DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Growurown

dizzybee wrote: »

Hi,
not posted in a while,My DMP with step change has been going great for the last few months,but since yesterday i have been getting calls from Debt direct for a pay day loan i had,i have explained to them i am on a Dmp with step change and they receive a payment each month, but they got really nasty saying i haven't made any payments and i wasn't with no dmp provider.,they keeping asking for bank details which i have refused to give,they have just rang again to say the bailiffs are coming out.The lady that called was very aggressive.
I have offered to send them a copy of Dmp showing payments to them.would this be a good idea or shall i call step change.
Thank you for any advice.

Hi dizzybee, how horrible for you. It sounds as though they are really putting on the pressure in a very nasty way. Bailiffs act on court orders, have they been to court? If they haven't then I would put in a formal complaint about them. They are acting in a very unprofessional manner. I would contact Step Change too and see what they say.

Time_to_face_the_music

ald65 wrote: »

Dear All

After 6 years we have finally made our last payment to Payplan and are now debt free.
Our debt free journey started in 2007 when we were robbing peter to pay paul, credit cards maxed out etc. it only took a couple of family crisis to bring this all crashing down and we woke up one morning with the threat of bankrupty looming over us.
i remember only too well the sleepless nights and feelings of despair and shame ...
Finally I spoke/broke down to a good friend at work, she was fab, she covered for me when I went off and researched debt help websites. That's when i found out about payplan etc.
After that our lives changed radically debt free wannabe and old style moneysaving forum became our crutches and got us through some of the darker times.
13 out of 15 creditors were brilliant and stopped interest ( the 2 that didn't will not be forgotten and avoided by our families for evermore...!)
So what now- first DH and I are off to a week in the sun (bargain ofcourse;))
Then our new project is to slowly restore/repair/redecorate house-following the helpful advice on Martins forums.
also we will try and save every month to ensure that we never return to our debt ridden days-NO MORE CREDIT.

I will continue to lurk on the forums and try and contribute when i can.
Finally a massive thankyou to you wonderful brilliant people who have been so supportive and always there especially during the darkest days :T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T


ALD 65 XXX

Congratulations and very well done :T

Success stories like yours give us all hope and inspiration :j

Have a fantastic holiday and then come back to your new debt free life

Sazzie23

dizzybee wrote: »

Hi,
not posted in a while,My DMP with step change has been going great for the last few months,but since yesterday i have been getting calls from Debt direct for a pay day loan i had,i have explained to them i am on a Dmp with step change and they receive a payment each month, but they got really nasty saying i haven't made any payments and i wasn't with no dmp provider.,they keeping asking for bank details which i have refused to give,they have just rang again to say the bailiffs are coming out.The lady that called was very aggressive.
I have offered to send them a copy of Dmp showing payments to them.would this be a good idea or shall i call step change.
Thank you for any advice.

Hi Dizzybee

I'm new to this thread, so apologies for barging in. My DMP had been running for about 4 months when I got a letter from a CC bank saying the same sort of thing. When I called them they said they hadn't heard from stepchange etc, so I contacted stepchange ( I emailed them as I cry everytime I call - because they are so nice:o) and they have written to the CC bank again and it all seems to be going OK again. Remember to check on the stepchange site about what baliffs can do and not do, always makes me feel better if I have a wobbly moment when getting threats :mad:

Hope it works out.

On a different note, I also have not told anyone at work or friends about DMP, but I do declare that as my income has reduced a lot lately I do not have a lot of free cash & my friends are considerate of this when arranging to meet up...we go to houses, or meet for a coffee instead of a meal etc.

Sazzie23

ald65 wrote: »

Dear All

After 6 years we have finally made our last payment to Payplan and are now debt free.
Our debt free journey started in 2007 when we were robbing peter to pay paul, credit cards maxed out etc. it only took a couple of family crisis to bring this all crashing down and we woke up one morning with the threat of bankrupty looming over us.
i remember only too well the sleepless nights and feelings of despair and shame ...
Finally I spoke/broke down to a good friend at work, she was fab, she covered for me when I went off and researched debt help websites. That's when i found out about payplan etc.
After that our lives changed radically debt free wannabe and old style moneysaving forum became our crutches and got us through some of the darker times.
13 out of 15 creditors were brilliant and stopped interest ( the 2 that didn't will not be forgotten and avoided by our families for evermore...!)
So what now- first DH and I are off to a week in the sun (bargain ofcourse;))
Then our new project is to slowly restore/repair/redecorate house-following the helpful advice on Martins forums.
also we will try and save every month to ensure that we never return to our debt ridden days-NO MORE CREDIT.

I will continue to lurk on the forums and try and contribute when i can.
Finally a massive thankyou to you wonderful brilliant people who have been so supportive and always there especially during the darkest days :T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T


ALD 65 XXX

Inspirational, thank you (and thanks to your lovely friend ..we all need good friends:D

jubilee14

HI GUO i totally appreciate your problem. Have had to travel quite a bit this month too which although they pay hotels have to cover my own meals/petrol/ trains etc which is about £400 out of my salary. A major reason for my debt situation has been my work expenses and while i do get them back and it was my fault for not just paying off cards as and when i was still having to cover interest too.

Although have told HR I am on DMP i dont make it public knowledge and everyone else seems to have plenty of money to cover these things but all the same does make some months very tight. With a week to go till payday have about £20 in bank now and if i didnt have CB coming in on Tues would be really stuck. Its expensive working sometimes! lol

Growurown

jubilee14 wrote: »

Its expensive working sometimes! lol

It is!

jubilee14 wrote: »

Although have told HR I am on DMP i dont make it public knowledge and everyone else seems to have plenty of money to cover these things but all the same does make some months very tight. With a week to go till payday have about £20 in bank now and if i didnt have CB coming in on Tues would be really stuck. Its expensive working sometimes! lol

OH wouldn't dream of telling anyone in work about our DMP. I have told a close friend but he hasn't told anyone. Thing is that everyone expects you to have credit to fall back on. The concept of not having a credit card is a strange one to his work mates. They are all quite well paid (as he is) so when he has to admit to not having any money he finds it very difficult. We are looking at another two years before we have paid everything off. Can't wait for that day!

Thamesmeadhammer

After calling Barclaycard as regards my inpending DMP 4 days later a new credit card turns up with the credit limit being raised by £1500!!!
Couldn't make it up!!!! Been shredded to avoid the temptation :eek:

And after cutting up my debt and credit cards just been told that I'm away on business for three days this week! Off to the middle east where there is no point getting any local currency for such a short trip..........Oh dear have to borrow the other halfs card:j

At least I get a little extra with meals and "drinks" paid for!!!

jubilee14

Growurown wrote: »

It is!



We are looking at another two years before we have paid everything off. Can't wait for that day!

Ive got something like another 6 :mad: and am so fed up trying to balance between being short one month and then not thinking i have loads the next when expenses come in. Need to come up with a strategy for that :rotfl:

At least it wont be adding to extra debt. A week not travelling next week is very welcome.

Julie67

Morning all,

Well 6 months in and SC want to do a review. I need to print out our budget today and go through everything very carefully. We have slightly more income from Family Tax Credit but I've taken out some life insurance and would like to make some areas of our budget a bit easier as our original one was extremely tight, the only way we could go on a DMP. I'm hoping our payments to step change will double, even then it won't be a big amount and our debt free day is years away.
We constantly think about selling up. There might be enough equity in our house to clear all our debt and maybe leave us a bit left over for the first couple of months rent. But I really worry about

Will we be able to rent with our credit rating which is awful?
What will we do when we retire, oh has small pension I have none
We would never get back on the property ladder, oh 52, me 46

It's so tempting to be debt free and have a fresh start, maybe we should let the future worry about itself and get on with living now.

anywayout

Hi

Another wee update, I called the co op this morning cause ive never heard about my new account. Its been accepted!! So happy that's another thing ticked off the list :-) only thing is its to late for this months wages but should be fine for next months. I asked the chap on the phone and they have Internet banking so will just do a transfer from my current account when the card comes.

Thanks again for all the support and advice x