DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Sazzie23

Hi. Blonde

I am with Stepchange, but I would say if Payplan haven't got back to you yet and you are already nearly self managed, I think it's a very strong temptation to go it for it alone. Have you checked out the NEDCAB self managed DMP site, apparently it's excellent and might give you the confidence to ditch Payplan.

Hope this helps, plenty of support on this thread if you need any.

Sazzie23

sickasachip13 wrote: »

Hi TTFTM (and GrowUrOwn and Larac)

Yes, it does become a bit of a grind at times doesn't it. But then, goodness only know what sorry state we'd be in if we hadn't started the DMP!

TTFTM, I need to reinvigorate my spreadsheets, I have been neglecting them! Like you say, the milestones make a difference - dropping from the debt begining with a 4, to a 3, to a 2 and, shortly, a 1 :-) That's good stuff.

I do spend time looking at my Stepchange statements as I love it when one the debts drops into a different bracket. After I last posted I actually got all my statements out, from the start of the DMP and spread them across the floor and just reminded myself of the epic journey we've been on so far.

Glad it's going well for you folks and TTFTM, holidays are a great incentive :T

SAAC x

ETA: I also just looked back at the piece I did for Stepchange an age ago, and that cheered me up too! http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/09/my-debt-hell/

Hi Saac

Thanks, we need a regular dose of inspiration to keep us going, I've added a number of payments to DFD column on my spreadsheet. In the case of the still charging interest ones I can see me paying foreverstill, but the others are coming down slowly and that keeps me going.

Come back sooooooon

77blondie

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi. Blonde

I am with Stepchange, but I would say if Payplan haven't got back to you yet and you are already nearly self managed, I think it's a very strong temptation to go it for it alone. Have you checked out the NEDCAB self managed DMP site, apparently it's excellent and might give you the confidence to ditch Payplan.

Hope this helps, plenty of support on this thread if you need any.

Thanks snazzie. So confused!

Growurown

:wave: Afternoon everyone. Nice to see some old faces, hi SAAC and ST:hello: Great to hear things are still going well.

Nothing much to report, things just chugging along and hoping the car isn't going to misbehave:)

Kate_fixing_it

Hi everyone,

Congratulations to those seeing some great sucesses

I have some good-ish news! Tax credits have written and the huge overpayment is being taken from the 2014/15 award. They are also going to be paying us £20 a week from Monday doesn't sound much at first but it does mean that payments to step change can now be £128 a month instead of £48. Again not a mammoth difference until you look at the DFD which has gone from over 18 years to just under 8 :j :j

There are other things to take into account in the coming 8 years - teens getting too old to claim for, little ones not needing childcare but on the flip side both of those will mean a reduction in outgoings.

Just the good news I needed after a truly terrible few days and I've not actually done anything!

Kate x

Sazzie23

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Hi everyone,



I have some good-ish news! Tax credits have written and the huge overpayment is being taken from the 2014/15 award. They are also going to be paying us £20 a week from Monday doesn't sound much at first but it does mean that payments to step change can now be £128 a month instead of £48. Again not a mammoth difference until you look at the DFD which has gone from over 18 years to just under 8 :j :j


Kate x

Knocking 10 years off a DFD date :beer::D
Course things will change over time, but steps in the right direction are fabbie news. Hang in there Kate, things are turning round for you.

When's the op date ?

Kate_fixing_it

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Knocking 10 years off a DFD date :beer::D
Course things will change over time, but steps in the right direction are fabbie news. Hang in there Kate, things are turning round for you.

When's the op date ?

15th April *gulp* today is exactly 11 months since the initial surgery 100s of miles from home to fix the (still) unexplainable break - seriously who breaks their leg in two places just from bending down to stroke a cat at 35?!? Icky wet horrible day here which means waking up in pain but TBH it's better than the now nightly dreams about waking up to find the offending leg gone!

Hopefully this will improve my life considerably, I can focus on getting through exams, qualifying and upping my income. All good omens for debt busting.

That 10 year reduction is a huge weight off my shoulders and the fact that the DMP is going smoothly so far is such a help - now I can have sleepless nights about the op instead :rotfl:

Kate x

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

15th April *gulp* today is exactly 11 months since the initial surgery 100s of miles from home to fix the (still) unexplainable break - seriously who breaks their leg in two places just from bending down to stroke a cat at 35?!? Icky wet horrible day here which means waking up in pain but TBH it's better than the now nightly dreams about waking up to find the offending leg gone!

Hopefully this will improve my life considerably, I can focus on getting through exams, qualifying and upping my income. All good omens for debt busting.

That 10 year reduction is a huge weight off my shoulders and the fact that the DMP is going smoothly so far is such a help - now I can have sleepless nights about the op instead :rotfl:

Kate x

Excellent news Kate


What a good start to the weekend


HHx

Kate_fixing_it

Grrrr HSBC called again 25 minutes on the phone to ascertain that a system error meant action had not been held for 60 days. The girl who called had the cheek to say it's the fault of step change for not being in touch since they called on Tuesday night! Apparently nothing from me has been received (this is allegedly SC's fault too!)

Eventually she apologised (again) and told me I ought to be chasing SC regularly to get this set up as that's what I'm paying for (!!!!!!?!?) I explained who SC are and what they do but I'm not sure she took it on board.

Not the best start to the weekend but done now. I've made a note of the date and time of the call and who I spoke to. Hopefully that's the end of it. On the bright side I'm fully awake now and I can get started on my "blitz the house before the op" plan nice and early. Another rough night because of pain and waking up post op to amputation dreams but I can handle that. Really looking forward to sitting down in a spotless house tonight, hopefully I'll be too tired for the weird dreams and very relaxed in my newly organised house

Kate x

larnier

I have just posted about our difficult experience with DMP. Then saw this thread which has been quite eye opening - I wish I had seen it before as it would have prepared me for a lot of what has happened as our DMC was so optimistic at the outset and did not prepare us for the approach the banks have taken. Anyway, I see that a lot of you have had success writing to / talking to creditors. Our DMC have told me NOT to do this under any circumstances and if I do this I will make things worse as they are the experts. I have had similar experiences of letters saying completely different things to what the DMC say. Lots of threats of legal action and very little in the way of reducing interest - the "concessions" that we are getting are in the main giving us time to pay off arrears which only accrued due to the 2 month lag between us starting to pay the DMC and the DMC paying the creditors - we still get penalties for not paying the minimum amount - even though we are paying more than the old minimum amount (before DMP) they add the arrears to the new min amount therefore the now bigger payment is not enough! The money for these arrears is there - its sitting in the DMC's account in what they call the creditors pot, but they can't pay the arrears off as this is not what the DMP is about. Do you think we should try talking to the banks as so far we have refused to do so as we were advised ?