DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

gamblebee

Beware of nationwide. They will accept the repayment plan temporarily but will become aggressive in the next few months. They will send you a claim form for CCJ and would apply for a charging order if you have a property.

AnnM48

Hi Everyone,
Its been a while since I posted, (to be honest I am rubbish at passwords and keep having to reset everytime I log in!)
Anyway I have been reading the thread EVERY day and getting some great advice. It's been a strange month. We made our first DMP payment which was a bit of a relief to finally get there! Its been really busy though trying to get all my DD's changed to the new bank account and not without its own troubles! Finally decided on Nationwide, which has been great so far, but when I was transferring all my money out of my old Halifax account I transferred it to a bill payment I had set up to our Nationwide mortgage!! Flip that took a whole morning of phone calls to try and sort out, as it wasn't as easy as just transferring it back.
Have been trying really hard to stick to our budget over the past few weeks, but it has been challenging with the kids off school for summer hols!
We head off in our caravan (which we decided to keep) at start of August, and this time instead of putting the site fees on a credit card I did a stack of overtime in work to cover it! Its only £250 for 10nights away, but it would have just been put on my credit card in the past and never paid off. So I'm really trying to change my mindset, if I need something paid for then I make sure I've got the cash BEFORE I go and get it. I really should have learnt this lesson years ago.
I'm also just looking for a bit of direction on a few things if anyone can help-
Barclaycard and MBNA have been great with the DMP, frozen interest straight away. Tesco have accepted payments but haven't yet frozen interest. Halifax is a £2600 O/D and I have heard nothing from them, but I know they are still charging interest and fees as I work for them and have been checking my account. I really don't know if I should phone them, or what even to say?
I've been reading a lot of posts saying that its best if they default you, but I don't really know what this means in terms of helping with your debt? can anyone offer some advice on this please?
(and again thanks to everyone who posts on this regularly as its been a lifeline to me over past few months!!)

Growurown

AnnM48 wrote: »

Barclaycard and MBNA have been great with the DMP, frozen interest straight away. Tesco have accepted payments but haven't yet frozen interest. Halifax is a £2600 O/D and I have heard nothing from them, but I know they are still charging interest and fees as I work for them and have been checking my account. I really don't know if I should phone them, or what even to say?

Tesco froze interest on my CC with them. I also had a Halifax overdraft similar in size to yours and they still are charging me a pound a day to keep it going. I also had another bank account with the Halifax which was £800 and they stopped charging on that altogether. They said it was something to do with the amount owed which meant the accounts were treated differently. You can phone them and ask the question if you feel up to it. Some people find calling creditors difficult and would rather not, in which case write to them to find out your position.

AnnM48 wrote: »

I've been reading a lot of posts saying that its best if they default you, but I don't really know what this means in terms of helping with your debt? can anyone offer some advice on this please?

It doesn't help you with the debt but a default stays on your file for six years so the sooner they default you the sooner it comes off your records. Whilst you are on the DMP your credit rating is rubbish, so if you are on a DMP for five years and then your creditor defaults you that adds another 6 years on top of the 5 before things start improving.

Growurown

I know most of us haven't many good words to say about banks but I have to say that First Direct have really helped me out this week.

Due to several things all happening at once (including my employer changing payday:eek:) I have found myself in a bit of a pickle this week. Anyway it looked like I was going to go into an unarranged overdraft which I really didn't want, so I called them to see what they could do. They know I am on a DMP and I did get the talk, no credit whilst on a DMP......but in this case because of the circumstances which were beyond my control they are making an exception and giving me a little leeway until pay day. It's a great load off my mind I can tell you because I wouldn't have known where to go next if they had said no. Pay Day lender maybe?:eek::eek::eek:

ladyelegance77

I actually got a very nice letter today from Barclays bank telling me they'd accepted my DMP arrangement from StepChange and they would review the situation in 12 months time. They are my old bank that all the payday loans had info on, so I got an account with another bank obviously. I also have a loan with Barclays from last year and I'm just glad they took the time to send me a letter informing me they'd accepted my DMP even though I know they really had to anyway I guess? Was nice to be acknowledged for making some effort to make payments towards my debt.

Growurown

ladyelegance77 wrote: »

I actually got a very nice letter today from Barclays bank telling me they'd accepted my DMP arrangement

What's going on - banks being nice for a change? Well I never!

Further to my previous post about being in a pickle I decided get myself more sorted. My annual review is due soon so I have been going through the figures. I have been struggling a bit with the food budget as OH has decided he doesn't like Aldi and is sneaking off back to Waitrose. Any ideas on what an acceptable food budget is for 2 adults?

Plus I decided to sort out my order for my heating oil before the prices rise in Autumn when the demand goes up. I've had to increase my payment to £150 a month for the next 3 months to clear the debt from last year. The last couple of cold winters have meant that we've ordered more oil than we had actually budgeted for so ended up getting behind in the payments. If we get an ordinary winter (maybe 1 or 2 days of snow and not weeks) perhaps next year I can get ahead.

dmb_2

My food budget for 2 adults is £322. I personally don't think you should have to live on budget food all the time especially if food is important in your life.

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

Further to my previous post about being in a pickle I decided get myself more sorted. My annual review is due soon so I have been going through the figures. I have been struggling a bit with the food budget as OH has decided he doesn't like Aldi and is sneaking off back to Waitrose. Any ideas on what an acceptable food budget is for 2 adults?

StepChange allow between £200 to £341 per month for food, toiletries and cleaning products for 2 adults.

Growurown

dmb wrote: »

My food budget for 2 adults is £322. I personally don't think you should have to live on budget food all the time especially if food is important in your life.

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

StepChange allow between £200 to £341 per month for food, toiletries and cleaning products for 2 adults.

Thanks both. My food budget hasn't changed since we started the DMP 2 years ago so I think it is due to go up a bit. Food is one the great pleasures of life, well of our lives anyway, and we don't drink or smoke, haven't had a holiday for ooh 6 years now. Got to have something to enjoy:D

gaztop26

6 days to go!!!!