DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Sazzie23

Hi Stan and Sam,

Sounds like you both have everything set to live with your DMPs.
Some people have found the early days of settling in a little stressful, with creditors claiming not have received SC paperwork, or not accepting the DMP. However, hang in there and you should start to see the light, or at least a way to find that elusive light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Please come back to say Hi and for any questions.

Like Puzz, my DMP is the best thing I have done financially, am now in my second year of about 6 years although the date keeps getting extended due to some creditors refusing to freeze interest, (although most have and all but one are on reduced rate).

My next challenge is to find a good ipad spreadsheet package as the savvy soda one I had has run out of free lines and my 'payments to DFD column has fallen off the end' :rotfl:

StanwithaPlan

Thank you both for your replies

Sazzie my DMP is due to take 6 years providing interest is frozen...I am hoping that because they are getting a relatively small payment that interest will be frozen - will have wait and see!

I do have a question about token payments though - I don't have a cheque book so is it safe to send token payments via internet banking? I have heard you should send postal orders or cheques but if my new bank isn't linked in anyway to my old ones is it still a risk to send internet payments?

Growurown

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

Thank you both for your replies

Sazzie my DMP is due to take 6 years providing interest is frozen...I am hoping that because they are getting a relatively small payment that interest will be frozen - will have wait and see!

I do have a question about token payments though - I don't have a cheque book so is it safe to send token payments via internet banking? I have heard you should send postal orders or cheques but if my new bank isn't linked in anyway to my old ones is it still a risk to send internet payments?

Hi StanwithaPlan - great name btw! I don't see why you can't make internet payments. It would be cheaper than sending postal orders. As long as your creditors know who the money has come from! I paid mine over the counter at the bank using the counterfoil on the bill.

StanwithaPlan

Growurown wrote: »

Hi StanwithaPlan - great name btw! I don't see why you can't make internet payments. It would be cheaper than sending postal orders. As long as your creditors know who the money has come from! I paid mine over the counter at the bank using the counterfoil on the bill.

I never thought of using the actual bill, they all arrive by email! but I don't work in town so internet payments would be easier for me, thanks!

Must get the letters sorted next week...have to do a sneaky and print them off at work at a quiet moment as I don't have a printer

Growurown

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

Must get the letters sorted next week...have to do a sneaky and print them off at work at a quiet moment as I don't have a printer

I do that too. I also charge my phone for free:D

StanwithaPlan

Growurown wrote: »

I do that too. I also charge my phone for free:D

Now there's a thought...

Kate_fixing_it

Hi Stan and welcome,

Your situation seems much like mine - it was a car repair that pushed me to the edge. The day after I also had a big drop in income and made the SC call. They and this forum have saved my sanity! We also have a similar DFD and like you I muddled through alone for a while and made a little progress but the relief now... well, the feeling is incomparible!

I was (like you) expecting I lot of shouting from creditors. In fact I've only heard from two via phone. One had a system error so made a second call the other was rather difficult but have stopped calling. I've had lots of automated letters which I've read and filed. I received the magic text and email from SC only last Thursday to say my DMP is up and running and I've had a wonderful weekend since. I'm really living again.

The posters on this thread are amazing, they've been (and still are) a fantastic support, saving me from really stupid ideas more than once.

I wish you all the luck in the world with this, however, it's not really anything to do with luck, it's hard work, dedication and time.

Kate x

StanwithaPlan

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Hi Stan and welcome,

Your situation seems much like mine - it was a car repair that pushed me to the edge. The day after I also had a big drop in income and made the SC call. They and this forum have saved my sanity! We also have a similar DFD and like you I muddled through alone for a while and made a little progress but the relief now... well, the feeling is incomparible!

I was (like you) expecting I lot of shouting from creditors. In fact I've only heard from two via phone. One had a system error so made a second call the other was rather difficult but have stopped calling. I've had lots of automated letters which I've read and filed. I received the magic text and email from SC only last Thursday to say my DMP is up and running and I've had a wonderful weekend since. I'm really living again.

The posters on this thread are amazing, they've been (and still are) a fantastic support, saving me from really stupid ideas more than once.

I wish you all the luck in the world with this, however, it's not really anything to do with luck, it's hard work, dedication and time.

Kate x

Thanks Kate, I have spent years skint and fearing issues with either the house or car as there just was no spare money without borrowing/shuffling things around or not paying my electricity bill that month...or the one after...or the one after that (what a numpty:eek:) I don't really care what the creditors throw at me - I have to get out of his mess!

I'm at this point purely because I lived up to my means, and slightly beyond...then my means went down but my living didn't - then with all the interest that's being piled on I simply couldn't reduce it nor my other outgoings any further

Weirdly when I had no spare money an emergency savings pot should have been priority but I felt it wasn't worth the bother as whenever I managed to save a little bit I ended up having to use it to live as I couldn't afford to save it in the first place

Onwards and upwards from now though

Kate_fixing_it

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

I'm at this point purely because I lived up to my means, and slightly beyond...then my means went down but my living didn't - then with all the interest that's being piled on I simply couldn't reduce it nor my other outgoings any further

Ditto ditto ditto! You are spot on there! I think it shows how committed we are to solving our individual issues from our usernames. I often wince when I see usernames including sentiments of desperation, there's ALWAYS a way out. I remember giggling a little during my first call to SC about how boring my life sounds in terms of the SOA, everything was cut back to the bones but tgere simply wasn't enough to cover it all.

As it happens between my posts I've had a call from another creditor. Considering the reason for the call they were lovely! (Tesco bank could take a few lessons here ) I told them they'll hear from SC, when I'll be paying and when they'll receive something. They took my reference number and wished me well. This is in fact my largest debt of 7 at around £2.8k. No demand for payment, just a reasonable and polite human reaction.

personally I'm (mostly) past thinking about how I got here. It's done and the money is owed, I can't change that now I can only move forward, repay it and learn from it. That doesn't mean I don't have the odd bad day or sleepless night but I have legitimate hope for the future now.

We can do this.

Kate x

Time_to_face_the_music

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

personally I'm (mostly) past thinking about how I got here. It's done and the money is owed, I can't change that now I can only move forward, repay it and learn from it. That doesn't mean I don't have the odd bad day or sleepless night but I have legitimate hope for the future now.

That is one to add to my favourites, excellent post Kate :T