Going on holiday when you're a DFW?

heatherks

id say its ok to go on a a cheap holiday to recharge your batteries / de stress once a year ..

but the way the creditors / debt advice centre see a being on a DMP is because you dont have any spare cash to pay what you owe

sam_in_leeds

Personally I think a holiday's a luxury, not a human right.

If you're in a DMP/IVA whoever you owe money to has allowed you to pay less because you can't afford to pay more and will probably get back less than they've lent you.

So if I was a creditor I'd be asking why you can't pay back more of what they've lent but you can afford to go on holiday.

Sorry, but it's true!

ferry

What would you do if the holiday was booked before learning you would need the services of a DMP?
In our case we booked our holiday before I was told I was to be made redundant.I swear I didn't know my life was about to change.
Does that make it 'OK'?

You ask my opinion...?

Lifes too short.

Roland_Sausage

sam_in_leeds wrote: »

Personally I think a holiday's a luxury, not a human right.

If you're in a DMP/IVA whoever you owe money to has allowed you to pay less because you can't afford to pay more and will probably get back less than they've lent you.

So if I was a creditor I'd be asking why you can't pay back more of what they've lent but you can afford to go on holiday.

Sorry, but it's true!

I would agree with this. If you are in a DMP or some other arrangement to pay then you probably should't be taking holidays, or certainly not anything extravagant.

If the situation is more like mine, where I have always managed to meet the minimum repayments, so have never had defaults/CCJs/DMPs etc then I don't see a problem with it.

Of course it will delay the debt free date, but that is up to the individual to strike a balance between paying off debt, and enjoying life a little.

Whilst paying off my debt over the last couple of years, I made a promise to myself to repay £550 a month. I have been able to keep to this, and still take a couple of cheap foreign holidays funded by working loads of overtime.

As the OP seems to be on a DMP I would say that a holiday is not such a good idea at this time though.

-taff

It's up to the individual really. It's their debt that's at stake. If it takes longer to pay back the debt because you go on holiday, that's your individual choice.

solvencyseeker

Haven't had a holiday in years (5+) Think twice before we get in the car to go anywhere at the weekend even.
Though we have become experts in the staycation. You need to be able to ignore the jobs at home and just chill - get small treats (newspaper, magazine, have a long soak in the bath and so on).
When we are debt free the first thing we will save for is a holiday, it is one of the things we miss the most. There just is no room in the budget for anything like that.

antonic

I did holidays every year when I was on my DMP.

BUT they were either trips to visit and stay with my siblings OR holidays paid for my siblings (ie I did trips to Lille & Bruges with my brother or I went and stayed at his for a few days).

If I hadnt gone on holiday I would have gone mad !.

getmore4less

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

As the OP seems to be on a DMP I would say that a holiday is not such a good idea at this time though.

The OP is not on a DMP, they are on a two year journey to pay off their £30k debts.

After all the regular spends, mortgage and the 2 year debt payment plan their base SOA has around £700pm free for other stuff.

Although the SOA has not gone through the spending diary test yet to see how realistic it is.

With a tighter budget and throwing more at the debt it could be gone in potentially less than 15 months but that could be tight, 18 month would be more realistic with £400pm spare on the SOA to give an emergency fund buffer and get through the spending diary test period..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4943895

determined_new_ms

It's a personal thing. We always had holidays, my oh is a traveller and would be really sad if we didn't go away a couple of times a year. While we were in debt we generally had a really cheap package all incl holiday a year and a couple of long weekends - sun caravan holidays, a couple of nights somewhere new if we got a hotel deal.

We made sure we paid for these in cash and had a month or 2 where debt payments reduced. Made the long months easier to bear!

National_Debtline

Hello all,

I thought I would explain how we might view this type of query.

We would allow for a reasonable amount of money to be listed for 'hobbies, leisure or sporting activities' within the budget. There are industry standard guideline figures which creditors should all adhere to. So long as the amounts you set aside adhere to these guidelines you should be able to save a little whilst having fair and reasonable repayment arrangements agreed towards the debts.

If someone chooses to set aside money towards a holiday, it may mean that they wouldn't be able to set aside money towards other items which are commonly viewed as 'other expenditure' - such as sky/cable television, haircuts, birthdays and christmas presents, haircuts or property maintenance. A financial statement can be a bit of a balancing act, and we would try and ensure that our callers set aside money for what they truly need.

You can see an example of the financial statement that we (and the rest of the industry generally use *here*.

By the way, it's important to note that we typically help those that cannot meet their minimum contractual instalments. If someone can meet their minimums it would be completely up to them what they use the rest of their disposable income for.

Best wishes,

David @natdebtline