DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Sazzie23

Growurown wrote: »

Oh carp - got up this morning and noticed a burning smell in the kitchen. Looking around for the source I noticed smoke coming out of the flue from the boiler. It burns oil as we don't have gas out here in the sticks. Anyway called the repair guy - hope it isn't going to cost too much:(

Hey GUO Hope you sorted it out cheaply - least you spotted a problem before anyone got gassed


Blew our halogen oven up this week, as our main cooker has been broken for years it has been our main source of cooking. Thank goodness for the micro and the blessing that 2 of the gas rings still work. Saving up for a new halogen so will actually get round to using up that meat in the freezer by sticking it in the slow cooker - a silver lining :-)

raspberry22

Hello,

Sorry, I've been a very bad raspberry in both not reading this thread and half burying my head back in the sand. I've had a rough few weeks, but need to start facing it all again.

Still haven't sent back the Stepchange forms, so need to get that done asap. New bank account is set up and have contacted tax credits etc to get those moved over, DH needs to get his pay sorted out and then the DD's and we're all set.

I'll try and have a read back at what I've missed now. Hope everyone is doing well.

Growurown

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hey GUO Hope you sorted it out cheaply - least you spotted a problem before anyone got gassed

:rotfl::rotfl:Yes don't want that! I phoned the guy yesterday that we use and he has always been very reasonable in the past. I left a message and he hasn't got back to me yet, but I am guessing he has been drowning his sorrows as Wales lost to Ireland yesterday. Luckily it isn't too cold at the moment and we have other heaters which we can use temporarily.

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Blew our halogen oven up this week, as our main cooker has been broken for years it has been our main source of cooking. Thank goodness for the micro and the blessing that 2 of the gas rings still work. Saving up for a new halogen so will actually get round to using up that meat in the freezer by sticking it in the slow cooker - a silver lining :-)

Sorry to hear about the oven, but just think of all those lovely meals you can make in the slow cooker. When do you think you will have enough savings to go and get a new one?

raspberry22 wrote: »

Hello,

Sorry, I've been a very bad raspberry in both not reading this thread and half burying my head back in the sand. I've had a rough few weeks, but need to start facing it all again.

Still haven't sent back the Stepchange forms, so need to get that done asap. New bank account is set up and have contacted tax credits etc to get those moved over, DH needs to get his pay sorted out and then the DD's and we're all set.

I'll try and have a read back at what I've missed now. Hope everyone is doing well.

Come on Raspberry, you can get this sorted, and things will be so much better when you do.

Sazzie23

raspberry22 wrote: »

Hello,

Sorry, I've been a very bad raspberry in both not reading this thread and half burying my head back in the sand. I've had a rough few weeks, but need to start facing it all again.

Still haven't sent back the Stepchange forms, so need to get that done asap. New bank account is set up and have contacted tax credits etc to get those moved over, DH needs to get his pay sorted out and then the DD's and we're all set.

I'll try and have a read back at what I've missed now. Hope everyone is doing well.

Hi Raspberry,

welcome back - you can do this. I've just faced a pile of mortgage paperwork I've been putting off. Clarity is definitely a good thing for me.


Hi GUO , hope he gets back to you soon, I've just been through all my Mr T vouchers, and Mr S points and I reckon if I use these for shopping- and go superfrugal - I will be able to buy a decent new one (rather than the cheaper ones) at the end of the month

HRKL14

Capital One!!

Guys

Can anyone give me any advice, DMP set up with SC.

I wrote to capital one regarding my situation and will be going on a DMP with Stepchange. Received a letter saying they cannot discuss anything because my signgature on the letter was not what they have on file. They want me to resend letter with correct signature. Do not know what to do. Sounds a bit strange. Think I will send the letter to SC.

Thanks

Mr_Mink

HRKL14 wrote: »

Capital One!!

Guys

Can anyone give me any advice, DMP set up with SC.

I wrote to capital one regarding my situation and will be going on a DMP with Stepchange. Received a letter saying they cannot discuss anything because my signgature on the letter was not what they have on file. They want me to resend letter with correct signature. Do not know what to do. Sounds a bit strange. Think I will send the letter to SC.

Thanks

I had the same issue with HSBC. Fortunately I was able to go into a branch and update the signature, at that point the two then matched up.

Might be a bit trickier with Capital One, but my guess is you'll need to update your signature with them.

gettingbackontrack

I don't think I've ever posted on this thread, though I read it regularly. The support it provides for people during their journey is invaluable.

I posted this on a thread elsewhere and I thought it may be of interest to people are starting out on a DMP. My debts at their highest were £52,000. I've self-managed and I'm now down to just over £8,000 (got it slightly wrong on that other thread). It's still a sum but when I think where I started, I want to jump for joy. I never thought I could do it, but here I am - older, wiser and in better financial shape than I've been for years! So here it what I posted:

I started out not even knowing what a DMP was (I hadn't come to this site though i wish I had!). I wrote to my creditors and all the cards agreed to freeze interest. The worst at the time was Next, who slapped interest back on after a few months and wanted a fair bit more than I offered. M&S persuaded me to change my card debt into a personal loan and I'm still not sure if that was right things to do. The others were fine, generally.

The first year was really hard. I lived on a lot less than I had been doing but I paid off Next and a personal loan I had with my bank, which eased things. Then I paid off one credit card. Two more credit cards plus that M&S loan will all be paid off this year leaving me with two cards to target in 2015.

I suppose I've taken the scenic route to paying off my debt in the sense that I pay less a month now than I did. My payments dropped after I was made redundant but generally my creditors have been OK and my payments went back up accordingly when I was back in work. Barclaycard started adding interest a year or so ago but at a low rate.

Honestly, it felt like an impossible task when I started. I think my focus was on keeping my head above water. Suddenly I realised I'd paid off half and now I'm down to the final 20%. By Christmas I'll have two debts and be down to the final 10%. I think I was paying nearly £800 a month when I started, I'm now paying £400 but the debt is decreasing and I've had a couple of holidays along the way (not lavish ones, but decent ones).

The most important thing for me is that I've lived without credit for I think it's about six years. I could have paid it off quicker by living like a hermit but what I feel I've been doing is living a normal life on what I earn while chipping away at the debt. My habits have changed and I save for anything I need - car tax, MOT, new winter boots, Christmas presents etc. I'm looking forward to the day I have no debts except my mortgage and I'm starting to imagine when that's going to be.... finally.

Phew, that turned into a mini essay! Will anyone be awake after all that?? I hopes it helps - you will get there even though it seems like a long road ahead right now.

Time_to_face_the_music

gettingbackontrack wrote: »

I don't think I've ever posted on this thread, though I read it regularly. The support it provides for people during their journey is invaluable.

I posted this on a thread elsewhere and I thought it may be of interest to people are starting out on a DMP. My debts at their highest were £52,000. I've self-managed and I'm now down to just over £8,000 (got it slightly wrong on that other thread). It's still a sum but when I think where I started, I want to jump for joy. I never thought I could do it, but here I am - older, wiser and in better financial shape than I've been for years! So here it what I posted:

I started out not even knowing what a DMP was (I hadn't come to this site though i wish I had!). I wrote to my creditors and all the cards agreed to freeze interest. The worst at the time was Next, who slapped interest back on after a few months and wanted a fair bit more than I offered. M&S persuaded me to change my card debt into a personal loan and I'm still not sure if that was right things to do. The others were fine, generally.

The first year was really hard. I lived on a lot less than I had been doing but I paid off Next and a personal loan I had with my bank, which eased things. Then I paid off one credit card. Two more credit cards plus that M&S loan will all be paid off this year leaving me with two cards to target in 2015.

I suppose I've taken the scenic route to paying off my debt in the sense that I pay less a month now than I did. My payments dropped after I was made redundant but generally my creditors have been OK and my payments went back up accordingly when I was back in work. Barclaycard started adding interest a year or so ago but at a low rate.

Honestly, it felt like an impossible task when I started. I think my focus was on keeping my head above water. Suddenly I realised I'd paid off half and now I'm down to the final 20%. By Christmas I'll have two debts and be down to the final 10%. I think I was paying nearly £800 a month when I started, I'm now paying £400 but the debt is decreasing and I've had a couple of holidays along the way (not lavish ones, but decent ones).

The most important thing for me is that I've lived without credit for I think it's about six years. I could have paid it off quicker by living like a hermit but what I feel I've been doing is living a normal life on what I earn while chipping away at the debt. My habits have changed and I save for anything I need - car tax, MOT, new winter boots, Christmas presents etc. I'm looking forward to the day I have no debts except my mortgage and I'm starting to imagine when that's going to be.... finally.

Phew, that turned into a mini essay! Will anyone be awake after all that?? I hopes it helps - you will get there even though it seems like a long road ahead right now.

Very inspiring post gettingbackontrack, thanks for sharing :T

I hope you stick around now you have come out of lurkdom, your experience and support would be much appreciated by many here.

TTFTM x

Monkeyballs

Evening all,

Bit late I know but I'm awake and I have t'internet access so I might as well post before I get dumped offline again! (Grrrr...).

So, good news for me I found a cash buyer for some old comics (I say some, it was actually a couple of thousand) and have used the money I got to pay a sizeable wedge off my debt

I'm now down below £14k and tomorrow I'm going to pay off either my Welcome Finance loan (approx £130) or possibly just my Barclays o/d (approx £55) I'm not sure which yet but I'm sort of thinking Barclays and then just watch my spending with a view to paying off Welcome at the end of the month...

I'm getting there!!!

MB

livingindreamland

Very new to all this, my first payment went to Stepchange yesterday, so I still have no idea who has accepted my DMP yet. Silly question, but If I find myself with a few extra pounds at the end of the month, is it OK to use it to pay off a bit of one of the debts? (As you can probably guess I'm not sleeping well hence posting at 5:30 in the morning)