DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Find_The_Real

Hello Inbetweener, not wishing to be nosey but without knowing a brief synopsis of the letter (ie court action, request for payment, usual meaningless threats etc) it is rather difficult to say what it means as creditors can send out a whole range of mostly illogical letters - I think most of us have all received at least one! If it's SCM or some other letter with a load of letters pertaining to be acting on behalf of Lloyds it is mostly likely from their debt collection department as Lloyds are rather well known for bigging themselves up when they are in reality pond life DCA departments still within the group.*

As you have informed SC hopefully everything should filter through to them, how long have you been on a DMP and is this a yearly review? Some require 6 month reviews so it may be worth seeing if this is the case.



*disclaimer I am not actually saying all DCA's are pond life, they are my BFF's and the only people to ring me on a regular basis, but some people may feel this is the case due to their underhand tactics.

Find_The_Real

jubilee14 wrote: »

I am about to go for an interview for new job which could be quite exciting but it would be less money ( on paper) but less travel so shouldnt be constantly funding my expenses until i get them back. Just a bit worried about explaining why i have reduced my income. But my current job security doesnt look well so would rather go to something more secure.

Be lovely to get a redundancy package and then walk into another job but cant wait around for that.

Hello Jubilee, I just wanted to wish you good luck with the job interview, I hope it goes well and you get the job

catandy

I just cleared the first of my debts :j only another 8 to go now!:rotfl:

Growurown

jenster78 wrote: »

If ok, I would love to join you all and support on your journeys. I am hoping this is the best decison we will ever make!

Welcome Jenster78. :hello: I think it is the best decision we ever took. Life is so much easier (although not without a few hiccups along the way) and hopefully we will be debt free in a couple of years and then things should start improving quite a lot! I might even get a holiday!

Bev45 wrote: »

Hi we are about to enter a DMP we have debts of £40,000, we haven't missed any payments, but we seem to robbing Peter to pay Paul!! Have had some really good advice of Step Change Debt Charity, we have to sign all forms etc and send the info back to them. It seems like a lifeline, but still very worried about entering a DMP!

Hi Bev45 :hello: Always a worry entering the unknown world that we like to call DMP land. It is a lifeline and things may be a little rocky at the beginning but in a few months everything will settle down and you will be thinking 'what was I worrying about?' I found it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and didn't get many nasty phone calls at all. Always plenty of people here to give advice and support, so stick around.

Time_to_face_the_music

inbetweener wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Has anyone had a solicitors letter arrive through the post?
I can see they are part of the lloyds group who i owe the debt to on a credit card.
Stepchange have said that it is probably because they have done a review and said they will send the info out to them to make them aware i am on a DMP.
Suppose i am looking for someone to put my mind at rest who has had experience of this!
Thanks in advance

Is it from SCM solicitors?

If so, just ignore it, it's really Lloyds TSB inhouse DCA using a solicitor company name to try and scare people into paying what they can't afford.

Lloyds TSB really are total ******** :mad:

Time_to_face_the_music

catandy wrote: »

I just cleared the first of my debts :j only another 8 to go now!:rotfl:

Brilliant news! Well done and here's to the next 8 :j

Time_to_face_the_music

jenster78 wrote: »

Hello everyone

I have been watching this thread for a while and before I decided to open my eyes to our debts. We have made the step this week after much deliberation, stress and denial. Originally we were 48k in debt with loansm credit cards, store cards, over drafts (the usual suspects) but we are also lucky enough :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: to have a NRAM together mortgage, so the unsecured part of that is now added and so we owe 70k - :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:. We are starting a DMP with Stepchange who I have been really happy with. I am feeling very scared and worried, but also quite numb and so thinking 'bring on' the battles. We dont have anything other than to get ourselves sorted and working to a debt free future for us and our kiddies. If ok, I would love to join you all and support on your journeys. I am hoping this is the best decison we will ever make!

Bev45 wrote: »

Hi we are about to enter a DMP we have debts of £40,000, we haven't missed any payments, but we seem to robbing Peter to pay Paul!! Have had some really good advice of Step Change Debt Charity, we have to sign all forms etc and send the info back to them. It seems like a lifeline, but still very worried about entering a DMP!

Hi and welcome to jenster78 and Bev45 :hello:

This thread and the experience, help, advice and support here was a real life saver to me when we first became DFWers.

Read back to the start, even the thread(s) before this if you have time, I found it invaluable and still refer back to saved posts now.

Any questions. just shout out, there is usually someone around who can help or point you in the right direction.

Bev45

Hi! Thanks for the welcome! So nervous about this! Was wondering if anyone knows how a dmp will affect our mortgage? We are currently only paying interest only, but when our circumstances change we will change to repayment. Will they put the interest rate right up? Is it better just to save the money seperately to pay some of the mortgage off? Also as we will have defaults, will this last on our credit history for six years from when the defaults were first made or 6 years from when the debt is completely cleared? Sorry for all the questions!

Larac

I am currently in my second year on a DMP of a seven year journey and just wondering that when you have an annual review there is an expectancy that you will automatically increase your payments.

Last year I had a small pay raise (appreciate I am lucky to get one) half got swallowed up by increases to the DMP debt and the rest went on the cost of living rises on utilities/food etc.

Again this year I have got a small pay rise but have lost child benefit allowance due to the new rules + son hopefully off to Uni, so my pay rise + reductions in company car tax make me about even.

Can anyone advise as my review comes up in September? This time I realise I need to be better prepared for the review and do it on time, as I had NRAM chasing me as I had missed the review by a month and for some reason they only agree a year at a time to take reduced payments

Just would like to say that I appreciate this thread as you realise that there are a lot of others in this boat and the advice given is so helpful.

bertman

Bev45 wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for the welcome! So nervous about this! Was wondering if anyone knows how a dmp will affect our mortgage? We are currently only paying interest only, but when our circumstances change we will change to repayment. Will they put the interest rate right up? Is it better just to save the money seperately to pay some of the mortgage off? Also as we will have defaults, will this last on our credit history for six years from when the defaults were first made or 6 years from when the debt is completely cleared? Sorry for all the questions!

Hi,

Welcome aboard. We were also on an interest only mortgage to help us out but when we set up the DMP we moved back to a repayment mortgage and this was put into the DMP. Look after the mortgage as this is a priority debt, whatever is left can go towards your other non essential debts. The defaults stay on for 6 years. Its usually best if they all default as early as possible. All our creditors have defaulted. I do have one CC that SC allowed me to keep for work expenses but this has to be paid off every month in full. It has a massive 39.9% if I don't!!!
You will get used to using cash all the time and after a while you do learn not to wish for credit. Its hard but you do adapt.

Best of luck...