What Payments Do I Make

soutram

Hi all

I have finnaly admitted Im in debt & need to sort it out, Ive have written to all off the companies I owe money to, Ive had a couple of letters bank but not many.

Question is: My due date on some of the payments are comming around, I have sent letters telling the companies what I can afford but had no reply yet so what do I pay them - do I pay them what I have offered to pay them in my letters even though its not the amount they are asking for?

Thanks
Sarah

Bettingmad

soutram wrote: »

Hi all

I have finnaly admitted Im in debt & need to sort it out, Ive have written to all off the companies I owe money to, Ive had a couple of letters bank but not many.

Question is: My due date on some of the payments are comming around, I have sent letters telling the companies what I can afford but had no reply yet so what do I pay them - do I pay them what I have offered to pay them in my letters even though its not the amount they are asking for?

Thanks
Sarah

Okay first of are you doing a self managed DMP or have you gone through one of the free providers, Payplan, CCCS or CAP?
Have you got any debt's linked to you bank account? if so you need to move bank account's asap.
Is the amount you are paying them on a pro-rata basis on what you can afford or are you making only token payments at this stage? You only need pay them what you can afford, I wouldn't worry over not having heard from them, they can't have what you haven't got.

soutram

Hi

Yes im trying to do a self managed DMP, I have already swapped to a different bank and informed everyone i need to about the change of account (direct debits etc)

I wrote to all the companies I owe money using template letters letting them know how much I can pay each of them on a pro-rata basis & supplied them a financial statement but have not had any of them agree to what I have suggested yet.

Just need to know what to pay them at this stage?

Thanks
Sarah

give_them_FA

Do you own your own house, Sarah? If not, it is you who is in the driving seat, not them.

soutram

No I dont own a house, im renting, Im just worried that if I only pay the amount ive suggested they will charge me a defult fee & keep piling on the interest

Cheers
Sarah

Bettingmad

soutram wrote: »

No I dont own a house, im renting, Im just worried that if I only pay the amount ive suggested they will charge me a defult fee & keep piling on the interest

Cheers
Sarah

Unfortunately Sarah they may initially issue default fees and charge interest in the first couple of months. Try not to worry about that at this stage just concentrate on the fact you are addressing your debt problem in a positive way. The extra charges can be reclaimed later down the road. Once the DMP is in place the majority do freeze interest or reduce it significantly.

Whilst the DMP is being set up I would only pay them a token amount for a couple of months to enable you to put a small emergency fund behind you.

Did you seek any advice from any of the debt charities prior to embarking on your self managed DMP?

Well done on getting this far, the first step in acknowledging you have a problem and facing you debt is the hardest thing to do.
Ask as many questions as you want, the people around here are a friendly bunch with lots of good advice and experiences to share.

give_them_FA

Do you mind if I ask what sort of debt you have and an idea of the amounts involved? I'm afraid I'm one of the "hawks" who looks for ways in which you can unload the debts rather than kill yourself trying to pay them. Based upon the theory that as soon as you default full payment your credit file is shot anyway, so there's then little point in bothering to make token payments which won't recover the situation but will leave you (and dependents if you have any) facing hardship.

That's why I asked if you owned the house; unsecured debt is much easier to deal with.

soutram

Hi

Thanks for the replys, I didnt seek any help from the charities, ive been doing all my working out etc through my money steps & getting advice etc of the national debt line website.

I wanted to try and sort it myself but if I dont get anywhere ill go to pay plan of CCCS - dont know which is best.

My debts are around £15000 to various companies the smallest debt is £550 the largest £8000, ive been robbing peter to pay paul - paying credit cards then using them to pay off other debts so ive finally decided to get it sorted.

Cheers
Sarah

give_them_FA

That is a way of getting in deeper and deeper, using credit cards to escape debt is the worst thing you can do.

If I were in your position I would just stop paying them all. Otherwise you are going in ever-decreasing circles. All that will happen is that you will get a small forest's worth of stupid letters but provided you don't respond to any of them they generally just go away. It may not seem like it at first because they can seem very persistent. But they do.

The absolute worst thing you can do with debt collection agencies is to reply. They are actually pretty toothless if you ignore them, as they rely very heavily on bull and intimidation, but little else. Believe me I speak from experience. I was in far deeper than you, and I am now out the other side as they have all given up on me. Amounts paid = zero, court claims = zero.

red_scorpian

Hi soutram, I am also on a self admin dmp with the help of national debtline it's helpful to talk to them as they give you a number and you can quote this in your letters to your creditors it helps show them you are dealing with your debts,

I have found this forum a godsend and any questions are soon answered so keep those questions coming ,remember "knowledge is power".

Keep sending your token payment to your creditors as this will show you are dealing with your debts and not ignoring them ,some may stop interest some may not, either way you continue to send them the payment .

When I started out my balances went up I got a wee bit frightened:eek: things soon settled down I'm three years in and one of my creditors is still putting charges on me hopefully you won't
have that problem.

It is frightening starting out on your dmp journey, the things I would recommend is to send token payments ie:£1 or
whatever you're comfortable with for a couple of months to help you
get an emergency fund saved also to make your budget realistic and not leave yourself short ,your dmp journey will be hard enough to cope with without having the extra pressure of struggling from month to month.
When you do send your payments , send by recorded delivery keep your receipts,photocopy all your letters to your creditors and also keep any letters they send to you ,note down date times they have called you ( maybe I'm a bit paranoid:rotfl:)

Last and most important info I can give you is join the mutual support board it has some fantastic people on there with a wealth of knowledge who will be there for you 100% to give advice and listen to your moans and a bit of banter after all life's hard enough take care xxx

soutram

Hi

Thanks for all the advice, I think im just going to pay what I have told them I can afford, start as I mean to go on and holpefully they will see im serious about paying back the money I owe

Thanks
Sarah