How bad was it for you?

Helpme75

I am currently trying to sort my debts and find out exactly what I owe before contacting Payplan or Stepchange to start a DMP, however I am terrified at the thought of admitting what I owe, I have no secured debt but owe 30K accross 7 credit cards, I do not have a mortgage, I rent.

Would anyone be willing to share with me what thwy owed when they started a DMP and was it credit card debt only? Did you get accepted easily onto a DMP and what are you charged a month and for how long will your DMP last.

I am 39 years old and terrified, I can;t help think I will get taken to court, even though I have never once defaulted on a payment, but I cannot carry on robbing Peter to pay Paul, I have to STOP living beyound my means, I would be grateful of you would share your stories.

sourcrates

Hi,
With debts of 30k it will take you decades to clear with a DMP, have you considered an IVA ? lasts 5 yrs and your debt free, my debt was £34.000, never considered DMP as it would take toooo long, I finished my IVA this year and am now almost, debt free. your in a good position to qualify for one, no house etc., my advice is, get some advice, from one of the debt charities, they will steer you in the right direction, one more thing, creditors very rarely take court action, they may threaten it many times, but rarely happens, think of it like this, from when you default on a debt, for whatever reason, the creditor itself will try to recoup the money from you for around 7-9 months, then it will issue default notice and your account goes to collections, they will try to get the money from you via phone calls and/or letters, this will last another 8-12 months, if no contact is made after a further 4-5 months the account will be given to an external DCA for them to try to collect on, if no joy there after one to two years the account may be sold to a DCA, then there collection process starts again, so you see its a very long process in most cases and unless you owe millions its unlikely anything will happen to you, so don't worry about that, im not saying its impossible but very rare.

Tixy

Definitely have a chat to stepchange or payplan (or both).

Have you got an idea as to how much you are likely to be able to put towards your debts each month? Have you started to work out a statement of affairs yet?

CCJs whilst on a DMP are rare, particularly for non homeowners. Thats not to say that they don't ever happen, but most people find that after a couple of months their creditors settle down and acceot the DMP payments.

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,
With debts of 30k it will take you decades to clear with a DMP, have you considered an IVA ?

That depends on how much someone can afford to repay a month, e.g. for someone with debts of £30k who could afford £600 a month they could be debt free quicker on a DMP than through an IVA.

fatbelly

The other option to throw into the mix would be bankruptcy - but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Give us a statement of affairs and then we can comment intelligently.

Format for mse and remove links before posting it.

LeeSouthEast

Are they all up to date, currently? If so, £30k isn't insurmountable to pay off, but it will require hard work and dedication. Avoiding DMP/IVA/Bankruptcy would protect your credit history as well.

Post up an SOA (see the sticky in the DFW forum thread list) and we can see if we can help you attack this from another angle You're in safe hands here, whichever route you decide is right for you!

antonic

I cleared £24k over 90 months on a DMP with Payplan.

Learning2Budget

45k was our starting point, 5 years in we are at 23k, but have had 2 lots of maternity pay in that time. Only now have we a decent amount to pay each month. Ours were all loans and cc. Stepchange have been fantastic, its been a long haul but we have now approx 3 years and it will be over. L2B.x

worriedwilf

Hi Helpme

I owed 30k+ at the start and I am paying it off relatively quickly by making cut backs and paying highest interest first. My debt was a combination of loan and credit cards.

I should be debt free by the end of summer 2015

It can be done but some info about your income and other outgoings would enable us to give more tailored advice

Best of luck

Worried_Girl

Two years ago my husband and I had unsecured debts of around £60K eeek!!!!! We have been paying £1500 per month which has been a total struggle but come next October we will be debt free! We have been in a debt arrangement scheme where all charges and interest etc are frozen from the moment it is agreed therefore every payment is going towards the amount owed. However this is only available in Scotland. I really hope it will be rolled out to all of the UK as it really gives people who are heavily in debt a way out. Good luck on your journey x

Stewart_78

OP, the one thing you need to remember is that they can't have what you haven't got. If you don't have savings or assets, what is the point in them taking you to court? If you work out what you can actually pay per month and offer them this, they will most likely accept. If they then take you to court, the judge would likely side with you if you have been honest and tried to deal with your debt responsibly.

So, don't worry so much. In the early days of a DMP you will be bombarded with letters and calls. Most of the letters will mention legal action, demand the full amount etc. etc. but they are all templates and will often contradict each other. Personally I just ignored the phone thought this time until it went quiet. Don't be intimidated by the collections depts.

Call Stepchange and go through you options, whether it be bankruptcy, IVA, DMP or whatever. If you stick on here you'll get plenty of support through the hard times too.

Good luck whatever you choose.