DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Time_to_face_the_music

RonniesMummy wrote: »

Hi Guys
Can I join? DMP with StepChange starts 1st Feb.
Finally realised I cant carry on, got out of my depth, already had a few letters/emails from the creditors I have told I am on a dmp to say they will not accept this, and keep the right to not freeze interest charges etc.
Is this normal?
I feel so silly to have gotten myself into this situation but can now finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, to anyone reading this, who is struggling with debt, go to stepchange they will help you, it is so easy!

Hi and welcome Ronnies Mummy :hello:

We all feel a bit daft when we first arrive here. I certainly did when I landed here almost a year ago

All the letters and phone calls are a pain at first but they do settle down quite quickly, I think it was about 6 weeks for us. When anyone called, I just replied that we were on a DMP with StepChange (ex CCCS) and our reference number is XXXXXXX. When they didn't listen, I pretended to be an answering machine

Growurown

Evening all, just wanted to say hi to all the newbies coming on board:wave:

Spoken to SC regarding our review which they asked us to do as our car loan has come to an end. They have agreed that we can start increasing our payments at the start of March which will give us some time to a) recover from Christmas and b) pay for three new tyres and c) put some cash into the emergency fund. If all goes to plan we should be debt free in two and a half years. However there is a very big possible spanner in the works, which is that my job is looking very dodgy. I should find out one way or another in the next couple of months.

Like Ellieseleven I have also done an audit of the freezer and kitchen cupboards and have worked out that we have enough food to see us through to the end of the month so hopefully our food bill will be minimal this month as I have majorly overspent during the season of goodwill:(

lizzy23

Morning everyone, DMP is ticking along nicely , and out of 9 creditors all have frozen interest except marbles, which leads me on to my next question how long do you leave it before you send another letter? they didn't actually acknowledge the DMP till the 1st of december because of "spending on the account" but my debt with them is going up by £60 a month and do you just send one letter before you report them to the FOS or a couple? i am determined to bombard them like they bombarded me

wannabee_in_credit

lizzy23 wrote: »

Morning everyone, DMP is ticking along nicely , and out of 9 creditors all have frozen interest except marbles, which leads me on to my next question how long do you leave it before you send another letter? they didn't actually acknowledge the DMP till the 1st of december because of "spending on the account" but my debt with them is going up by £60 a month and do you just send one letter before you report them to the FOS or a couple? i am determined to bombard them like they bombarded me

I started my dmp in April 2010, and Marbles have charged me interest at a reduced throughout. I also suspect that they haven't defaulted my account, rather put the 6 month markers on. I'm leaving it until I'm closer to my dfd before I do any more about it. However, I have recently had my debt sold on to Capquest from them so it's probably worth me writing again.
I would say write again. It won't do any harm... Unfortunately, they are under no obligation to freeze interest though.
Marbles are the only company on my dmp who haven't frozen interest.

Hope none of the regulars on here mind me jumping in with my 2p worth. I am a regular lurker to the thread.

lizzy23

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

I started my dmp in April 2010, and Marbles have charged me interest at a reduced throughout. I also suspect that they haven't defaulted my account, rather put the 6 month markers on. I'm leaving it until I'm closer to my dfd before I do any more about it. However, I have recently had my debt sold on to Capquest from them so it's probably worth me writing again.
I would say write again. It won't do any harm... Unfortunately, they are under no obligation to freeze interest though.
Marbles are the only company on my dmp who haven't frozen interest.

Hope none of the regulars on here mind me jumping in with my 2p worth. I am a regular lurker to the thread.

Thats what i expected, am going to send them a letter and then if no joy report them if nothing else it will give me the satisfaction of knowing they are being charged £50 for the complaint;)

PS does anyone have a link to the freeze interest letter??

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Growurown wrote: »

Evening all, just wanted to say hi to all the newbies coming on board:wave:

Spoken to SC regarding our review which they asked us to do as our car loan has come to an end. They have agreed that we can start increasing our payments at the start of March which will give us some time to a) recover from Christmas and b) pay for three new tyres and c) put some cash into the emergency fund. If all goes to plan we should be debt free in two and a half years. However there is a very big possible spanner in the works, which is that my job is looking very dodgy. I should find out one way or another in the next couple of months.

Like Ellieseleven I have also done an audit of the freezer and kitchen cupboards and have worked out that we have enough food to see us through to the end of the month so hopefully our food bill will be minimal this month as I have majorly overspent during the season of goodwill:(

Thanks for the update GUO. Will keep my fingers crossed for your job security.

Hope the stocktake has gone on a spreadsheet!

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

lizzy23 wrote: »

Morning everyone, DMP is ticking along nicely , and out of 9 creditors all have frozen interest except marbles, which leads me on to my next question how long do you leave it before you send another letter? they didn't actually acknowledge the DMP till the 1st of december because of "spending on the account" but my debt with them is going up by £60 a month and do you just send one letter before you report them to the FOS or a couple? i am determined to bombard them like they bombarded me

Morning

When did your DMP start and how many times and when did you approach them requesting them to stop?

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

lizzy23 wrote: »

Thats what i expected, am going to send them a letter and then if no joy report them if nothing else it will give me the satisfaction of knowing they are being charged £50 for the complaint;)

PS does anyone have a link to the freeze interest letter??

Debtline sample letter page here. Select the freeze interest letter.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6

HTH

HHx

wannabee_in_credit

lizzy23 wrote: »

Thats what i expected, am going to send them a letter and then if no joy report them if nothing else it will give me the satisfaction of knowing they are being charged £50 for the complaint;)

PS does anyone have a link to the freeze interest letter??

You've spurred me on. I've just written a letter to CallQuest (not CapQuest as I'd thought) asking them to consider freezing interest now that they've taken over the account. I worked from a template on the National Debtline website.
Good luck getting it sorted.

RonniesMummy

Morning all,
I am trying to spend only £15 this week, hopefully I will be able to stick to this, as I haven't really got any other money!
Am waiting on getting our bond back from our old place hopefully before the end of the month so thats £600. Would you pay off your debts with this or keep it as an emergency fund ? (currently have nothing put by for an emergency!)
x