How long can a dmp go on for?

beckstar1975

Just that - our current DFD is 2021 - but hoping this can be reduced down to 2018 when we amend our payments once youngest starts at school - but how long will they accept before they just decide to declare you bankrupt instead?

Ta

sharp82

Think as long as you can afford to pay it, they'll just keep it going

Its in the creditors interest to keep it going till completion.

catandy

when mine was originally set up and agreed to my DFD was 25 years away ..... I've already shaved 6 months off that but all my creditors agreed to it (some more readily than others it must be said:o). step change suggested bankruptcy to me but they went along when I insisted in a DMP.

Good luck!

simeyb

If you have a very long DMP - especially ones that are over 10+ years! it suggests one of two things - either you have a massive massive debt and are paying a decent wack off it every month or, more likely, you have relatively modest debts but simply can't afford under your DMP to pay more than relatively token amounts each month. As another poster said, the creditors will keep on collecting the payments - they may sell the debt onto a DCA, but thats fine, because once this happens (principal lenders don't really do good f&f deals), you may be able to substantially cut the amount you owe (e.g. 50%) by making full and final settlement offers (yes I know you have to save up for these, which is easier said than done). The point is though that a lender or DCA faced with token payments for ever, or a f&f settlement for 50% will go for the settlement payment.

scared-sick

This is a very interesting thread.

I have been wondering this myself as my dmp and dfd is currently 22 years!!

I have thought long and hard about an iva but as a homeowner, i am concerned about the effect this would have on renewing my mortgage and also the uncertainty of what could happen to my house in 5 years time.

I regularly read these boards and look with interest at peoples signatures with their dfd on them and everyone elses seem so short compared to mine

Can i really stay on a dmp for 22 years?
Wont the companies get sick of the timescale and take me to court or something to get their money back quicker?

catandy

they have that option but it rarely happens apparently and only usually if you have lots of equity in your home.

what seems to happen more often is the debts are sold on to debt collection agencies who then settle for lower amounts (full and finals) which knocks chunks of time off the DFD - that's how it has worked for me so far anyway.

take a look at the DMP board its really useful as everyone on it has their own situation and there's lots of experienced people to help out

simeyb

scared-sick wrote: »

This is a very interesting thread.

I have been wondering this myself as my dmp and dfd is currently 22 years!!

I have thought long and hard about an iva but as a homeowner, i am concerned about the effect this would have on renewing my mortgage and also the uncertainty of what could happen to my house in 5 years time.

I regularly read these boards and look with interest at peoples signatures with their dfd on them and everyone elses seem so short compared to mine

Can i really stay on a dmp for 22 years?
Wont the companies get sick of the timescale and take me to court or something to get their money back quicker?

You can't start working out a DMP from how long you want it to run from - it's worked out from a detailed SOA and then the amount left over you have to repay debts is shared among your creditors. If this is a very small amount such that a DMP would be for that sort of time, the lender may well not agree the DMP and seek either a CCJ, or bailiffs etc so at that point you might think about bankruptcy (an IVA would also likely fail as they look to run about 5 years I think and if a creditor won't get much of a return in that time they would likely reject the offer).

cc4rhu

When I first started it was set for 88 years!
4 years later and it'll be gone in 3 more

timetogrowup89

cc4rhu wrote: »

When I first started it was set for 88 years!
4 years later and it'll be gone in 3 more

88 years... WOW! You must have been doing some serious debt busting to be reducing that!

beckstar1975

Phew - thank you - our original DFD was 2021 so 9 years, but hoping it will be down to 2018 - it was massive and we currently pay of £500 a month but hoping to soon up it to £850.

Our house is worth about £270k and our mortgage is for £172k - but we have about £35k of second mortgage on it too - which is why I'm a bit twitchy as I know that the sale could clear our debts, but the house is currently the only thing we've got going for us!

So - here's hoping when we offer them the increased payments and substantially reduce our dfd the creditors will be happy enough.

Thanks all for your replies

cc4rhu

I think that there's an unofficial trick to these DMPs. If I could afford to increase my payments by £100 per month I did so by £50. Then a couple of month later by another £20. Then about 6 months later by £30. That's 3 increases in a year which to a computer (which is what we're dealing with at the end of the day) likes.

And to get from 88 down to 12 initially I was really firm with my initial offer. If interest was charged I dropped my payments until they stopped the interest. Never missed a payment though. Then using the above method I argued that I increased my payments frequently and after the first year or so I've never had any hassle at all.