DMP starting very soon - I am apprehensive!

bernieuk

Good morning

After receiving good advice from some people here I have taken the plunge & a CCCS Debt Management Plan will be starting quite soon. The starter pack has arrived and I am just in process of completing it all. Hopefully it will be ready to be returned Monday morning.

I have to admit to being very apprehensive about what happens now. I will of course be receiving letters from my creditors and likely phone calls too I can imagine. My main worry is people actually coming to the door demanding money. My Wife is in very poor health and knows nothing of the mess I am in.

I have never been behind in any of my payments before. Does that make a difference with the creditors?

Hours were cut at work and I just cannot afford the £500.00 plus needed per month to keep things going. My DMP will work out around £221.00 per month which will certainly be a life saver.

I am not really sure what to expect now. It is all a little scary. What are other people's experiences?


Many thanks to anyone kind enough to reply.

Pan_3

I am in the same situation in many ways. I recently completed the SOA and debt plan on the CCCS website and was advised that a DMP was the best course of events. I am aiming to finalise all the details and enter into the DMP proper in March.

My non priority debts total about £360 a month but the SOA highlighted I actually only have £140 to put towards these....my debt of £20K will take about 11 years to clear if my 3 creditors are goodwilled enough to stop interest being applied.

My understanding is that opting to have a reputable company like CCCS or Payplan to administer a DMP makes it far more likely that your payment offers will be accepted and that the creditors are more likely to contact them rather than you during the DMP. To be honest, your DMP will have a review period built into it so once your offer is accepted and once the payments start there are really no reasons why any of your creditors should contact you.

I know this is a DFW board but people do also really need to balance the desire to pay off their debts with the fact that everybody really needs to have enough money available to them every month in order to live life to an acceptable standard. It's no big shakes cutting back for 6 months to clear a £1K store card but when you look at the amounts that people tend to owe nowadays, this must be tackled in a realistic manner that still enables us to get some enjoyment from life.

I understand you saying that your wife is ill and knows nothing of your problems but I would really consider long and hard in confiding in her...there is a chance that calls will come to the house so she will no doubt start to suspect something. I would have thought telling her now, in your own time and terms would be far far better than her feeling she has had to force a secret from you....once you have disclosed the problem to her you may be surprised by her reaction and you will no doubt feel much better for no longer having to hide your problem.

It sounds to me that you have taken a positive step in taking on the DMP. Bottom line is you need a specific amount of money to live on and your circumstances have changed....something has to give and the law says it is your non priority debts, at this time they are last in line and don't let any call centre clerk on the phone try and tell you otherwise. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds etc etc make massive profits every years and the fact that you can no longer pay an amount that you once agreed you could is not going to break them. If you kept making payments you could no longer afford whilst living of baked beans everyday will only delay the inevitable and the big banks don't care about your health or day to day well being.

Relax, speak with your wife and accept that due to circumstance beyond your control things will be a bit different for a while. Consumer debt in this country is sky high and as a nation we are living in a bubble that is going to burst big style before too long....the fact that you are taking measures to counter this and taking the responsibilty to pay the debt back at an affordable amount is nothing to be either ashamed or scared off.

Good Luck!

Joek_2

I'm in exactly the same situation. I obviously hope that the DMP will go smoothly, but I'm getting increasingly concerned about the unwanted phonecalls for the initial stages.

When I was talking to CCCS, the first suggestion they talked about was an I.V.A, but I did say at the time, I would prefer to go the DMP route because at the end of the day I didn't want to welch on the debts I owed and wanted to take full responsibility.

But I'm now thinking that if the IVA is accepted, it'd be a huge amount of hassle taken off.

Good luck though.

I_was_a_fool

This an interesting point. I wonder how many people opt for IVA, not to reduce the amount or time it takes to pay, but to reduce the pestering/hassle from their creditors?

rare_stuff

My partner used the above company to 'manage' her debts, they did very little, charged over £900 to set it up and the debtors just didn't get suffiecinet communications from them. In the end we had to negotiate directly with the debtors, something that could have been done without intervention by this debt management company. They were charging £20 a month and only passing £3 of this on to the debtors.

After seeking professional advice we discovered the contract that was signed obliged them to do very little. But threatening them with court action resulted in them offering the refunding of a 3rd of the fees. After some further advice we refused this settlement and requested a refund of at least a 2/3rd's Which was granted and paid out within a couple of weeks.

Initial communications were extremely difficult and phone lines took forever to be answered and would often result in little or no action/information. Written correspondence produced little, if any, acknowledgment. They did little to respond to changes in circumstances when my partner became too ill to work and were still using this info when contacted by debt collectors months after being advised of changes.

Advice from local advisory agencies was very useful, but asked for too late to prevent being 'conned' by this company, apparently they are only one of many debt management agencies operating in such a manner. So I would advice seeking help from an independent advice centre, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, before entering into agreements presented by very persuasive salesmen who will tell you lots of wonderful stories about peoples debts being canceled and written off, but will offer nothing in writing saying they will do the same for you.

Pan_3

rare_stuff wrote:

My partner used the above company to 'manage' her debts, they did very little, charged over £900 to set it up and the debtors just didn't get suffiecinet communications from them. In the end we had to negotiate directly with the debtors, something that could have been done without intervention by this debt management company. They were charging £20 a month and only passing £3 of this on to the debtors.

After seeking professional advice we discovered the contract that was signed obliged them to do very little. But threatening them with court action resulted in them offering the refunding of a 3rd of the fees. After some further advice we refused this settlement and requested a refund of at least a 2/3rd's Which was granted and paid out within a couple of weeks.

Initial communications were extremely difficult and phone lines took forever to be answered and would often result in little or no action/information. Written correspondence produced little, if any, acknowledgment. They did little to respond to changes in circumstances when my partner became too ill to work and were still using this info when contacted by debt collectors months after being advised of changes.

Advice from local advisory agencies was very useful, but asked for too late to prevent being 'conned' by this company, apparently they are only one of many debt management agencies operating in such a manner. So I would advice seeking help from an independent advice centre, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, before entering into agreements presented by very persuasive salesmen who will tell you lots of wonderful stories about peoples debts being canceled and written off, but will offer nothing in writing saying they will do the same for you.

I had to read this post a couple of times as it seemed to suggest that the problems where with CCCS. It was only after reading a couple of times that I noticed a different company name at the top of the post....a tad confusing.

I don't know if this is just been posted in the wrong thread but the post doesn't really 'fit' into this thread. I think maybe it should be moved as some people may be of the opinion that CCCS is being refered to.

janiegs

Could you just tell your wife the bare outline - say there are a few problems but you're sorting it out, and tell her to tell anyone that calls/phones to contact you.

If your dmp is accepted then there shouldn't be a problem.

emmaroids

firstly well done on taking control of your debts.

bit of advice, change your phone number then your creditors have no choice but to contact you via post thus eliminated them pressure calls.

and good luck with it , your doin the right thing.

louisesfreedom

I'm about a week ahead of you with CCCS (sent my paperwork off to CCCS and the various creditors last Monday). I expected to have loads of hassling phone calls as soon as they received the letters, but nothing so far.

I notice that you have a debt with M&S, and just wanted to add that they called me last Saturday because I'd cancelled my direct debit with them (changed my bank account at the start of all of this as I owe money to LLoyds and had a current acc. with them). The lady from M&S sounded quite stern when she started talking, but I just said that I was having some financial problems and had asked CCCS to sort things out with me. She became really lovely, and was very understanding & said they'd wait to hear from CCCS this week. Hope you get the same lady if they call you about your card!

I've read a lot of the forums and messages on here, and have got the real 'sprit' amongst the people working to be debt free that your creditors can't take everything and more away from you. If you have a fair SOA, and you're going to be living carefully, there's not a great deal more that they can do other than accept what you're offering.

Ref you wife, this situation must be really hard for you. I'd bet that she's noticed that you're anxious about something, and maybe that's a worry for her. Perhaps you could tell her gently that you have some financial problems and might have one or two calls about it. From what I understand, it's unlikely to have personal house calls if you're 'playing it straight' and keeping to a fixed agreement.

Good luck with it all. Hope it works out well.

Sea78

louisesfreedom wrote:

I'm about a week ahead of you with CCCS (sent my paperwork off to CCCS and the various creditors last Monday). I expected to have loads of hassling phone calls as soon as they received the letters, but nothing so far.

I too am having this - I expected phone calls but nothing YET - I think once things start being defaulted etc it might change but I know there is this board for full support - it's wonderful :j

Sea xx

Joek_2

I'm awaiting my paperwork from CCCS, but I'm wondering whether they advise you to send letters to them BEFORE agreeing to everything with CCCS themselves.

Personally, I want to stave off any harassment and give the creditors full notice of my intentions before things change.

Any advice on this count?