DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Time_to_face_the_music

Brilliant news LondonFraggle and can't wait for a celebratory message when you are done :j

Time_to_face_the_music

grant1wish wrote: »

Living on a budget is difficult, but I find it invigorating at the same time. I only deal with cash now, and love the fact I have a bank Account (natwest basic) that is in the black (albeit it £3!!)

I love seeing those black figures on the bank account :j

Working with cash is so much easier, we have this to spend and when it's gone, it's gone

It sounds like it's all going well GIW, well done :T

Hopelessly_Hopeful

londonfraggle wrote: »

Hi there - been quite a while since I last posted, so thought I'd pop in and say hi to the oldies who know me and :wave:to all the newbies on here.

Quick update! I'm now in the final stretch....woo hoo! Have about 3 months to go (would have been less but I reduced my payments a bit to pay towards our wedding - I'm running my DMP on my own now) a couple of months ago. I can't believe I am finally nearly at the end of tunnel - and the future looks very bright! Having had nearly £50k of debt it seems impossible that I'm finally here - and can really only say a huge thank you to the CCCS and this forum for getting me here and keeping me on the straight and narrow. It hasn't always been easy but it's always been doable...and there's always been a solution - no matter how bad or miserable things looked. So - to anyone feeling low (and I know you can in the run up to Xmas with no money and debt hanging over your heads) HANG ON IN THERE! It really is worth it.

My experience has generally been pretty good. I had some unusual circumstances (to do with the fact that I work overseas a lot and therefore have a lot of odd ad-hoc and unplanned expenses) but the CCCS were fab - and were always just at the end of the phone to help. Once my debt was down to a manageable level I decided to take it on and run it myself - meaning I could "snowball"some of the larger debts and pay off some of the smaller ones. This helped both psychologically and in getting rid of those that were still charging interest more quickly - bringing my DFD closer.

I know it's not over yet - my credit rating is shot to pieces and no doubt will be for a very long time to come - and I doubt I'll ever stop annoying my husband by doing price comparisons on EVERYTHING. But the good news is I won't ever allow myself to get into debt again. If I don't have the cash then I can't have it. If I need something expensive then I save for it. If an emergency arises then I have my emergency funds. Simples. (Well let's face it, it's not really else we wouldn't all be here, but at least we're all learning better habits!).

So no real words of wisdom - just hopefully some encouragement that it really is worth it and to just keep your eyes on the prize. I'll be back on here to raise a very large glass in a couple of months when I make that final payment - woohoo!
Fraggle x

ps - I notice there are a few people with pay day loan issues. My advice (and what happened in my situation) was (after I'd moved to a new basic bank account) to just let them take the money from the bank account they had the details for. Yes it meant my overdraft shot up and became huge BUT the bank account was going on the DMP anyway and (as the CCCS advised) the bank was a lot easier to deal with (and to agree to the DMP) than the PDL companies. Might not be the right solution for all but worked in my case - it was all going on the DMP anyway.

Great news, well done

Be very interestred to hear more about going self managed.

Also to snowball did you reduce payments to some?

Look forward to hearing from you

HHx

PinotGrigio41

londonfraggle wrote: »

Hi there - been quite a while since I last posted, so thought I'd pop in and say hi to the oldies who know me and :wave:to all the newbies on here.

Quick update! I'm now in the final stretch....woo hoo! Have about 3 months to go (would have been less but I reduced my payments a bit to pay towards our wedding - I'm running my DMP on my own now) a couple of months ago. I can't believe I am finally nearly at the end of tunnel - and the future looks very bright! Having had nearly £50k of debt it seems impossible that I'm finally here - and can really only say a huge thank you to the CCCS and this forum for getting me here and keeping me on the straight and narrow. It hasn't always been easy but it's always been doable...and there's always been a solution - no matter how bad or miserable things looked. So - to anyone feeling low (and I know you can in the run up to Xmas with no money and debt hanging over your heads) HANG ON IN THERE! It really is worth it.

My experience has generally been pretty good. I had some unusual circumstances (to do with the fact that I work overseas a lot and therefore have a lot of odd ad-hoc and unplanned expenses) but the CCCS were fab - and were always just at the end of the phone to help. Once my debt was down to a manageable level I decided to take it on and run it myself - meaning I could "snowball"some of the larger debts and pay off some of the smaller ones. This helped both psychologically and in getting rid of those that were still charging interest more quickly - bringing my DFD closer.

I know it's not over yet - my credit rating is shot to pieces and no doubt will be for a very long time to come - and I doubt I'll ever stop annoying my husband by doing price comparisons on EVERYTHING. But the good news is I won't ever allow myself to get into debt again. If I don't have the cash then I can't have it. If I need something expensive then I save for it. If an emergency arises then I have my emergency funds. Simples. (Well let's face it, it's not really else we wouldn't all be here, but at least we're all learning better habits!).

So no real words of wisdom - just hopefully some encouragement that it really is worth it and to just keep your eyes on the prize. I'll be back on here to raise a very large glass in a couple of months when I make that final payment - woohoo!
Fraggle x



ps - I notice there are a few people with pay day loan issues. My advice (and what happened in my situation) was (after I'd moved to a new basic bank account) to just let them take the money from the bank account they had the details for. Yes it meant my overdraft shot up and became huge BUT the bank account was going on the DMP anyway and (as the CCCS advised) the bank was a lot easier to deal with (and to agree to the DMP) than the PDL companies. Might not be the right solution for all but worked in my case - it was all going on the DMP anyway.

Thankyou Fraggle, its great to hear how well you have done. You are right, particualarly at this time of year things can seem pretty depressing with no light at the end of the tunnel for many. I am sure your post will and has helped alot of people.

I echo the questions posted by HH above though please when you have a chance.

Thankyou and well done again

Mrs PG x

Squidge123

I don't know if I can join in on this thread yet. I've just finished contacting CCCS and they are sending me out a DMP application pack. I can't wait to finally feel like I'm taking some control over everything

Time_to_face_the_music

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Thankyou Fraggle, its great to hear how well you have done. You are right, particualarly at this time of year things can seem pretty depressing with no light at the end of the tunnel for many. I am sure your post will and has helped alot of people.

I echo the questions posted by HH above though please when you have a chance.

Thankyou and well done again

Mrs PG x

Me three. Please tell us more about chamging to self managed, we may be going in that direction before the end of this month.

Am in a nightmare situation with NatWest and FOS at the moment and not sure who is behaving worse

Time_to_face_the_music

Squidge123 wrote: »

I don't know if I can join in on this thread yet. I've just finished contacting CCCS and they are sending me out a DMP application pack. I can't wait to finally feel like I'm taking some control over everything

Of course you can join us Squidge

That feeling of getting some control back is fantastic. Welcome and well done on taking the first steps on your debt free journey :T

Squidge123

Now that I look at the budget in my remedy pack I sit and wonder why I didn't budget like this before. I think I just had my head buried in the sand

Time_to_face_the_music

Squidge123 wrote: »

Now that I look at the budget in my remedy pack I sit and wonder why I didn't budget like this before. I think I just had my head buried in the sand

The budget can take some getting used to. Many people recommend making token payments for a month or two, using the extra money to save a small emergency fund and practising sticking to your budget at the same time.

I think we have all been guilty of burying out heads in the sand at some stage. I've seen it called Ostrich syndrome

Squidge123

Did you look at the budget and then think about doing a self DMP now that you have that budget to go by?
Now that I see the recommended spend and money I have left over it makes me want to try it myself.

Did you do the token payments to save an emergency fund before you signed up to the DMP?

Sorry for the million questions