DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

HRKL14

Hi Puzzcat,

Thank you for the welcome and advice. Yes, I have been looking through all the threads some positive and some quite frightening, I just cant believe what an idiot I have been for quite a long time. Being in this situation is one of the most lowest times of my life. I nearly lost everything a few weeks ago well I thought I could of . I have never posted anything on forums in my life. I just hope I have made the right decision in setting up a DMP. I just seem a little lost at the moment as I do not know what to expect. Enough of my whinging. I look forward to making new friends on here.

markwoods10

HI HK

in the same boat as yourself at the moment, DMP up and running 1st payment due 10th Feb, guess so far i am not too bad as 11 of 13 accepted the plan, some freezing interest some not.

i have telephoned a few and it seemed to me that they are used to DMps and were quite helpful and seemed to really assist


still not sure what to expect and still have down days wondering how i got to this.


I think I ma just to to see how it goes over the next few weeks/months

maybe we can keep n touch?

anyway speak soon
Mark

HRKL14

Hi Mark,

I have just had email from SC advising plan is up & running, but not sure if that means creditors are aware yet. My 1st payment due 1st Feb. I have 15 creditors, I know they wont be happy. I emailed some of them my situation but been to worried to call the others. I do not know what to do for the best.

Yes, I would like to keep in touch and see how it goes for others are you with Stepchange Mark?

Regards

HK

markwoods10

HI HK



yes my I activated plan on 9th Jan, 1st payment 1oth Feb took about 3-7 days for creditors to find out, I emailed some of them , they replied stating that they had rec'd the info and are reviewing it, wed 22nd had my 1st acceptance, ( vanquis card)

Thursday 4 more suspended interest and said they are in contact
i
have 14k over 13 creditors ( paying 239 per month to SC mix of cc/ catlogues/ Pd lenders etc

called Barclaycard Saturday ( they accepted for 12 months)

Argos confirmed they will talk to Sc and will set up plan once in arrears

just 1.5k overdarft with Halifax as yet they say that they have not heard anything, I am told that they may not even acknowledge the offer but will accept the money.
I have heard that better to write than call as some can be quite persuasive over the phone already know we are stressed and will try to get us to agree to anything to get them off the phone.

i guess it all depends on who the creditors are ,

Murphy2011

Starry-eyed wrote: »

Hi. I am considering entering a DMP as I realised that even though I have been making payments, and not in arrears with my creditors, I have been starving myself and my family to do so. I have no spare money left a month, am in major trouble if an emergency happens and have basically living of £25 a week to feed three of us. I have no idea how on earth I have even managed to do that!
My concerns are however - firstly I have a car on HP. There is a clause that should I enter a DMP they may take the car off me. I will not be putting them in the DMP and will continue to pay the normal monthly payments (and not in arrears). Will they still take the car off me?
Secondly, I do not have the monthly payment that the plan suggests as yet as only just had a look at the plan today. Do I not make payment to my creditors or do I offer them a token payment explaining that I am going into a DMP?
And thirdly, the DMP takes 4 weekly payments and changes them to monthly amounts. I don't budget that way (ie, one payment is my monthly payment), and I don't get all my income in one big amount. How does that work for a DMP that only shows your income that way?
Sorry for all the questions, but any advise will be great :-)

Starry eyed, I don't think you got a reply and I can answer at least one! My husband had a car on HP from Black Horse and SC told us they couldn't include it in the DMP but they do take it as part of your budget before working out your DMP payment. We have kept the car, are paying the loan with BH as normal and will clear it over the usual term.
Hubby gets paid weekly as well so I put 1/4 of the DMP payment into a separate account each week so I know it is allowed for.
Lastly I think the established wisdom is to let your creditors know you are going into a DMP & they should give you a grace period without contact, when you have your DMP reference number you can give them that and token payments of £1 seem to be the norm. Hope that all helps!

cookie79_2

Hi all
Well nothing much has happened since my last post. Received the text message from SC on Thursday last week saying DMP has been set up but heard nothing since. Sent them an email yesterday because I was expecting some paperwork (others have mentioned a welcome pack) but had no reply. Had nothing either from any of my creditors. Now, I am often accused of impatience but I have been anxiously waiting for something to happen and nothing has. Is this normal? Should I stop getting my knickers in a twist and be more patient?

In other news, I am very proud of my 'yellow sticker' haul today. Enough to do dinners for the family (2 adults and 2 teens) for a week 'meat-wise' for less than a tenner! Just veg and carbs to get.

Monkeyballs

cookie79 wrote: »

Hi all
Well nothing much has happened since my last post. Received the text message from SC on Thursday last week saying DMP has been set up but heard nothing since. Sent them an email yesterday because I was expecting some paperwork (others have mentioned a welcome pack) but had no reply. Had nothing either from any of my creditors. Now, I am often accused of impatience but I have been anxiously waiting for something to happen and nothing has. Is this normal? Should I stop getting my knickers in a twist and be more patient?

In other news, I am very proud of my 'yellow sticker' haul today. Enough to do dinners for the family (2 adults and 2 teens) for a week 'meat-wise' for less than a tenner! Just veg and carbs to get.

LOL yeah, it's a little early just yet...

I'd say you're looking at a minimum of a week (or at least that was the case for me) and don't forget that the people SC will be liaising with don't work weekends either so you'll likely start to see things coming through at the end of this or the start of next week

That said, I've still not heard from some creditors (although they are accepting payments and after logging into my online account there are references to the agreement there), others make a teeny tiny mention on your monthly statement (so read carefully) while others might pass to a debt collection agency who seem to make contact within a 7-10 days after being passed to them.

Give it time

MB

Puzzcat

cookie79 wrote: »

Hi all
Well nothing much has happened since my last post. Received the text message from SC on Thursday last week saying DMP has been set up but heard nothing since. Sent them an email yesterday because I was expecting some paperwork (others have mentioned a welcome pack) but had no reply. Had nothing either from any of my creditors. Now, I am often accused of impatience but I have been anxiously waiting for something to happen and nothing has. Is this normal? Should I stop getting my knickers in a twist and be more patient?

In other news, I am very proud of my 'yellow sticker' haul today. Enough to do dinners for the family (2 adults and 2 teens) for a week 'meat-wise' for less than a tenner! Just veg and carbs to get.

Hi cookie, I was also impatient but think it was just over a week to receive paperwork and that was in October, I expect January is a very busy month for them!!

cookie79_2

Thanks MB and Puzzcat! As I thought, my impatient nature getting the better of me.

Growurown

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi GUO

Hope it's nothing serious and doggy gets better soon

Larac wrote: »

Hope all is well with your dog. Mine sprained it and just required a few days rest. On the subject of pet insurance I found the SC allowance a bit low at 20 pound a month and was wondering where they get this figure from. Needless to say I had to put some money into another part of the budget plan to cover. I use Animed for any tablets and treatments as they do the branded products you get in pets at home and vets far cheaper. Order one day and arrives couple days later.

lizzy23 wrote: »

Just remember if you need meds from the vets its often cheaper to get a perscription and buy them on line, i have a dog who needs metacam daily, price from Vet £68 for 180ml bottle, plus the £24 consultation, cost for consultation and script £36 meds from animed direct 17.99, which works out at around 1/2 price

Good tips on the meds - thanks everyone. Doggy is ten this year and his joints are suffering from a bit of wear and tear, so hopefully with some rest and anti inflammatories that will clear the problem up, although it may flare up again so we shall see.

Larac - I found SC's allowance for pet insurance a little low too. I have two dogs so I used the allowance for dry cleaning (which we rarely use) to top up the amount.