DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

james_joyce

Does anyone know if education fees count as a priority expense? I'm thinking of doing an OU degree which would be about £200 per month.

In fact I'm not sure re the general principle of adding new 'priority' payments to our regular budget (as opposed to one-off car repairs etc) when we're already in DMP for non-priority debts. Do creditors approach this case-by-case?

Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks
James

Sazzie23

mummy_knows_best wrote: »

Hi its my first time posting on this page we are currently just starting a DMP just filling in forms with final figures etc, ive been reading through the thread for the last 2 days and any advice or help at this stage would be gratefully appreciated, everytime I read the thread or any advice pages I feel sick and scared but have began to realise we cannot carry on the way we are. TIA

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Welcome Mummykb

There sure is a lot of reading at the moment, I can hardly keep up;)
It's is absolutely normal to feel sick and scared, but probably as you've read, it calms down once you get started and everything settles. Be prepared for a few start up hiccups, and then you won't get overwhelmed if something doesn't go to plan, and you know where we are if you have questions.

melysion wrote: »

A wee update from me. I've, got my pin number for my nationwide basic bank account and have suddenly remembered two small loans that I have out for Harveys and DFS. Both interest free and with about 2 years left to run - a few hundred on each. I've called them both just now to get a balance because I'm assuming that they will both have to go on the DMP despite the payments being small etc so I'm not seen to give anyone "preferential treatment". What fun, I exclaim! Anyway. Inching slowly forward. Next step is to get my salary payment transferred to my new account as soon as I get my card and any utility/mortgage direct debits set up.

I have decided I cant spend every waking moment thinking about this as I do have a life to lead beyond being a "debtor" so slow and steady wins the race. And the reduction in acid inducing anxiety stops me from wanting to hurl myself off the top of a tall building so its obviously the right approach.

Toying with the idea of confiding in a friend about it all as I do feel rather alone with it at the moment but its likely my shame will stop me saying anything. We will see. My biggest battle emotionally at the moment is trying to convince myself its not entirely my fault. Being made redundant and having to take a lower paid job can happen to anyone and, in any case, everyone makes mistakes. It doesn't make me a bad person, or scum, just a typically flawed human being. I will convince myself of that eventually I hope.

If you are going with SC they ask for everything to be on DMP, self managed I guess not so important, I did have one debt outside my SC DMP purely because I forgot and then decided I could just afford to keep paying it, no one ever questioned it and I have just made the final payment (out of the money I haven't paid to other stuff, but I needed it to be gone).

james_joyce wrote: »

Does anyone know if education fees count as a priority expense? I'm thinking of doing an OU degree which would be about £200 per month.

In fact I'm not sure re the general principle of adding new 'priority' payments to our regular budget (as opposed to one-off car repairs etc) when we're already in DMP for non-priority debts. Do creditors approach this case-by-case?

Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks
James

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Hi James, I think the question might be, will this degree increase the likelihood of you being able to pay more or continue to pay your debts...I,e. Will the £2400 a year or so be a good investment? As you are self managed I think the likelyhood is that you would be able to count this in your priority debts, however it might be difficult to add at a later date, is the course October start, or now? Also when I did mine (15 years ago) it took over my life a bit so doing overtime and stuff might be awkward on the debt busting . However it was worth it!

Sazzie23

Oh and James, put your planned saved moneym for stuff like car tax etc, in an account you can't easily access. Saves loads of grief !

melysion

Sazzie23 wrote: »

.
If you are going with SC they ask for everything to be on DMP, self managed I guess not so important, I did have one debt outside my SC DMP purely because I forgot and then decided I could just afford to keep paying it, no one ever questioned it and I have just made the final payment (out of the money I haven't paid to other stuff, but I needed it to be gone).

Thank you. Yes, its with stepchange. I'm tempted to leave them out as the payments are small and they are interest free. I fear that I'll end up having to fight them regarding interest etc the moment I stop giving them full payment and they become just two more creditors to get stressed over.

However, if I leave them out, I'm concerned that my other creditors will know about this (they will be able to see though my credit record apparently) and refuse to accept the DMP offer. So, I don't know what to do for the best really.

neiljmuk

ploppy57 wrote: »

did you not tell them you were happy for them to send it to the recoveries dept? That seems to be the way forward.....maybe it is to do with the amount you owe? Ours is just over £8k

Kept telling them to send it to recovery but they refused insisting on a new plan from SC. All they are trying to do is make me submit on the off chance I think sod it, I'll pay em full again (after 6 months is up) as it's the only way I'll get my debt down.

I'd agree that ringing is often best if you can get the courage to do it, but the offshore call centre used by Lloyds definitely trains their advisers to be robotic and emotionless and to just talk over you with a script. The complaints team is full of old people who sound slow and just wind you up. An exception to the rule. Lloyds, the absolute scum of the banking sector.

You can tell that call wound me up. I'll win this little battle. You've shown that calling can get you a quick result. I'll show the forum what happens when you have to dig your heals in. Some wars are over in minutes, others take years.

neiljmuk

melysion wrote: »

Thank you. Yes, its with stepchange. I'm tempted to leave them out as the payments are small and they are interest free. I fear that I'll end up having to fight them regarding interest etc the moment I stop giving them full payment and they become just two more creditors to get stressed over.

However, if I leave them out, I'm concerned that my other creditors will know about this (they will be able to see though my credit record apparently) and refuse to accept the DMP offer. So, I don't know what to do for the best really.

I think it would be difficult to tell early on if you are leaving creditors out. 4 months after starting token payments (and now first proper DMP payment month) my credit file just shows one or two late payment markers it's so off the ball. By the time it takes shape and starts to look proper trashed most creditors will have done the full account termination, frozen interest, defaulted for 6 years thing and then that's them kicked in to touch permanently (unless you stop paying them of course).

Further down the line, you might have the likes of Barclaycard with their AP markers, and Lloyds scum, but whats the likelyhood of them saying 'yo your nationwide card is showing settled every month, whats up with that s...' ? for example.

It could happen. So could a CCJ but never seen someone get CCJ'd on here yet! Have to be sensible of course.

SC have to advise in a way that promotes consistency. Imagine them saying you can leave debts out and potentially get away with it, Those not as clued up and educated as most of us on here (after a while) are going to start going in half hearted with it. SC has to have a model that works for a vast amount of people hence fixed payment dates, and simplistic regulation in the way of advising to add all debts irrespective of unorthodox circumstances surrounding isolated creditors, and then there is the payment split % worked on perceived contractual / minimum payments. If they start agreeing to alter these they become to blame for complications it could cause I guess (in the eyes of the person on the plan who will kick off at SC if it backfires)

Get SC or PP on board to start because you get a tool to do the budget, initial split in payment amounts worked out, and letters sent to creditors who see a reputable company asking them to accept a DMP for you. Once a few payments are in the bag my feeling now is that unless you get lucky and ALL creditors freeze interest and default you, you need to aid and abet this, tweek it, change it, and make it work for you by going self managed.

Thats just my opinion. More to learn before I'm truly confident enough to call this advice as opposed to my take on things!

phoenixx

Hi all

Been in hospital with high BP/chest pain so just returned to the thread. Am ok - just stressed a great deal and working very hard. There is light at the end of the tunnel though as within 2 months we shall go below owing £50k which is fantastic. :beer:
Hospital car parking charges are :eek:so DH parked on a local housing estate near the hospital and walked in to see me - only 10 mins walk each way!

Congratulations to spot3 for reaching debt freedom. Well done! Also James Joyce for getting lenders to agree and self managing with such calm success.
X x to all.

neiljmuk

Bettingmad wrote: »

I didn't pay any interest to them for two years before moving over their trigger %. Then the interest rate starts rising up to the point where I began paying over their standard minimum payment and then they whacked interest up to 29%.

I did complain and threaten them with the FOS and interest has now been brought back down to 6.9%. As a DMP is an informal plan, complaining to the FOS regarding interest rates has been futile for many people as long as the interest is not in the extortionate bracket.

The bottom line is that I wished I had forced a default at the start because when you are in their web further along the road it is very difficult to untangle yourself.

When I go over BC's 'trigger' my kids will become more expensive to keep alive and my payments will be reduced as a direct result of this increase in living expenses! (and the real story here is that the amount offset will in reality be saved in a fund that will preserve the time limit of the DMP through one off and final payments to creditors in the desired order)

Ellieseleven

Bettingmad wrote: »

I didn't pay any interest to them for two years before moving over their trigger %. Then the interest rate starts rising up to the point where I began paying over their standard minimum payment and then they whacked interest up to 29%.

The bottom line is that I wished I had forced a default at the start because when you are in their web further along the road it is very difficult to untangle yourself.

Do you know what the trigger % is with BC? We have two accounts with them (our highest debts) and are currently paying 4% and 3% of the balance each month but no interest is being applied (and hasn't for nearly 5 years). We do have AP markers on our credit file but due to the fact that no interest is being charged, I haven't tried to force a default (and I know that this isn't often successful)... a case of not upsetting the apple cart:o

Thanks
Ellie x

Scaredofdebt_2

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Do you know what the trigger % is with BC? We have two accounts with them (our highest debts) and are currently paying 4% and 3% of the balance each month but no interest is being applied (and hasn't for nearly 5 years). We do have AP markers on our credit file but due to the fact that no interest is being charged, I haven't tried to force a default (and I know that this isn't often successful)... a case of not upsetting the apple cart:o

Thanks
Ellie x

I spoke to BC on the phone on Monday and the impression I got was that if the amount you are paying is less than 1 percent of the balance then it is interest free. Obviously not in your case though.x