DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Tigsmom

klfairy wrote: »

I have had the same overdraft now for 7 years. 7 YEARS. I wish I'd got my head together about finances a long time ago. I wish we'd started this DMP last year when OH was made redundant. I wish... meh... we are where we are I suppose.

Good luck with getting the phone calls done and enjoy that wine!!

Yeah I wish I'd done a lot of things differently but you can't change the past. I'm a bit old school over debt, I remember the shame when people were named in the local paper for going bankrupt! I think they would need a dedicated newspaper now! :rotfl:The main thing is we are taking steps now to improve our future. Think of all the interest that these companies have made out of us over those years. :mad: It's payback time!

I've done all my calls. Just need DH to make ones for accounts in his name. Forecast says nice weekend so I'm hoping to have that wine sitting in the sunshine watching my kids play happily

Time_to_face_the_music

ianmak wrote: »

Erm, can you shop around/fiddle the figures??

We've shopped around and lowest we can get is £650 per year but that is a one off payment which we can't manage. We have maximum no claims and no points/penalties and no previous claims. It's a combination of very high annual mileage and a L postcode that does it

Not sure what you mean about fiddling the figures? :think:

Grand_Benders

It was pretty easy switching our DDs over. Did some online, some on the phone, and only one (our dental plan) needed a form filled in, which we then faxed to them, so still same day. We did have the benefit that not many of our creditors would know whether they were speaking to me or the OH (sometimes my own dad can't tell which of us has answered the phone) so I can say I'm her and get it all done.

I think once you have your LBM, and start getting DMPs etc set up, it's like a switch is flicked and you go into overdrive trying to make sure you're on the best deal/rate for everything. So far we've made major savings with Sky, phone and shopping, and we're gearing up for electricity and mobiles next.

i have developed a severe aversion to spending ANY money :rotfl:

BlushingRose

GRUMBLE!!!

So, we switched how we paid for our internet/telephone from separately to a 'bundle' which gives us a fixed rate each month. Great, we thought, until the bill came in yesterday and it's over twice as much as it should be - £91!!!!!
The 'bundle' price will be £40 a month, with free calls to everywhere you're likely to need all day, every day and a certain amount of broadband as well - cheaper, belive it or not, than we were paying for the same thing in two separate bills.
We rang them up and said 'Oi' and they said that it's backdated and paid in advance, so *next* month should be £40 but this month is £90.
NO-ONE told us this, and we'd spoken to easily 4 people when asking questions before setting it up as we wanted to make sure how much it was going to be, and when it came out.
By trying to save ourselves money, we've made it worse for ourselves, not sure how we're going to manage to find an extra £50 to cover it.

bertman

Tigsmom wrote: »

Hi matty,

You don't need to wait for statements - just send CCCS the account number & outstanding amount. I didn't send any statements because they'd emailed me to say I could just send the account details and I got an email today saying everything is fine and they will start looking into my case next week.

We have sent token payments for this month with a view to starting the DMP in September but I think CCCS are a bit swamped at the moment so I'm kind of expecting them to tell us to do the same next month until they can get the DMP up and running.

The DD's were a bit of a pain. We had around 14 to transfer. Some people just needed the new account number, some the new and old. Be prepared with all account numbers and to answer security questions. Council Tax was the worse. They said I would have to wait for a new DD form to be sent which could take up to 10 days then a further 10 days once they'd received it and I might have to ring up and make next months payment over the phone. What a palaver!

Once it's done it's done though and I actually managed to save some money whilst transferring DD's by also asking if there are any better deals available so it's not all bad.

Good luck.

The DD's can be a pain, some can be done over the phone, but some have to send out a form to complete. The only one that has been messed up is Tiscali who tried to take the amount from the old bank account which is now frozen. I spoke to them this morning and got the fee charged for DD return cancelled as it was their fault.

Had a letter from Halifax last night that seemed to have been copied and pasted incorrectly which then didn't make sense ata all so I will give them a call today - they are stating "until we agree to an amount with CCCS we will continue/freeze interest"!!!!!

Grand_Benders

Interesting news about Co-op buying Lloyds TSB branches. i've posted in the main discussion thread to ask how this might affect those who have moved to Co-op to avoid offsetting their debts with Lloyds TSB, since Co-op have also 'bought' the branch customers. I think LTSB Credit Card debt might be different as that's not a branch thing as far as I know. Here's the link to the thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=54595429&posted=1#post54595429

Tigsmom

bertman wrote: »

The only one that has been messed up is Tiscali who tried to take the amount from the old bank account which is now frozen.

Yes, that's one of my fears too! I can give them the info but no guarantee they won't mess it up.


Had a letter from Halifax last night that seemed to have been copied and pasted incorrectly which then didn't make sense ata all so I will give them a call today - they are stating "until we agree to an amount with CCCS we will continue/freeze interest"!!!!!

:huh: just pay them tokens forever! :rotfl:

Maybe they missed a full stop after CCCS? I think I'm just going to scan any letters I get and email them all to CCCS.

gizmo111

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

We've shopped around and lowest we can get is £650 per year but that is a one off payment which we can't manage. We have maximum no claims and no points/penalties and no previous claims. It's a combination of very high annual mileage and a L postcode that does it

Not sure what you mean about fiddling the figures? :think:

Would it not make sense to reduce your DMP payment next month to cover this and save money in the long run and then add what you would have been paying monthly for ins to the DMP payment and not pay any interest on car ins?

millicent

Hello all:wave:

After a bit of advice really. Stared our DMP in April and all is going well so far:)
Six creditors and all have been great so far:
Capitol One - frozen all interest
MBNA - frozen all interest
M&S Money - frozen all interest
Barclay Card ( formally Egg) interest at 3%
HSBC Gold card - frozen all interest
Santander Cards - frozen all interest

We also have included in our DMP our HSBC current account overdraft which we pay a DMP payment of £53 and HSBC are adding interest of £45 a month :mad:

I have written to them and asked if they would consider stopping the charges as it is not helping us pay back this debt.
I received a reply today stating that they could not agree to our request as we did not meet their criteria:huh:

Does anyone have any ideas as what to do next or do we just except it and carry on as we are and try and throw any spare money:rotfl: that we have at it?

BlushingRose

millicent wrote: »

I have written to them and asked if they would consider stopping the charges as it is not helping us pay back this debt.
I received a reply today stating that they could not agree to our request as we did not meet their criteria:huh:

I think if it were me, I;d write again and ask them which criteria they're referring to. Seems daft to just say that without explaining what they mean.