DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Growurown

Allypops wrote: »

then they dropped the bombshell that the clutch is on its way out and needs doing ASAP and for a c-max it is going to be the best part of £700

jubilee14 wrote: »

see if a nice local garage is able to do for less as £700 for a clutch seems an awful lot.

We had the clutch done on our C-max awhile back and it is expensive. One of the parts they replace is a dual mass fly wheel and that cost £400 on its own, and yes I did check the prices on line first to see if we were being ripped off!

Allypops

Growurown wrote: »

We had the clutch done on our C-max awhile back and it is expensive. One of the parts they replace is a dual mass fly wheel and that cost £400 on its own, and yes I did check the prices on line first to see if we were being ripped off!

Thanks for that Growurown. At least we know that we are not being ripped off! I am hoping it will keep going for another 3 months or so so that we can try and build up the contingency fund and DH can try and do extra OT. I will also have to hope that my new slowcooker saves me money on my grocery shop!

Ally

Time_to_face_the_music

fermi wrote: »

Anyone with experience of getting Lloyds to suspend interest and charges (with or without a FOS complaint) can you give some wisdom here please?

Thanks.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4215013

I have answered it fermi

jonny6969

Would it make any difference to my credit report as to whether i offer a settlement figure at the end of this month or in a few months time to one of my creditors (providing it was accepted)?

been on dmp for a year and this one i want to get rid of is the lowest and interest has been stopped - they only get around £15 a month

also when it comes to paying the accepted offer (accepted by a letter). is it best to pay by cheque, or can it be done over the phone?
I don't have cheques, and none of my family do now either.
thanks

Allypops

The quote of £700 for the clutch was from a local garage. Got quotes from two Ford dealers today: £1000 and £1200 :eek: Just need a new clutch not a new car! Apparently when they replace the clutch on a c-max they also have to ............zzzzzzzzzz snore!

....just have to hope it lasts a little while cos there is no money in the pot

May have to try a quid lucky dip on the lottery tomorrow

jansueir

still battling with argos over interest! Good news they have refunded me late payment and over paid interest. Bad news will not stop or reduce interest further so I am paying £20pm and only £5 coming off amount I owe. Argos do not subscribe to the Lending Code.

Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here

sickasachip13

jansueir wrote: »

still battling with argos over interest! Good news they have refunded me late payment and over paid interest. Bad news will not stop or reduce interest further so I am paying £20pm and only £5 coming off amount I owe. Argos do not subscribe to the Lending Code.

Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here

Are they still charging full %? We hassled and hassled them when we started our DMP and we did get them down to nominal % only. We pointed out to them that they were creating unnecessary difficulty and stress and hampering our debt reducing efforts. It did take several letters and phone calls.

Good luck

jansueir

They did reduce the interest but not significantly enough to make much difference. Even Barclaycard reduced their interest to a nominal amount which has made a big difference in reducing amount outstanding

ailz95

Hi All,:wave:

I've not been on here for ages. My dad died in May and I seem to spend most of my time with my mum at the moment. She's finally coming round a bit and seeing their 65 years together (since she was 15) as something to celebrate rather than feeling that it makes things so much harder now that she is alone.

Anyway. My lightbulb moment was when my stepson didn't pay a bill of £54 which was in my name and Virgin Defaulted us:mad:. Where before then I'd been a credit tart, suddenly all new credit was cut off. I've been on the sick since 1994 yet getting credit was easy - they were offering it from everywhere, even knowing that I am on the sick and my husband is my carer, credit cards, loans, overdrafts they couldn't get me to take enough of their money.

After the sudden cessation of new credit we struggled for a few months and then went on to a paid DMP:eek:. MBNA then told me about Payplan and how we didn't have to pay them anything (we were paying £34 a month before) and we've been with them for about 18 months now.

One thing I'm grateful for in being disabled is my car. I get higher rate DLA (government willing when the new 'trials and tests' start next year) so for my £54 per week I get a new, insured and serviced car - car tax is zero if you're disabled anyway - every 3 years. All I have to do is put fuel in it. After the old bangers I had this is a relief - no mot or breakdown to worry about.

Like others we struggle some months. We've found that writing a shopping list - and sticking to it - helps. We've tried different supermarkets but find that Sainsbury's is as cheap as any - we buy their Basics range as the quality is so good - and we top up at Lidl once a month.

We have £50 a week (hubby's carer allowance money) for food/household stuff and petrol. We shop once a week (actually every 8 days), if we run out of anything then we do without - unless we have an underspend and then we'll perhaps get something like eggs or milk, but very rarely. Every 8 weeks we get a week off and that money goes towards petrol for outings - usually looking at old churches :A and occasional nights in Travelodges.

We've also found that since we turned our heating down (16 degrees during the day and 17 in an evening) and wearing more clothes we don't get nearly as many colds. Mind you I'm in bed by 7.30 pm so it's only hubby who gets cold in the evenings - and he's already into fingerless gloves round the house.

Sorry I've gone on so long, hope everything goes well for all DMP'ers. Must get back to my spreadsheets now :rotfl:

Stand_Fast

Spreadsheets seem to be the new narcotic when on DPM! My favourite is a daily cash flow forecasting three months out what I need to spend against each budget heading and what the daily cash balance in my bank account should be, great for planning and making sure we will be able to cover major spend times (with four kids, that can be surprisingly regularly - school clothes, winter coats, new shoes, school holidays etc etc)

Got all my papers off to Payplan and first payment should be 1st November - and the phone calls have just started from Mint and Barclays! Just ignoring them at the moment and hoping the token payment letter and £1 keeps them quiet until Payplan contact them - this is the bit I was really dreading!!

Good luck everyone

Best

Stand Fast