DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Standingtall

Hi everyone. Just checking in to say hello really:)

Blushing Rose - don't worry that the length of your DMP has extended as somewhere in the future you may be able to pay more and shorten the term, or even start f&fs on the smaller ones. Who know what is around the corner.

I got my first default notice last week, on my Virgin card. It is every scary even though in the long run I know this to be positive. They are going to default and then (probably) sell the debt on. Oh well, fingers crossed

On a positive note, DD needed new shoes for school and I had enough in my clothing account:T. I have been rounded my current account down to the nearest £5 for a little while and putting that into clothing account. (all online). She also has two new dresses for summer, Topshop ones, all courtesy of EBay.

Oh, another quick tip. My initial spend on a deep fat fryer - has saved me a fortune on oven chips already. It was about £40 but I reckon it will have paid for itself by the summer. I know chips are not healthy but we are limiting to twice a week:)

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Finshopefulmum wrote: »

Thank you HH. I really appreciate the tip, and the wealth of knowledge on the subject!! 2 months it is.

Even though I'm admitting I got things horribly wrong, today I feel positive, as I feel like I am gaining back the control of our finances. I'm prepared for the letters/calls and have been practising the "you can't have what I haven't got" mantra, even getting my husband to repeat it back to me in case he has to deal with any calls!!

Hope you have a fabulous day.

You will be advising others before you know it. Everyone has a valid contribution to make.:money::j


HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Standingtall wrote: »

Hi everyone. Just checking in to say hello really:)

Blushing Rose - don't worry that the length of your DMP has extended as somewhere in the future you may be able to pay more and shorten the term, or even start f&fs on the smaller ones. Who know what is around the corner.

I got my first default notice last week, on my Virgin card. It is every scary even though in the long run I know this to be positive. They are going to default and then (probably) sell the debt on. Oh well, fingers crossed

On a positive note, DD needed new shoes for school and I had enough in my clothing account:T. I have been rounded my current account down to the nearest £5 for a little while and putting that into clothing account. (all online). She also has two new dresses for summer, Topshop ones, all courtesy of EBay.

Oh, another quick tip. My initial spend on a deep fat fryer - has saved me a fortune on oven chips already. It was about £40 but I reckon it will have paid for itself by the summer. I know chips are not healthy but we are limiting to twice a week:)

Sounds like you are on a roll! Great news.

I too bought a fryer after finding out fish and chips were one of the better 'take aways'! Mine is a mini one from Amazon £16, does for one or two people. Two stage method and yum yum.

HHx

Bettingmad

Finshopefulmum wrote: »

Thank you HH. I really appreciate the tip, and the wealth of knowledge on the subject!! 2 months it is.

Even though I'm admitting I got things horribly wrong, today I feel positive, as I feel like I am gaining back the control of our finances. I'm prepared for the letters/calls and have been practising the "you can't have what I haven't got" mantra, even getting my husband to repeat it back to me in case he has to deal with any calls!!

Hope you have a fabulous day.

Just want to chip in with my two pennyworth regarding the calls. I was very proactive in dealing with the issues when I knew I was going down the DMP route and went on the front foot. I followed up my token payments with phonecalls to each of my creditor giving them my Payplan Ref. I made token payments for 3 mths with no recourse at all. I used the surlus o catch up on things I had fallen behind with and to put an emergency fund behind me. Of my 5 creditors I only received one call from Egg who were very nice when I explained that I was entering the DMP.
It can be a frightening prospect regarding the phonecalls, what I can say is that I imagined monsters on the end of the phone, what I got was nice human beings who understood and accepted that I was entering a DMP, no nastiness or pressure at all when I provided my Ref No.
You can minimise the risk of phone call by getting a payg sim card (I used Asda) load it with a small ammount of credit. If you have online accounts change the numbers to your new PAYG and when phoning them ask them to update the records with your new number deleting the old ones from the system.
Another way is to look at a device such as Trucall which filters telephone numbers.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B002GP7HQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329562528&sr=8-1

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Bettingmad wrote: »

Just want to chip in with my two pennyworth regarding the calls. I was very proactive in dealing with the issues when I knew I was going down the DMP route and went on the front foot. I followed up my token payments with phonecalls to each of my creditor giving them my Payplan Ref. I made token payments for 3 mths with no recourse at all. I used the surlus o catch up on things I had fallen behind with and to put an emergency fund behind me. Of my 5 creditors I only received one call from Egg who were very nice when I explained that I was entering the DMP.
It can be a frightening prospect regarding the phonecalls, what I can say is that I imagined monsters on the end of the phone, what I got was nice human beings who understood and accepted that I was entering a DMP, no nastiness or pressure at all when I provided my Ref No.
You can minimise the risk of phone call by getting a payg sim card (I used Asda) load it with a small ammount of credit. If you have online accounts change the numbers to your new PAYG and when phoning them ask them to update the records with your new number deleting the old ones from the system.
Another way is to look at a device such as Trucall which filters telephone numbers.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B002GP7HQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329562528&sr=8-1

That's really good advice. I used to fret I would be confined to living in the bedroom with preditors laying in wait at my door. Now anyone that calls me is well and truly sorry!

HHx

ianmak

Standingtall wrote: »

Oh, another quick tip. My initial spend on a deep fat fryer - has saved me a fortune on oven chips already. It was about £40 but I reckon it will have paid for itself by the summer. I know chips are not healthy but we are limiting to twice a week:)

You could do oven wedges too. Just slice up your spud into wedges. Par boil for 5 mins ish. Drain, cool down, then coat them in a bowl with olive oil, and whatever spices you want (salt, pepper, paprika, rosemary etc).

Shove in an oven on an oven tray at a fairly high heat for 20mins plus till they're nice and crisp. A bit more fiddly, but still yummy!

Earthmother_2

This week I sent in my template letter from CCCs to Lloyds and sent them a token payment of £40 for our loan. Just received a letter back saying thank you for the payment and if we ever have any problems to ring the freephone number on the top of the page and they will do their best to help with a solution quickly and without fuss.. No mention of our DMP etc. Hope it's a good sign, but I won't hold my breath!

scared-sick

Ok, so I have been getting a few phone calls but for one reason or another I have not been able to answer them.

Today phone rang and I had all my stuff (cccs ref no etc) ready.

Anyway, I have decided that when receiving these calls I am going to log name of company, person spoke to, date, time and result of call. This is purely so I can quote all this back to them in a letter to stop harassing me if it all gets too much.

So anyway the call went like this:

Bank: hello can I speak to .....
Me: speaking
Bank: My name is sinead and I am calling from santander, can I please point out calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
Me: yes thats fine
Bank: I just need to go through some security questions
Me: Thats fine but first can you please tell me your surname and which department you are calling from
Bank: Sorry?
Me: can you tell me your surname and which department you are calling from please
Bank: erm no I cant give you my surname
Me: Ok thats fine, but just to advise you I can now no longer proceed with this call
Bank: errr but you will still keep getting calls
Me: ok thats fine but I can no longer proceed with this one
Bank: err ok bye

Haha...sorry but it was so funny, she just didnt know what to say or how to react. I was perfectly plesant. I dont know why she could not give me her surname as they obviously do when they write to you.

I just thought, you know how it is when you speak to these companies, then someone else rings and you say oh I have already discussed this with your colleage. They say do you know who you spoke to? Yeah I spoke to a guy named steve. did you get a surname. no. Which department. I dont know. Well we have about 100 steves here and there is no record of that phone call on your file.
So I am trying to be pro-active!

So next time they ring will be the same and if someone does eventually get past my 'security questions' (lol) then I will simply refer them to cccs. Simples!

Bettingmad

scared-sick wrote: »

Ok, so I have been getting a few phone calls but for one reason or another I have not been able to answer them.

Today phone rang and I had all my stuff (cccs ref no etc) ready.

Anyway, I have decided that when receiving these calls I am going to log name of company, person spoke to, date, time and result of call. This is purely so I can quote all this back to them in a letter to stop harassing me if it all gets too much.

So anyway the call went like this:

Bank: hello can I speak to .....
Me: speaking
Bank: My name is sinead and I am calling from santander, can I please point out calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
Me: yes thats fine
Bank: I just need to go through some security questions
Me: Thats fine but first can you please tell me your surname and which department you are calling from
Bank: Sorry?
Me: can you tell me your surname and which department you are calling from please
Bank: erm no I cant give you my surname
Me: Ok thats fine, but just to advise you I can now no longer proceed with this call
Bank: errr but you will still keep getting calls
Me: ok thats fine but I can no longer proceed with this one
Bank: err ok bye

Haha...sorry but it was so funny, she just didnt know what to say or how to react. I was perfectly plesant. I dont know why she could not give me her surname as they obviously do when they write to you.

I just thought, you know how it is when you speak to these companies, then someone else rings and you say oh I have already discussed this with your colleage. They say do you know who you spoke to? Yeah I spoke to a guy named steve. did you get a surname. no. Which department. I dont know. Well we have about 100 steves here and there is no record of that phone call on your file.
So I am trying to be pro-active!

So next time they ring will be the same and if someone does eventually get past my 'security questions' (lol) then I will simply refer them to cccs. Simples!

Well done, there is no reason as to why they should not provide you with a name.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

scared-sick wrote: »

Ok, so I have been getting a few phone calls but for one reason or another I have not been able to answer them.

Today phone rang and I had all my stuff (cccs ref no etc) ready.

Anyway, I have decided that when receiving these calls I am going to log name of company, person spoke to, date, time and result of call. This is purely so I can quote all this back to them in a letter to stop harassing me if it all gets too much.

So anyway the call went like this:

Bank: hello can I speak to .....
Me: speaking
Bank: My name is sinead and I am calling from santander, can I please point out calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
Me: yes thats fine
Bank: I just need to go through some security questions
Me: Thats fine but first can you please tell me your surname and which department you are calling from
Bank: Sorry?
Me: can you tell me your surname and which department you are calling from please
Bank: erm no I cant give you my surname
Me: Ok thats fine, but just to advise you I can now no longer proceed with this call
Bank: errr but you will still keep getting calls
Me: ok thats fine but I can no longer proceed with this one
Bank: err ok bye

Haha...sorry but it was so funny, she just didnt know what to say or how to react. I was perfectly plesant. I dont know why she could not give me her surname as they obviously do when they write to you.

I just thought, you know how it is when you speak to these companies, then someone else rings and you say oh I have already discussed this with your colleage. They say do you know who you spoke to? Yeah I spoke to a guy named steve. did you get a surname. no. Which department. I dont know. Well we have about 100 steves here and there is no record of that phone call on your file.
So I am trying to be pro-active!

So next time they ring will be the same and if someone does eventually get past my 'security questions' (lol) then I will simply refer them to cccs. Simples!

Fabulous! Well done, that's made my day

HHx