DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Time_to_face_the_music

alyxzandra wrote: »

UGH.....starting on our DMP and it looks like it will get delayed until 1 December because I've dropped my hours from 35 hours a week to 30 hours to sort things our for my son. And I need evidence of what my new income will be.

Anyway, got a new basic account with Nationwide and changed everything with my employer. I was supposed to be paid today and when I saw I didn't get my salary I called my employer. I was told it looks like it went into another account that is not mine!!!!!! I am waiting for the payroll department to get back to me. What am I going to do as we are running out of money!!!

Sometimes delaying by a month is the best thing because it gives you a chance to make token payments and save a small emergency fund and also to get used to your budget.

That sounds awful about the pay, is it your employer's fault or the bank? I hope you get it resolved soon.

Lulu21 wrote: »

I've just made the 1st step into setting DMP up. Feel better already! I've also changed the account to LLoyds.

Well done Lulu, you have taken the first and most difficult steps on your journey to becoming debt free :T

bertman

Just thought this would help anyone worrying about debts being transferred.
I got a letter from Halifax on thursday saying they had transferred the debt on the CC card to Apex management. Inside was a letter from Apex management saying to get in touch and they will look to work out a way to pay the balance back. I rang CCCS who were their usual calm selves, they asked for the details - reference numbers and balances etc, the lady said it looked like Halifax had added charges to the account - typical of this lot, guess they have to pay for those cheesey adverts somehow!
I then rang Apex, listened to a very bored sounding girl of about 10 years old who said they were an ethical company who would work with us to reduce the debt down for Halifax and would I like to let them have my bank details to transfer what I could owe... I let her finish reading her script and told her we were on a DMP with CCCS, honestly her attitude changed straight away, all of a sudden she was interested and explained that CCCS need to send out paperwork to them, I said I had already asked them to do this and gave her my CCCS reference number.
She thanked me for being pro-active and said that I wouldn't hear from them again unless the payments stopped, hoped I had a good day etc....
Time and time again its like having a minder on your side, the CCCS really do have a lot of respect from these companies, once I mention this the attitudes change completely, they accept that you are doing something to change your circumstances and being sensible.
I was worried, I will admit it especially as our mortgage is also with the Halifax but is 100% up to date, but I have been told that there is no way that they will do anything as this is a seperate debt and a priority.
HSBC are still claiming they have had no paperwork but have had 3 payments so far and don't seem that worried. Only Halifax and HSBC now apply interest and I am sure that this will stop soon.

If anyone is worried about starting a DMP please don't its the best thing we could have done, there are the odd blips but we are now paying back the cash and in most cases without interest....

Time_to_face_the_music

rdchick wrote: »

Hi guys, back again, I never got my DMP off the ground last time, I just need a bit of advice. I have changed my job to an hourly paid job rather than a fixed salary and I wondered what happens about that as each month will be different... Plus I get paid expenses for petrol as I am a mobile care worker so need around £400 just for fuel a month (crazy I know, but obviously I get that paid back) I roughly earn the same amount as my last job so I can afford repayments, however I haven't paid a penny back in about 4 months... So now I am getting the default letters etc. which actually isn't too daunting as I know they will be more willing to accept lower payments etc... The thing that worries me is the doorstep stuff... I plan to restart my DMP proceedings tonight with the new account numbers and such likes and hopefully get a DMP in place to start December 10th... The doorstep call had been mentioned by Mackenzie hall and I know they aren't legally allowed to send a guy round until it goes to court, which it hasn't so will they still do this? If so how quick does this happen? I am feeling pretty scared but this is what happens when you bury your head in the sand! Xxx

Hi rdchick and welcome back, I wondered where you had vanished to :hello:

Are you setting up your DMP with CCCS or Payplan? Hopefully they can advise you on the issue over hourly pay and expenses. The logical way to work to me would be a month in arrears but that may mean delaying your DMP a little longer so I would check it all out thoroughly.

Re the threats from creditors/DCAs, maybe if you write to them all and tell them you are setting up the DMP and provide your reference number, they may settle down a bit. A token payment of £1 a month to each until the DMP is set up may help too.

We are all guilty of burying our heads in the sand and denying things are as bad as they are so please know you are not alone in that one! Stick around this time and let us know how you are getting on, you know we will all support you in any way we can

Time_to_face_the_music

jubilee14 wrote: »

Hi All, off out tonight for first time in i dont know when to celebrate DH 40th, have had dinner at home ( pizza special from tesco) and off to cinema to see 007 courtesay of Nectar vouchers and treats bought at asda.

Baby sitter come as at a charge of a pack of crisps ( brother) so thats good too. hope you all have a good Friday and weekend>

A night out? How very dare you! I am so jealous

Hope you had a super time

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I have often wondered this too. We are 9 months into the DMP and all of our debts are still with the original creditors and yet some people seem to have their debts passed on to a DCA almost immediately.

It seems to be like the freezing interest, some do for some people, the same ones don't for other people.

I think they all make it up as they go along

I agree. My gut feeling is it's down to the length of time you are expected to be on the DMP. Most get transferred early but you do see some that get late transfers. All mine are with the originators and I doubt any will be passed on.

HHx

bertman

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Well done on having money left over :T

Isn't that feeling of spending your own money rather than putting it on a card just the best! I am really looking forward to Christmas this year because it will all be paid for with our money and there will be no CC bills to dread in January :j

This is so true, this time last year all our money was going to service debts and we had a very worrying Christmas, this year we are looking forward to it, we won't be spending loads on presents but will have a great family time with everyone chipping in for food.
We have had 3/4 Christmasses where we were skint thanks to the business crashing - never again, we now feel in control again. Everything is bought with cash, if we can't afford it we don't buy it or in some cases need it!!

bertman

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

I agree. My gut feeling is it's down to the length of time you are expected to be on the DMP. Most get transferred early but you do see some that get late transfers. All mine are with the originators and I doubt any will be passed on.

HHx

I think you are right, we look like we will be on a DMP for about 10 years which probably makes us too expensive to keep so they will sell on the debt. I have seen people on this forum who have DMP's of around 3 years who don't have debts transferred - could be something in it..

bertman

Tigsmom wrote: »

Reading the last few posts has made me think. I'm sorry I can't help as my debts are still with the originator but I was wondering if your debt gets passed onto a third party do they also add interest? Can you negotiate reducing interest with them?

I was thinking about your post Tigsmom, we have been on a DMP for 3 months now and all but two creditors have frozen interest, I think over the next week or so I will really push these two to reduce or stop the interest, its time for me to bombard them for a change!! I will let you know how I get on.

Time_to_face_the_music

stupid-fool wrote: »

I've made a very similar post on the "ask a debt advisor" thread, but I think this might be a better place. I'm sorry but I haven't managed to wade through such a long thread end to end, but I really need some quick advice.

After years of just about keeping our heads above water, my wife and I finally have to admit that we've got in beyond our depth and need to fix the problem.

2 years ago we negotiated with our bank (LloydsTSB) to get our mortgage switched to interest only which meant we could *just* hold our own each month, but any unexpected expenses (eg car repairs) end up on credit cards as we have no spare cash each month. Our mortgage interest free has now ended and C&G won't extend this facility although their collections dept just agreed to allow a lower payment for 6 months but this will put us in arrears for the first time. There is no way we can manage this month with a full mortgage payment so we are on the slippery slope and get in deeper every month.

We have always managed to make every monthly payment to date and are not yet in arrears with any creditor. In November I expect to pay the agreed reduced mortgage amount but make all other payments as on time as normal.

I contacted CCCS who advised a DMP. We owe around £70k unsecured, have no secured debts except our mortgage, and CCCS calculated that we can manage to repay £928 per month to be debt free in around 6 years.

Most of our debt is with LLoydsTSB (overdraft, loans and CCs) with around £3k with Tesco loans, £5 Sygma CC and £5k Santander CC.

I understand that entering a DMP will mean we go into arrears, but I really don't know what to expect, or how the creditors will react. I currently have this rosy expectation that they will all agree to the CCCS proposal and accept reduced payments whilst suspending interest payments, but a terror that it will all go wrong.


Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect?

1. Will I be bombarded with debt collection attempts and threats?
2. Is it really likely that interest charges will be suspended or will we end up with huge additional charges?
3. How do our specific creditors (LloydsTSB, Tesco, Sygma, Santander) tend to behave in a DMP situation?
4. I know this will hit our credit scores for some years to come, but how bad will this get. Will I be able to get mobile phone contracts, gas and electricity accounts etc or will it get bad enough to be facing pre-payment meters and absolutely no credit options. We have 3 teenage kids who know nothing about this and I think hitting rock bottom would totally destroy us.

I still haven't plucked up the courage to drop the DMP forms back in the post although I have just opened a new bank account and started to transfer the direct debits as I need to avoid LloydsTSB getting a whiff of the situation and snatching our working cash (we start the month at zero and live on overdraft) for the month leaving all bills unpaid.

I need to understand if DMP is really the right way to go and what sort of life we will have for the next 6 years or more?

Thanks for reading

Hi and welcome :hello:

If you have already spoken to CCCS, am sure they will have advised you about priority debt such as your mortgage and looking at your situation, my advice would be to get back paying full mortgage ASAP to avoid mortgage arrears and make token payments to your creditors until the DMP starts.

Do you have a lot of equity in your house? If not, did CCCS discuss IVAs with you? An IVA is a formal arrangement, unlike a DMP, so the creditors are forced to stop interest, but if there is a decent amount of equity in your property , you can be asked to release that equity in the last year of your IVA and use it to pay off your creditors. If there is little or no equity available, I agree with HH that an IVA could be better for you.

Regarding your questions, oh if we only knew all the answers

Will I be bombarded with debt collection attempts and threats? Unlikely on threats but the letters and phonecalls in the first few weeks can be hard work. You have to harden up and ignore them or just give the basic information, "I am on a DMP with CCCS, my reference number is XXXXXXX. Please speak to them" and put the phone down. We resorted to pretending to be an answering machine with this message at times! The good news is that they stop quickly, after 6 weeks ours stopped and all we have had since is regular statements.

Is it really likely that interest charges will be suspended or will we end up with huge additional charges? Interest being suspended is not guaranteed and some people have better experiences than others. We have 10 debts: 2 have continued with full interest, 4 are at lowered interest, 4 have stopped interest completely. Some are now threatening to add interest again as we are approaching minimum payments.

How do our specific creditors (LloydsTSB, Tesco, Sygma, Santander) tend to behave in a DMP situation? I am probably not the best person to speak to about Lloyds TSB as we have had terrible experiences with them and generally have a huge fight every single month, plus the FOS have been involved twice. My experience of them is not good but other people will tell you they have been fine with them, there are no hard and fast rules. We don't have experience with any of your other creditors.

I know this will hit our credit scores for some years to come, but how bad will this get. Will I be able to get mobile phone contracts, gas and electricity accounts etc or will it get bad enough to be facing pre-payment meters and absolutely no credit options. We have 3 teenage kids who know nothing about this and I think hitting rock bottom would totally destroy us.
Phone, gas, electric, insurance etc all fine, I panicked about this too but it really is fine. Any new form of credit is definitely a no go, you are not allowed to take on any new credit when on a DMP. Consider telling the kids, this is going to mean major lifestyle changes, you really could do with getting them onboard.

I need to understand if DMP is really the right way to go and what sort of life we will have for the next 6 years or more?

Only you can answer this but first think what other options you have. Your life will change but you will be paying back real amounts of money each month instead of getting further in debt. We are 9 months into our DMP and started off with higher debts than you at £81,306, we have already paid back over £14,500. Without the DMP, we would have lived on our overdraft from day 1 of each month and got further into debt each month. Does this sound familiar?

This is a lifeline, this forum is a lifesaver, you will get help, advice and support here. I hope to see you here lots

Time_to_face_the_music

bertman wrote: »

I was thinking about your post Tigsmom, we have been on a DMP for 3 months now and all but two creditors have frozen interest, I think over the next week or so I will really push these two to reduce or stop the interest, its time for me to bombard them for a change!! I will let you know how I get on.

Write to both creditors and make it clear that your letter is a complaint about them charging interest while you are in financial difficulty. Mention that you will be contacting the FOS if this issue is not resolved and then if it isn't, follow it up with a complaint to the FOS.

You don't always win but at least you are trying and it costs nothing and causes hassle for the creditor