DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Time_to_face_the_music

cleokat wrote: »

AM really interesting in holding off my CCCS start date for a month and having a bit of an emergency fund but surprise surprise am stressing about it! I get paid on 15th of the month and most of my DDs come out around this time. If I made token payements for August then paid CCCS on 1st October with my September pay then it means my creditors would have nothing but token payments for two months. Would this be ok? Has anyone else done this?

Would it be better to just start in September and forget the emergency fund? Sorry for all the stressing. It's just that I've never missed a payment before and I don't know what will happen.

Hold off for a month is definitely my advice. We set up very quickly and actually made 2 DMP payments in one month (February).

Yes it's great to see the debt come down quickly but it's not so good when you are panicking about car bills etc. Our emergency fund is non-existent and we have managed so far but am sure there will come a day where our luck will abandon us

Rochdale_Guy

ikkle87 wrote: »

Hugs Rochdale Guy - I was reading your thread earlier, hope things start to look up for you xx

Thank you :A

Rochdale_Guy

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Just wanted to say hang on in there Rochdale Guy... I've been made redundant twice since starting my DMP but I'm still here and each time I've managed to find a job:o

It's scary when it happens and panic does set in but try to stay positive and determined and remember you can always come on this forum for support

Sending hugs xx

Ellie

Thank you too Ellie :A

How did you cope and stay sane?

Time_to_face_the_music

jasperconran wrote: »

Due to start with CCCS properly this month however the payments are not going to work. Our combined wages every month has drastically reduced from (including child benefit) £3981.20 to £3081.20:eek: so we cannot afford the CCCS's recommended monthly payment of £660. I re-did the debt remedy out of curiosity, and it said with our surplus of £118 it would be take 40 years to pay off the debt:eek::eek: 11 years if we could find extra money!!!!!

We have sat down and worked out our own budget and we can comfortably afford £350 per calendar month.

Hi jasperconran :hello:

We have found CCCS to be very fair with their allowances but there is obviously some large discrepancy between the £660 that they think you can afford and the £350 you state you can pay.

Any idea what this is?
Do you have some spending that CCCS would not normally allow or is over their permitted limits?

I don't understand where the 40 years on the £118 surplus came from? Is your payment going to be £350 or £118?

Have you explained that your combined pay has reduced by £900 per month? I know CCCS go on your last year's earnings so maybe an explanation about this would sort it all out.

Time_to_face_the_music

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

My sig says it all....

Hi Rochdale_Guy :hello:

Am really sorry things are going so badly

Have you ever explored if bankruptcy is a better option for you than a DMP? I can't find the post now but am sure I remember someone recommending this to you a while back on the main DFW board :think:

dfwsometimesoon

Jasperconran ..... might be an idea to post up ur soa...

my income is £2400 per month, family of 5, mortgage £600 per month plus all other standard bills.... i pay dmp £520 per month.... am assuming given ur income mortgage/rent or some part of ur outgoings must be hugeeee to account for the lower dmp payment?

Ellieseleven

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Thank you too Ellie :A

How did you cope and stay sane?

Not sure that I am sane:rotfl:

I thought that I was cracking up at first and had lots of sleepless nights with some very dark thoughts about ending it all:eek: but I just came on this forum all the time and realised that I wasn't alone and that there were many people the same as me. One of the things that I really struggled with was missing payments when I had always made at least the minimum and the phone calls (I felt so ashamed).

This forum helped me realise that there was hope and at the end of the day it's only money and there are things in life that are far more important!

Once the phone calls and nasty letters stopped and the DMP settled in things were better but there have been times when I feel it's like taking one step forward and three back! Every time we manage to put a bit of money away something happens e.g. redundancy!!!!!

I try to keep positive and I keep a diary on this forum where I just put down all my thoughts and when I'm feeling really down I go back to it and see how far I've come. We've actually been able to cut our debt free date by around 4 1/2 years so far due to paying off the HP on my car - I did miss not being able to go and get another new car but I tell myself I really don't need one.... honest I don't, I DON'T!!!

I still come on this forum at least once a month just to see how everyone is getting along and I love it when I see people who have been around for a while getting towards their debt free date and I know that eventually mine will be in touching distance

Sending positive vibes

Take care

Ellie xx

jasperconran

thanks for the replies so far.

Our mortgage is almost £1,000 per month. we have council tax arrears, secured loan arrears and water arrears. we dont agree with the allowance that the CCCS put down for food shopping etc. the reason our income has drastically reduced is because my OH's so called business partner did a runner and dropped us right in it! so poor OH has had to start again from scratch, hence the lower wage.

Timetofacethe music, the 40 years to pay off debt outcome was going on a surplus of £118 per month when I did a brand new debt remedy, that was what the CCCS came up with based on our reduced income. however, as I said, we dont agree with their allowance for food shopping etc as we live on alot less. Hence we have advised them we can go to £350 per calendar month.

hope that pretty much explains things.:)

dfwsometimesoon

hi jasperconran.... if CCCS are threatening to cancel ur DMP if u lower payment are they not agreeing with your expenditure amounts?

to be fair i found the guidelines for essential expenditure very fair and extremely generous to be honest, and i did go to the max available on all to allow for some savings each month, thankfully this still allowed a 'fairly' generous payment for dmp.

I still think posting ur soa would be beneficial as im struggling a bit to get my head around the income/expenditure even with the mortgage of nearly £1000 per month ......also given the fact u are cutting £200+ per month off the food allowance as per the guidelines to make up dmp payment because you say u live on much less than they allow .... apologies i cant get my head round it x

dfwsometimesoon

jasperconran wrote: »

I re-did the debt remedy out of curiosity, and it said with our surplus of £118 it would be take 40 years to pay off the debt:eek::eek: 11 years if we could find extra money!!!!!

ok this is just a thot lol ...

when u did the debt remedy again u include all the unsecured debts... it then calculates how much the minimum contractual monthly payments are.... did this then leave u with a surplus of £118 per month advising if u add this £118 to each min payment it would take the 40 yrs to pay off less if u could find more money???

if so that is where u should stand now by making monthly payments in full and sticking to the budget.... obviously entering a dmp would free up all the unsecured min payments and then u would pay an affordable lump sum which would be distributed to all.

apologies if im not making sense however when i initially did the debt remedy tool i had every allowance at the bare bare minimum and the system advised similar to what u have said u received as it showed a surplus each month meaning i was able to make the min payments and it advised me how long it would take to pay off the debt.... after speaking to cccs i then changed the allowances to reach the guidelines it showed i was unable to make the contractual payments and then went on to recommend a dmp.... i dont think the message u received on the debt remedy tool was regarding payments to be made via a dmp ie on dmp u pay £118 per month... i think that was the surplus u should have at the moment IF making all min payments as contracted ...... sorry if im confusing but this would kind of explain cccs questioning and threatening re the drop in payments per month as on paper its showing a surplus and they may have allowed u the excess in food shopping etc to account for this surplus..

sorry sorry sorry lol i know what im trying to say just not sure if im explaining it very well xx