DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Ellieseleven

Julie67 wrote: »

Another question, sorry to be a pain. What do you think I need to send to SC as proof of dh,s self employment. He is a sole trader so his wages are paid into our joint account. I have put copies of bank statements highlighting his wages. Also included receipts for advertising and customer invoices. Do you think we need anything else. When I rang they were very casual about what to include. He doesn't have accounts as he has just done 3 line accounts for the last couple of years. Thanks in advance

Hi Julie67, my hubby is also a sole trader. We sent through the self assessment tax return form to SC and this was enough. We had submitted the tax return around April time and actually started our DMP in July but they accepted the figures from April

Since then we have had several reviews with SC and they have just accepted the figures that I have quoted

Hope that this helps

Ellie

Prowler1973

Hi again all.
Just a note my first payment has been accepted by most of creditors with interest stopped. My BH has an account with Halifax and we do not know if thet have accepted. We are going to wait for a statement. Is that normal to not know about Halifax and not knowing if payment terms accepted?

fifitrixiejane

I hope everyone is well? I see there are some newbies here, I'll have to catch up later as I'm getting ready for work now..

Everything sorted with Stepchange now, direct debit set up things are going in the right direction. Most of my creditors have written to me now accepting the payments offer and freezing the interest, so that's good. Only problem is, I got paid yesterday and although I spoke to my employer about switching bank accounts, they still paid it into the wrong bank account.. Not the most brilliant move..! I knew it was going to well!!

Feeling so much better though now..

RonniesMummy

Hiya all,
I am getting a few phone calls recently, from opos ltd, a DCA, along with the threatening emails, I have told them three times now I am on a dmp and they don't seem to listen, its so frustrating, especially when on their website they advise to go to step change if you are in debt, which is what I have done. These companies really cause so much more stress than what is necessary!

Hope everyone is well, nice to see more people going onto a DMP and taking control, I feel so much better already and I hope you lot do too!

x

patator

Hey everyone,

I've finally got on with it; I have my DMP stuff through from StepChange, I just need to print, sign, gather the evidence and send it back. They've been so helpful; even with the dyslexia and the neurological nonsense that causes cognitive problems I've found them so much easier to deal with! I was going to set something up with Payplan, but I lost all confidence in them...but I'm feeling better today knowing that I'm almost there with getting this set up.

The bit I'm a tad freaked out about is the cancelling the direct debits...I know that must sound quite mad, but I haven't actually missed any payments (yet), I've managed to scrape together to keep up to date somehow...so cancelling the direct debits is scaring me like crazy! But with the sudden thousands of debt that I didn't even now about that's suddenly dropped out of the sky and is now hanging round my neck, I know there's no way I can keep up all of the payments...so I guess being pro-active and doing it myself is definitely better than having a DD returned + bank charges and all that malarkey.

Did anyone else end up feeling relieved and SO much better one day, then in a total panic the next while setting up a DMP? I feel I'm going totally doolalley.

patator

Hey everyone,

I've finally got on with it; I have my DMP stuff through from StepChange, I just need to print, sign, gather the evidence and send it back. They've been so helpful; even with the dyslexia and the neurological nonsense that causes cognitive problems I've found them so much easier to deal with! I was going to set something up with Payplan, but I lost all confidence in them...but I'm feeling better today knowing that I'm almost there with getting this set up.

The bit I'm a tad freaked out about is the cancelling the direct debits...I know that must sound quite mad, but I haven't actually missed any payments (yet), I've managed to scrape together to keep up to date somehow...so cancelling the direct debits is scaring me like crazy! But with the sudden thousands of debt that I didn't even now about that's suddenly dropped out of the sky and is now hanging round my neck, I know there's no way I can keep up all of the payments...so I guess being pro-active and doing it myself is definitely better than having a DD returned + bank charges and all that malarkey.

Did anyone else end up feeling relieved and SO much better one day, then in a total panic the next while setting up a DMP? I feel I'm going totally doolalley.

anxious2

Hi all!

This is my first post to this site, despite having lurked for several years. I just want to say that this is the nicest, most supportive thread I have come across on here, I hope you don't mind me joining you

A bit of backstory: I had my first credit card at the age of 18 - I have spent my entire adult life in debt (I'm now 30). My husband's story is similar, and we have several joint debts as well as individual ones. I suppose that's one positive of this whole sorry mess - at least we're in it together! There are many reasons why we are at this point, but it basically comes down to being completely irresponsible

I had my LBM at the start of this week. We were having yet another discussion about how we are going to cope from April, as our tax credits are due to go down and we will no longer have enough to cover the bills. OH was talking about moving money from here and there etc and I just thought: I cannot live like this anymore!! It is SUCH hard work juggling bills like this, and living on a knife edge. I feel totally drained, and there is no sign of it ever getting better. So we had a long chat, and both agreed that things need to change. Last night, we sat down at the computer, and went through Step Change's Debt Remedy. I felt worse by the end of it, but I guess it has to get worse before it gets better! It turns out that we actually owe slightly less than I thought, although our situation is pretty awful all the same.

The outcome of it all was that an IVA was recommended. I feel in my gut that this is not for us. It is so formal and restrictive, I feel like it would increase the worry rather than relieve it. Plus, there is a possibility that I will be made redundant at the end of 2014, so we really need a plan with a degree of flexibility. A DMP seems to be the logical way forward, so we submitted all our info, and are now at the point where we need to start sending statements etc. And now, if it's okay, I have questions!

1. As I mentioned, our tax credits are due to go down in April. Currently, we receive £320 every 4 weeks (2 children), as I earned less in the previous tax year due to maternity leave. As a rough estimate, the new award will be around £120-ish every 4 weeks. When I filled in the Debt Remedy, I used the new amount. However, Step Change need me to send my award notice in, which obviously shows the higher amount. What will happen in this case? It seems a bit silly setting up the DMP, and then having to drop the payment by £200 after the first month.

2. OH gets paid 4-weekly, as do tax credits/child benefit. However, Step Change have re-calculated this over 12 months, meaning that our monthly disposable amount works out at £150 more than it does in real life. This wouldn't be an issue if we had the 13th 'spare' wage/payment saved, but we won't actually receive this 'extra' money until the end of the year. Will Step Change allow us to pay a lower monthly payment until we can include this extra money in our budget?

3. We have no emergency fund. At all. And my car already needs £300 of work doing from the mot advisories! Will it be at all possible for us to wait to start the DMP until April? Would need to be April as I get paid on 15th of the month, so to give us a free month, Step Change would have to collect the direct debit from my March wages, and I understand they only collect on 1st-10th of the month.

OH is VERY uncomfortable with that last one. The ironic thing is, we have always been pretty good with money - no late payments, no overdraft etc., and so to just cancel the direct debits without paying any proper amounts for a couple of months is horrifying!

I can't tell you how amazing it feels to get this all out (although I'm sure you all know!). My brain is going a mile a minute at the moment, and I burst into tears when the Step Change ad came on the TV earlier! Our debt-free date is estimated to be in 7 years 9 months, and I am so, so determined to bring this down, redundancy or not.

Thank you so much for any advice you can give. I apologise for rambling on so much, I will try to keep it shorter next time! I am looking forward to getting through this with all of you, just reading the posts make me feel that I am not alone

toots1607

Hi

Havent been here lately, DMP tickty along nicely apart from Dec payment to SC which was not taken due to error. Hard work not spending at xmas though , had to keep so I could do 2 payments in January.

I have a wuestion hopefully someone will be abale to help me.

I have an Overdraft with LLoyds(hardwork)TSB they froze the intest from when I started my DMP until now which is about 2 years ago. They are now saying that they cannot freeze interest but I can ring every month and get it cancelled over the phone. I have been told that if I want it frozen I have to cancel it which means going face to face with someone in my bank which to be honest does not appeal to me and I know most of them. So I asked if they could cancel it over phone as I increased it over the internet and they said no. I wrote to them asked if it was possible to do in writing and again NO. So I wrote a letter of complaint and have received a replying saying:

"Unfortunately,we are unable to freeze interest on your account at this time. Moving forward, you can discuss this with our collections and recoveries centre. And they enclosed a "Getting on top of your finances" booklet for me. Also at the bottom of the letter they said "I trust I've explained the reasons for our decision" well to be honest no.

would love to hear from anyone with any advice.

Thanks for reading this.

Julie67

Hi all,

Thanks Ellieseleven I have enclosed a copy of our last tax return as well.
Fifitrixiejane glad your offers are mainly accepted that gives me hope ours will be too. Hope you get the bank account sorted.
Patator well done on starting your DMP. I cancelled our unsecured dd's yesterday. It did feel scary but I know it's the right thing.
Hi anxious 2 we are just in the process of sending all the paperwork back, good luck with everything. I am not knowledgeable enough to offer advice yet but I know exactly what you mean about not living like this anymore, I am feeling better about everything if a little anxious.
Toots I am sure someone with more experience than me will be along to help.

I have spent a couple of hours putting the letters together for creditors including a token payment. We have also written to a family friend explaining our situation and promising to begin paying back once our situation improves.
Also have all the documentation ready for SC so will post everything Monday then wait for the responses, think that's going to be hard.
Hoping for a quiet weekend, have shopped at Aldi using our new budget, next week will be the start of our new budget as set out with
SC
Hope you all have a good weekend J x

Mossop01

Hiya we have recently set up our dmp through stepchange, our first payment is due on 1st march, i have set letters to all creditors and currently making token payments, starting to feel a little freaked out now the letters are flooding in, some days im really positive and others im terrified, im sure the guilt will start to ease once my creditors start to get iffy about the token payments. Its going to be a long hard slog (7 yrs 2 months) but worth it in the end, i keep reading everyones posts and its so encouraging to know that we are not alone, im going to try to do a signature about my debt but being a technophobe this might take me a while!