DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

Time_to_face_the_music

Killick wrote: »

An interesting comment about DCA's and defaulting being a "good thing". I've read this before in other forum posts and I didn't really get it so I ignored it but now I'm curious and more than a bit pee'd off.
I've been paying my DMP via Stepchange for a while and I was quite pleased with myself for doing "the right thing", I knew my credit rating would be shot to hell because of defaults but that was no real worry but now I discover that I will be penalised further at the end of all this because I most likely wont be defaulted because I'm paying too much. !!!!!! is going on and can I do anything about it now? Shall I dump mu DMP, default everyone then start again ? It seems like a plan......

It's an interesting question and if I had my time over, I would definitely follow the route of several months token payments in pursuit of the early defaults. It's definitely a recommendation I make to anyone asking now, along with self managing their DMP rather than going via StepChange/Payplan, though I do understand some people need backup and they are a better choice than paying for a DMP service.

We are 28 months into our DMP and have 4 debts remaining, one has been defaulted for 5 months, one was defaulted last month and the remaining 2 are not defaulted. Of the 7 paid off, only 3 were defaulted.

I am trying to fight these delayed defaults and the lack of any default on the earlier accounts but am not getting very far and it does not help that the FOS feels an arrangement to pay looks better than a default :mad:

Sazzie23

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I am trying to fight these delayed defaults and the lack of any default on the earlier accounts but am not getting very far and it does not help that the FOS feels an arrangement to pay looks better than a default :mad:

Hi TTFTM

As you probably know, my position is kinda the same, and MB and a few others too...would a new thread campaigning to try to fight this as a group help?

Just a thought...I'm not really up to leading a campaign at the moment, but many hands etc ...

Saz

FlippitySnipWaps

Hello everyone!

I finally decided to do a DMP after years of using credit to fund my living costs. I sent the paperwork off on Wednesday and am now just waiting to hear back.

My question is: I have a loan repayment due on 1st, do I make a payment to it? Not sure what the right thing to do is while I'm waiting for StepChange to set things up...

Many thanks.

Growurown

FlippitySnipWaps wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I finally decided to do a DMP after years of using credit to fund my living costs. I sent the paperwork off on Wednesday and am now just waiting to hear back.

My question is: I have a loan repayment due on 1st, do I make a payment to it? Not sure what the right thing to do is while I'm waiting for StepChange to set things up...

Many thanks.

I wouldn't pay it, just send a token payment and a letter of explanation. You have to start the DMP at some point, and I would put the money away into my emergency fund.

Karen777

Hiya all the new people (from someone who now feels less new )

FlippitySnipWaps - if it's not too late to cancel the payment, then I wouldn't pay it but make a token payment instead and tell them you are working with a dent charity to set up a dmp.

Also I really like the signature (sorry can't remember which of you it is!) that says 'debt is not a crime' - none of us would make exactly the same choices again I am guessing (or maybe some of themn..) but we are all here now and working our way out of debt. And that's a good thing and to be celebrated.

Growurown

Karen777 wrote: »

Also I really like the signature (sorry can't remember which of you it is!) that says 'debt is not a crime' - none of us would make exactly the same choices again I am guessing (or maybe some of themn..) but we are all here now and working our way out of debt. And that's a good thing and to be celebrated.

Absolutely agree Karen. After all, all those companies that lent us the money haven't exactly been honest have they. Rigging interest rates (Libor and Euribor), PPI, bonus schemes pressurising staff to hit sales targets, failing to comply with money laundering regulations and in the news recently Wonga sending out fake legal letters, and I am sure there are lots more cases. I intend to pay back my debts but I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep about not paying them interest:cool:

Monkeyballs

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi TTFTM

As you probably know, my position is kinda the same, and MB and a few others too...would a new thread campaigning to try to fight this as a group help?

Just a thought...I'm not really up to leading a campaign at the moment, but many hands etc ...

Saz

Hi Sazzie,

The thing is, an AP/AR should be better than a default! So really it should be a campaign to have AP/AR recognised as being a good thing (or better thing at least lol) but it won't happen and I doubt there will ever come a day when a creditor will look at it otherwise

Personally I've resigned myself to not getting further credit, I'll just save a 100% deposit for a house and who needs a contract phone?

Anyway, it's past my beddy byes so it's good night from him "good night" and a good night from me!

MB of G x

ChocolateTree

Hi everyone, new here too. Hoping to go on dmp soon, just waiting for appt with SC. Feeling sick in case they suggest dro or bankruptcy. We are a one salary family with an income of £1600 per month and £19500 debt, can not afford to pay more than £100 pm to a dmp, what do you think our chances are of getting one?

Time_to_face_the_music

FlippitySnipWaps wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I finally decided to do a DMP after years of using credit to fund my living costs. I sent the paperwork off on Wednesday and am now just waiting to hear back.

My question is: I have a loan repayment due on 1st, do I make a payment to it? Not sure what the right thing to do is while I'm waiting for StepChange to set things up...

Many thanks.

ChocolateTree wrote: »

Hi everyone, new here too. Hoping to go on dmp soon, just waiting for appt with SC. Feeling sick in case they suggest dro or bankruptcy. We are a one salary family with an income of £1600 per month and £19500 debt, can not afford to pay more than £100 pm to a dmp, what do you think our chances are of getting one?

Hi and welcome to FlippitySnipWaps and ChocolateTree :hello:

FlippitySnipWaps - The general rule about token payments is not to leave more than 28 days between your last "normal" payment and your 1st DMP payment. So if it goes over that, make a small token payment per month. It doesn't have to be much, it's all about showing willing to pay so £1 per creditor is fine.

ChocolateTree - You need less than £15000 of debt for a DRO so no-one will force that on you. I have certainly seen DMPs with a payment of £100 per month but new guidelines state that a DMP should not last more than 10 years. You never know when circumstances will improve so check what SC say.

TTFTM x

ghostmadlittlemiss

I've been reading through the thread and I did have one thing I wanted to ask about. I've noticed that monkeyballs has made complaints to PDL companies re irresponsible lending. A lot of my debts are also PDL so I was wanting to ask about that.

I occasionally took out PDL prior to my nervous breakdown as I had the world's most unreliable car, a 1969 Morris Minor, that used to break down about every two months. I also delivered pizzas at the time so I needed the car to do my job. So I'd take out a PDL to fix it and then work as many extra hours as I could the next month to pay back the money. Not sustainable in the long run and probably part of what lead to my nervous breakdown.

When I had the nervous breakdown, I ran up quite a lot of PDL as I was on SSP so had had a big drop in income. The thing was, I put my old income pre breakdown on the application form and none of the companies ever asked for proof of income. I know that was fraud and my only defence was that I wasn't in my right mind and honestly thought that I'd be well again very soon when in actual fact, I was off sick for about 6 months and still haven't fully recovered now. Which is part of the reason that I work for myself now, I can set my own hours and take regular breaks, making my work doable.

My question is, do you think that I have a case for irresponsible lending here too, as they never bothered to ask for proof of my income or, in one or two firms' cases, might have asked for proof when I first applied but not on an ongoing basis? The problem is that my mental health problems have always given me poor memory for details, which is even worse for the time I was off sick so I'd have to SAR the companies in the first place. Or do you think that I should just not rock the boat, as I was in the wrong myself and could get into quite a lot of bother if I made a complaint?
Kayleigh