Didnt think I wanted a DMP, but think I might now

Issuma

Hi monday blues.

It goes without saying that we have all been in the place you are now, have felt and still do feel at times how you feel now, we struggled on for ages because we thought that having a good credit rating was the be all and end all in life and of course it isnt and as soon as I let go of those feelings, stopped beating myself up about the situation and stopped feeling like a second class citizen I started to be able to see things more clearly.

I manage my own DMP (I'm a control freak) and like everyone else my regret is that I didn't do it sooner, with regard to the mortgage amount on your SOA I'm sure CCCS will advise you on this with regard to the other amounts such as food, petrol, etc I slightly over estimated these amounts as some months you may spend more than others, this gave me the opportunity to squirrel small amounts away which has now become my 'emergency fund' and because of this for the first time in years I know find myself in a position where I can pay my TV licence in full this year as well as my Water Rates which will be 2 things I don't have to worry about on a monthly basis.

Everyone has their own way of working these things out, we will all suffer 'knock backs' along the way, I lke to think of them as 'learning curves' and believe me going through this I have learnt a lot, it has changed my way of thinking about what's important in life and believe me my credit rating is now no longer at the top of the list, my family and friends are.

Good luck with your CCCS interview they are really nice people and I'm sure once you've got that out of the way you'll feel much better and remember we all think that we are the only ones going through this but we're not there are thousands of us !!!!

monday_blues

Thanks Issuma, I appreciate your kind thoughts. It is a very hard decision, and probably if i'd gone this road when i started reading this forum about 3 years ago, we'd be halfway through....instead, every year its getting tougher, and I just think the banks are reigning things in and after being so generous with giving all this credit out, now they are putting up brick walls whereever you turn, and hiking up interest rates. I dunno, everything is now harder to negotiate and work out than before. I still dont know if will go down the dmp route, but swaying towards it I suspect, as other than selling our property, not much else we can do to get out of this mess.

Can I ask, I have put my basic wage and hubbys basic into the soa, but what happens if i earn more via overtime and same for him? Or, what if I get a second job, what happens there too?

Bettingmad

monday_blues wrote: »

Thanks that's great I have set up a new bank account, I will do online token payments to creditors tonight and will apply to credit union - hope they accept us though, hate the embarrassment of knock backs - makes you feel like a second class citizen.

I will phone Santander and get a repayment amount and will quote that to CCCS tomorrow instead of the interest only we are doing at present.

Do you think I should contact our contract phones with Orange and ask for 2 new numbers, and then copy all our contacts over, to avoid getting unwanted harrassing phone calls?

Thanks so much,

I don't think you need go to the hassle of trying to get 2 new numbers, that's even if Orange were prepared to do that.
When I started with my DMP I sent token payments to each of the creditors by postal order and sent with my initial letter advising the creditors I was seeking financial assistance.

TBH with you if you really are at the stage of going down the DMP route I would be cancelling all the creditor direct debits and send tokens via postal order, £1 will do with the letter.

Bettingmad

monday_blues wrote: »

Thanks Issuma, I appreciate your kind thoughts. It is a very hard decision, and probably if i'd gone this road when i started reading this forum about 3 years ago, we'd be halfway through....instead, every year its getting tougher, and I just think the banks are reigning things in and after being so generous with giving all this credit out, now they are putting up brick walls whereever you turn, and hiking up interest rates. I dunno, everything is now harder to negotiate and work out than before. I still dont know if will go down the dmp route, but swaying towards it I suspect, as other than selling our property, not much else we can do to get out of this mess.

Can I ask, I have put my basic wage and hubbys basic into the soa, but what happens if i earn more via overtime and same for him? Or, what if I get a second job, what happens there too?

If you earn more through casual overtime stash it and save it. If you get a second job you can tell CCCS who can increase your payments. Creditors have no access to tax or income records and would have no way of knowing so you cold save this to enable you to make full & finals. Be aware though that if your creditors go after a CCJ whilst on a DMP. You would have to disclose full information to the judge.

monday_blues

Bettingmad wrote: »

If you earn more through casual overtime stash it and save it. If you get a second job you can tell CCCS who can increase your payments. Creditors have no access to tax or income records and would have no way of knowing so you cold save this to enable you to make full & finals. Be aware though that if your creditors go after a CCJ whilst on a DMP. You would have to disclose full information to the judge.

Is that likely Bettingmad? Scary, I dont know how I would face court/judges.... that's quite a scary prospect. But thanks for the other info x

Standingtall

Bettingmad wrote: »

If you earn more through casual overtime stash it and save it. If you get a second job you can tell CCCS who can increase your payments. Creditors have no access to tax or income records and would have no way of knowing so you cold save this to enable you to make full & finals. Be aware though that if your creditors go after a CCJ whilst on a DMP. You would have to disclose full information to the judge.

I receive overtime but Payplan stated that as this was not guaranteed it should not be included in my DMP. I think though that a second job would be as it would be guaranteed income. Pray to God my creditors do not go for CCJ as this extra money helps me enjoy life as my DMP is a rather long one. To be fair I only want to keep it at this level until my daughter is a few years older then I intend to throw everything at the debts:T

Issuma

I think to put yours and hubbys basic wage on SAO is ok my advice (which others may not agree with) is use any extra that you may earn to build your emergency fund with, even small amounts help, I found having no credit whatsoever to fall back on was very scary but I feel so much better now knowing that I do have a small amount of money put on one side - I call it my 'Payday Loan' pot if I'm a bit short one month I 'borrow' from it but as soon as I get paid I pay it back.

One of the reasons I decided to self manage my DMP was so the decision to do this type of thing was mine when I spoke to CCCS who were very helpful I was 100% honest with them and told them that I'm in a share save scheme at work which I wanted to stay in for 2 reasons, if I came out of it I wouldn't get back what I'd paid in and it will enable me to have an amount of money each year that I can either split between my creditors and pay them all extra or offer a full & final settlement on one of my accounts but CCCS said that I would have to come out of the scheme which would free up the contribution that I make each month (which in my opinion wasn't enough to make that much difference) and pay this towards my debts which I can see the logic in but didn't feel comfortable doing.

Once I had a little bit of emergency money I immediately started to feel better, I didn't panic if the car made a funny noise or the washing machine sprang a leak but again this is the way I make it work for me other people do different things there are no rigid rights and wrongs but it is important to deal with realistic figures as you need to be able to manage once the DMP starts.

Bettingmad

monday_blues wrote: »

Is that likely Bettingmad? Scary, I dont know how I would face court/judges.... that's quite a scary prospect. But thanks for the other info x

It can happen and it would be wrong to tell you otherwise however if you maintain your DMP it's unlikely to happen although not impossible. One step at a time though don't worry yoursel with what may or may not happen. You will surprise yourself in how much confidence you will gain as you learn more. Knowlege is power as they say.

monday_blues

I have posted letters to creditors stating having difficulty but seeking advice. And advising them that I have made a token payment online too. Will keep them upto date.

In a strange way looking forward to finding out what cccs say tomorrow, Need to decide how to deal with this once and for all. However, cant physically manage on less money than we are now - so hope that their allowances will actually improve things for us (if that makes sense).

I've been given some wonderful advice and am listening to all of it. So feel free to keep it coming. I'll let you all know how tomorrow goes.

Bettingmad

monday_blues wrote: »

I have posted letters to creditors stating having difficulty but seeking advice. And advising them that I have made a token payment online too. Will keep them upto date.

In a strange way looking forward to finding out what cccs say tomorrow, Need to decide how to deal with this once and for all. However, cant physically manage on less money than we are now - so hope that their allowances will actually improve things for us (if that makes sense).

I've been given some wonderful advice and am listening to all of it. So feel free to keep it coming. I'll let you all know how tomorrow goes.

I don't know if they will actually provide you with the allowances, they ask you your figures, they will certainly tell you if your figures are too high. It would be worth you knowing what acceptable figures for things like groceries, fuel etc are before you speak to them.