Breaking Point....again!!

sarah1111

I know they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...but come on, this is getting me so down.

my history (catalogue of disasters):

1) LBM 11 March 2011:idea:
2) Spoke to CAB gave SOA decided to go for a DAS (Debt arrangement Scheme).
3) Couldn't get another appointment with my Money Advisor (MA) till the May as they were really busy
4) By the time my statements all came back from creditors and applied for an intimation the DAS system shut down as they were overhauling it
5) applied for DAS 10/7/11 took eight weeks for a rejection to come back as they were short staffed (all the while interest and charges are applied, and intimation runs out :mad:)
6) DAS gets approved eventually end of September
7) Early November one creditor requests a revocation due to a mix up by my payments distributor (it was two days late)
8) stress of this all over Christmas, waiting to here if my revocation would be rejected on grounds it wasn't my fault
9) Finally revocation gets rejected woohoo......not
10) One of my debts was jointly owned so creditor when after my partner. He had to get a loan to pay it even though it was me that ran up the debt....once again I feel awful!!
11) Wanted to discuss this with my MA but they no longer work there and their replacement appears to be a waste of a good skin when I asked to see her she told me she wasn't taking appointment till she found her feet and due to her backlog and part-time status I would be looking at nearly May before she would be able to see me HAHAHAHA!!! She actually told me I'd probably work it out quicker by myself!!!!
12) Variation gone through, though two creditors not happy, even though I never paid it off and they are now getting more money each month and paid back quicker, as a family we are even worse off a month
13) Have the stress of letters streaming through the door again as my creditors think I am in a better financial place and they want to review my account.....how WRONG!!


Nutshell I am so stressed really not sure how much more of this I can take. I am not even sure they can review my account, I thought it was just the AiB that could do that.

I am in a bad place again, short tempered, easily upset, not sleeping and now my hair has actually started coming out in clumps.

Can believe this is happening, its a year on and I feel as bad now as I did then. Has anyone else had these problems or is it just my bad luck??

Any advice welcomed with open arms!!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Awwww hun - not surprised you're stressed!

I've seen a few people post who have DAS in place and most seem really happy with them & certainly not having as much hassle as you are.

Having to wait until May to speak to your MA just isn't acceptable IMHO - is there anyone higher up you could speak to / could you get CAB to contact them on your behalf?

Worried_Girl

Hi Sarah

I'm so sorry you have had such a stressful time. I can tell you of my experience and hopefully it will give you some hope for the future as so far everything is going smoothly.

My husband and I earn decent salaries however between us we had ran up £59K for various reasons. We started struggling to meet the minimum payments and were paying around £1800 per month!

I had my lightbulb moment in August 2011 and contacted local money advisor and was very lucky to get an appointment within the week. We discussed various options and decided to apply for a DAS which was set up within 6 weeks. Only 2 creditors replied therefore it was granted due to deemed acceptance. Our payment distributor is Carrington Dean and we pay £1554 per month which sounds alot but we have around £1000 per month left over for food, petrol, mortgage and other bills. We are finally managing to budget and live within our means.

Originally we had lots of calls and letters however I gave them money advisors details and they quickly stopped.

However, RBS continued to call saying they hadn't received any payments. It turned out I had 'forgotten' about this debt (£700) and it hadn't been included in the DAS! As you can imagine I was very stressed. However variation was granted and we have had no problems since. Creditors send statements every month. Barclaycard have frozen interest as have a few others but RBS and Lloyds still continue to add charges. I'm not worried because I know once DAS is completed this will be wiped and they can't chase us for it.

Our DAS is for 3 years and I can't believe how much we have actually paid to our overall debt. I wish I had found out about this alot sooner but my head was buried in the sand.

Things do get easier and my husband and I get on so much better without all the stress hanging over us. I feel like a huge cloud has lifted, and I know we are paying a huge amount each month but we were paying more than that for a long time every month and getting further and further into debt due to interes.

We are 29 and 31 and desperate to start a family. As soo as DAS is completed we can start to live our lives again.

Good luck and if you need to ask any other questions I'd be glad to help.

Worried_Girl

Also Sarah, your creditors are not allowed to contact you and harass you like this and they cannot review your payments. Send them the please send everything in writing letter and advise them of your payment distributor. If you still have problems contact the AIB.

sarah1111

Thank you,

I am trying not to let this get to me, its just a bit constant at the moment, I just want to be able to pay back my debts without the constant stress of it all.

Miss_Poohs

Yikes Sarah - my husbands route through DAS was a plain sail compared to yours, you poor wee soul.

Husbands DAS was set up through the welfare rights section of our local authority and I have to say the advisor was great - if rather over worked.

He's had a varation applied in the past - but the hassle calls and mail stopped virtually straight away.

Personally I think alot of companies don't understand the terms and conditions surrounding DAS.

Try not to worry too much - so long as you meet your payments you're protected from any creditors taking action.

Hope it all settles for you very soon.