DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Hopelessly_Hopeful

anxious2 wrote: »

Hey all, just dropping in with a progress update. I want to say it's good to see so many other newbies here, but 'good' doesn't seem like the right word... I think what I mean is I'm so pleased there are lots of us sorting ourselves out for the future

Nothing has really happened yet, although I think we've done almost everything now, bar sending the first payment. All signed up with SC, letters gone to creditors, token payments made. I have to say, I nearly threw up when OH text me to say all the letters had been sent I know that this is absolutely the right thing to do though, the temptation to just forget it and carry on as we were was HUGE, but I'm proud that we stuck to our guns and got on with it. I keep checking to see which letters have been delivered though, and imagining them being read - I have to stop this, and remember I am just a number on their files (and sadly one of many)!

Had a bit of a panic on Thursday, OH thought all the credit card bills had been paid this month, so went ahead and deleted the direct debits, only for him to check my online banking the next day and see that Barclaycard had tried to take a payment, and it had been returned! All my wages etc are now going into my new account, so my old one was empty. I panicked, and paid the £69 bill for this month - I couldn't bear to think of missing a payment before I'd informed them of our plans. Ridiculous, I know. So we've now been charged £8 by my bank for the returned DD, £12 by Barclaycard for the returned DD, and paid the £69 - almost £100 down, when our credit rating will be decimated regardless! :mad: So mad at myself, but it's done now.

So that's about it I think, first SC payment to go out on 1st April. Amazing to think this has all been sorted without me having to speak to a single person, they make it so easy! We're busy saving every penny between now and then. We also already had a mortgage payment holiday arranged for this month, and before my LBM, this was one of our strategies for getting through another couple of months. Now it'll just be another chunk to add to our savings. I'm SO glad we decided to wait a month to start the DMP - I'm hardly in any position to help anyone else yet, but that's one bit of advice I'd give to those also starting out - take your time, build up some spare cash. It's amazing how much more relaxed I feel knowing it's there if anything should happen.

Now, we sit back and wait for the fallout....

Morning Anxious

We soon realise the loyalty counts for nothing dont we?!:mad:

Sounds like you are doing great guns.:money:

Good new re the emerency fund. :j

You so are in the right position to offer advice. Everyone has something to offer.

To counter the sit back and wait for the fallout may I suggest you sit up and look forward to updating your spreadsheet. :T

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Growurown wrote: »

Hello all, lots of activity from all the newbies and I see HH and TTFTM are doing a great job answering all the queries.

I have never checked that what SC pay my creditors is correct on my statements, so I have been checking on a grand scale. Now I have a spreadsheet headache but it has revealed some things I didn't know. OH and I both had a Virgin CC which were sold onto Aktiv Kapital but for less than we owed so that shaved some money off the debt.

I haven't received any sort of statement from Capital One for a year and a half now and they won't let me look at my statements online either. They assure me that interest and charges won't be added to my account so I don't need a statement! It would be nice to have something in writing though.

Halifax CC statements don't match the amounts SC are paying so don't know what is going on there but it belongs to OH who won't call them. The statement says we are paying more than the SC payment so at least it is in our favour.

I haven't received any statements from the Halifax regarding the two bank overdrafts either. I had three letters from them last year giving the outstanding amounts and I have been able to work out from that the smaller account has no charges but the larger account does.

My NatWest loan doesn't make sense either so I will have to call them tomorrow too.

Feel much better now that I am on top of it all, and now I have done the work it will be much easier to keep up with. Wish I had done it at the start of my DMP!

Them spreadsheets have a lot to answer for dont they! Totally love doing mine. I am not very technical, I really just use it as a way of displaying the information rather than applying lots of formulae but find it sooo therapeutic. My skills have developed a little but I just really enjoy the manual nature of the positive affirmations to then see the debt reduce. It really helps to see perspective and I work and adjust every cell to reflect based on todays information what I owe at each point until the end of the DMP. Love to see this time next month x, by my birthday x, by new year x. Most months being something to celebrate, x paid in, x paid off, interest gone to x, this card dropped unto a lower thousand, 10% paid off etc. Hugely motivating.

You are entitled to a yearly statement. Personally I'd insist on it to make sure no sneaky charges.

Have a good day

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

anxious2 wrote: »

Hey all, just dropping in with a progress update. I want to say it's good to see so many other newbies here, but 'good' doesn't seem like the right word... I think what I mean is I'm so pleased there are lots of us sorting ourselves out for the future

Nothing has really happened yet, although I think we've done almost everything now, bar sending the first payment. All signed up with SC, letters gone to creditors, token payments made. I have to say, I nearly threw up when OH text me to say all the letters had been sent I know that this is absolutely the right thing to do though, the temptation to just forget it and carry on as we were was HUGE, but I'm proud that we stuck to our guns and got on with it. I keep checking to see which letters have been delivered though, and imagining them being read - I have to stop this, and remember I am just a number on their files (and sadly one of many)!

Had a bit of a panic on Thursday, OH thought all the credit card bills had been paid this month, so went ahead and deleted the direct debits, only for him to check my online banking the next day and see that Barclaycard had tried to take a payment, and it had been returned! All my wages etc are now going into my new account, so my old one was empty. I panicked, and paid the £69 bill for this month - I couldn't bear to think of missing a payment before I'd informed them of our plans. Ridiculous, I know. So we've now been charged £8 by my bank for the returned DD, £12 by Barclaycard for the returned DD, and paid the £69 - almost £100 down, when our credit rating will be decimated regardless! :mad: So mad at myself, but it's done now.

So that's about it I think, first SC payment to go out on 1st April. Amazing to think this has all been sorted without me having to speak to a single person, they make it so easy! We're busy saving every penny between now and then. We also already had a mortgage payment holiday arranged for this month, and before my LBM, this was one of our strategies for getting through another couple of months. Now it'll just be another chunk to add to our savings. I'm SO glad we decided to wait a month to start the DMP - I'm hardly in any position to help anyone else yet, but that's one bit of advice I'd give to those also starting out - take your time, build up some spare cash. It's amazing how much more relaxed I feel knowing it's there if anything should happen.

Now, we sit back and wait for the fallout....

Oh I am so sorry about the Barclaycard fiasco but it sounds very similar to something I did when we were first starting out. Our first month's interest and charges took us over a NatWest OD limit, NatWest started charging us £6 a day plus interest. Bceause of the 25 day delay in CCCS (now StepChange) payments, this meant the first month's DMP payment would have still left us over the limit and in the same position the next month. I paid enough into the NatWest account to bring it within the limit and we ate beans on toast for a week. It took us and the FOS 10 months to get that account defaulted and the interest refunded and I still want to slap myself every time I think about it

No more loyalty to any bank ever :mad:

Setting up your emergency fund is a great strategy, we never did it, we started straight off and then immediately had a car disaster which we had to find the money for.

Delaying your start up also gives you a chance to practice your budget and stock up your store cupboard and freezer :T

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

Hello all, lots of activity from all the newbies and I see HH and TTFTM are doing a great job answering all the queries.

I have never checked that what SC pay my creditors is correct on my statements, so I have been checking on a grand scale. Now I have a spreadsheet headache but it has revealed some things I didn't know. OH and I both had a Virgin CC which were sold onto Aktiv Kapital but for less than we owed so that shaved some money off the debt.

I haven't received any sort of statement from Capital One for a year and a half now and they won't let me look at my statements online either. They assure me that interest and charges won't be added to my account so I don't need a statement! It would be nice to have something in writing though.

Halifax CC statements don't match the amounts SC are paying so don't know what is going on there but it belongs to OH who won't call them. The statement says we are paying more than the SC payment so at least it is in our favour.

I haven't received any statements from the Halifax regarding the two bank overdrafts either. I had three letters from them last year giving the outstanding amounts and I have been able to work out from that the smaller account has no charges but the larger account does.

My NatWest loan doesn't make sense either so I will have to call them tomorrow too.

Feel much better now that I am on top of it all, and now I have done the work it will be much easier to keep up with. Wish I had done it at the start of my DMP!

Wow GUO, you have been busy! :T

Are your 2 Halifax ODs in the same name? Or do you have a Halifax CC in the same name with interest stopped? If so, the FOS will fight that for you. We couldn't get the interest stopped on OH's NatWest OD but when we told the FOS that NatWest had stopped the interest on his CC, they said they should be treating all accounts in the same way and we won the case.

I am a spreadsheet addict, I was bad anyway then my twin HH encouraged me and now I am worse

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning All

Just had to share my news..... haven't won the lottery BUT.........

Bought a bargain pack of dishclothes 15 for 99p. As if that wasn't excitement enough I use a new one each month..... which means I will have reached my DFD before I have to buy anymore.:)

I was optimistically hopeful when in the early days of DMP I had to buy a pack of hoover bags and was relieved that they would last me the four year duration of the DMP and hence changing a hoover bag has become a landmark in my journey to DFD too :rotfl:

Who was it that bought the loo roll stash and how are you getting on with them?

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Wow GUO, you have been busy! :T

Are your 2 Halifax ODs in the same name? Or do you have a Halifax CC in the same name with interest stopped? If so, the FOS will fight that for you. We couldn't get the interest stopped on OH's NatWest OD but when we told the FOS that NatWest had stopped the interest on his CC, they said they should be treating all accounts in the same way and we won the case.

I am a spreadsheet addict, I was bad anyway then my twin HH encouraged me and now I am worse

Just a word of caution. I had interest stopped on one M&S and charged £30 a month on another. I took the £30 one to FOS and guess what... they reinstated £95 on the other one!!!!!!! I think the element that tipped the scales was that I had reached min payment so I guess it can depend on what part of the DMP you are in. For anyone early on or below the min payment I'd say go for it but exercise caution or be aware of the risk if you are at or over min payment.

I love my spreadsheets and my friends here who help me enjoy them more

Hope that helps

HHx

Allypops

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Morning All

Just had to share my news..... haven't won the lottery BUT.........

Bought a bargain pack of dishclothes 15 for 99p. As if that wasn't excitement enough I use a new one each month..... which means I will have reached my DFD before I have to buy anymore.:)

I was optimistically hopeful when in the early days of DMP I had to buy a pack of hoover bags and was relieved that they would last me the four year duration of the DMP and hence changing a hoover bag has become a landmark in my journey to DFD too :rotfl:

Who was it that bought the loo roll stash and how are you getting on with them?

HHx

Thanks for this post HH. I needed a giggle :rotfl:

Ally

cocoloco

:wave:Hi everybody and thank you for sharring all the experience and advice!

I have my face-to-face appointment with Payplan today at 2:00pm and feeling rather sick to my stomack - I hope everything will be OK.

I can't go on like this much longer.:(

Allypops

cocoloco wrote: »

:wave:Hi everybody and thank you for sharring all the experience and advice!

I have my face-to-face appointment with Payplan today at 2:00pm and feeling rather sick to my stomack - I hope everything will be OK.

I can't go on like this much longer.:(

What you're feeling is all very familiar! I think you will feel a bit better after you have had your meeting. Let us know how you get on. Being on a DMP is the best thing we could have done but it has been an emotional rollercoaster - especially at the beginning. Just take one step at a time and if you need to vent your upset or frustrations you know where to come

Mossop01

Good luck today coco, u will feel much better once today Is over with, ull have something positive to focus on, we have set up our dmp and start date is 1st march, I still have "wobble" days but nothing could be worse than the worry before we set up the dmp.

My budgeting still needs some work, had family to stay this weekend and instead of saying no to go out to eat, we went along with the majority vote to eat out, now I feel guilty and really mad at myself for slipping!
We have kept our dmp from everyone, I feel quite ashamed to admit our financial difficulty (and I don't want family to worry) but lesson learned, do not give in to peer pressure and be more organised!