DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

catandy

quick update from me and I've got to say biting the bullet and going the DMP route was the best thing I did - its taken time to settle down into steady hours at work and hence income, plus getting used to a budget again and there have been hiccups along the way - but I'm getting there. I'm managing without credit which is a liberating feeling, the amounts are slowly edging down and more to the point the stress of it all is not consuming my every waking hour any more. Me and my kids have started to live a little bit (all done very cheaply) and I now know that I will pay this all off - yep it will take some time but I will do it. Thankyou for all the support and advise from this thread!

Hunnies

Hi Everyone,
Just logging on for my weekly catch up (whilst at work!) to see how everyone is getting on and to give you an update as lot has happened in the last 48 hours.

On Tuesday I decided to contact NRAM to ask for a one month mortgage holiday to try and get us some money together for an emergency fund and hubby's tax bill that's due next month. They said no as my unsecured loan with them is on my DMP and as it's at 0% interest I lose all chance of payment holidays. I mentioned that I had a maternity payment holiday when on maternity leave and would this be possible should I decide to have another baby and they said absolutely not. Well this floored me and I experienced my first ever panic attack which was horrendous. Hubby came home from work to find me in a complete state and I told him that I couldn't handle the stress any more and we had to talk to my parents and tell them everything in the hope that they could help us with some advise and basically just have someone to talk to. I've been putting off doing this for years as I was so worried about their disappointment but enough was enough and I couldn't handle the stress any more so we went to see them (I've never walked to my parents so slowly in my life!). They were so kind and promised to help where possible and helped us draw up an action plan. The first step takes place tomorrow when my parents are meeting with their financial advisor to discuss everything and get his thoughts on it. I've given my dad every single detail about all debts, payment amounts etc and he's also asked for details about our house e.g mortgage balance etc. He seems to think that we'll be told to go bankrupt which I am prepared to do as the DMP is just not working for us now. We are only paying £65 p.m on a £36,000 debt which as you can imagine will take about 50 years to pay off. We have been managing since last August but a further Tax Credit cut has left us paying the miniumum amount of £5 per creditor with no room to lower this further. We are scraping by each month and there is no money spare for an emergency fund/saving's/treats/clothes etc. I live in constant fear of something going wrong and not being able to pay for it and that being a house of cards and everything falling down around us. I don't feel that we're giving our 2 year old daughter what she deserves and the pressure has made me withdraw and feel the onset of depression which I am not used to as I am usually a very strong person. So, next step is my parents going to their advisor tomorrow (I can't get out of work to go with them unfortunately) and we'll see where it goes from there. My parents agreed to help on the basis that we told my in-laws which hubby did yesterday and they too were very understanding, we just feel so ashamed to confess the news to them.

I do have some questions that you guys might be able to help with though:
* If we go bankrupt will we HAVE to sell the house? There is £10k equity after the secured loan has been deducted too.
* If just I went BR would that included all bills on joint names or would they then fall to my husband?
* Husband is self-employed and has a business partner - would there be any effect on their business (THIS REALLY CAN'T HAPPEN)
* Our DMP is for £36,000, we have a secured loan balance of £12,000.

I'd be so grateful if anyone could give me some help.

2spicy

Well done for speaking to your parents and I hope you get a resolution to this.

Suseka

Thanks for the well wishes folks, much appreciated. Had to call the Doc out yesterday, simply had enough...but just as well because it seems I misdiagnosed myself. What I have is viral gastroentiritus :eek: and was told to stay off work until Monday. Seems I'm still contagious

Letter from SC arrived today with password for my DMP online account - logged on pretty much straight away (hence the update in my sig.) Just waiting for that first payment to show and we're off..

The first letter we've received about the DMP from a creditor, was from MBNA -who (as you know) I've complained about due to incessant calling and demands for payment -well they've accepted the offer and frozen interest - woop :j One down and 13 more to go!

OH has two confirmed defaults so far, and I guess more on the way for both of us (or so I hope). No longer bothered how that shows up on my / our credit files. Strange how ones view of that changes... I was always 'proud' (I know.. mad) of having a high credit score. But of course that was fine when we were managing debt -and rightly or wrongly had done well on that score for some three decades or more.

But this is a new chapter and I want to relearn the values that my parents and grandparents lived by... to live within my means.

snowbean

Hello, thanks to everyone who replied when I first posted here a month or so ago. I haven't had a chance to post since, as have been bogged down with various things all happening at once

We have done the debt remedy thing on stepchange, which suggested either iva or dmp. We've decided after much discussion to go the dmp route, but haven't yet got it set up though, as we're having to wait to confirm what my wage will be and what date I will first get a full wage (was on mat leave and returning on reduced hours). In the mean time, I wonder if anyone could please point me in the direction of a template letter which we can send to our creditors along with a token £1 payment? Don't know if I just can't see the trees for the woods, but I can't seem to find one?

thanks

supersavershal

Hi everyone, thought Id check in.
What a tight month this has been, had car repairs so asked SC could I delay payment for a week they agreed, I was so relieved.
Iv had so much to pay out this month, two car taxes, insurance and the repairs. Im only 3 months in to my DMP and my small emergency fund was wiped out with house repairs due to damage in windy weather.
This time next year if I can stick to budget I will have the money saved to pay these things easily.
Its been really tight but we are getting there and there is so much satisfaction knowing that our debt is going down and wev managed these big bills by paying cash. Last year they would have all gone on the plastic and I would be more and more in debt, always promising to sort it out next month.
I am learning to plan ahead to, next job is to sort uniforms out for school, then in September it will be Christmas to save for.
Life is hard on a DMP but I feel so much happier and relaxed and I actually don't mind the post anymore as our balances are all coming down for the first time in about 15 years!
I still live, still enjoy treats but have to plan them now.
Next thing to do is to shed a few pounds myself and then I will fit into the enormous amount of clothing I have, will not have to buy much clothing for a while then.

Growurown

snowbean wrote: »

I wonder if anyone could please point me in the direction of a template letter which we can send to our creditors along with a token £1 payment? Don't know if I just can't see the trees for the woods, but I can't seem to find one?

thanks

Hi snowbean - lots of sample letters including one on token payments on national debtline website.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6

Growurown

Hunnies wrote: »

I'd be so grateful if anyone could give me some help.

Hi Hunnies, sounds like you have been going through the mill lately. I don't know much about bankruptcy but the following link may help.

https://www.gov.uk/bankruptcy/overview

I have had a bad experience in the past with a financial adviser in that the one I used seemed to do what earned him the most commission and not what was in my best interests, so please do be careful.

Hunnies

Growurown wrote: »

Hi Hunnies, sounds like you have been going through the mill lately. I don't know much about bankruptcy but the following link may help.

https://www.gov.uk/bankruptcy/overview

I have had a bad experience in the past with a financial adviser in that the one I used seemed to do what earned him the most commission and not what was in my best interests, so please do be careful.

Thank you GUO. I think this financial advisor can be trusted, he's been the advisor to my parents for years and handles all their investments so I've got to trust that he knows what he's doing. He told my parents that he's dealing with this situation all the time now. The meeting is this afternoon, I'm anxious to hear what he suggests but I have a feeling it will be BR and in a way we have resigned ourselves to that now and just want life to start improving.

Thanks for the link, now going to have a read.
x

Find_The_Real

Hello Hunnies

Sorry to hear about your problems with the DMP. I have to agree with GUO that it may be best to take independent advice from one the debt charities and to also check out the bankruptcy board before you make a decision. It may also be worth getting some free independent advice from an Insolvency Practitioner as well as you have mentioned you do have the additional secured loan on the house which makes it a little bit more complicated than if you didn't unless you are arranging to have the secured loan paid off before you decide what to do, plus the fact your husband is self employed.

Although I am sure you have every faith in your parents FA, they may not know the full implications that bankruptcy may have.

What may be an option is a Full and Final IVA if any of your sets of parents are willing to offer an amount in a lump sum which although still a formal course of insolvency has slight less implications than bankruptcy.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.