DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Time_to_face_the_music

catandy wrote: »

and another update from me I suppose really just to point out that things to change/ get better and to stick with it / hold on in there.

At the beginning of my DMP I was making token payments to 9 creditors and owed 23k+ which would have given me a DFD of when I was 118 or something completely stupid. I had 1 company continue piling the interest and charges on so my amount owing was going up and not down... lots of angst, calls, letters and complaints later and they were reversed. I also had an eviction notice served by my landlord, they were amongst all the others that I was in arrears with and I ended up going to court to get a suspended eviction notice...

fast forward to now - (about 15 or 16 months since proper LBM) I'm about to take an improved employed job (I gave up self employment due to the rollercoaster of an income it provided) which will give me £800 pm that I could throw at my debts or I can improve mine and my kids lives a bit by keeping some back and paying a fair whack of it off each month. Interest is now frozen on all accounts, balances are dropping, I've negotiated 2 settlement fees and cleared the bills completely, am in the process of doing a 3rd, me and my kids are eating properly cos we can afford to and there's money in the electric meter so we can afford to have the lights and TV on (yep things got that bad).. Oh and I kicked the useless other half to the kerb en route as he did absolutely nothing to help and it was him that had got things to be as bad as they were ...

wish I had contacted Stepchange months earlier than I did and saved myself the stress and hassle but I think I like doing things the hard way

moral of the story - stick with it, the worst creditors can do is say they want more ££ well tough you pay them what you can afford, interest fees being added on - don't just accept it fight it. and finally don't feel guilty/ ashamed for being in this position or that you owe any of these creditors anything - they show absolutely no loyalty to their customers so they don't deserve it back and life happens,, none of us went out with the express idea to get ourselves in debt then be in a position that we were going to struggle paying it back - at least we're doing something about it!

best thing I ever did - starting a DMP and admitting I couldn't just carry on as I was

onwards and downwards!

Totally inspiring update catandy, thanks so much for sharing :T

Welcome to all the new members and hello to all the ones who have been here a while. (Please note I did not say old ones!) :hello:

I am currently wishing my life away until Monday when our debt will take another dive and go under the £30K mark :j

If anyone had told me we would have reduced our debt by £52,800 in 2 years, I would have thought the only chance was winning the lottery ... and we don't do it! An added bonus is that we will become mortgage free later this year and that is thanks to me being made redundant and being able to pay off our endowment shortfall and a chunk of debt too. So the impossible has happened and I put it all down to the help, advice, experience and support of this thread, which has made it possible.

TTFTM x

Puzzcat

Well done TTFTM what a fantastic amount you have paid off...:T


The end of the tunnel must be shining brightly now...


Love Puzz. x

Alchemist207

Time to face the music, thank you for the welcome, and well done on paying off such a large chunk of your debt :beer:

Just to update on my post from earlier today, I decided to suck it up and pick up my phone call from Aqua. I refuse to feel scared/ashamed, I made a mistake and am taking responsibility for it. So I picked up, and actually - they were very nice! I advised them that I have entered a DMP with Stepchange, their adviser said that he will check the system to see if they received any letters and confirmed that they have, and that the customer service team is working with Stepchange on agreeing the terms of the DMP. He also said that he will stop future calls. It beats me why he did not check the system before calling me in the first place, but all is well which ends well.

Now continuing to work through my spreadsheet and hoping that soon I am debt-free!

Time_to_face_the_music

Puzzcat wrote: »

Well done TTFTM what a fantastic amount you have paid off...:T

The end of the tunnel must be shining brightly now...

Love Puzz. x

Thanks Puzz


I am estimating around 18 months but my twin HH claims to have had a dream predicting it will be less. I hope she is correct

Enough_Now

Hi all

It looks like we have a lot of new people joining our journey to debt freedom, welcome one and all.

My January payments (shown on February statements) have taken me to ever so slightly over 40% paid off. So chuffed! :T

If things had continued as they are, it looked like my DFD would be January 2016. Slight fly in the ointment is that Sainsburys have re-introduced full interest after suspending it for 12 months. I currently have two other debts that are on reduced interest (both 12% APR).

I hadn't had the confidence to challenge these companies up to now but with the new interest charger, I have decided to take the bull by the horns. Three letters now written, ready to post off next week when I can get to the PO. They are all marked as complaint letters, promising referral to FOS should their answer not be to my satisfaction!

They have had enough of my money in interest, so I am going to fight my corner. What's the worst that can happen?

Onwards and upwards DMPers

EN x

NewcastlePaul

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Brilliant news Paul! :T

Thank you.
Really chuffed.

9 years down and was looking like another 10 and a half.
Suddenly its down to 7 because of PPI claims.

I do find my DMP manageable and for anyone doing one for the first time it does get easier. I see all the posts about phone calls and letters and I had all them back in the date.

Because mine has been running so long I only get statements every 6 months or letters every 12 months to say that they have received current Stepchange budget and will be continuing.

Also all Interest has now been frozen.

Its a tough journey (which I expected as it was my own fault) but it gets easier. I promise

Sazzie23

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Totally inspiring update catandy, thanks so much for sharing :T

Welcome to all the new members and hello to all the ones who have been here a while. (Please note I did not say old ones!) :hello:

I am currently wishing my life away until Monday when our debt will take another dive and go under the £30K mark :j

If anyone had told me we would have reduced our debt by £52,800 in 2 years, I would have thought the only chance was winning the lottery ... and we don't do it! An added bonus is that we will become mortgage free later this year and that is thanks to me being made redundant and being able to pay off our endowment shortfall and a chunk of debt too. So the impossible has happened and I put it all down to the help, advice, experience and support of this thread, which has made it possible.

TTFTM x

Hi TTFTM

Fabbie news - As someone said the light at the end of that tunnel must be starting to blaze. I'm waiting for 25th as I think I'll be 25% paid off then:j

NewcastlePaul wrote: »

Hiya everyone. Feeling a lot better about it all since last months post. Massively starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.
As I said above I was looking into PPI refund.
With my biggest creditor still to respond I have so far been refunded a massive £16,681 and have in effect just reduced by DMP by 3 years !!!!

Full details of PPI journey HERE but if you think you ever had it then please claim. Whats the worst than can happen

:j:j:j:j:j

Inspirational - and well done for wise use of the money, truly a debtbuster:beer:

Enough_Now wrote: »

Hi all

It looks like we have a lot of new people joining our journey to debt freedom, welcome one and all.

My January payments (shown on February statements) have taken me to ever so slightly over 40% paid off. So chuffed! :T

If things had continued as they are, it looked like my DFD would be January 2016. Slight fly in the ointment is that Sainsburys have re-introduced full interest after suspending it for 12 months. I currently have two other debts that are on reduced interest (both 12% APR).

I hadn't had the confidence to challenge these companies up to now but with the new interest charger, I have decided to take the bull by the horns. Three letters now written, ready to post off next week when I can get to the PO. They are all marked as complaint letters, promising referral to FOS should their answer not be to my satisfaction!

They have had enough of my money in interest, so I am going to fight my corner. What's the worst that can happen?

Onwards and upwards DMPers

EN x

A good reason for us all to make sure we track our account payments, those interest payments can creep back on without announcements. Good luck with the challenge letters:T

And to Alchemsist - well done for answering that call, its not an easy thing to do, and your strength paid off, they should keep out of your hair for a bit now.

Coinmachine

My DMP starts next month, so far as I can make out only Barclaycard are the only ones not to have not frozen interest, it is 0.251% per month - and I have heard nothing at all from them, which I gather is not uncommon.

Should I write to them again now and request they freeze or wait until the DMP is up and running for a few months. I have already sent a couple of letter when making token payments, I used this address, is there another I should try?
Barclaycard
Barclaycard House
1234 Pavilion Drive
Northampton
NN4 7SG
Mail Van Area 24

Puzzcat

Coinmachine wrote: »

My DMP starts next month, so far as I can make out only Barclaycard are the only ones not to have not frozen interest, it is 0.251% per month - and I have heard nothing at all from them, which I gather is not uncommon.

Should I write to them again now and request they freeze or wait until the DMP is up and running for a few months. I have already sent a couple of letter when making token payments, I used this address, is there another I should try?
Barclaycard
Barclaycard House
1234 Pavilion Drive
Northampton
NN4 7SG
Mail Van Area 24

Hi, I would probably wait until they have had the first months dmp payment and then check the bc statement following that to see what interest has been charged. Then write a letter with complaint clearly written in it. You can then complain to the fos if they continue to charge, but do remember they are allowed to charge interest it is an informal arrangement and I believe bc have some set interest figures I have read on here before. Although fingers crossed they are not currently charging me but I expect they have some criteria they follow...poor, very poor, too poor for any interest.... or some such!!!

Puzzcat

Forgot to add coinmachine, I used same address as you and also never had a reply. All I received was a late payment notice. I also still have access to my online account where I check my statements each month.