My DMP update

heppy23

Hi all, not really posted on here much recently.

I started a DMP with stepchange (formally CCCS) in Feb 2010.
At the time I had a £4k overdraft, about £2k left on a loan and about £4k on credit cards.

I've now got a year left and about £2600 to pay.
The overdraft is paid off, so is the loan.

It's been OK but it's taken longer than I thought as none of the credit cards froze the interest (which I know they don't have to).

The monthly money I pay has gone up and down a bit but I've been OK with the discipline of putting money aside for it.

The biggest debt now is on one credit card but after several letters asking to freeze interest they passed it onto a collection agency who don't charge interest. It was at point last year where the interest I was being charged was more than the payment was and it felt hopeless.

So if anyone is thinking about a DMP with stepchange then I would recommend them. The only thing I would say is be really honest with your budget, I think I went to far the other way and was paying a lot and life was a misery but if you are honest you can still live reasonably and chip away at your debts.

Stewart_78

I agree, I started out paying more than I could afford too, hoping to placate them a bit. When you start a DMP it's all a bit intimidating. I'm wiser now and paying only what I can afford. In fact I'm paying less than I can afford and putting a bit away to do some settlement offers in a few years time. Not that I would tell them that! I'm quite lucky in that all my debts are very old so I'm pretty sure none would be enforceable if push came to shove.