DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

Time_to_face_the_music

alyxzandra, I am so very sorry to hear about your mother.

I love to see that you are doing something so positive, good will come from this very sad time.

TTFTM x

tayajade

Hello everyone

I haven't been on the forum for a couple of weeks so have been catching up tonight with rather a lot of posts

We have been on holiday to portugal! We booked and paid for it all last year then when everything went belly up in january we considered cancelling because we couldn't scrape spending money together. BUT my dad very generously offered to help us with spending money so that we could go as he knew how stressed i had been over money (lack of it)and felt that we deserved a holiday. It was a much needed break and switch off but now we are back and have sent off our second month of token payments (dmp due to kick in next month).

Last month i wrote to all creditors explaining the situation and gave my pay plan ref number along with a token payment. Santander have written to us saying that they have received no further information about our financial situation and are going to resume collection attempts this week?! Payplan advised that they will send everything to them after the 1st september when we make our first DMP payment so i have written back to santander explaining that along with a token payment for this month.

When they say that they will resume collection do they mean that they will be calling asking for a payment? Do i just state that i have sent a token payment and they will get further payments via pay plan from september?

On a positive note this is the 2nd month since i was 18 that i have not used any credit whatsoever, i find myself avoiding places where i would usually be tempted to spend money and if i do want to buy something i have been walking away and going back a few days later after i have thought it through

Sickofthisdebt

Hello Everyone

It's been a quite relaxing weekend once the post came on Saturday and there was nothing horrible in it . I feel a little bit guilty to be honest. I feel like I should be suffering more or something which probably sounds daft. It's such a roller coaster though, on Friday I was in a completely different headspace stressing and teary and wondering if I was doing the right thing. I know I am but it's a very scary leap. Once I get confirmation from SC hopefully this week I will send out my letters and token payments.

This is the first time in ages I haven't worried about paying for my train ticket to work I have the money in my purse ready to go. I definitely could get used to this.

alyxzandra sorry to hear about your mum. My thoughts are with you. I think it's amazing you are determined to raise awareness

tayajade hope you had a lovely holiday. Sorry I'm really new so I can't help with the collection process query.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Morning all


Alyxzandra, sorry to hear about the loss of your Mother.


Hugs


HHx

Helen2122

Hi everyone after a weekend of stress, headaches, tears and no sleep i have decided to get all my figures together today and ring stepchange to sort out a dmp. My husband lost his job, thankfully was only out of work for 3 weeks but his new job pays significantly less than his old job so now we are over committed financially. I have a couple of questions - once ive rung them, how long does it take to set everything up? Also looking at the online tool we are way over the recommended amount for mobile phone contract. We have 5 contracts (dh is terrible at looking after his phones) but only use 2 of them, would mobile companies reduce the amounts? They are all up to date so not on verge of moving to collections. Also my kids r in desperate need of new clothes and shoes following growth spurts. Ironically after logging on to my capital onr credit card account this morn my credit limit has been increased. So im thinking of getting them what they need using the credit card before i ring stepchange. I presume this would make cap one less likely to accept my dmp payment tho. Would i be better off keeping this credit card out of the dmp and continuing to pay it myself? I dont see any other way to get the kids what they need atm.

Bettingmad

Helen2122 wrote: »

Hi everyone after a weekend of stress, headaches, tears and no sleep i have decided to get all my figures together today and ring stepchange to sort out a dmp. My husband lost his job, thankfully was only out of work for 3 weeks but his new job pays significantly less than his old job so now we are over committed financially. I have a couple of questions - once ive rung them, how long does it take to set everything up? Also looking at the online tool we are way over the recommended amount for mobile phone contract. We have 5 contracts (dh is terrible at looking after his phones) but only use 2 of them, would mobile companies reduce the amounts? They are all up to date so not on verge of moving to collections. Also my kids r in desperate need of new clothes and shoes following growth spurts. Ironically after logging on to my capital onr credit card account this morn my credit limit has been increased. So im thinking of getting them what they need using the credit card before i ring stepchange. I presume this would make cap one less likely to accept my dmp payment tho. Would i be better off keeping this credit card out of the dmp and continuing to pay it myself? I dont see any other way to get the kids what they need atm.

Morning Helen, the biggest piece of advice I can give is resist the temptation to get everything up and running too quickly. If you have really decided to go down the DMP route then you should now be cancelling all your direct debits in relation to your creditors, sending them letters informing them of your plan and sending them token payments of £1.

I see so many people rushing into making full payments on their DMP straight away when they don't need to do this. Send at least 2 months of token payments and save the remainder into a small emergency fund, Personally I made 3 months of token payments and it didn't make a jot of difference.

I would not use the credit card knowing you are about to enter a DMP and you should not try to keep it out of the DMP for this purpose.

Good luck on your journey, you will start to sleep at night again. It is slightly stressful at the start however you will gain a lot of strength from being part of this great comunity.

Have you sorted out a clean bank account yet?

Bettingmad

What are the contract durations for the phones that he no longer uses?

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Helen2122 wrote: »

Hi everyone after a weekend of stress, headaches, tears and no sleep i have decided to get all my figures together today and ring stepchange to sort out a dmp. My husband lost his job, thankfully was only out of work for 3 weeks but his new job pays significantly less than his old job so now we are over committed financially. I have a couple of questions - once ive rung them, how long does it take to set everything up? Also looking at the online tool we are way over the recommended amount for mobile phone contract. We have 5 contracts (dh is terrible at looking after his phones) but only use 2 of them, would mobile companies reduce the amounts? They are all up to date so not on verge of moving to collections. Also my kids r in desperate need of new clothes and shoes following growth spurts. Ironically after logging on to my capital onr credit card account this morn my credit limit has been increased. So im thinking of getting them what they need using the credit card before i ring stepchange. I presume this would make cap one less likely to accept my dmp payment tho. Would i be better off keeping this credit card out of the dmp and continuing to pay it myself? I dont see any other way to get the kids what they need atm.

Welcome Helen

Good news your OH found another job.

Please dont use your card you could get into all sorts of trouble. Have two or three months tokens and use that for the kids and emergency fund. You dont have the option of leaving certain things out of the DMP. It's all or nothing. Token payments will give you some breathing space. Send a £1 and tell them you are looking into a DMP. That way you can practice your new budget and read up before you decide on SC etc. You will probably need to look at why you have 5 mobile contracts and how to get that number down. It's all doable and the wonderful thread is here for support.

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Helen2122 wrote: »

Hi everyone after a weekend of stress, headaches, tears and no sleep i have decided to get all my figures together today and ring stepchange to sort out a dmp. My husband lost his job, thankfully was only out of work for 3 weeks but his new job pays significantly less than his old job so now we are over committed financially. I have a couple of questions - once ive rung them, how long does it take to set everything up? Also looking at the online tool we are way over the recommended amount for mobile phone contract. We have 5 contracts (dh is terrible at looking after his phones) but only use 2 of them, would mobile companies reduce the amounts? They are all up to date so not on verge of moving to collections. Also my kids r in desperate need of new clothes and shoes following growth spurts. Ironically after logging on to my capital onr credit card account this morn my credit limit has been increased. So im thinking of getting them what they need using the credit card before i ring stepchange. I presume this would make cap one less likely to accept my dmp payment tho. Would i be better off keeping this credit card out of the dmp and continuing to pay it myself? I dont see any other way to get the kids what they need atm.

Bettingmad wrote: »

Morning Helen, the biggest piece of advice I can give is resist the temptation to get everything up and running too quickly. If you have really decided to go down the DMP route then you should now be cancelling all your direct debits in relation to your creditors, sending them letters informing them of your plan and sending them token payments of £1.

I see so many people rushing into making full payments on their DMP straight away when they don't need to do this. Send at least 2 months of token payments and save the remainder into a small emergency fund, Personally I made 3 months of token payments and it didn't make a jot of difference.

I would not use the credit card knowing you are about to enter a DMP and you should not try to keep it out of the DMP for this purpose.

Good luck on your journey, you will start to sleep at night again. It is slightly stressful at the start however you will gain a lot of strength from being part of this great comunity.

Have you sorted out a clean bank account yet?

Hi Helen and welcome :hello:

Am totally in agreement with Bettingmad, take it slowly and if necessary, delay your DMP start by 2 to 3 months. This gives you a chance to save for an emergency fund, practice your budget and also to encourage early defaults.

Your creditors may want to see some evidence that you are seeking help for your debt problem, if you use the online Stepchange Debt Remedy, this will provide you with a reference number that you can quote to them.

A new safe bank account is your number 1 priority if you have any debts with your current bank. Get this set up, transfer over salary and any benefits payments and move over all of your priority direct debits - mortgage, rent, council tax, utilities etc. Make sure you don't set up any DDs for any current debt payments.

Any questions you have, just ask, someone here will always try to help you.

TTFTM x

Karen777

Hello lovely thread peoples... wow I have missed a lot - Autumnsong and Ellieseleven - well done - good progress both of you!
GUO - I had review then went self managed - just helped me feel a bit more confident to start with. Hopefully this pay day I will get rid of one of my debts altogether as a result of choosing the amounts I pay people.
Kate - I enjoyed reading your positive post and am sorry you then had some rain/pain and laundry issues... it really is up and then down and up again sometimes isn't it... fingers crossed today is a good day.
Fuzzy - fingers crossed for your health
Alyxzandra - sorry for your loss. You seem to have a remarkably calm outlook on it though and wanting to spare other people your pain is admirable.
Welcome new folk - dmps are fun well they are not but the feeling of seeing your debt going down is very satisfying indeed. Good luck and remember every crisis passes and there's a calm bit waiting for you on the other side.

Should we start a missing monkey campaign does anyone think?