DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

sunnyskies2

Aha, thanks Puzz was tossing and turning in bed last night, not about £38k but over £400

Sarah

sunnyskies2

Hi MB

Thanks, making me feel much better:)... No just as s/e there is no pay day :eek:.... It's a constant juggle re client money in, their chqs clearing, pay trade accounts, household bills etc... have arranged to start SC DMP from August to get some time to get straight, but within that time will probably borrow from and repay family.

Sarah

Julie67

Thanks TTFTM as always great advice. I'm planning on beginning the process on Monday and starting with the NEDCAB website.
I think things will work well for us self managed, but I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I go along the way:)

Sounds like your now on the right track Sunny, despite going it alone now SC have been wonderful really understanding and accommodating, hope you get back on an even keel soon x
This thread was a lifeline to is when we first started out and I'm sure it will be to us in the future.
Good luck all, have a great weekend x

Monkeyballs

sunnyskies2 wrote: »

Hi MB

Thanks, making me feel much better:)... No just as s/e there is no pay day :eek:.... It's a constant juggle re client money in, their chqs clearing, pay trade accounts, household bills etc... have arranged to start SC DMP from August to get some time to get straight, but within that time will probably borrow from and repay family.

Sarah

Sounds perfectly reasonable then but in between the borrowing and repaying you need (if you don't have one already) to get yourself an emergency fund in place...

Now everybody has their own opinion on how large a fund they need to have, I had a pot of £300 and due to circumstance it vanished in a flash! So now I'm more of the opinion that probably a months pay (or equivalent) is about right.

If you get yourself an emergency fund in place then you'll be able to avoid having to borrow from family (so long as you top it back up in the way you would normally repay it) and eventually should get to a point where month on month you don't need to dip in anyway

Good luck,

MB

Kate_fixing_it

Hi all,

Quick update because I'm sooooooo excited (and then I'll catch up) letter/statement from Barclaycard today. Payment plan has been accepted AND INTEREST IS AT 0%!!!

From reading the forum I thought I'd have a fight on my hands but they've done it straight away :j :j hopefully it's the start of good news today as I've just dropped the car off for it's MOT and I'm hoping it's only one small thing to fix.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

All caught up now - 4 pages of posts since last time I read!

Big hello to newbies, I can promise you it all gets easier/less stressful.

Soooooo me.... first payment received by all creditors, all calls/texts have stopped, in fact Barclaycard never actually called! Get the odd automated letter (can tell they're system generated as they're so devoid of detail and generic - I think they all have the same template!)

Overall it looks like the total has increased over the initial months by around £500 and whilst I was prepared for it (thanks to you lovely people) I still had a bit of a stress over it. This week I had a bit of a yearning to spend frivolously but being as I have limited funds (I have enough to cover everything but it goes in on various dates and bills all come out in week 1) currently, need to pay for car repairs and I'm still in the post surgery recovery phase my frivolous-ness has been limited to 20 minutes in tesco and £4 spent on yellow sticker cakes

Still off sick, DH has been working nights and it's half term. It's been a mission and a half to keep four kids quiet all day whilst unable to go out! DVDs and Netflix has saved my sanity, we've had a Harry Potter marathon, a Disney marathon and so many episodes of the Good Wife that I'm convinced I could take the bar exam and practice law in Chicago

Despite the yearning to spend and a few "bad leg days" I'm feeling really positive. Seeing the payments on the SC statement was a huge boost and some health news yesterday has improved my state of mind immensely (although I did cry for nearly 2 hours when I got it!)

It must be "car month" as so many of us are having issues I'm just crossing everything that mine comes through with as little as possible - I've done all but one of the things highlighted in the health check when she developed her incontinence issue that prompted the SC call so let's hope! She's a lovely old girl and the snob in me loves the audi badge on her. She's my one luxury these days.

Happily wearing my positive pants today - negative knickers have been discarded and I'm in a very optimistic mood for the future

Have a great weekend everyone.
Kate x

sunnyskies2

Hiya

Yes MB, that is my first priority after getting straight, in the immediate future, to get a good emergency fund - optimistically £1,000. Although have never managed to save in my life - no surprises there I guess !

... Driving the other day exhaust made a wobble noise over some bumps - I thought then ...Sarah no cc to fix this if it goes - get that rainy day fund sorted and quick.....

Thanks Julie, yes the forum is a life saver...and Kate glad you've had some good news re: health and re a DMP...onwards and upwards with a smile eh!

Enjoy the sun if you're lucky enough to have some:)

Sarah

Time_to_face_the_music

sunnyskies2 wrote: »

...I wondered whether any of you could give some guidance here - yesterday I finished writing and sent all creditor letters with £1 chq I cancelled all direct debits and this is the quandary I transferred remaining balance of available o/d to new account - as it is permanently used for living - before handing in letter to bank manager re DMP. My OH says this is completely wrong and I shouldn't have transferred the money. I did put the full o/d amount on my SC list - I now am wondering whether to transfer it back and try and borrow off family to plug the gap - will already probably have to borrow other though to get straight over next month, so would prefer not to. Do think Lloyds will treat me differently because I took the money out on same day as letter! Or indeed better if I pay it back in?

I maxed out my Lloyds OD before starting our DMP because I did it every month, so the full amount was already included in our debt. This makes me cringe to write it but the month we started our DMP, we had £11,000 of OD available between me and Mr TTFTM

Puzzcat wrote: »

A quick update from me, not really dmp related but..

My little 12 year old car went in for its MOT today, first since starting on the dmp and no cc to use... and it failed... but... only £148.. which I have in my car fund...

Great news Puzz, both on the MOT result and on having the car fund money available :T

Time_to_face_the_music

Alchemist207 wrote: »

Hello everyone...

I got myself into a proper mess, and I am not sure how to get out of it so I wondered if anyone has any ideas or a similar experience. I've been on a DMP since the beginning of the year, paying £327 every month towards a total debt of £3k or so...

So what happened? Everything was going well, although I was really strapped with my budget, there was no leftover or savings. I had a personal problem in March, and had to make international phone calls in order to resolve it which resulted in a mobile bill of over £300 - way too much for me, I had £30 budgeted.

I went into a few bad months, and made an arrangement with Vodafone to pay off £120 per month until it is all finished...thinking I would be able to cut corners elsewhere and manage my finances. But I was not. I ended up having to take a "remedy" payday loan two months ago. Having been through this mess, I kept it low and took £150 which I repaid prompty. I was still having troubles next month, but I reduced it to £100, and have just repaid that as well. I would like to reduce it further this month, and take £80 but they won't let me have it... My logic was that I will slowly reduce the amounts and then stop taking it completely when my phone bill is paid off and that huge expense is off my bill. But my logic proved irrelevant, as I can't take the money.

I am in too deep with all the costs of life and I need those £80 for the food till the end of the month, I pretty much literally have nothing.

What can I do?

Can I ask StepChange to take a bit less this month? They usually take their payment on the 1st, though, so I am afraid I won't be able to speak to them before they have taken it... I can cancel their Direct Debit to ensure they don't get the full payment but that doesn't feel right.

Can I call Vodafone and ask them to not take the money and just put my account in arrears until I am in a better position? Once again they will take their payment imminently and I am not sure how to even cancel or not permit it, given it is not managed through Direct Debit....

I feel sooooooo stupid, I just can't wait for all of this to be over...
I have nothing that I could sell and no one I could ask to lend some money.

Hi and welcome Alchemist :hello:

MB has already given you great advice and I am sure you can sort this with SC on Monday.

Please consider sticking around and joining us for the support, it really is invaluable as you are with people in the same boat as you, who will never judge you.

TTFTM x

Time_to_face_the_music

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Hi all,

Quick update because I'm sooooooo excited (and then I'll catch up) letter/statement from Barclaycard today. Payment plan has been accepted AND INTEREST IS AT 0%!!!

From reading the forum I thought I'd have a fight on my hands but they've done it straight away :j :j hopefully it's the start of good news today as I've just dropped the car off for it's MOT and I'm hoping it's only one small thing to fix.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

All caught up now - 4 pages of posts since last time I read!

Big hello to newbies, I can promise you it all gets easier/less stressful.

Soooooo me.... first payment received by all creditors, all calls/texts have stopped, in fact Barclaycard never actually called! Get the odd automated letter (can tell they're system generated as they're so devoid of detail and generic - I think they all have the same template!)

Overall it looks like the total has increased over the initial months by around £500 and whilst I was prepared for it (thanks to you lovely people) I still had a bit of a stress over it. This week I had a bit of a yearning to spend frivolously but being as I have limited funds (I have enough to cover everything but it goes in on various dates and bills all come out in week 1) currently, need to pay for car repairs and I'm still in the post surgery recovery phase my frivolous-ness has been limited to 20 minutes in tesco and £4 spent on yellow sticker cakes

Still off sick, DH has been working nights and it's half term. It's been a mission and a half to keep four kids quiet all day whilst unable to go out! DVDs and Netflix has saved my sanity, we've had a Harry Potter marathon, a Disney marathon and so many episodes of the Good Wife that I'm convinced I could take the bar exam and practice law in Chicago

Despite the yearning to spend and a few "bad leg days" I'm feeling really positive. Seeing the payments on the SC statement was a huge boost and some health news yesterday has improved my state of mind immensely (although I did cry for nearly 2 hours when I got it!)

It must be "car month" as so many of us are having issues I'm just crossing everything that mine comes through with as little as possible - I've done all but one of the things highlighted in the health check when she developed her incontinence issue that prompted the SC call so let's hope! She's a lovely old girl and the snob in me loves the audi badge on her. She's my one luxury these days.

Happily wearing my positive pants today - negative knickers have been discarded and I'm in a very optimistic mood for the future

Have a great weekend everyone.
Kate x

Hi Kate

Great stuff on Barclays and the health news :j

Lots of us do find our debts go up at the start of the DMP, I would suggest letting it settle and see what happens next month then start asking for refunds of any interest/charges paid which increased your debt.

watch out for draughts and embarrassing moments due to lack of knickers when you are going into that Chicago court, after all it is known as the windy city :rotfl:

TTFTM x