DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Hopelessly_Hopeful

londonfraggle wrote: »

Yes - to echo HH definitely move to co-op. They should be able to do it pretty quickly. I can't remember how long it took me when I opened one with them but I just set up all the new DD's myself - it was pretty painless as far as I recall. You don't even need to tell Lloyds why you are cancelling the process!

Good luck managing it yourself - I've just started to self manage mine - have about 5 months left to pay it all off - and am feeling v glad to have taken back the control myself - am hoping it will stand me in good stead for when I'm debt free and managing my money myself again!

Fraggle x

Well done London Fraggle. When did you go self managed and do you mind if I ask who you were with before?

HHx

Earthmother_2

Today a paying in book plopped on the doormat. On closer inspection it is for Lloyds Collect Account CDR Dept. It only has my name on it too. Our debts are one in joint names and one in my husbands. There is no explanatory letter or anything. I reckon it is just a ploy to try and get me to pay extra on top of my DMP. Has anyone else had this?

georgeisbroke

Hello everyone!

I'm just starting a DMP with CCCS. I'm not too worried about getting nasty letters/calls from my creditors and that side of things, I'm pretty sure I can handle them. My main worry is not being able to afford the monthly repayments to CCCS! When we went through the budget it seems really tight (£17 a month for socialising - I play in a brass band as a hobby (a fairly modest hobby I think) and that's £12.50 a month gone already in subs)! So £4.50 a month to go out?! £25 a month on clothes? Eek.

As it's my spending habits (not massively extravagant, but slowly getting into more and more debt) that got me here in the first place I know that's where the problem lies, and I know I need to cut back. It just seems impossible at the moment. I'm worried I'm embarking on something I can't afford, and am going to end up in an even worse situation.

Most of my friends are married/in a long term relationship, so bills and things are supplemented by two incomes. I'm on my own, so rent, electricity etc is ALL on me! My repayments to CCCS are only about £10 less a month than I was paying before (I just got messed up recently by a £500 MOT bill and some other unexpected items)!

Anyway, I feel like I've done something positive by seeking help, but I'm just scared I won't be able to change myself enough to sustain the plan.

Ooooh, my heart is pounding from worry and apprehension but I feel good for sharing. It's good to read your posts and know that others are in the same boat!

Penniless love to you all!! George xx

Grand_Benders

georgeisbroke wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I'm just starting a DMP with CCCS. I'm not too worried about getting nasty letters/calls from my creditors and that side of things, I'm pretty sure I can handle them. My main worry is not being able to afford the monthly repayments to CCCS! When we went through the budget it seems really tight (£17 a month for socialising - I play in a brass band as a hobby (a fairly modest hobby I think) and that's £12.50 a month gone already in subs)! So £4.50 a month to go out?! £25 a month on clothes? Eek.

As it's my spending habits (not massively extravagant, but slowly getting into more and more debt) that got me here in the first place I know that's where the problem lies, and I know I need to cut back. It just seems impossible at the moment. I'm worried I'm embarking on something I can't afford, and am going to end up in an even worse situation.

Most of my friends are married/in a long term relationship, so bills and things are supplemented by two incomes. I'm on my own, so rent, electricity etc is ALL on me! My repayments to CCCS are only about £10 less a month than I was paying before (I just got messed up recently by a £500 MOT bill and some other unexpected items)!

Anyway, I feel like I've done something positive by seeking help, but I'm just scared I won't be able to change myself enough to sustain the plan.

Ooooh, my heart is pounding from worry and apprehension but I feel good for sharing. It's good to read your posts and know that others are in the same boat!

Penniless love to you all!! George xx

I'm not sure what others would say, but I suggest perhaps calling CCCS and speaking to them about your budget and tell them about your standing monthly band comittment. They might let you increase it a little bit. You could always look at changing some of your food budget or something else that you haven't put much into and try 'padding' it a bit to give you some breathing space. I'm not suggesting you add a whopping great amount and continue spending like mad, but there's no point in setting a budget if you already know it's not manageable, as you'll be unlikely to stick to it and get yourself into bother. CCCS are pretty sensible and will work with you to get to somewhere that you both think is fair (to you and the creditors) and give you the best chance of success.

Don't worry about it, call them. They're really great. They want you to succeed and they don't judge!

nfollows1982

Well I had my second telephone appointment with Payplan today and I now have a case worker who is dealing with everything from now on.

They have signed me up to payplan plus which has given me online access to my DMP and they have set all my creditors up and already calculated what is going to be offered to each one.

Just have to send a form back to them to authorise them contacting the creditors for me and its all systems go.

Hopefully I will have my co-op account details early next week as payplan said they wont contact natwest until thats all done.

I also contacted Npower this afternoon who I have a seperate debt with but an arrangement directly with them, although it was a high payment every month. I asked Payplan if I could keep this out my DMP and renegotiate myself and they agreed.

Anyway, after half an hour on the phone they have cut my payment by £44 a month which I am now making available to my DMP payment so my creditor offers will be slightly more!!

Daisypop

Hi all

Wondered if anyone can answer my question? When I first sorted out my DMP I changed my bank account to a basic one with lloyds tsb, then I realised that I couldnt use the cash point in the village where I live so it said on their website if i needed to cancel the account to write to the stated address and say this, and to also enclose my debit card but cut up.

I did this, opened an account elsewhere, never heard anything back from lloyds tsb but i had closed it within a fw days of opening it, hadnt paid any money or salary in as i stated i would be using it for, so just assumed that was it.

Had a letter from them today to say that they had returned an unpaid direct debit and want £35.00. I admit i had a direct debit that only gets paid once every 3 months and i forgot to change it over to my new bank. They mustnt have closed the account at a guess?

Im going to write to them tomorrow but if i asked for the account to be closed and sent everything back as requested, can they charge me for this, if the account had been closed would they still be able to charge?

Thanks x

Growurown

Daisypop wrote: »

Im going to write to them tomorrow but if i asked for the account to be closed and sent everything back as requested, can they charge me for this, if the account had been closed would they still be able to charge?

Have you got a copy of the letter you sent cancelling the account? You could include it in your letter as evidence. I don't know for sure but it seems to me that the bank are at fault here.

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I work out to 7 decimal places what % of our debt we have paid off. Then I work out how many years, months, weeks, days and minutes until we are debt free. Then I add all kinds of different equations in, like if we pay 19p, £1.90, £19 or £190 extra per day, week, month etc, how much sooner it will be.
Then I laugh at myself because I am such a sad debt geek :rotfl:

Only 7 decimal places:eek::eek:

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

Only 7 decimal places:eek::eek:

OK I need a better calculator :rotfl:

I bet HH has got one

Time_to_face_the_music

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