DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

sunnyskies2

Ha, almost can't wait for the calls now MB to try out the patter - will happily heed your happy advice:)....Well done to you Stan:)

Thanks Kate and TTFTM for great clapped out car tips - who'd have thought - and well done and thanks for all continued motivating and inspiring posts - they really keep me up beat about all this:)

This week I am going to try and get my head round YNAB, I've just learnt a little and can see how it could really help out especially as s/e. Also June will be my first budgeted month £110 pw for food for 4 - will reduce gradually and see what I can get it down to - seems like the key is to plan meals. As first week after most letters am not expecting to hear anything this week so will enjoy the silence...mmmmm the calm before the storm?!

Sarah:)

Kate_fixing_it

Hi Stan,

I'd second the advice of Monkeyballs, they soon die down. Just remember they want to call you as much as you want to receive the call. In all reality the person at the end of the phone could be in the same boat as us DMPers - nobody ever wrote call centre worker on their list of dream jobs. They want the debt repaid, you want to repay it and the "I'm in a DMP, they'll be in touch" speech gets that across.

The first call you answer is the hardest, I promise you that it gets easier and some may not call at all (at least one of my creditors never has).

To echo MB (again ) they all get to call once and I will be nice. The nect time I remind them all contact should be in writing and the third time (only one creditor has got to this from me ) a threat of a harassment complaint and a list of when they called, who called and what was said (I have a small notebook and keep records). That nipped it all in the bud for me. The sooner you take that first call the sooner it's all over.

Keep your chin up, by this time next month you will feel much more in control and the debts will going. Grab it by the wotsits and take that control.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

sunnyskies2 wrote: »

Ha, almost can't wait for the calls now MB to try out the patter - will happily heed your happy advice:)....Well done to you Stan:)

Thanks Kate and TTFTM for great clapped out car tips - who'd have thought - and well done and thanks for all continued motivating and inspiring posts - they really keep me up beat about all this:)

This week I am going to try and get my head round YNAB, I've just learnt a little and can see how it could really help out especially as s/e. Also June will be my first budgeted month £110 pw for food for 4 - will reduce gradually and see what I can get it down to - seems like the key is to plan meals. As first week after most letters am not expecting to hear anything this week so will enjoy the silence...mmmmm the calm before the storm?!

Sarah:)

The storm won't be as bad as you fear - I promise! I didn't believe that either until ot passed

Good luck with the food budget. Ours is a little less than that for 2 adults, 2 primary schoolers and 2 teenage human locusts (seriously, the amount of food teenagers eat was NOT mentioned in the manual! ) We do a weekly meal plan together so everyone gets to choose a family dinner and draw up a shopping list from that. The smaller ones "help" by crossing off the list and God help me if I went off list, there is nothing on earth quite like two 3ft dictators giving you hell in the middle of aldi because "chocolate biscuits AREN'T ON THE LIST" :rotfl:

Wonder if I can hire them out as a budgeting tool?

Kate x

Powered_By_Pies

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Turns out it's a bloody wonderful idea! I need to do some research but the private plate alone was valued at £450 profit on an instant valuation site! i can't believe how much the weirdest parts are going for on ebay - rear electric window buttons for £20-30 each! Mine also has heated wing mirrors and they are unbelievably high priced. I'm still looking now at what various parts will shift for, DH seems really keen and it'll be something we can do together over the next couple of weekends.

Thank you so much, now I'm off to see what 17" alloys will go for with virtually new tires and audi logos

Kate x

Ooh yes, personalised plates are a mini gold mine! Another friend got some, he paid about £600 for them, sold the plates after he got rid of the car he had them on for almost £1000!

sunnyskies2

Thanks Kate, I think all the posts do really give me the belief it will all be ok:) - just want to be 'in it' now.

Yes, I know what you mean about human locusts - luckily I can manage to reign my two teenage boys in with just Aldi cereals as fill in food, good idea about hiring out the younger ones lol - I will sort a meal plan proper - it's in my head at the moment and so I allowed myself to buy 'off list' because I knew it would still come in below budget - I need to get more disciplined and reduce budget - prob will do this weekend:)

Happy journeys with your new 'baby'

Sarah

Powered_By_Pies

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

Sorry I'm not much of a poster at the moment, I don't feel I've properly joined the 'gang' yet! but I have missed my first payments and the calls have started and .... drum roll please...I was brave and answered one from Capital One ! I was dreading this moment as I'm nervous of the whole thing and can't cope with ar%^y people on the phone but they just took my details, asked if I gave authority for them to speak to StepChange which I did and said they wouldn't contact me now for 30 days and wished me a nice day...:eek:

that was it...

No 'can you make a payment now, today' or any other demands just 'ok, it will be passed to our other department and we will contact Stepchange'

phew!!!

The cynic in me though wonders if this is the calm before a storm!

x

I was like that when my first payments didn't go out after the DMP was first set up. I was expecting all my creditors to be phoning me non stop the day after yelling at me and saying "WAI U NO PAY ME!?" but I didn't hear anything from anyone for weeks - the first contact I had from any of them was pounds to pocket and the lady just took the DMP details and said "no problems, we'll wait to hear from them, have a nice day." It caught me so off guard I actually said "er....you...too..?"

In fact thinking about it, the one I thought would kick off the most in NatWest haven't even bothered phoning me! Just sending me the letter saying my accounts were being rolled up and passed to their internal DCA. They said they would be in touch in the next 14 days - that was about 10 days ago and no word yet!

Kate_fixing_it

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

Ooh yes, personalised plates are a mini gold mine! Another got some, he paid about £600 for them, sold the plates after he got rid of the car he had them on for almost £1000!

Got some more quotes and it's going up! The first one was more than we paid for the car. Late last night (when I was still feeling guilty :O) I googled the three letters and there's a large company based locally with those three letters as their initials. Going to pluck up the courage to give them a cheeky call tomorrow and offer to sell to them. Can't hurt to ask - might get lucky and my overactive imagination is wondering if the car maybe belonged to them at some point, I'm crossing everything for some sentimental attachment Definitely worth the price of a phone call.

The replacement is here and it's lovely. Really well looked after and whilst I was dubious about the authenticity of 46k on a 14 year old car the service history and condition supports it. I'm really looking forward to the school run tomorrow so I get to drive again - oh and six whole hours of quiet I've loved half term with the kids around but very excited about a day all to myself

Kate x

mrsl

Ash73 wrote: »

Hi Mrs L

I'm of no help to you at all - but am in exactly the same position and am just about to start with SC. I am feeling exactly the same - sick with worry and then a bit relieved as if I am finally moving forwards a bit. It does feel a little of an emotional roller coaster.

Did you set up your bank account with your current bank or did you move to a new one?

SC told me that most people to generally to accept - but it does seem too good to be true.

Thanks for your post - it did make me feel a little more normal!

Hi I moved to a new one I was advised to go to nationwide as they not connected to any other lenders. Just waiting for the paperwork to arrive. Can't believe we ended up in this mess but have certainly learnt our lesson and the thought of being debt free is lovely! Just got the scary bit to do first!

Monkeyballs

All this talk about personalised number plates got me curios (I don't have one, I don't even drive LOL) so I Googled the DVLA auction site shows some past results including HA12 PER having sold for £14,600 it's reserve price was only £1k, 250 LM went for £20,000 against a reserve of £2.6k, I LLM went for £20,200 against a reserve of £3k, 23 0 went for £22,000 against a reserve of £4k and 993 RS sold for £30,000 against a reserve of £2.4k!!!!!

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Have to wonder what kinda cars people are putting these plates on LOL

blisteringblue

Monkeyballs is spot on. I wanted to research Stepchange when I started the DMP and you soon realise while they are a charity they are also sponsored by the very people they are "negotiating" with on our behalf. They will get a % of these payments, they have to otherwise they couldn't survive as a charity. That and the nice 3 weeks interest they earn off us all.

Don't be worried about your creditors it is that simple. At the end of the day they want their money back. If you deal with Stepchange they will get it back. OK some may fight for a little interest along the way but most play nice.

The alternative is the dreaded IVA or even worse (for the creditor) a bankruptcy when it's pot luck if they even get a penny back. Sorry do not be afraid, speak to all your creditors with Monkeyballs magic words

"I've entered into a DMP with Step Change, my reference is XYZ and they will be in touch with you shortly with an offer of payment"