Our DMP journey - the future starts here!

iwilldoitthistime

Hi

Ive finalised my figures for CCCS to do our DMP. Now I need to cancel my direct debits (which I can do online) for the CCs and our loan and send them the letter about the token payment.

Our wages go into Lloyds tomorrow, so I am planning to leave in enough to pay all our direct debits (mortgage, utilities etc) then take all extra money out, to move it to our new Co-op account, which I am waiting for the details of. I am planning to keep this as the start of our emergency fund, and to live on this month (for food etc).

A couple of questions for you experienced (in a good way, of course ) people -

what CCCS number do I quote on my token payments letter?

even if I cancel the DD for my loan payment (loan with Lloyds) could they still take the payment if there is still enough in my account? I can only take £250 a day out of the cashpoint, so it will take me a few days to take the surplus money out, and the payment is due on 1st?

can you think of anything Ive missed?

Totally panicing here - I know this is the right thing for us, but it doesnt help!

thanks

debtfreewannabe321

hi there and welcome

On my token payment letters i quoted my client reference number..the one you use to log on to the cccs with. I would go to the bank and clear it out over the counter your money. I did this twice and they never questioned it. Is your main account with llyods also as if so then yes i believe they can take the money for the loan as they call this off-setting.

Don't panic all will be fine. Just get the token payments off, cancel all payment orders (dd, s.o etc) and get your money out of that account! Then sit back and wait for all the letters and phone calls (and they are not as scary as they may seem.)

debtfreewannabe321

oops sorry just seen yes your loan & bank are the same. If i were you i'd go straight down there tomorrow with I.D and ask for your account to be cleared....I was with the santander when we started on our cccs dmp and we had a cc and a loan with them so were worried about them stealing our money for the month. So i went straight down and got my money out. Also we had an overdraft of £1250 which we had maxed out and the wages that went in only put us to £100 in credit! they still let me take out the whole £1350...but i did have to make a call in the morning to the bank and make sure they had the cash available hope this helps and good luck xx

iwilldoitthistime

thanks for the reply.

Yes, my loan and current account are with Lloyds - I also have a £2600 overdraft with them. We were at 2500 OD this morning, so I took out the extra £100. Ive worked out I need to leave £1370 in the account to cover the essentials, and I need to work out exactly how much we have going in tomorrow, then withdraw the difference.

Thanks for the tip about ringing the bank - I will do it first thing in the monring then try to withdraw everything I can, then when the co-op eventually send me my new account details, I can pay it all in.

Its really daunting thinking I wont have a CC just incase something happens. I realised last night that it means I cant have ANY credit for at least 6 years. This means I wont be able to get a new car I(mine is 6 years old now), but then in reality I would never have had any spare money to buy one even without the DMP!

Im hoping I wont get too many phone calls - I dont think Ive given anyone my home number, and at least I can screen the mobile calls. Doesnt stop them though!

debtfreewannabe321

Do you know i had such panic attacks when starting on my dmp as i decided to ditch all my cards. (have a debit card now...but had cash for first few months just to get me used to budgeting) and i never looked back i actually felt relief when i cut them up i'm sure you will do...and i have had awful luck with cars and all sorts going wrong over last year and bit but never needed credit. I just cut back on other areas and used emergency funds when possible. You can do it

Do you have a budget for you to stick to? I printed mine out the first month and started a daily spend diary and used envelopes to divide cash into different pots and after a couple of months of that i started trusting myself with the debit card again lol. Don't worry about not getting any credit for next 6 years. You'll be relieved once you start down this path. Savings is the way forward for me xx

iwilldoitthistime

the account Ive opened with co-op has a debit card, but I think its a great idea to work with cash only for now - thanks for that! I was definately thinking of the envelopes thing, just until I get organised. Then the plan is to put it into a seperate savings account (transfer it online) each month - once Im up and running, so I can see it mounting up, but not touch it.

Im trying to tweak the budget so I dont leave myself too short (using advice of others on this forum). Its really daunting, but I will hope as I go along to be able to shave bits off here and there (hopefully most from the food budget!) to help this along.

I also hope that at some point in the next 6 years we will get a pay rise, which will make things easier again I suppose! Heres hoping !

iwilldoitthistime

right - Ive cancelled all the direct debits for my CCs etc and Ive written all the token payment letters.

PANIC now....feeling very sick indeed....

iwilldoitthistime

just a thought - can anyone tell me if I have to send the token letters recorded delivery? thanks

beanielou

Might be best to send recorded.
Hope it all goes well.

iwilldoitthistime

well, I sent all my token payment letters off this morning. I got the forms to sign from the co-op for our new bank account, so Im sending those off in the morning, and I got the mail from CCCS with my debt pack so will post that tomorrow too.

Managed to get all the money out of my old account (leaving enough for the DDs) so all ready for this month. Think I will sort out the envelopes tonight to get organised.

I feel a bit more organised now, but am still a bit worried about the companies ringing me. Does anyone know if CCCS give them your telephone number? I hope not!

debtfreewannabe321

not that i know of (regarding phone numbers)...i only had a few companies call and pester me and tbh they were my regular banks (barclays the worst) and the others if they did ring i just told them i was with cccs and to be expecting token payment from me and letters from the cccs. They were all fine with this. I think they must hear it a lot! Don't worry if you do get one just ask that all communication from now on be via post. If they keep calling get a draft letter from on here asking they don't harrass you any further via phone and all communications be via post.

Well done on getting the money out! bet that was a huge relief