DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

minkeymootoyou

racht wrote: »

Hi
I would just say with Very- change your phone number on your account to a false one (it wont let you leave it blank) I had to do this as was getting endless calls from them using lots of different numbers. I never answered them (googled numbers after) as I had read somewhere that they charge you for these calls- not sure if true but better to be safe. Also if you have put anything on BNPL recently- see if this can be cancelled before the DMP is mentioned as although they have frozen interest on my account- the BNPL interest will be added after the year etc if not paid off by the date.
Very was the only one that I had a few problems with at the start- more with the payment not being received from Stepchange but once sorted its all running ok

Thank you !
I changed my phone number and emailed them to cancel bnpl, forgot that the interest would pile up over the year !

Sazzie23

minkeymootoyou wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, no one said anything about token payments, so i've paid half of them for this month. I only have 4 debts equaling around £4500, with Natwest, Aqua Card, QuickQuid, and Very.co.uk.

The debt that made everything worse was quickquid, not because of the interest, but the payment dates, there were often 2 in each month of £60ish, once a month and i would have been ok. Then the spiral happened, i used credit card to live off, put all my xmas presents on a cataloge. The loan was to pay off an overdraft i'd been in since i was at university, paying off debt with other debt was a huge mistake, even if the payments seemed lower.

The dmp took forever to set up, and so did my nationwide basic bank account, so ive not transfered my money out yet, i had to quickly cancel my direct debit for my natwest loan to stop the payment, and as i was at work all day when the phone lines are open, i cant even sort this out til monday or later !

I don't have much money for the month, but i walk to work, bring lunch, and have a freezer full of food, i have enough money for rent, water, electric, and ive paid my council tax, other bills such as my mobile bill will have to be paid late.

talking all this through is helping, step change take ages to reply to emails and i work pretty much all day so cant phone them.

Feels like i've just ranted to everyone, you must get this all the time haha

Hi Minky - it's good to rant, and posting it here helps others who have felt like that but did not want to post.

SC email usually about 3 days turnaround but longer at busy times. Pretty much every question you could ask someone here has had before. If you are not sure that the CPA has been cancelled for PDL, then pull your money out just in case, it's a heck of a lot less trouble than trying to get it back. Remember that although the SC payment goes out on 1st or 8th of month, SC won't pay creditors til 25th, this can make it the equivalent of another month without a payment so consider a token payment . There is a template about somewhere on the thread and I think SC pack has one in it for token payments.

It's very easy to get into debt and much harder to get out, don't best yourself up, you can do this, and at least with a freezer full of food you can get through the month. Don't put yourself in a position at the start where you are already behind though as the DMP doesn't allow much wiggle room and missing a DMP payment with SC starts the cycle over again.

moneyworrier89 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all your support and help. am I best letting my creditors know once I send my dmp application off which I will be doing this week or before I send the form off. Thankyou.

I told mine as soon as I had decided to go to DMP but hadn't got all my paperwork together. The only exception was Natwest where my overdraft was who I only told once I'd hot a new account and hd moved all relevant direct debits.

tiller_girl wrote: »

Hello all,

I'm a newbie to this thread. DH and I had an appointment with our bank this morning, to see if we could remortgage and consolidate our debts. We've very much had our heads in the sand, and thought we were £25,000 in debt. It's actually £51,848. :eek:

The advisor was lovely, and once we were declined for a mortgage she advised us to look at StepChange for an IVA. I completed the SC online form this afternoon and they recommend a DMP.

I've read through lots (but not all!) of this wonderful thread, and have an action plan.

I have a (possibly daft) question. According to SC, we should be paying £586 per month. We have 3 children - I can't bear the thought of not getting them birthday presents, or taking them on holiday. Is it possible to pay slightly less than they recommend? 6 years with no caravan holiday seems so bleak! Although I realise that kind of thinking helped get us into this mess in the first place.....:(

Hello and welcome Tillergirl.

That sobering moment when the debt is added up can be a real shocker, but at least you have a plan to deal with it. Solving debt with debt is definitely not the answer, I was doing it for years before I ended up here, if you've stopped now that can only be a good thing.

As in my post to Minky your budget should be something you can manage with, the amounts in the SC budget can be adjusted within reason, it's better to start with a longer DFD date that is doable than one which is too difficult to manage. I'd recommend the :money: Martin advice to piggy bank, separate accounts for savings, I have one for bills, one for regular savings such as for insurance and car tax, one for fuel, one for emergency savings, all the amounts go in on DD, but I can't withdraw easily except for the fuel account so that I can't fritter it as OP mentioned.

Planning for cheap treats and days out is great and I think there is a thread somewhere on the forums for ideas on how to save money on days out etc. maybe holiday out if season if you can rather than peak, and something like a caravan holiday can be great for little ones.

Anyway too much blather from me this weekend, enjoy Sunday everyone.

SquirrelNuts

Afternoon all!

After two months of token payments, things are starting to come together nicely now... I'll be sending out another quid each when I get paid later this month and then first Stepchange DD payment comes out on 1st Feb...

Creditors onboard:

• Argos - agreed DMP and reduced interest from 29.9% APR to 9.9 APR. I'll be sending the interest letter to them next week imploring them to reduce interest to 0%!
• Lloyds Loan - agreed DMP. Not sure of interest rate, it was 7.9% APR before, so I need to give them a call to find out.
• Barclaycard - agreed DMP and 0% interest. Interest & charges from last statement now refunded
• Sainsburys CC - agreed DMP and 0%
• Aqua CC - agreed DMP and 0%
• Lloyds CC - initially rejected DMP. I called them last week and they have now accepted (same payment amount) and 0%
• Ladder Loans - piled on the interest for two months but now accepted DMP and 0%
• Wonga - agreed DMP and 0%
• Very - passed to NCO Resolve who are reviewing DMP. Interest 0% but some of the balance is currently under BNPL which is still accruing interest.
• Lloyds Overdraft - agreed DMP and 0%
• Peachy - agreed DMP and 0%
• Lending Stream - agreed DMP and 0%. Passed to Moorcroft DCA to administer on their behalf

Creditors still to agree DMP:

• Pounds to Pocket - no response to DMP. They have accelerated the loan balance and it is currently at 0%. Looking at other threads, their next step is normally to sell to DCA so I'm waiting for that to happen now.
• Everyday Lending - I phoned them last week and they confirmed they have Stepchange documentation but were still considering plan. In meantime interest continuing at 55.4% APR
• Cashplus CC - Several conversations with them, and they insist no Stepchange docs even though sent twice to them to correct address. They have DMP info from me, but nothing agreed yet. Still charging interest 29.9% APR

Onwards and upwards!

Squiz

spot3

That's great progress SquirrelNuts, well done!

Kate_fixing_it

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been around much to support others, I'm in a bit of a tailspin myself. The family crisis we had over Xmas is still ongoing although I am now attending a support group for me which is helping.

Now that Barclaycard is gone I did my SC annual review early. Payments haven't changed but balances are updated and DFD is now August 2020 instead of December that year

I'm guessing SC have contacted everyone as I have received a letter from creation confirming my new payment of £28 and an interest rate of 0.25%. They STILL haven't resolved my complaint (it's going off to the FOS this coming week) but my payment has dropped a whopping 88p yet interest has dropped 0.72%. All very bizarre, especially given that there's more in the pot per creditor with BC gone.

I've also received a dividend from the free shares from work into my old bank account so there's another £25 off the total. I'll be under 8k in March even if I do no extra payments

Right now I don't have the time or energy to go into it all - keeping a family member alive and myself semi-sane is my priority. The debts are being paid, I'm rapidly heading for the £8k line and that has to be enough while I focus elsewhere.

Huge pat on the back for those plodding along and a big high five for those starting out. Much like a mantra from my support group - one day at a time people and we'll get there.

Kate x

minkeymootoyou

Thanks SquirrelNuts for the update, really gives me an idea of who is going to stop interest ! Seems like Very is going to be a pain in the butt. Found out you can't cancel the buy now pay later items after 49 days...that is going to add a large chunk when it runs out !

Sazzie23

Hey Kate

Sorry you are having a difficult time; we understand life happens while we are busy making plans. Does sound like the finances are coming along nicely, couldn't understand the Creation thing though...you know I need it spelling out slowly ! I hope the support group is giving you encouragement that things will get better, as you say, I suppose it is like finances in some ways, one bit at a time and nothing will change if nothing changes. Hang in there, it will get sorted, just give yourself space to think about things, sometimes the obvious way forward is only apparent when you step back or get away from the issue.

And don't worry about us, plenty of contributors here, we'll get through, you know where we are though if you need a shoulder. Xx

Sazzie

Sazzie23

spot3 wrote: »

That's great progress SquirrelNuts, well done!

Yeah lots of 0%s in there,:j:j good work Squizzer

spot3

Sorry to hear you're having such a difficult time Kate, you know where we are if you need an ear, I hope things improve soon.

Time_to_face_the_music

Kate, we are here if you need us, this forum is about all kinds of support, not just the financial variety. So bend an ear or use a shoulder or just sound off, we will always listen.

Hugs to you

TTFTM x