DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Time_to_face_the_music

Good morning DMPers new and old

Read something interesting yesterday about guidelines on the length of DMPs and now I can't find the post. Anyway I did a bit of searching and found some interesting guidelines published by the Insolvency Service last year.

For anyone else who is interested, go to this page:

http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionandlegislation/policychange/policychange.htm

then scroll down to Debt Management Plan Protocol and open the document entitled Protocol - Final Version

It's a voluntary code and seems to be intended for fee charging DMP providers but I would have thought that StepChange and other free providers would have followed the same guidelines and they don't seem to :whistle:


Edited to say: I have just realised I have included a hyperlink to the actual document but it's worth going via the site anyway as there is some other interesting stuff there.

Mockingjays

Everoptimistic31 wrote: »

Hi everyone.

I'm new to this forum and as I write this message I admit I feel scared and more than a little bit hopeless.

After years of getting myself into hotter and hotter water - and point blank refusal to accept it - today I realised that if I'm to ever get my life back on track I need to tackle my debt.

I have £61,000 of it, all on credit cards. Just writing the figure down makes me feel physically ill.

I've requested a DMP pack from Step Change but I'm already living in fear of the threatening letters my creditors might write to me or the telephone calls they might make once I'm signed up to it. Every time I realise that in giving all my surplus to Step Change each month I'll have to cut back on little things like birthday presents for the family or the occasional bunch of flowers for my partner I want to cry. Knowing I'll not be able to go on holiday for over 6 years and the realisation that my credit rating won't recover for over a decade so I'll never be able to buy a house feels right now like a hurdle I don't know I will ever be able to jump over...it all just seems so futile.

And worst of all, I have no one to blame but myself.

I'm sorry for the depressing message, I guess that writing it down is a form of therapy at the start of what will be a long and difficult journey. And of course I've read through this thread and seen what fantastic support you all offer each other. Knowing there is a community out there that understands the overwhelming emotions attached to a debt problem makes me feel like there is just a small light there that hopefully will shine on me now and again.

Thanks for listening

Hello, we've all been there and well done for the LBM. It's hard to admit there's a problem, but you've taken the huge first step in tackling things, so well done for that.

I remember the sick feeling I had when I first realised the extend of debts and that I couldn't cope.

I do understand how hard it is too when you consider who your life will change. But things like holidays and presents can often be bought on credit, and they may have contributed to the current situation. Trying to take things a step at the time really helps. Getting out of debt takes time, but when you think about it it probably took you years to amount the debt you currently have, so it makes sense it'll take a little time.

Good luck, and remember there's plenty of support on this site.

Mockingjays

Hello everyone,

I've been around a little while, and was on a DMP with StepChange for 3 years. I've now decided to do a self-managed DMP and just in the process of going through my budget to send to creditors.

It's been interesting to discover there are a few people around doing a self managed DMP and would be good to hear from anyone doing that.

All the best to everyone.

Suseka

Hi and welcome EO31 :hello:

Try not to focus too much on the negative... easier said than done, I know. I too felt physically ill at the outset of our DMP and at times my body shook uncontrollably whenever I had to speak to creditors -even when the person at the other end of the phone was being very sympathetic.

You've taken that first step and that's brilliant. You'll soon be on your debt free journey and there's loads of information on this thread that you'll find invaluable. You'll see from my sig that I'm in it for the long haul and am nearing my first annual review. All bar one of my creditors (Halifax) have frozen interest and I cannot tell you how fantastic I feel each month getting statements and seeing the balances reduced. I actually look forward to them

Do be realistic about your budget - it has to be manageable. We didn't add those 'extras' mentioned by others simply because we didn't realise we could have, but would have if we had known. But my OH gets a few days overtime here and there, so that helps and adds to our emergency fund.

So - deep breath, get all your papers together and work out a realistic budget for your family. Start sending token (£1) payments to your creditors advising that you are in the process of setting up a DMP with SC (and quote the reference).... then sit back and relax a bit. You've done the hard bit taking that very first step towards a debt free life :T

Time_to_face_the_music

Mockingjays wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I've been around a little while, and was on a DMP with StepChange for 3 years. I've now decided to do a self-managed DMP and just in the process of going through my budget to send to creditors.

It's been interesting to discover there are a few people around doing a self managed DMP and would be good to hear from anyone doing that.

All the best to everyone.

Hi and welcome Mockingjays :hello:

I think I introduced myself on another thread but this is my original "home" on MSE

I started off with Stepchange (then CCCS) but went self managed after about 10 months and have never looked back.

I use the NED CAB DMP

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

which provides absolutely everything you need to run your own DMP. I really can't recommend it highly enough and am very grateful to Alice who originally pointed me in that direction.

Stick around and join our community, it doesn't matter if you are with an organised DMP or running your own, you will still get a massive amount of help, advice, experience and support here.

TTFTM x

rubyinthesky

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I know it's a hassle but I am another one in agreement with protecting the business account by moving it to another bank, I really would not trust Santander not to offset.

Don't pay Very on a credit card, it's not worth the risk but I will confess that I completely maxed out all overdraft facilities available to us before we started our DMP and used that cash as a small emergency fund

It does all settle down reasonably quickly and your mention of a couple of months is pretty accurate. We had non-stop hassle for 6 weeks plus the upset of debt increasing in the first month but by week 6, the phone calls and letters had pretty much stopped and at the end of month 3, we saw a small drop in our debt and it's been downhill all the way from there.

Please stick around for all the help, advice and support you need.

TTFTM x

I'm of the mind that this is the best thing to do too. Only problem is, I should have done this before I phoned and told the banks, etc. Although I've not defaulted on anything until the end of the month, so have never had a late payment ever, I now feel that I need to be upfront with any bank that I approached. I've opened the Co-op Cashminder account and their instant access savings account on Saturday over the phone with the lovely girl in accounts department, but I have to wait until Monday to speak to the Business Banking side - I need to be upfront and whilst I don't want an overdraft or credit card for the business, when I tell them I'm about to enter into a DMP, I think I know what their answer will be. This is really going to affect my business. I'm a franchise, so I'm really worried about head office getting whiff of what's going on.

Mockingjays

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hi and welcome Mockingjays :hello:

I think I introduced myself on another thread but this is my original "home" on MSE

I started off with Stepchange (then CCCS) but went self managed after about 10 months and have never looked back.

I use the NED CAB DMP

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

which provides absolutely everything you need to run your own DMP. I really can't recommend it highly enough and am very grateful to Alice who originally pointed me in that direction.

Stick around and join our community, it doesn't matter if you are with an organised DMP or running your own, you will still get a massive amount of help, advice, experience and support here.

TTFTM x

Hi there TTFTM,

Thanks very much for the welcome. Yes, I recall you saying this was a helpful thread so thought I'd come along and join you all.

Thanks too for the link, much appreciated

Meatloaf1981

Mockingjays wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I've been around a little while, and was on a DMP with StepChange for 3 years. I've now decided to do a self-managed DMP and just in the process of going through my budget to send to creditors.

It's been interesting to discover there are a few people around doing a self managed DMP and would be good to hear from anyone doing that.

All the best to everyone.

Hi Mockingjays,

My DMP is being setup for me through Workplace Options who are a company associated with my organisation to assist employees with things including debt, welfare and health as well as mental health. They are negotiating the payments for me, and then I am setting up the standing orders for the agreed payments. This gives me flexibility and ownership without having to worry about whether any creditors have not been paid etc. Peace of mind without the onerous task of having to agree everything myself. As my situation improves and I get pay rises, I can then look to resubmit my financial position for consideration of increasing payments and bringing forward my DFD.

The only downside is I don't know my current DFD as the payments are being renegotiated. I expect this will happen several times over the next few years as my salary rises incrementally and with cost of living. I am having to get used to having a set amount of cash in my current account though and having no access to credit so an emergency/overflow fund is absolutely paramount to ensure if something goes wrong, I have a way of dealing with it. Thankfully a PPI reclaim has firmly provided me with a half decent emergency fund that I will not need to add to very much.

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

We all suffer from burying our heads, or ostrich syndrome as someone here aptly names it.

I suffered with this syndrome for years. I even named my spreadsheet after it:rotfl::rotfl:

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

I suffered with this syndrome for years. I even named my spreadsheet after it:rotfl::rotfl:

I knew someone here had given it that title :rotfl::rotfl:

Well named GUO :T