. It'll only be set up before it will have to be renewed.

I'm just too exhausted to care any more to be honest. I am proud to be dealing with this mess and I will pay back every single penny owed.

Thanks for all the support on this thread.

Am very sorry to hear that 925pws but I know you had said it may be on the horizon

I am sure CCCS will be very understanding and amend your payment plan to meet your new circumstances. You have every right to be proud that you are dealing with this so keep your chin up and remember we are always here for support

Time_to_face_the_music

Newchapter wrote: »

Hi

I'm new to this site. Started a dmp April 2011, using Payplan but they have scared me quite a bit last week by suggesting an IVA, not that I currently have any equity in my house, but I expect I will have in 5 years time at the expected end of the IVA. I am going to see a private financial advisor who has really helped a friend of mine significantly reduce her debts and am thinking of moving my DMP from Payplan to them. They have also suggersted I am paying too much into the DMP and not leaving enough to live on. I was interested to read you have chosen to no longer use CCCS and self manage. Is it better?
thanks

Hi Newchapter and welcome

Am sorry things are not going well with your DMP, was it expected to be a very long term repayment plan? Perhaps Payplan think that they will cut down on your time in debt by changing to a IVA. There are a lot of posters on the debt free wannabe who are experts in IVAs who may be able to give you some more advice so it may be worth posting a new thread there.

Does this private financial advisor offer their services for free? I think most people here would advise you not to move from a free service such as Payplan or CCCS to a fee paying DMP. maybe you could give CCCS a call and see if they suggest the same way forward as Payplan.

Good luck and please do let us know how you get on.

2spicy

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I wish I had read this post before we set up our budget, we definitely did not leave enough room for manouevre in our eagerness to be paying everything we could off our debt. .....<snip!>

Thanks for an inspiring and very helpful post 2spicy and well done on getting so far :T

Thankyou for the kind comments. Im not saying its been easy, its been an education in having to budget and not splash out on a £2000 holiday and put it on the credit card when we feel like it.

....Ok, so for the first 12 months, your going to have to learn to budget .. but .. when you have your review in 12 months time, youll be a little wiser and more thrifty with your spending. Then you can "engineer" the review to your advantage .. Give the creditors a little more, and in doing so, take a little bit out to put aside

Reading some of the other peoples posts, it seems some people have not taken all of their "allowances" out of the DMP equasion before working out the final surplus to repay creditors.
We cannot stress enough that living and being able to afford the bare essentials should always come first.

As much as we have tried some of the cheaper budget ranges, there are some things we refuse to compromise on ... as funny as it may seem. These are "Heinz" baked beans / "Heinz" tomato soup and good quality beef. So we use our monthly haircut allowance for such items.

sickasachip13

... here you all are.

Hope everyone's DMP is going well.

Welcome to all the new DMPers - it'll all be ok in the end, honest.

Ours is still ticking away nicely and we're managing ok :T

SAAC xxx

Newchapter

Hi Time to Face the Music

No, this financial advisor charges and I know not thats not a recommended route...but Payplan made it clear that they will not negotiate for a reduced balance for any of my creditors, nor have they been successful in freezing any interest charges, whereas my friend has just halved one of her credit card bills.

I think my budget is not right for me either. I have an allowance for £160 a month for petrol, but I easily use £200+ just to go to work and back. I have phoned sick a few times and not gone to work because I have no petrol and no money...its really embarrassing to admit this.

I've been advised that the monthly payment to a DMP should be approx 1% of the balance owed. I'm currently paying £830 a month and I owe £58k. I have a bald tyre on the car, ewhich I cannot replace until payday, have cancelled my union/professionmal body subscription (at £26 a month) because I can't afford it, and feel awful because I cannot give my 17 year old daughter any allowance/pocket money...she has a disability and will probably find it hard to get a Saturday job. I really need a new plan, one thats sustainable, I think....sorry for wittering on!!!!:)

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hi Newchapter and welcome

Am sorry things are not going well with your DMP, was it expected to be a very long term repayment plan? Perhaps Payplan think that they will cut down on your time in debt by changing to a IVA. There are a lot of posters on the debt free wannabe who are experts in IVAs who may be able to give you some more advice so it may be worth posting a new thread there.

Does this private financial advisor offer their services for free? I think most people here would advise you not to move from a free service such as Payplan or CCCS to a fee paying DMP. maybe you could give CCCS a call and see if they suggest the same way forward as Payplan.

Good luck and please do let us know how you get on.

Time_to_face_the_music

2spicy wrote: »

Reading some of the other peoples posts, it seems some people have not taken all of their "allowances" out of the DMP equasion before working out the final surplus to repay creditors.
We cannot stress enough that living and being able to afford the bare essentials should always come first.

As much as we have tried some of the cheaper budget ranges, there are some things we refuse to compromise on ... as funny as it may seem. These are "Heinz" baked beans / "Heinz" tomato soup and good quality beef. So we use our monthly haircut allowance for such items.

We definitely did not take all of our "allowances". I put zero for prescription charges, completely forgetting that my OH needs a prescription for 3 items every 3 months. I cut his hair with clippers and I never have my hair cut so I think I forgot that one too

We like Branston baked beans and they are often on offer so we stock up the cupboard. We are learning to buy non-perishable stuff in bulk when it's cheap and we now have about 6 month's worth of loo rolls, razor blades and shaving gel.

The freezer gets used much more for reduced items and for freezing half portions of cooked meals. We always cooked from scratch and are now fans of Aldi and Lidl so our food budgeting is vastly improved.

It's been a learning experience and we will go on learning throughout the DMP but in our review next January, we will definitely be wiser and will thank you very much now for the advice which will contribute towards that :T

Time_to_face_the_music

Newchapter wrote: »

Hi Time to Face the Music

No, this financial advisor charges and I know not thats not a recommended route...but Payplan made it clear that they will not negotiate for a reduced balance for any of my creditors, nor have they been successful in freezing any interest charges, whereas my friend has just halved one of her credit card bills.

I think my budget is not right for me either. I have an allowance for £160 a month for petrol, but I easily use £200+ just to go to work and back. I have phoned sick a few times and not gone to work because I have no petrol and no money...its really embarrassing to admit this.

I've been advised that the monthly payment to a DMP should be approx 1% of the balance owed. I'm currently paying £830 a month and I owe £58k. I have a bald tyre on the car, ewhich I cannot replace until payday, have cancelled my union/professionmal body subscription (at £26 a month) because I can't afford it, and feel awful because I cannot give my 17 year old daughter any allowance/pocket money...she has a disability and will probably find it hard to get a Saturday job. I really need a new plan, one thats sustainable, I think....sorry for wittering on!!!!:)

You are not wittering on, you are sharing your experience and hopefully will get some useful advice

I have never heard of a monthly DMP payment being 1% of the amount owed and to be honest it doesn't really make sense because surely it has to be dependent on how much you earn. I have just worked our payment out and it's about 2.2% but we know we can afford it if no major disaster suddenly befalls us, e.g. we always worry about our very high mileage car giving up the ghost before the DMP is finished. Where did the 1% figure come from?

There really does seem like there is something seriously wrong with your DMP at the moment, have your circumstances changed since you started it? I don't know anything about Payplan but we are with CCCS and they asked us why our fuel costs were so high at £280 a month and when we explained the mileage we do, it was approved at the higher cost. We also both put down union fees and these were approved.

How many creditors do you have and who are they? From what I have read here it seems really unusual for none of them to freeze interest. After 3 months, we are still having problems with 3 creditors and interest but the others have all frozen or at least drastically reduced the interest charges.

Have you explained all your current difficulties to Payplan and they are refusing to make changes? How long is your DMP estimated to be over at the moment? With the figures you provided, it should be less than 6 years but that is dependent on frozen interest. Have Payplan stated why they think you should change to an IVA?

I am really sorry things are going so badly for you at the moment but before you make your mind up to go with the fee charging financial advisor, just give CCCS a call. It won't cost you anything except a few minutes of your time and it could make all the difference.

Good luck

Growurown

925pws wrote: »

Got the word, am out of a job in a month or so.

Hi 925pws, really sorry to hear about the job. When my OH was made redundant I was absolutely panic stricken. How were we going to manage? But we did manage and it was fine, and with hindsight it was a blessing in disguise because when that door closed another opened and OH's current job is much better. I hope things work out for you too.

Newchapter wrote: »

They have also suggersted I am paying too much into the DMP and not leaving enough to live on. I was interested to read you have chosen to no longer use CCCS and self manage. Is it better?
thanks

Can't say whether it is better never having done it but I feel creditors are more amenable when you go through a third party such as payplan or CCCS. Could you not contact payplan and ask for a review of your budget if you aren't managing? The consensus of opinion is that companies that you pay promise you the earth just to get your business but in reality they have no more clout than anyone else to get interest stopped.

sickasachip13 wrote: »

... here you all are.

Hope everyone's DMP is going well.

Welcome to all the new DMPers - it'll all be ok in the end, honest.

Ours is still ticking away nicely and we're managing ok :T

SAAC xxx

Hi SAAC, nice to see you:hello: