DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

patch22

timetosayenough wrote: »

Patch, glad you're feeling better about things. I think the hardest bit is admitting that we do have problems. I kept burying my head in the sand thinking I can manage when in reality I really couldn't. Yes we can support each other on our journey. Like you my lovely mum passed away almost 3 years ago and she was definitely the one I could have spoken to. Dad, at 93, just would not understand at all, never been in debt.


I've now cancelled all direct debits out of current account and transferred them to new account. There's one I can't do apparently until 1st August. Everyone else I could do over the phone but this one I have to do online and not until 1st August which is when payment is due out but been told it won't be a problem. Hm will wait and see. Managed to get name of guy I spoke to so will use that if things go pear shaped.


Ah thanks Sazzie, it's great knowing that I can come here and get things off my chest.

So sorry about your mum. It's so hard, isn't it? He was only 61 and I was (am) a real daddy's girl. Could just do with one of his hugs right about now. I spoke to mum about it all today (though not the amount as that would just worry her) and it was nice to share it and have her support. I usually confide in my 92 year old nan as well, but won't be saying anything about this as she is the same as your dad and wouldn't understand at all. Sounds like you've sorted lots out today. Keeping busy does seem to help a bit.

Been quite busy today too - changed my Barclays account address to my current place so mum doesn't get all the post (should have done this 6+ years ago!), ordered a PIN for the bank account we'll be using and transferred all money across. My husband has printed the forms we need to send back to Stepchange so that will all be done over the weekend along with collecting account numbers etc. It's all feeling rather real at the moment.

Had a few wobbly moments again today. Main one is to do with worrying that the creditors not stopping interest and charges and our debt just mounts up and up and up whilst we're on the plan, meaning we're worse off than ever with no end in sight. Most of our debt is with Barclays (two overdrafts and a credit card all amounting to just over £10k) and I've read that they can be the worst for refusing to stop interest. Wish I could get a grip and stop the spiral of worry all the time You'll all be fed up with me before too long!

KID77

citycentremj wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm just embarking on a DMP through StepChange after accumulating around £30k in unsecured debts over the past few years (loans and credit cards).

Went through the budget planner etc and thankfully as I earn a decent wage (which makes my position all the more irresponsible on my part) and all the accounts are up-to-date they are confident it should be accepted and in 2 years and 8 months it should be all sorted out.

One thing that has worried me a little having read through the thread is that the time-period seems short compared to some other and although I was thorough in the budget planning I'm worried I'm going to end up leaving myself short for the essentials.

So I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this length of DMP etc and how it all worked out?

Thanks for listening and best of luck everyone!

Hi Citycentremj

I have only just started my DMP this month so not the most experienced to give you advice but having read through the last 3 DMP support threads I have picked a few things up.
Based on your level of debt and term, you are obviously going to be paying around 900 per month? I imagine thats around the same level as minimum payments or maybe even higher than minimum payments when comparing it to my own debt? The problem i see there is that creditors are unlikely to reduce or freeze interest if you are still meeting minimum payments but yet may still mark your credit file negatively.

People on here have mentioned snowballing which may be an option for you to consider? Or if you do the DMP, reduce payments so they are of an amount where interest is likely to be frozen and save the rest to pay the debt off in a few years at least that money will gain some interest in your savings account.

As I say I am fairly new to this so some of the more experienced DMPers may come along with different advice.

Welcome to the thread anyway :-)

K
xx

Growurown

Hi Newbies, welcome to the thread!

citycentremj - nothing to worry about regarding the length of your DMP, but you do need a liveable budget. I could have paid my DMP off earlier on a really tight budget but I knew it wouldn't work for us. OH doesn't do cheap! I suggest you start out with the most generous budget and see how you do and if you find you can manage on less money put it in your emergency fund. You can always then at a later date use that money to pay off debts earlier.

patch22 - most of my creditors stopped interest, and those that didn't reduced the interest at least. If your creditors don't stop interest there are things you can do, get the FOS involved etc. Let's just get the DMP underway first and see what happens. You may be worrying about nothing!

kb_soma - congrats on being debt free!

A tip for all those new to a DMP - remember that your SC statement assumes all interest and charges have been stopped. You will need to adjust your balances accordingly on the SC website if they haven't.

timetosayenough

Hi everyone,


Have had a traumatic morning this morning. Keep getting missed calls from loan company whose payment I cancelled. They always rang when I was busy with Dad. I've tried ringing them back but can't seem to get through. I've emailed them again explaining all this and saying it's stressing me out (which it is). They should have had letter by now. It's really worrying me because they obviously need to speak to me and for me to tell them what's going on. I'll keep trying, Dad always has snooze in the afternoon, so will keep trying then.

KID77

timetosayenough wrote: »

Hi everyone,


Have had a traumatic morning this morning. Keep getting missed calls from loan company whose payment I cancelled. They always rang when I was busy with Dad. I've tried ringing them back but can't seem to get through. I've emailed them again explaining all this and saying it's stressing me out (which it is). They should have had letter by now. It's really worrying me because they obviously need to speak to me and for me to tell them what's going on. I'll keep trying, Dad always has snooze in the afternoon, so will keep trying then.

Sorry to hear about your morning, I hope you have managed to speak to them now and everything ok :-)

K
xx

thebeaver

Hi all,
Hope everyone is well.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the PRA group. They just bought my debt from MBNA.
Will they continue to take the monthly repayments (as long as the account details are updated etc)?
Any new correspondence always makes me nervous
Thanks

Triangle

Hi all - hope you are are having a lovely weekend in this gorgeous weather

Timetosayenough - Hope you got hold of someone in the end xx

Well over a week now since Stepchange called to say everything had been processed and they were contacting the creditors to advise of our imminent DMP. So a mini update:

Debt 1 - letter to acknowledge token payment
Debt 2 - Statement saying DH had missed payment and account frozen
Debt 3 - Letter to say account frozen
Debt 4 - Letter from Stepchange this morning to say they have not agreed to the DMP but not worry as Stepchange will send the payment regardless. The bizarre thing is this is the creditor I mentioned a while ago whose payment from Stepchange is pretty much identical to the current minimum payment!

And that's it - no phone calls as yet and I am feeling much more positive about things First major test has already come for our brand new budgeting system - need a new bed! Before we would have thought nothing of sticking one on the credit card (regardless of cost) but now we have planned when we can get it according to our budget and also selling a couple of items we don't use to raise the cash. And I actually feel really good about it!

Tx

kb_soma

Good evening all.

Sounds like good progress is being made.

Timetosayenough, I hope you managed to get hold of someone. It could be an 'automated courtesy' call?

Thebeaver, I don't know about that company, but when my debt was passed form hsbc to collections, they accepted my payment through sc. Maybe give sc a call and ask?

Triangle, sounds like everything is ticking over.

I wish I'd hounded my creditors to ask them to freeze the interest, then took it to complaints to the fos. I got letters back saying no, and didn't continue to chase them. Sounds like I could have been successful with that.

Good luck everyone!

Jon81

Today's the day I have to tell my OH about the mess I'm in and I'm dreading it.

Sazzie23

thebeaver wrote: »

Hi all,
Hope everyone is well.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the PRA group. They just bought my debt from MBNA.
Will they continue to take the monthly repayments (as long as the account details are updated etc)?
Any new correspondence always makes me nervous
Thanks

Hi beaver, don't know if it will help, but MBNA sold one of mine to Link, a DCA. The have been fine even though I am now down on token payments. I continue to pay through SC, the only really difference is that I don't get on line access and they send statements every 6 months. However I can ring up and get a balance if I wish, and they have been very easy to talk to.

Haven't heard of PRA but that's probably a good thing;)