DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Twit_Head wrote: »

Woohoo - and here I am!
Had a lovely Easter with the family (hope you all had a good one too) but I am a total saddo!
Was on the world wide webby thingy and got to wondering how me old muckers were doing.
Tooth Fairy me dear - you've worked miracles - keep your chin up chuck and keep going. (I've got the champagne on ice for you)
And greetings to you all old and new :wave:
One has an ISA now you know (respect due please!)
'Twitty' xxx

Oh Twitty, an ISA! too right, damn proud, very very proud!

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hi everyone :hello:

Have just realised I was one post away from 2000!

I wanted to use the 2000th post to say how much I love this thread and how grateful I am for all the help, advice, experience and support offered to me and everyone else who posts here.

We all have bad days, some of our members are having them today, I have had plenty lately, but we always get a bit of support here. Someone cheers you up a bit, makes you laugh, tells you they have gone through the same thing, offers a different take, is here for you.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who posts here and to anyone who reads and hasn't posted yet, please join us, you won't regret it.

TTFTM x

Congratulations Twinny :T

HHx

Suseka

ANewLeaf wrote: »

I had a huge panic earlier this week at the thought of starting our dmp however want to say a huge thanks to all contributors to these threads for putting my mind at ease. I have spent the past two days reading previous threads and now I can't wait to get started!

My and my OH have 70k of debt and our step change payment will be 1428 monthly giving us a dfd of 4 years which is pretty good I think. I do get bonuses every three months and hubby can do some overtime so I'm planning on saving for emergencies then some f&f offers further down the line. If we are debt free in four years then save the monthly dmp payment I have just worked out that I can be debt free, mortgage free....

Hi ANewLeaf - welcome, just wanted to say that your situation is so very close to mine. We are in the early stages of setting up a dmp and jointly we owe iro £72K and our SC payment will be around £1650 monthly, giving us a dfd of 4 years too. We are in this mess because my OHs earnings have significantly reduced over the last 18mths, so unlikely that we'll be able to save for any f&f's though.

But like you - although I've been in a bit of a panic over the last few days, I'm keen to get the dmp up and running so I know we are on the path to a debt free life.

Good luck.

Suseka

Hi everyone - just catching up on this thread.

It's great to read that some folks are having good days and am sending hugs out to those who are having a few bad ones.

I'm having a bit of a down day myself- am off work until next Monday, had this week booked off for ages, and am spending too much time thinking about this. I just can't seem to motivate myself to do something to take my mind off this - but will try.

Am still waiting on the paperwork from SC, and I've raised a few Qs with them via email and on their thread - hopefully I'll get a response soon.

Having a wobble because I've just taken a call from my bank -who I have two personal loans with. They want to carry out an account review, saying that they think they can save me money by combining my loans. Obviously I couldn't say anything about my plans to start a dmp and I had to stall saying that I would get back to him in the next week or so, because I'm on leave. I won't have sorted this in that time, so I'm going to have to ignore any follow-up calls, and I hope that doesn't trigger any alarm bells before I've time to switch my bank account. But that conversation has sent me on the downward spiral - what timing eh!

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Suseka wrote: »

Hi ANewLeaf - welcome, just wanted to say that your situation is so very close to mine. We are in the early stages of setting up a dmp and jointly we owe iro £72K and our SC payment will be around £1650 monthly, giving us a dfd of 4 years too. We are in this mess because my OHs earnings have significantly reduced over the last 18mths, so unlikely that we'll be able to save for any f&f's though.

But like you - although I've been in a bit of a panic over the last few days, I'm keen to get the dmp up and running so I know we are on the path to a debt free life.

Good luck.

Please try not to stress re F&Fs, often best to consider DMP as marathan rather than a sprint. Best thing is you will be debt free in 4 years or so!


HHx

Ox1987

When can a the F&F settlement be used... I have a possibilty (remote) that I could raise anywhere between 10k and 25k which on a debt of 37k would represent a fair chunk. would i throw it at the debt now and reduce DFD or can a negoiate a F&F later. I say its a remote chance defo can get 10k need to release further funds from a old business for more.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Suseka wrote: »

Hi everyone - just catching up on this thread.

It's great to read that some folks are having good days and am sending hugs out to those who are having a few bad ones.

I'm having a bit of a down day myself- am off work until next Monday, had this week booked off for ages, and am spending too much time thinking about this. I just can't seem to motivate myself to do something to take my mind off this - but will try.

Am still waiting on the paperwork from SC, and I've raised a few Qs with them via email and on their thread - hopefully I'll get a response soon.

Having a wobble because I've just taken a call from my bank -who I have two personal loans with. They want to carry out an account review, saying that they think they can save me money by combining my loans. Obviously I couldn't say anything about my plans to start a dmp and I had to stall saying that I would get back to him in the next week or so, because I'm on leave. I won't have sorted this in that time, so I'm going to have to ignore any follow-up calls, and I hope that doesn't trigger any alarm bells before I've time to switch my bank account. But that conversation has sent me on the downward spiral - what timing eh!

Hiya

You are not alone and this is commonplace at the start. It will get better, much much better. I found it helpful to 'invest' the nervous energy. Did loads of cleaning and sorting at home. Also did some planning spreadsheets, looked at what I could do with the money after the DMP. Planned out what expenses I knew I would have to cope with during the DMP. I sorted out who I could and couldn't afford to spend time and presents with and for. I also did lots of food shopping/menu plans as this is one of the areas of the budget you can either get better quality or save monies

HHx

LocalAngel

Hello,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience of dealing with Nationwide. I'm in the process of setting up a DMP. I have a current account, an overdraft of about £1600 and a personal loan which is in arrears, all with Nationwide. They have stopped some payments including my mortgage and this term's tuition fees. I haven't told them about the DMP yet although I did tell them I am talking to Step Change. A week or so ago I paid in an extra £1000 to my current account which a friend lent me and I was hoping that would at least get my tuition fees paid because if I don't pay by the 12th I will have to pay £150 extra before they will reinstate me as a student. I'm really worried that I'm going to massively add to my debts this month if Nationwide won't make any payments at all. If I tell them about the DMP and they know they'll get their money eventually, will it make the situation better or worse? I've applied for a new account with the Coop which will hopefully be ready for my salary at the end of this month. Then my mortgage, bills and payments towards my debts will be covered as well as future tuition fees but there won't be any money for this term's fees.

Suseka

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Hiya

You are not alone and this is commonplace at the start. It will get better, much much better. I found it helpful to 'invest' the nervous energy. Did loads of cleaning and sorting at home. Also did some planning spreadsheets, looked at what I could do with the money after the DMP. Planned out what expenses I knew I would have to cope with during the DMP. I sorted out who I could and couldn't afford to spend time and presents with and for. I also did lots of food shopping/menu plans as this is one of the areas of the budget you can either get better quality or save monies

HHx

Thanks HH. Got my paperwork today and there are a few errors that will need sorting. My OH overestimated his income, he is about to lose more of his allowances than he expected and we'll be a further £200 worse off than we said. Also, his petrol costs have been missed off and a few other (albeit minor) expenses. So on a £79k debt (thought it was £72k - eek, though that's bad enough) we were set to pay £1759 - with the adjustments will probably only be able to pay £1352. In which case it'll be just shy of 5 years (and that's only if the creditors freeze interest).

Been trying to get hold of SC all day and just can't get through, so not going to be able to move this on again for a few days... which doesn't help my mood.

I think I'm going to take your advice and 'invest' my stress in some spring cleaning tomorrow (my last days leave).

I must also look at setting up some spreadsheets now I have all the figures to hand. I am a bit of an excel geek as well

On the positive side - I'm quite good with crafts, particularly jewellery making, so looks like that's what I'll be giving to my femaie relations as gifts from now on - the fellas will have to settle for my good wishes

gizmo111

LocalAngel wrote: »

Hello,

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience of dealing with Nationwide. I'm in the process of setting up a DMP. I have a current account, an overdraft of about £1600 and a personal loan which is in arrears, all with Nationwide. They have stopped some payments including my mortgage and this term's tuition fees. I haven't told them about the DMP yet although I did tell them I am talking to Step Change. A week or so ago I paid in an extra £1000 to my current account which a friend lent me and I was hoping that would at least get my tuition fees paid because if I don't pay by the 12th I will have to pay £150 extra before they will reinstate me as a student. I'm really worried that I'm going to massively add to my debts this month if Nationwide won't make any payments at all. If I tell them about the DMP and they know they'll get their money eventually, will it make the situation better or worse? I've applied for a new account with the Coop which will hopefully be ready for my salary at the end of this month. Then my mortgage, bills and payments towards my debts will be covered as well as future tuition fees but there won't be any money for this term's fees.

Take out the £1000 you have paid in if you can for your fees - or any balance that there is and pay the fees manually.
If you tell them about the DMP at this stage they will likely take all your money/offset and reduce your OD limit to nil.