DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

jubilee14

Err that didnt make much sense did it. i meant i will have gone well passed the half way stage... sunday brain...

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Morning all!

BDFSH, I lurrrrve Barclaycard... In the past I've broken into song about them I love them so much LOL the main thing is that you've had confirmation that they have acknowledged your DMP which can be tricky in itself but the rest will fall into place as SC appear to have great contacts and know who's arms to twist...

MB of G x

MB - I remember your great song all about BC - it did make me chuckle!!

Still may need to contact them again as they have not said anything about the interest. Hubby was on a 0% but having read posts on here they are likely to cancel that as we are not keeping to the terms and conditions - is that right??

I have to say that by far my favourite creditor so far is MBNA - lovely letters and instant stopping interest and charges. BC could do with taking a leaf out of their book

BDFSH x

Puzzcat

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

MB - I remember your great song all about BC - it did make me chuckle!!

Still may need to contact them again as they have not said anything about the interest. Hubby was on a 0% but having read posts on here they are likely to cancel that as we are not keeping to the terms and conditions - is that right??

I have to say that by far my favourite creditor so far is MBNA - lovely letters and instant stopping interest and charges. BC could do with taking a leaf out of their book

BDFSH x

Hi, unfortunately as soon as you stop paying the minimum payments the terms all change and any original 0% interest rates no longer stand. I currently am on 0% with bc, but from reading on here am well aware that they scale the interest to the payment to debt ratio and will be expecting it to be reintroduced albeit at a much lower level in the next few months.
Puzz

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi, unfortunately as soon as you stop paying the minimum payments the terms all change and any original 0% interest rates no longer stand. I currently am on 0% with bc, but from reading on here am well aware that they scale the interest to the payment to debt ratio and will be expecting it to be reintroduced albeit at a much lower level in the next few months.
Puzz

Thanks Puzz

We owe BC around £9500 and are paying them £57.11 per month with the DMP. I have heard that BC tend to reduce interest rates if the amount paid is small compared to what is owed - can't remember if I read somewhere on here that it is below 1% of the total owed, then once your payments go above this they start to reintroduce charges.

Am getting prepared to start sending out letters asking creditors to stop/reduce interest. Just giving it a couple of months to see what happens. So far, Natwest, Lloyds, Nationwide and MBNA have not added any interest on this month's pay so waiting to see if it continues that way!

Take care,

BDFSH x

Monkeyballs

Hi BDFSH,

You're spot on re. Barclaycard... In discussions I've had them, anything above 0.75% and they charge interest on a sliding scale. You should be ok as you're £57.11 is about 0.55% (off the top of my head so I'd expect interest to stop but BC being BC who knows!

MB of G x

lewpster

Hi everyone Hope you've all had a good weekend. I am due to have my 1st payment go out with Stepchange on the 10th November, but do you think they'd let me start a month later. I have a small overdraft of £150 I want to clear plus have no emergency fund so am worried about going in without this back up. The overdraft was £400 but have almost got rid as don't want to move banks.

Also, i said i'd pay £225 a month but this is more money than I have and realistically £180 would be best to start with. After December, i will slowly start to get more money per month so once the plan is up & running I can see how it goes.

Do you think they'd be ok? Feel bad asking but better that I guess than getting in to a pickle. Am trying so hard and it is difficult not using credit cards eek after relying on them for so long but a nice feeling to know my debts haven't increased this month which is the first time in years

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hi BDFSH,

You're spot on re. Barclaycard... In discussions I've had them, anything above 0.75% and they charge interest on a sliding scale. You should be ok as you're £57.11 is about 0.55% (off the top of my head so I'd expect interest to stop but BC being BC who knows!

MB of G x

Cheers MB - will let you know what happens!! Maybe being close to Christmas and all they may be starting to feel more in the festive spirit and be nice for a change - then again, maybe not.............!!

BDFSH x

Sazzie23

lewpylew wrote: »

Hi everyone Hope you've all had a good weekend. I am due to have my 1st payment go out with Stepchange on the 10th November, but do you think they'd let me start a month later. I have a small overdraft of £150 I want to clear plus have no emergency fund so am worried about going in without this back up. The overdraft was £400 but have almost got rid as don't want to move banks.

Also, i said i'd pay £225 a month but this is more money than I have and realistically £180 would be best to start with. After December, i will slowly start to get more money per month so once the plan is up & running I can see how it goes.

Do you think they'd be ok? Feel bad asking but better that I guess than getting in to a pickle. Am trying so hard and it is difficult not using credit cards eek after relying on them for so long but a nice feeling to know my debts haven't increased this month which is the first time in years

Hi LewpeyLou, glad you've made progress and are almost ready to go. I don't think SC would be a problem, but give them a call then you'll know!

Regards repayment amounts, if you think your budget is screwed before you start then better to fix it now rather than later. The SC budget tool is pretty comprehensive, if you look at now, where did you cut corners on it before...that's what you need to explain to SC, be realistic. Its better to sustain a smaller amount than to burst in with high repayments only to default (or and up on PDL) after 2 months......


Thanks HH hope all is well from you
And MB I knew we could rely on you for a bit of personal finance delving, but your openness and honesty makes people want to open up, have you considered this in alternative career ideas?

Happy Monday - I have a late start today.

lewpster

I plucked up courage and spoke to Stepchange and I will pay £70(£10 token payments in Novemeber) and start paying £180 a month from December. Feel bad, and have probably peed off my creditors anyway so better to do this than to get myself in a pickle before this has even started.

Spent years doing that so this is my new start From next spring I can start to up the payments as got an £80 loan for my car to family ending in May and in September my eldest goes to secondary school so childcare fees save £75 a month.

This is hard but I can do it x

GrinC

so_very_confused wrote: »

Hi GrinC. I have a similar problem. I initially paid an extra payment to keep the account in order this not such a problem as it was for a small amount, however I note that they have just included this as an additional payment and therefore I am not ahead! My tack now is to ignore this as the company are aware a dmp is in place and have stopped all interest so I'm inclined to see if they honour the dmp and do not apply late payment charges. If charges are applied I will challenge this with the company as they are effectively seeking preferential treatment over other creditors.
Unsure how helpful this is but thought I would share my experience and thoughts.

Thank you so very confused. I'm really unable to make extra payments anyway - it's being too ambitious - I really am struggling. Am starting to get all panicky about Christmas too! It's my daughters birthday coming up as well. This really is going to be a testing time for me.