DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Growurown

Hello everyone, nice to hear that everyone is getting on well with their plans, and some very cheering posts about getting the debt down and under control. I'm hoping to make real inroads into my debt in 2013 now that we have finished paying for our car. Can't wait to be debt free!!

Merry Christmas everyone and a very Happy New Year.

buriedheadtoolong

Hi all, well after reading so many of the DFW's threads on here over the past few months I have finally (on Xmas Eve!) decided to join and admit to being in debt. Not sure where to start really but just joining on here and reading so many inspiring diaries is a good start for me and I really wanted to get myself on the road to being debt free before 2013 kicked off.

So many questions I have include, do I use a charity to start a DMP? Can I set up a DMP myself by calling all the companies I owe money too? What do I pay off first? Overdraft, credit cards, higher interest first or smaller debts to start seeing some progress?

I'm going to start a diary on here as they really seem to help with encouragement. Btw I am approx £27k in debt (literally buried my head in the sand for too long!).

Thats all for now but Happy Christmas everyone and enjoy the festivities. :j

Time_to_face_the_music

buriedheadtoolong wrote: »

Hi all, well after reading so many of the DFW's threads on here over the past few months I have finally (on Xmas Eve!) decided to join and admit to being in debt. Not sure where to start really but just joining on here and reading so many inspiring diaries is a good start for me and I really wanted to get myself on the road to being debt free before 2013 kicked off.

So many questions I have include, do I use a charity to start a DMP? Can I set up a DMP myself by calling all the companies I owe money too? What do I pay off first? Overdraft, credit cards, higher interest first or smaller debts to start seeing some progress?

I'm going to start a diary on here as they really seem to help with encouragement. Btw I am approx £27k in debt (literally buried my head in the sand for too long!).

Thats all for now but Happy Christmas everyone and enjoy the festivities. :j

Hi buriedheadtoolong and welcome :hello:

We all occasionally bury our heads in the sand and it's known as Ostrich Syndrome here

You need to decide if you need a DMP or you can manage to snowball your debts. A good starting point is can you manage your minimum payments each month and a little bit more? If you can, snowballing is for you. If you can't, you are better off with a DMP ... but you also need to check if this is the best option for you, as you could be better off with an IVA, bankruptcy, a debt relief order or any number of other things!

You could try StepChange's online debt remedy:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

There is no obligation to use StepChange but it is a great guide to where your money goes and how much you have available to pay towards your debts.

You can use a charity or you can do this yourself, only real rule is never pay anyone to deal with your debts!

Well done on getting started and Happy Christmas

Ellieseleven

Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to say a huge Thank You for all the fantastic advice and positive comments over the last 12 months - you all make such a difference and help me on my journey:T

To all the new DMPer's - Good Luck with your debt free journey, I'm sure that you won't regret it and can look forward to a brighter future. Hang in there if you have just started the road may be bumpy now but it does calm down after a while;)

Merry Christmas and here's to a peaceful and stress-free New Year:T

Take care
Ellie xx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Welcome to buriedheadtoolong and Happy Christmas to everyone. Thanks for your company. We will get there together

HHx

Growurown

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Welcome to buriedheadtoolong and Happy Christmas to everyone. Thanks for your company. We will get there together

HHx

We certainly will! I'm pretty sure come the new year we will have quite a few more people suffering from Ostrich Syndrome looking for a cure on this thread:D

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

We certainly will! I'm pretty sure come the new year we will have quite a few more people suffering from Ostrich Syndrome looking for a cure on this thread:D

That's how I started off in early January this year

buriedheadtoolong

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, I'll take a look at the link you kindly suggested "Time to Face the Music" and will work out what the best option for me will be. When you say "snowballing" what do you mean? Forgive me for my lack of jargon understanding (for now!).

Thanks

Time_to_face_the_music

Snowballing is all about paying your debts in the correct order. If you work out that you can afford all your minimum payments and a bit more, you pay the minimum on all debts and pay the little bit more towards the one with the highest interest. When that has gone, you move on to the next highest and so on.

Check out this link:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Merry Christmas DaMPers.

Permission to step away from the spreadsheets today all.

HHx