DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

CharlieWannaWin

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi Charlie,

Some good advice above, just wondering, How much more/less than minimum payments you are making as this will affect how the creditors view you. Different creditors act differently too, some do make charges at the start and some folk end up owing more for a while at the start of a DMP :mad:

If you can give us a quick run down on who you owe too we might have some more advice?

Well done for making a start on dealing with debt, it's not easy and shows great strength. :T

Thanks for the above. We owe in total about £50k, split between 12 debts. Three Natwest overdrafts, one Natwest Loan, one Sainsburys Loan, credit cards with Amex, Capital One, Natwest x 2, Barclaycard x 2 and MBNA. We're paying £674 a month since Jan so they've all had two payments and I also paid an extra £2k in which was shared amongst them.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

CharlieWannaWin wrote: »

Thanks. My DMP is with StepChange. I assumed they would sort that out? I've done everything they have suggested!

I'll send out a letter about interest myself. It can't hurt.

Charlotte

Hi Charlotte


Neither SC or PP do this for you. It is quite easy to do yourself though, people can help here if you have any questions. Please don't rely on SC balances as both they and PP do estimates. Important to keep yourself in charge of the whole thing if you are not already. Some people have had some nasty shocks finding they still had a lot of money and time left to run when they thought they would be done.


HHx

Monkeyballs

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Hi Charlotte


Neither SC or PP do this for you. It is quite easy to do yourself though, people can help here if you have any questions. Please don't rely on SC balances as both they and PP do estimates. Important to keep yourself in charge of the whole thing if you are not already. Some people have had some nasty shocks finding they still had a lot of money and time left to run when they thought they would be done.


HHx

Hi Charlotte,

HH is spot on here, keeping on top of your balances and ensuring your DMP is entirely accurate is actually quite empowering too because it's you taking control and not just washing your hands which stops it from becoming just another debt to ignore and resent

MB

Kath_T

Myself and my husband have finally opened our eyes to the dire state our finances are in. It has taken a while but we are now both 100% committed to sorting things out. We both have good jobs with what I would class as reasonably good wages. We have contacted Stepchange and are awaiting a call back regarding setting up a DMP.

Could somebody please explain in laymans terms what will happen when we start the DMP.

Do they take every bit of money we earn that isn't eaten up by bills?

What about food shopping?

and clothes for the children, the youngest is only 2 and the oldest 7 and they grow so fast they are barely in their clothes for 5 minutes!

Do we have an allowance for things like school trips, daughters rainbows, daughters Gymnastic classes?

Even though we are in significant debt (£39,500) I don't want our failings with money (some due to circumstance change beyond our control and others due to burying our heads in the sand and pretending we had everything in hand) to have an adverse effect on our daughters. I am not talking expensive holidays and fancy designer clothes but I have a cheap holiday in a caravan booked, are they likely to let me continue paying for this or will i have to forefit the deposit and break it to my girls we are not going?

I am trying to stay positive and look to a time when we are debt free but it just seems so so far away at the moment :sad:

Puzzcat

Kath_T wrote: »

Myself and my husband have finally opened our eyes to the dire state our finances are in. It has taken a while but we are now both 100% committed to sorting things out. We both have good jobs with what I would class as reasonably good wages. We have contacted Stepchange and are awaiting a call back regarding setting up a DMP.

Could somebody please explain in laymans terms what will happen when we start the DMP.

Do they take every bit of money we earn that isn't eaten up by bills?

What about food shopping?

and clothes for the children, the youngest is only 2 and the oldest 7 and they grow so fast they are barely in their clothes for 5 minutes!

Do we have an allowance for things like school trips, daughters rainbows, daughters Gymnastic classes?

Even though we are in significant debt (£39,500) I don't want our failings with money (some due to circumstance change beyond our control and others due to burying our heads in the sand and pretending we had everything in hand) to have an adverse effect on our daughters. I am not talking expensive holidays and fancy designer clothes but I have a cheap holiday in a caravan booked, are they likely to let me continue paying for this or will i have to forefit the deposit and break it to my girls we are not going?

I am trying to stay positive and look to a time when we are debt free but it just seems so so far away at the moment :sad:

Hi Kath,


I suggest you have a play with the debt remedy tool on the stepchange website that will give you a clearer idea of how it all works.


Puzz.

Time_to_face_the_music

CharlieWannaWin wrote: »

Thanks for the above. We owe in total about £50k, split between 12 debts. Three Natwest overdrafts, one Natwest Loan, one Sainsburys Loan, credit cards with Amex, Capital One, Natwest x 2, Barclaycard x 2 and MBNA. We're paying £674 a month since Jan so they've all had two payments and I also paid an extra £2k in which was shared amongst them.

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Hi Charlotte

Neither SC or PP do this for you. It is quite easy to do yourself though, people can help here if you have any questions. Please don't rely on SC balances as both they and PP do estimates. Important to keep yourself in charge of the whole thing if you are not already. Some people have had some nasty shocks finding they still had a lot of money and time left to run when they thought they would be done.

HHx

Hi Charlotte and welcome :hello:

HH is totally correct, as usual, and you need to push for your creditors to stop interest. You actually need to use the word complaint in your letters to ensure they take it seriously and that you are able to follow the action up with the FOS, if you don't get the result you want. Some great template letters on National Debtline website or you want some help, just ask and someone will point you in the right direction.

Just a thought - Paying the extra £2K may have possibly contributed to this situation. If you paid below your normal minimum payments in January and February, the creditors may have seen their share of the £2K top up as bringing you back up to date with your payments.

Best piece of advice I was ever given when I was in a managed DMP was to never forget that while someone else was making the payments to the creditors that the debt was still mine and it was my responsibility to ensure interest was stopped, that payments were recorded, and that I kept on top of my statements on my own spreadsheet, as well as checking on Stepchange's website.

Hope you get this sorted but please don't hesitate to ask if you need any help.

TTFTM x

Time_to_face_the_music

Kath_T wrote: »

Myself and my husband have finally opened our eyes to the dire state our finances are in. It has taken a while but we are now both 100% committed to sorting things out. We both have good jobs with what I would class as reasonably good wages. We have contacted Stepchange and are awaiting a call back regarding setting up a DMP.

Could somebody please explain in laymans terms what will happen when we start the DMP.

Do they take every bit of money we earn that isn't eaten up by bills?

What about food shopping?

and clothes for the children, the youngest is only 2 and the oldest 7 and they grow so fast they are barely in their clothes for 5 minutes!

Do we have an allowance for things like school trips, daughters rainbows, daughters Gymnastic classes?

Even though we are in significant debt (£39,500) I don't want our failings with money (some due to circumstance change beyond our control and others due to burying our heads in the sand and pretending we had everything in hand) to have an adverse effect on our daughters. I am not talking expensive holidays and fancy designer clothes but I have a cheap holiday in a caravan booked, are they likely to let me continue paying for this or will i have to forefit the deposit and break it to my girls we are not going?

I am trying to stay positive and look to a time when we are debt free but it just seems so so far away at the moment :sad:

Hi Kath and welcome :hello:

Stepchange will expect you to work to a budget that falls within their guidelines on spending. For example: for 2 adults and 2 children food costs should be between £300 and £526 per month, clothing between £18 and £93 per month, school trips up to £14 per month etc. You can easily find out these figures by adding silly numbers to Debt Remedy and it will flag up what you are actually allowed to spend

You can add some fiddle factors to make allowances above their total allowance, e.g. don't smoke? You do now and are allowed up to £335 per month for tobacco. Don't have any pets? Invent a few with associated costs for food and vet insurance. I know this is naughty but it does allow you some quality of life in the long haul of a DMP so don't feel too guilty about it.

My recommendation would be to have these figures calculated, printed out and ready BEFORE you speak to Stepchange:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

Please stick around for help, advice and support.

TTFTM x

blisteringblue

1st letter from creditor. Nothing nasty, included an income and expenditure form and advised us to contact a company like Stepchange. Will reply with a copy of these from my step change pack along with my Stepchange Ref, just so I can send another request to please make sure they stop the interest charges.

Hope they are all like this

:T

Monkeyballs

blisteringblue wrote: »

1st letter from creditor. Nothing nasty, included an income and expenditure form and advised us to contact a company like Stepchange. Will reply with a copy of these from my step change pack along with my Stepchange Ref, just so I can send another request to please make sure they stop the interest charges.

Hope they are all like this

:T

Hi Blue,

It's possible that their letter to you and the letter from SC to them has crossed in the post... Do what you have said (so it maches what SC will have sent them) but also let SC know just in case they've not sent it out already yet...

I always let SC know everything that happened in the first month or two just to be sure

MB

Sazzie23

CharlieWannaWin wrote: »

Thanks for the above. We owe in total about £50k, split between 12 debts. Three Natwest overdrafts, one Natwest Loan, one Sainsburys Loan, credit cards with Amex, Capital One, Natwest x 2, Barclaycard x 2 and MBNA. We're paying £674 a month since Jan so they've all had two payments and I also paid an extra £2k in which was shared amongst them.

Hi Charlie

Think TTFTM may have spotted the issue with the extra payments which have likely taken your payments above the mimimum, this will almost certainly cause them to charge you interest in some form or other. Barcalycard have some sort of formulae where the amount of interest they charge depends on the percentage of repayment you manage, MBNA have some other odd calaculation going on, but this doesn't mean you should accept it. You sound up to managing a challenge, using the advice signposted in previous posts.

Great advice from TTFTM & HH (as always) to anyone either starting out, or sometime into, a DMP - check those balances, challenge charges and interest and take advice before making additional payments. Probably worth reading through a few(or alot) of back pages on this thread to look at recurring themes.