DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Puzzcat

FuzzyDF wrote: »

What a difference a night has made. I didn't sleep a wink :eek:

I felt that I really needed to confide in someone as the stress was just too much. Phoned my big brother at the crack of dawn (he has been helping me out a lot and I felt that I had been deceiving him as I didn't tell him the true figure of my debt).

I told him the truth and he wasn't angry. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I can confide in someone.

I'm ready for all this now. I'll send out my 'apology' letters to my creditors this weekend (can't face the phone) and my plan should start on 1st July.

Onwards and upwards to finally getting my life and health on track.

Well done Fuzzy, that must be lovely to have a real person to confide in. No one knows about my debts in the real world only you special people on here..


Have you thought about starting with token payments so you can build up an emergency fund before starting your dmp? If this has already been discussed please feel free to ignore me, it has been a very trying week..


A positive from me.. just cashed in £50 of amazon vouchers through my shopandscan to buy some of dd's birthday pressies.. every little helps as they say..!


Hope your all enjoying the sunshine.. whilst it lasts... I think its called summer.. but I could be wrong...

blisteringblue

blisteringblue wrote: »

Like I said I'm not going to worry until I speak to them, but I am going to be extremely vague when I do speak to them because I want to know how they have found out. I can only think that because it is a current account as well as a mortgage they have seen the payment to Stepchange for the past 3 months.

It may even be the new FOS "help with your debts" letter because the bottom section is all about who to ring if you need help, and that includes CAB and StepChange.

It was what I thought, it was only a "we are a responsible lender" review. Because part of the mortgage is a lump sum repayment at the end they have to make sure we have an investment vehicle to pay this off. (its the tax free lump out of my pension). Plus a 6 question review about current finances. Told them about some of the credit card debt and he said that did put us in a financially stretched profile (oh really I exclaimed ) and I could speak to organisations like Stepchange and CAB. However our account with them looked on track.

Apparently you have to have these reviews every year.

Kate_fixing_it

FuzzyDF wrote: »

What a difference a night has made. I didn't sleep a wink :eek:

I felt that I really needed to confide in someone as the stress was just too much. Phoned my big brother at the crack of dawn (he has been helping me out a lot and I felt that I had been deceiving him as I didn't tell him the true figure of my debt).

I told him the truth and he wasn't angry. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I can confide in someone.

I'm ready for all this now. I'll send out my 'apology' letters to my creditors this weekend (can't face the phone) and my plan should start on 1st July.

Onwards and upwards to finally getting my life and health on track.

So glad you have someone IRL to talk to. I have people who know about my debt but they're not massively supportive (with the exception of 2 very close friends) any time I update DH he goes off in a strop (pot/kettle situation as he's just completed an IVA) so those times when I just need a big hug and to be reassured I come here.

I think you'll find that your health improves naturally as things get put in place. Stress affects us in very odd ways and without us even realising at times.

Keep posting here, that's what this thread is for. I'm having a bit of a bad debt day myself today (no particular reason - probably triggered by cabin fever) but it's helping ME writing this. Payment number 2 goes out on Tuesday and I AM REALLY DOING IT! That's going to be you in 7 weeks time

Kate x

FuzzyDF

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

So glad you have someone IRL to talk to. I have people who know about my debt but they're not massively supportive (with the exception of 2 very close friends) any time I update DH he goes off in a strop (pot/kettle situation as he's just completed an IVA) so those times when I just need a big hug and to be reassured I come here.

I think you'll find that your health improves naturally as things get put in place. Stress affects us in very odd ways and without us even realising at times.

Keep posting here, that's what this thread is for. I'm having a bit of a bad debt day myself today (no particular reason - probably triggered by cabin fever) but it's helping ME writing this. Payment number 2 goes out on Tuesday and I AM REALLY DOING IT! That's going to be you in 7 weeks time

Kate x

I'm not telling any friends about it, they don't really need to know. I'm still the same me. I'll be posting on here as my 'new friends' are on here and we can give each other virtual hugs. I have to pluck up the courage to phone one of my main debtors Halifax next week. The others I will just write to, not doing calls and if the notorious catalogues do call I will treat them like PPI sellers.

Growurown

FuzzyDF wrote: »

I'm not telling any friends about it, they don't really need to know. I'm still the same me. I'll be posting on here as my 'new friends' are on here and we can give each other virtual hugs. I have to pluck up the courage to phone one of my main debtors Halifax next week. The others I will just write to, not doing calls and if the notorious catalogues do call I will treat them like PPI sellers.

No one knows about our DMP either. Haven't told my family at all. I have alluded to it with a couple of friends along the lines of 'I have cut up all my credit cards' but never actually discussed it in detail. Glad you are feeling more positive today Fuzzy, it will all settle down soon.

Growurown

Driving to work this morning a warning light appeared on the dashboard. Having looked it up in the hand book (I am such an ignoramus where cars are concerned:o) it is something to do with the system that manages emissions, and they suggested I checked my petrol cap wasn't loose. Well of course it wasn't loose so it looks like something isn't happy. Usually it's OH's car that causes all the problems.

The hand book also says it is OK to drive (but get it checked out asap) but if the symbol starts flashing then it will probably be the end of the world:eek:

Hey ho another little set back. OH's wages were down £250 this month too due to a deduction for strike action from last December and January, but on the up side he did win £25 on a lottery ticket:rotfl:

Powered_By_Pies

Growurown wrote: »

Driving to work this morning a warning light appeared on the dashboard. Having looked it up in the hand book (I am such an ignoramus where cars are concerned:o) it is something to do with the system that manages emissions, and they suggested I checked my petrol cap wasn't loose. Well of course it wasn't loose so it looks like something isn't happy. Usually it's OH's car that causes all the problems.

The hand book also says it is OK to drive (but get it checked out asap) but if the symbol starts flashing then it will probably be the end of the world:eek:

Hey ho another little set back. OH's wages were down £250 this month too due to a deduction for strike action from last December and January, but on the up side he did win £25 on a lottery ticket:rotfl:

If the symbol looks like a little box with with what almost look like two small propellers (one on the top and one on the left side of the box), then chances are that might be the lambda sensor, which monitors exhaust gases coming out of the back box. It's basically the cars way of judging whether it's burning too much fuel or not.

These sensors, because of where they're positioned, get caked in carbon over the years an eventually stop working effectively. The part itself never tends to be much - about £30 Max - the light comes on and off on the dash of my car all the time because VAG sensors are notorious for failing on regular occasions and not being very good.

I've never changed mine and the car runs fine without issues. Don't be fooled into them saying they can clear the fault code on the ECU either - Seat did this with mine and were going to charge £60 for the priveledge, luckily I had a two year free service package when I bought the car so they didn't charge, but the light came back on two days later, so I would've felt very out of pocket!!!

Kate_fixing_it

Grrrr car here again - but the insurance as opposed to the actual vehicle. Turns out they took an extra payment of £38. That coupled with DD1 telling me she needed £28 today or she can't go to her prom and she's so excited. She knows the financial position and none of the kids ever ask for anything these days and I gave her it. Why do these things only ever happen when we're already feeling below par?

I've returned the unneeded wiper blades bought for dead car for a refund but I'm still £8 short of staying in the black this week Called my bank to request that they reclaim the £38 for the DD and they need the original of the payment schedule from car insurance and will then review the evidence and decide if I can have the money back. Car insurance say it'll take 4-6 weeks to refund me. I could bloody scream!

The irony is I'll be in credit the following Monday. Asked bank about any help they can offer and even though I'm telling them all this I'd still incur charges for going overdrawn if I hadn't booked the massage I'd be able to scrape through with a few pounds to spare.

Guess I'm going to have to go cap in hand to DH which I absolutely HATE the thought of, even for just a week. I know he'll happily lend it to me (and it's far better than the alternatives) and he has the cash to spare but I'm feeling like a complete idiot and I'm generally just mad at myself.

Unless anyone has an idea of how to magic a few quid into my bank by Tuesday?

Kate x

jubilee14

FuzzyDF wrote: »

What a difference a night has made. I didn't sleep a wink :eek:

I felt that I really needed to confide in someone as the stress was just too much. Phoned my big brother at the crack of dawn (he has been helping me out a lot and I felt that I had been deceiving him as I didn't tell him the true figure of my debt).

I told him the truth and he wasn't angry. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I can confide in someone.

I'm ready for all this now. I'll send out my 'apology' letters to my creditors this weekend (can't face the phone) and my plan should start on 1st July.

Onwards and upwards to finally getting my life and health on track.

Hi Fuzzy - now you've made the decision to go DMP i would make sure it suits you. If you think July 1st is too soon just ask SC to push back to August that would give you an extra month of what you would pay to creditors to build up an Emergency Fund. I wish i had done that when i started as its a bit of a buffer and lets face it things go wrong.

In the meantime keep paying token payements of £1 to each creditor that covers you as showing willing to pay while all is set up.

This board is used by so many for a reason and you are by no means on your own or unusal you will see lots of us with high debts who spent years trying to keep up with payments but in reality going nowhere till we started the DMP.

Believe me, once you get into the stride of things you wont regret it. Your unlikely to get more credit so your better trying to get the balances down however long it takes. Some are really frugal to get it done asap, some leave a buffer so they feel they are living a bit. Some get interest frozen some ( me ) Dont .

I really wouldnt rush to start paying as it will be a long enough road, they've had plenty out of you on interest so start to take control and whenever the calls come in and you panic as can happen. Just post here there will be no doubt someone who has dealt with a creditor you've got and can share their expreriences.

Its by far better than doing what many of us did just plod along pay interest and get nowhere

Good luck

Growurown

Powered_By_Pies wrote: »

If the symbol looks like a little box with with what almost look like two small propellers (one on the top and one on the left side of the box), then chances are that might be the lambda sensor, which monitors exhaust gases coming out of the back box. It's basically the cars way of judging whether it's burning too much fuel or not.

These sensors, because of where they're positioned, get caked in carbon over the years an eventually stop working effectively. The part itself never tends to be much - about £30 Max - the light comes on and off on the dash of my car all the time because VAG sensors are notorious for failing on regular occasions and not being very good.

I've never changed mine and the car runs fine without issues. Don't be fooled into them saying they can clear the fault code on the ECU either - Seat did this with mine and were going to charge £60 for the priveledge, luckily I had a two year free service package when I bought the car so they didn't charge, but the light came back on two days later, so I would've felt very out of pocket!!!

Thanks PbP, that's very helpful.