DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Sazzie23

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Aaaaand... drumroll please... IT'S DONE!

Less than 3 hours after I posted this I received a text from SC to tell me it's up and running and my first payment will be taken on 10th May :j

I'm so so pleased. Huge thanks to you all for your help and support. I have carefully checked my bank and "splurged" on some posh ice cream that was on offer (£2 ) to celebrate from the entertainment budget. Of course I won't be opening it for a couple of hours (slimming world meeting tonight first) but it's certainly improved my mood after a pretty awful couple of weeks

6 years and 7 months to freedom

Kate x

Yeeha:j galloping up to the DMP start-line, sorry to hear about your op date, :mad: very disappointing for you, pleased they have given you a new date though.

Enjoy that ice cream, yummy

Sazzie23

Suseka wrote: »

Thanks HH,

S'funny how differently they treat each case, when they say they follow a set procedure! That's why I'm checking statements carefully and only giving them two more months maximum to default me

Sx

2 accounts, same CC company, one defaulted with no interest, one charging interest and no default... IMO .set procedures are a not funny laugh !!!

Cheerier note, it's a beautiful day and there was hardly any traffic this morning. Happy Easter everyone :easter::easter:

sam.T

Hi everyone, firstly i think this is the right place to put this but if not my apologies and stick me in numpty corner if it isnt.

Right then, myself and my hubby are currently in the process of setting up a DMP with Stepchange and for the most part it has been running very smoothly.The only thing we need to really do now is to send our copy of the agreement/direct debt mandate to them. Our first payment date is due on the 10th may and for the first time in a few years ive been able to smile somewhat that we ive finally took a big step in the right way in managing our debt.

The only two this which are worrying me now is ,firstly stepchange's agreement part 6.

"To tell you in advance if i cannot make a payment. I will be responsible for the payment of any CCJs or sheriffs orders until i pay you next. If i dont pay my CCjs or Sheriffs orders , I will be in default and this will have further consequences on me."

Does this mean that if i cannot pay Stepchange the set agreement on the direct debt and or if i receive and CCJs or sheriffs orders whilst on the DMP?

Secondly what happens or what can we do if our creditors dont accept the payment from Stepchange or if they dont freeze interest/charges?

We understand that we will get letters and phones calls at least in the first few months of our DMP but stepchange says they will quickly stop if we quote our reference number in a response.

Literally these two things are the only things that are stopping me from sending the agreement via email now. And as stepchange is now closed until Tuesday, i am on slight tenterhooks.

Puzzcat

sam.T wrote: »

Hi everyone, firstly i think this is the right place to put this but if not my apologies and stick me in numpty corner if it isnt.

Right then, myself and my hubby are currently in the process of setting up a DMP with Stepchange and for the most part it has been running very smoothly.The only thing we need to really do now is to send our copy of the agreement/direct debt mandate to them. Our first payment date is due on the 10th may and for the first time in a few years ive been able to smile somewhat that we ive finally took a big step in the right way in managing our debt.

The only two this which are worrying me now is ,firstly stepchange's agreement part 6.

"To tell you in advance if i cannot make a payment. I will be responsible for the payment of any CCJs or sheriffs orders until i pay you next. If i dont pay my CCjs or Sheriffs orders , I will be in default and this will have further consequences on me."

Does this mean that if i cannot pay Stepchange the set agreement on the direct debt and or if i receive and CCJs or sheriffs orders whilst on the DMP?

Secondly what happens or what can we do if our creditors dont accept the payment from Stepchange or if they dont freeze interest/charges?

We understand that we will get letters and phones calls at least in the first few months of our DMP but stepchange says they will quickly stop if we quote our reference number in a response.

Literally these two things are the only things that are stopping me from sending the agreement via email now. And as stepchange is now closed until Tuesday, i am on slight tenterhooks.

Hi,
Not sure about question 1, you obviously read everything much more thoroughly than me!!!
With regards to question 2, stepchange will keep paying creditors even if they don't accept but to be honest I didn't have many letters saying acceptance or not, my 7 have all been reasonably well behaved!!! Someone with experience of declining creditors will no doubt pop up shortly!! As for freezing interest there are loads of posts on this thread about how to fight if needs be so grab a cuppa and start reading back. There is also an excellent template letter which was reposted a few pages back.
Good luck, my dmp is the best financial move I ever made.

Growurown

sam.T wrote: »

The only two this which are worrying me now is ,firstly stepchange's agreement part 6.

"To tell you in advance if i cannot make a payment. I will be responsible for the payment of any CCJs or sheriffs orders until i pay you next. If i dont pay my CCjs or Sheriffs orders , I will be in default and this will have further consequences on me."

Hi Sam, I think this means that you have to pay CCJs first, although I don't think it is very clear language tbh. Have you got any CCJs?

There's been a couple of times when I have been unable to make payments due to large repair bills on the car. I just let SC know and they reduced my payment for that month only and went back to normal payments the following month. The creditors don't really like it but there's not a lot they can do about it.

sam.T wrote: »

Secondly what happens or what can we do if our creditors dont accept the payment from Stepchange or if they dont freeze interest/charges?

We understand that we will get letters and phones calls at least in the first few months of our DMP but stepchange says they will quickly stop if we quote our reference number in a response.

Literally these two things are the only things that are stopping me from sending the agreement via email now. And as stepchange is now closed until Tuesday, i am on slight tenterhooks.

If creditors don't accept the amount the advice is usually to just keep on paying and eventually they will settle down and stop asking for more. After all they can't have more than you have got to give can they? Half the time I think it is scare tactics to see if they can get any more out of you.

If they don't freeze charges you can write to them asking for the charges etc. to stop. If they don't agree you can go to the FOS with a complaint. Some people have moved to a self managed DMP where they have more flexibility to reduce their payments to a point where creditors will stop interest. I would recommend that you use SC first, see what happens and if interest and charges don't stop think about self managed at a later date. Only one of my creditors carried on charging interest, so you may be OK. It depends who your debts are with.

sam.T

Hi Puzzcat and Growurown, thanks for the response

Im currently looks back through this thread now the children are in bed and have already seen the template letter that you said about Puzzcat.

Growurown, i dont have any CCJs . and its nice to know that SC will do that if needs be. And had plenty of experience with the FOS when i was getting my ppi back a few years ago.

Well we have sent the final piece to SC so it is in there hands now. Guessing it will be Tuesday when it will be sorted.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

sam.T wrote: »

Hi Puzzcat and Growurown, thanks for the response

Im currently looks back through this thread now the children are in bed and have already seen the template letter that you said about Puzzcat.

Growurown, i dont have any CCJs . and its nice to know that SC will do that if needs be. And had plenty of experience with the FOS when i was getting my ppi back a few years ago.

Well we have sent the final piece to SC so it is in there hands now. Guessing it will be Tuesday when it will be sorted.

Welcome to the gang


HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Just popping in to say hi and welcome to Sam T :hello:

and

Happy Easter to everyone!

:easter:

StanwithaPlan

Hello all, may I join you!

I will be starting my DMP with stepchange shortly - I have dithered over going into a DMP for about TWO YEARS! I kept trying to struggle on and make overpayments and despite managing to reduce my debts bit by bit I simply can't carry on living like this. I have £1000 of arrears on my electricity which I simply couldn't catch up with without reducing other outgoings so for six/seven months StepChange have budgeted them as priority and then that balance will go to my credit cards and overdrafts - in the meantime they are getting £25 pm between them so I'm hopeful they will default me quickly!

I have missed this months payment on my largest debt with Barclaycard as I had to fix the car and that is what pushed me to this point, I am now slightly over my overdraft limit on my current accounts - the rest will soon be screaming at me when they realise what's going on!

I have a new bank account and my wages and direct debits have been swapped over, now all I have to do is prepare the letters to the creditors to tell them what's happening and send back my StepChange paperwork ...

Now I am actually at this point I feel such relief! x

:j

Time_to_face_the_music

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

Hello all, may I join you!

I will be starting my DMP with stepchange shortly - I have dithered over going into a DMP for about TWO YEARS! I kept trying to struggle on and make overpayments and despite managing to reduce my debts bit by bit I simply can't carry on living like this. I have £1000 of arrears on my electricity which I simply couldn't catch up with without reducing other outgoings so for six/seven months StepChange have budgeted them as priority and then that balance will go to my credit cards and overdrafts - in the meantime they are getting £25 pm between them so I'm hopeful they will default me quickly!

I have missed this months payment on my largest debt with Barclaycard as I had to fix the car and that is what pushed me to this point, I am now slightly over my overdraft limit on my current accounts - the rest will soon be screaming at me when they realise what's going on!

I have a new bank account and my wages and direct debits have been swapped over, now all I have to do is prepare the letters to the creditors to tell them what's happening and send back my StepChange paperwork ...

Now I am actually at this point I feel such relief! x

:j

Hi and welcome Stan :hello:

You sound like you have definitely reached your light bulb moment (LBM). Many of us dither and bury our heads in the sand before we get there but when we do, we KNOW we have to do something about it before the debt completely takes over our lives.

It looks like you are all set to go, so please have a read through the thread and feel free to ask any questions we can help you with.

TTFTM x