DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Sazzie23

jojosmokey75 wrote: »

Please can I get some advice. I've just decided to use Stepchange for my uncontrollable debt. Whilst waiting for them to set it up my bank has almost been cleared out from Payday loans !

Hi Jojo

I hope you've been back on the forum, please post again to tell us where you are at now in the process, hopefully we can help you out with some advice on what to do.

First quick advice is that if you have any cash accessible to any creditors, get it out of the accounts ASAP.

nicnak1 wrote: »

Just want to say thank you to all debt free wannabes. For a few months, all I could think about was how I was going to pay the payday loans. It finally came to a head last month when I had 42 to live for the month. I contacted stepchange who were fab, I am loving sticking to their budget. For once I feel in control.I want to say thank you to everyone that has posted, you have changed my life beyond words.

Hi nicnak and welcome :hello:

Glad it's working out, sometimes there can be a few Wobblies at the start of a DMP, keep that it mind and don't be put off.

I am also a fan of the SC budget, it's empowering (not a word I'm keen on but can't think of a better one).

Happy belated birthday the the MSE triplets
Kate /HH /TTfTm

Kate, glad it went well, good wishes for a speedy recovery.

MB Merry xxxxx for last year :rotfl: dunno about the credit limits, maybe be better to close the accounts, I've had ones in the past where the account was closed but the balance retained til I paid it off:eek:

Time_to_face_the_music

Just to clarify things and apologise for the confusion caused by me ..... it wasn't HH's birthday yesterday.

Kate and I are birthday twins. HH and I just see eye to eye on a lot of things and so have always called each other twin

Puzzcat

Hello to newbies...

Happy birthday to everyone, see no confusion then!!! And lovely to hear your op went well Kate, hope your on the mend quickly and can then enjoy some of your time off.

I had a lovely post on my diary thanking me as they are starting a dmp after reading my mad ramblings..made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Wanted to share the thanks with you lovely people because if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be where I am now with 1/20th paid off (see what I did there hh..) so big hugs all round. I love this thread and I love my dmp....
Not so keen on the 5am :eek: get up tomorrow to do a boot fair mind....
Love Puzz.x

Sazzie23

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hello to newbies...

Happy birthday to everyone, see no confusion then!!! And lovely to hear your op went well Kate, hope your on the mend quickly and can then enjoy some of your time off.

I had a lovely post on my diary thanking me as they are starting a dmp after reading my mad ramblings..made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Wanted to share the thanks with you lovely people because if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be where I am now with 1/20th paid off (see what I did there hh..) so big hugs all round. I love this thread and I love my dmp....
Not so keen on the 5am :eek: get up tomorrow to do a boot fair mind....
Love Puzz.x

Go Puzz :T make some more dosh to get rid of that debt :T

Sorry HH for giving you an extra birthday (maybe you should claim it anyway, extra pressies?), thanks TTfTm just me being a muppet :rotfl:

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Go Puzz :T make some more dosh to get rid of that debt :T

Sorry HH for giving you an extra birthday (maybe you should claim it anyway, extra pressies?), thanks TTfTm just me being a muppet :rotfl:

Any excuse for a party me

HHx

Kate_fixing_it

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Just to clarify things and apologise for the confusion caused by me ..... it wasn't HH's birthday yesterday.

Kate and I are birthday twins. HH and I just see eye to eye on a lot of things and so have always called each other twin

Aaah got you now! Sorry for the confusion, doesn't take a lot...blame my age, or the drugs lol I promise to pay more attention going forward.

Nice belated gift for me yesterday, a letter from Asda credit card (Sygma bank) SC plan has been accepted and interest reduced to 0.095% for 12 months, also got a default notice from HSBC on the loan. There's three pages of waffle and Ithink that's what it is but I'll read it properly in a couple of days when my mind is clearer. It's definitely not court papers (we're a long way from that) so it can wait a few days so I can take it in properly. I don't think there's any point trying to make sense of it now and possibly giving myself more worry.

Had a much better night last night, only woke twice in the night and DH had me set up on a sun lounger in the garden for most of yesterday afternoon while he did the garden and the kids played. Far better than stagnating on the sofa

Kate x

Everoptimistic31

Hello all,

After much agonising I have finally taken the plunge and set up my DMP with StepChange. The pretence that everything would be ok had gone on far too long and the way I saw it, I was crippling myself with the illusion that as long as I could somehow keep making the minimum payments on my cards everything would be ok.

As a single person I now have £61,000 to pay off. Just writing it down feels quite unbelievable.

I have read this thread from start to finish and it's been absolutely phenomenal. So many contributors but Hopelessly Hopeful and Time To Face The Music in particular - thank you.

However, before my first payment is even due to leave my account I have a problem. I had been putting off root canal treatment and it was making me more and more ill; finally I couldn't hold it off any longer and had it done on Friday.

The terrible thing is that this means on the very first month I was due to make my first payment to StepChange (£638) I actually have less than £100 that I can give them.

I am worried sick because a direct debit has been set up to take the money and it's due on 10th May. Because it's the bank holiday I can't get hold of them to ask what to do. I'm thinking I should cancel the direct debit for this month only and send StepChange an email explaining. Perhaps I should also send my creditors a letter telling them why I've failed from the start to make my reduced payment?

I hope so much that there are no further emergencies next month and I can just get on with making the full payment but right now I'm just worried about the impact of falling at the first hurdle.

Have any of you longer-termers got any advice?

Time_to_face_the_music

Everoptimistic31 wrote: »

Hello all,

After much agonising I have finally taken the plunge and set up my DMP with StepChange. The pretence that everything would be ok had gone on far too long and the way I saw it, I was crippling myself with the illusion that as long as I could somehow keep making the minimum payments on my cards everything would be ok.

As a single person I now have £61,000 to pay off. Just writing it down feels quite unbelievable.

I have read this thread from start to finish and it's been absolutely phenomenal. So many contributors but Hopelessly Hopeful and Time To Face The Music in particular - thank you.

However, before my first payment is even due to leave my account I have a problem. I had been putting off root canal treatment and it was making me more and more ill; finally I couldn't hold it off any longer and had it done on Friday.

The terrible thing is that this means on the very first month I was due to make my first payment to StepChange (£638) I actually have less than £100 that I can give them.

I am worried sick because a direct debit has been set up to take the money and it's due on 10th May. Because it's the bank holiday I can't get hold of them to ask what to do. I'm thinking I should cancel the direct debit for this month only and send StepChange an email explaining. Perhaps I should also send my creditors a letter telling them why I've failed from the start to make my reduced payment?

I hope so much that there are no further emergencies next month and I can just get on with making the full payment but right now I'm just worried about the impact of falling at the first hurdle.

Have any of you longer-termers got any advice?

Hi Everoptimistic :hello:

Thanks for the kind words, stick around and you will find this thread is all about help, advice, experience and, above all, mutual support.

Sorry to hear about the root canal but that is clearly a dental emergency which needed sorting, hope you are on the way to feeling better now.

I think you need to speak to Stepchange first thing on Tuesday and explain that you need to put off the DMP by one month. To be on the safe side, I would also cancel the DD on your online banking, just to make sure as the timescale is pretty tight.

Are you currently up to date with payment to your creditors or have you been making token payments? Once you have spoken to Stepchange, I would advise writing to each creditor and making a small token payment at the same time. Anything remaining, put to one side as the start of your emergency fund.

Keep hold of your receipt for your dental payment, just in case anyone gets funny with you and you can send them a copy, I know it sounds pathetic but Lloyds TSB asked me to prove how much I had spent on roof repairs when I reduced my payment to them for 3 months :mad:

You will get through this, we all have blips with unexpected expenses and you have just been very unlucky having this right at the start but it can be sorted.

TTFTM x

rokat

Hi,

Ive never commented on this thread before but have read it a lot and it was one of the reasons I started my DMP in December so Thank you!

Have a quick question for all you lovely people.

From the end of May I will be getting about £250 more each month due to a promotion. Could I save up this extra money and begin making F&F offers to my creditors or do I need to tell Stepchange about it and increase my DMP payments?

If creditors accept offers less than the full amount it'll obviously bring my DFD closer which would be better for me

Sazzie23

Everoptimistic31 wrote: »

Hello all,

After much agonising I have finally taken the plunge and set up my DMP with StepChange. The pretence that everything would be ok had gone on far too long and the way I saw it, I was crippling myself with the illusion that as long as I could somehow keep making the minimum payments on my cards everything would be ok.

As a single person I now have £61,000 to pay off. Just writing it down feels quite unbelievable.

I have read this thread from start to finish and it's been absolutely phenomenal. So many contributors but Hopelessly Hopeful and Time To Face The Music in particular - thank you.

However, before my first payment is even due to leave my account I have a problem. I had been putting off root canal treatment and it was making me more and more ill; finally I couldn't hold it off any longer and had it done on Friday.

The terrible thing is that this means on the very first month I was due to make my first payment to StepChange (£638) I actually have less than £100 that I can give them.

I am worried sick because a direct debit has been set up to take the money and it's due on 10th May. Because it's the bank holiday I can't get hold of them to ask what to do. I'm thinking I should cancel the direct debit for this month only and send StepChange an email explaining. Perhaps I should also send my creditors a letter telling them why I've failed from the start to make my reduced payment?

I hope so much that there are no further emergencies next month and I can just get on with making the full payment but right now I'm just worried about the impact of falling at the first hurdle.

Have any of you longer-termers got any advice?

Hi Everoptomistic

:hello: Welcome aboard the good ship DMP Hope the tooth is sorted out, and you can smile your sigh of relief from pain?

Worrying times finanically for you especially at the beginning, I'm with TTftm - ask SC to push it back one month and send token payments - £1 is standard, more if you wish - that shoud give you a little cushion in case of any more emergencies (emergencies are inevitabilities).

Don't be tempted to make your budget so tight you have no wiggle room. You'll review with SC after a year so you can always up it then when you know you really can afford those payments. We all worry that creditors won't accept, but in reality most won't take any further action and sometimes its a hinderance if you are paying around the minimum payment as the CC will load interest back on.

You can either be straight with SC or maybe tell them you think your budget is wrong and you want time to review it again...you are not the first person this has happened to, it does not make u a bad person and it will get sorted out.

Good luck and come back soon

Sazzie