DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Puzzcat

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

Hey Puzzcat,

Thanks for the welcome! I did have a quick 'back of fag-packet' calculation and it'll probably take another three or four months off of the DFD, so it's something I'll think about after a while, but for now, the guys at GP have been really good to deal with, so I'm willing to cut them a little slack for now to get everything set up and rolling, plus the bonus of car finance finishing in July and a pay-rise on the horizon might combine to drop it even further if I play my cards right.

They claim they have a 98% success rate in creditors agreeing with their DMP's and their acumen and history seems to be ok as I did some research before committing, there are obviously some poor reviews out there but I take that as standard, it's the classic saying of 'you can please some of the people all of the time...'

Just hope it's that over-the-edge step to a brighter, financially focused future for me, I've spent too long relying on quick-fix lines of credit that make me worse off in the long run, so if I cut out the possibility of even being accepted for that, then I'm already half-way there to cutting my cloth accordingly

I can't comment on the 98% success rate for gp, I can only say that out of my 9 creditors all 9 accepted the dmp and only 1 is still charging a low interest rate after a little fight with the fos' s assistance!
At the end of the day it is your decision and you must do what you are happy with.
Do keep posting and let us know how it is all going....I'm sure there are other posters on here who have started with fee paying and then swapped to free or self managed dmp's.

Powered_By_Pies

Puzzcat wrote: »

I can't comment on the 98% success rate for gp, I can only say that out of my 9 creditors all 9 accepted the dmp and only 1 is still charging a low interest rate after a little fight with the fos' s assistance!
At the end of the day it is your decision and you must do what you are happy with.
Do keep posting and let us know how it is all going....I'm sure there are other posters on here who have started with fee paying and then swapped to free or self managed dmp's.

I think you're right and there are tales of people starting with fee-paying DMP's and then switching to a free one.

I'll keep updates going, partly for other people's interest and partly as a way of recording it myself!

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

I think you're right and there are tales of people starting with fee-paying DMP's and then switching to a free one.

I'll keep updates going, partly for other people's interest and partly as a way of recording it myself!

Welcome

No one here to judge, well all find our own way

HHx

carlislelass

Don`t know if I`m on the right bit but we became DEBT FREE!!!today.It`s been a long, hard slog with many tears

Hopelessly_Hopeful

carlislelass wrote: »

Don`t know if I`m on the right bit but we became DEBT FREE!!!today.It`s been a long, hard slog with many tears

Congratulations - well like celebrating good news

I think this is the thread you want https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/291326

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Just popped in to say well wishes to Kate for tomorrow. Hope all goes well and you can come and visit us and let you know how you are soon.


TTFTM x

Time_to_face_the_music

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

Hello all!

Not sure if this is the right thread for this so excuse any ignorance on my behalf, but I've just set up a DMP and have already made the first payment, so I'm hopefully underway with it all

Quick overview;

At 25 years old I've managed to rack up about 7 grands' worth of debt, the primary one being Natwest who I will continue to hate with every fibre of my being until the day I die, but what pushed me into finally going down the DMP route was a combination of me trying to keep all my other creditors happy and continually taking out small lumps of credit every month to cover one payment, only for this to turn into another payment, with interest fees, etc... You get the idea, not helped by the fact I tried going down the 'easy to get hold of' route and using payday companies.... I know, I know!

It hit home last month when I realised that at the end of April if I stayed as-is then I'd have about 20 quid to my name once all the payments had been made, so I set up a DMP with *deep breath* Gregory Pennington. Yes, it's a fee-based DMP provider and I know on forums like this one they can be considered as bad as the rest of them and I'll now have loads of posters telling me I should be using a free alternative like Stepchange or Payplan, but for the moment, things are working out and I'm happy to carry on with it until I can get a better understanding of how to play the system, as it were.

So far, between pay-day which was the 28th and today I've only had one of the creditors call me and I wasn't around to take the call, one of them took a payment which turned out to be the banks' fault (I'd phoned them a few weeks ago to cancel continuous card payment and they didn't seem to have included this one on their list) but a quick call and the payment's being refunded, so I suspect another snotty call once they realise what I've done.

The DMP guys are sending out offer letters to the creditors from today and they say it can take between 4-6 weeks for everything to settle down and a rhythm can start of just paying the DMP and getting on with my life, which I hope is true, but being the kind of person that plans for the worst and hopes for the best, I'm sure one of them won't want to play ball and I'll have to deal with them accordingly.

DFD is forecast as around August 2016, sounds a lifetime away but considering I got a car on finance in 2010 and have two payments left, I know it can be done. This should allow me to actually budget for my needs instead of being stupid with my money like I have been - apart from the fact I'm now convincing myself that from this day on, credit is not an option for me, I only have one CC with Capital One and seeing as that's going on the creditors' list, I will shortly be cutting it up and using just my current account and what I earn each month. A combination of my car finance ending in July and a pay-rise at work scheduled for somewhere between September - December should also allow me to increase the payments, reducing the DFD a little bit along the way.

So that's my story, hopefully I can put a nice big 'I'm debt free' banner in my signature in due course!

Hi Powered_By_Pies and welcome :hello:

OK everyone else has been nice, I'm not going to be, I really need to be straight about this!

You owe approximately £7000 and your DFD is estimated as August 2016. Is that with or without Gregory Pennington's fees?

Over that 2 years and 4 months, you will pay them a minimum of £38.50 a month, which adds up to £1078. This is around 15.5% of your debt! Why are you throwing that money away, it should be coming off your debt not lining their fat pockets.

Gregory Pennington say they have a 98% success rate? Guess what, I have a 100% success rate and I do it on my own and have paid off £58,474 in 26 months. Dump them and stick around here and we will show you how it's done.

I'll even ask nicely ..... please dump them

TTFTM x

Time_to_face_the_music

carlislelass wrote: »

Don`t know if I`m on the right bit but we became DEBT FREE!!!today.It`s been a long, hard slog with many tears

Very well done, that's brilliant news carlislelass! :j

Puzzcat

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hi Powered_By_Pies and welcome :hello:

OK everyone else has been nice, I'm not going to be, I really need to be straight about this!

You owe approximately £7000 and your DFD is estimated as August 2016. Is that with or without Gregory Pennington's fees?

Over that 2 years and 4 months, you will pay them a minimum of £38.50 a month, which adds up to £1078. This is around 15.5% of your debt! Why are you throwing that money away, it should be coming off your debt not lining their fat pockets.

Gregory Pennington say they have a 98% success rate? Guess what, I have a 100% success rate and I do it on my own and have paid off £58,474 in 26 months. Dump them and stick around here and we will show you how it's done.

I'll even ask nicely ..... please dump them

TTFTM x

That's sort of what I wanted to say, but not yet brave enough! Maybe when I've paid off 58k!!!! I will be...you rock TTFTM...x

Sazzie23

Puzzcat wrote: »

That's sort of what I wanted to say, but not yet brave enough! Maybe when I've paid off 58k!!!! I will be...you rock TTFTM...x

You really do TTfTm and we love you for it.

However, we all want to be debt free and anyway to get there is better than non. Sure PbP is on the right direction, just not the most direct route.

Hi PbP and welcome

Your choice for a fee paying is one thing, what concerns me is that I'm not sure you have the budgeting advice you get with stepchange. you can do their debt remedy on line it's free and anonymous if you want.
In there it shows you how to budget for everything....everything. If I'd taken advice like that a lot earlier I might not have been heading for 50 worrying about every last £.

Stepchange also insist you give up all forms of credit as part of the DMP, sounds like you might still have access to a CC. I'd get rid of it, the temptation would be top much for me, but maybe you are stronger.
Anyway good luck with whatever you decide and thanks for joining us.