DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

maybedmp

Hi all, checking in - DMP set up with StepChange and first payment will be1st Sept. No contact from any creditors (yet).

Good luck to all the newbies!

Huskypup - what a horrible situation for your poor Dad, I would contact StepChange for advice.

Personally I think a formal complaint to Capital One is in order as they should at least be acknowledging that you are trying to clear the debt. Seems ludicrous that they won't accept a higher payment.

jubilee14

huskypup wrote: »

Hello

I am after some advice for my father - my mum died two years ago - so all pensions where reduced - he had a loan and a credit card - which he was struggling to pay - so on his behalf we contacted stepchange or CCCS as it was - we ourselves are with them and they have been brilliant.

He has been paying Barclaycard and capital one through stepchange for two years - we have been paying his rent for him to allow him more money to pay these bills off quicker, Barclaycard contacted him out of the blue and offered him a PPI settlement of enough to clear the loan and enough to offer a 65% settlement to Capital one. We have written to them and they have sent a letter back declining the offer, when we phoned them they say that they have now referred his account to a debt collection agency - we had thought that as it was now only one debt we could manage it ourselves, bad decision I think

In the meantime we are unable to help my dad out with his rent anymore as we have been shaving money off of each of my budget columns to help him out, Capital one sent an expenditure form - so a new amount could be agreed - we came up with an amount that was actually more than he was paying through stepchange (because the barclaycard loan was settled he can also pay more and pay his own rent).

So can anyone enlighten me to why one they have rejected a 65% settlement or why they wont accept £100 a month when previously he was paying £47, and why they wont send us any forms so we can pay anything.

Help - he is 75 years old and is really stressing over this - would I best going back to stepchange - he is in ill health and as terrible as this sounds if they dont accept something they wont get anything!!

Hi Huskypup sorry to hear you and your dad are having such a hard time it must be stressful when you cant help out more. I am not sure of all the details and by no means an expert but seems a bit unfair not to accept 65% although they have the right to do so. Would suggest at the moment might be best to pay the lower amount until they play ball. but SC might advise better.

In the meantime is he getting all the benefits he is due Pension credit/housing etc it might be worth checking with DWP as there maybe other benefits he should be getting that would help income and take some stress from you.

Good luck

Find_The_Real

Hello All

Welcome to all the newbies I may have missed and good luck with your DMP journey. Hello to all the regulars as well and I hope life is going ok for everyone.

Although the first couple of months generally seem a bit scary, things do tend to settle down. The important thing is even if you are using one of the free charities is to still be in control - keep an eye on those balances and interest and don't be afraid to moan if they aren't playing nicely. Those who tend to shout the loudest get the better results! Unfortunately so much is about attitude when dealing with them rather than a set process for every customer and treating everyone the same.

Just a little update for me, in the final week of the IVA wait which I can confirm is more nerve-wracking than was the house repo ever was!

kirstylanarkshire

Hi all!!!

Just got my pack through from stepchange and when I phoned last week im sure the lady said I would be paying them £115 per month - I was more than happy with this after months of paying out 4 times that and really struggling but on my letter it says £30 per month? They obviously arent open at the moment so cant phone to claify but is the amount showing on the letter really the amount ive to pay? And if I tell them im happy to pay more would they be ok with that? Im just thinking if I pay more then it will all be gone quicker!!!

Thanks xx

jubilee14

Hi all well just after reviewing with SC this week got my utilities bill for 6 month and they are upping it by £30 per month which is a worry since that was summer think it was the heavy snow in March thats done it. Going to do meter reading every month to track where it is and hopefully get costs down again. CH hasnt be on since April either.

also HMRC sent tax calc and i have underpaid so another £10 off my salary a month to cover that. BOO.

kirstylanarkshire

DOH!!! Sorry just worked out what it was - im 1 month behind in rent and countil tax so.with the over payments on them for 4 months and the £30 that will be £ 115 - I assume once im to date on the rent etc I will pay stepchange the extra and they will renegotiate with my creditors to pay more? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for taking the time to answer them xx

jenster78

Hi there, sorry I have not posted for a while but I do keep am eye on where my fellow dmp,ers are up to and I think this thread is an absolutely excellent support and source.

Well for anyone who remembers me, we looked to start our dmp journey in June. We are now our first month into it and our payment went out to sc the first of august, I am hoping around about now the creditors have had their firs payment too.

The first month for us has been amazing. We were in a position before the dmp where we didn't even have enough 'essential costs' money left after bills. So be able to go and buy m children's uniforms for their firs year in school has been amazing and totally liberating, we even managed a couple of cheap days out over the last few weeks (cheap but cheerful none the less) it feels so much better to know we are not getting deeper and deeper into debt.

My attitude towards money is changing to, I even finished the month I credit, only a little bit but still after so many years into an ever increasing overdraft it again was vet liberating, love nipping the cash machine and seeing what we have before I purchase, and keeping an eye on my balance and essential costs.

For anyone thinking 'is this for me' I can only recommend stepchange but I believe the others are good too, this has lifted the biggest weight and worry and I feel as though we are one a new and hopeful path to becoming debt free, I will never get credit again where we can help it.

The best creditor so far has been nram, very helpful and supportive. HSBC haven't acknowledged but I believe that's normal. Asda have been a but difficult too, but my main worry was nram as attached to house, but they've been great. I think we have had about 2 phone calls and they too were ok.

I keep waiting for the storm (we seem to have had the calm) but sc tell. Me that now first payment has gone it will settle. It's. long journey still 7 years we will be debt free and we shamefully owe £70k, don't ask me how we certainly never had flash cars, holidays etc, but we were not careful!

So anyone wondering what to do, having sleepless nights over debts I can only say go for this, it is a new lease of life for us, and anyone wants to ask me anything please fee free to message.

To everyone else thanks for your support, this is a amazing helpful group of really nice people, a glad to be a part of it even if I don't get to update very often xxxxxx

Puzzcat

Hi,

Well I'm back and have started to put into place the plans I've been making whilst away.

I have finished the StepChange debt remedy/budget and received my DMP number, so its official i'm now a member of your elite club!!

Today's completed tasks -
Started to rearrange dd's from old to new acccount, i'm doing this in a backward fashion and switching the one's due mid/late month to enable me to close the old joint account as soon as possible after the last priority dd, should be around 7th Sept. At this point I shall hand deliver my letter to close this account (od now clear, thanks OH..).

Once the joint account is closed and the dd's are paid (priority one's only) I shall cancell the remaining creditors dd's and send the letters I've already prepared. 3 of my creditors will not be paid this month, token only - letters ready to go out tuesday.

I have opted to leave my mobile telephone number on the contact details online, I have requested contact in writing only but feel if they have this number hopefully they will leave home/work numbers if they have them somewhere alone... I can but hope...

I am feeling very relieved right now at getting the ball rolling. I am certainly not expecting an easy journey but with all the information I have gathered from this thread and parts 7 & 8 hope I am fairly prepared for what's to come...:)

Just need to go and buy myself a nice 'cheap' filing system to store all the lovely letters I will be sending and receiving in.

Also started on the new budget from yesterday, but will need to finance some car issues and back to school clothes so hoping to delay the start up until 1st November but will cope if its 1st october.. we shall wait and see...

Sorry waffling on as usual, you will all soon banish me from your thread!

Onwards and upwards and looks like I shall be around for sometime yet....

Love Puzz. x

Growurown

jubilee14 wrote: »

HI GUO why do these things always crop up. Our boiler although less than 7 years old is not holding up too well either. it packed in last year and we had to join the service team so we could pay for repair over the year. went online to get a comparitie for this year and it failed their inspection as the fan ( although working) is noisy and they expect it to fail. So am trying to squirell money away in anticipation . Not that there is much this month ( few days till payday and i have only about £40 in bank its been a long month!

hope the dishwasher is an easy ( CHEAP) fix before the guests arrive.

Oh I hadn't thought of that:( Visitors and no dishwasher, ho hum.

Hope you get the boiler sorted out before the cold weather sets in. I'm hoping we get a mild winter this year and no snow.:snow_grin

Growurown

Samjangi wrote: »

Hi
I have been lurking here for a few days and you guys seem really supportive!

We are! Welcome to the DMP support thread Sam.

Samjangi wrote: »

I have a couple of questions. An awful lot of our debt is with Santander. Does anyone have any experience of how them?

We had an Asda card which is Santander. We owed approx £700 on it and they stopped interest and haven't been any problem since we started our DMP 2 years ago. I don't know how they would treat larger debts but hopefully it will be the same for you.