DMP very soon, but now feeling stressed again....Will this feeling ever go away?

dazla

Hi

I started a dmp 3.5 years ago, owing £34.000, I have £8.500 left to go. Before I started a dmp I was feeling sick with worry, having to take money off one credit card to pay another. I was stuck in a vicous circle of debt that was suffocating me. It go so bad I was going without food on some days because i didn't have any money and I also had to resort to selling off pieces of furniture to get money for food and petrol. The dmp was my salvation. Don't feel ashamed, many people are in your situation for whatever reason. Also, try to to get hung up about rebuilding a good credit history in order to get more credit again. Having a credit facility was what got me in a mess in the first place. Good luck on your journey. You will get there in the end

seanavfc92

cherylclarke wrote: »

Thanks Sean

I am terrified to even walk in to a bank, haven't been in one for years as I try to avoid them! I think that is our best hope really.

There are some banks that offer basic accounts to be opened online. Maybe it's worth trying that?

abby1234519

Rooster01 wrote: »

I'm fragile as it is.....Received letter today from very....You could clearly see Collection Arrears Department on it......felt so humiliated....embarrassed....Postman just looked. Do they deliberately do this to belittle you? That's twice now........

How much did you owe Nationwide? I'm more terrified of Halifax.....Morgage is £28,000 and house worth around £170,000

Could you sell your house? I know that's drastic, but with the level of debt you have you'd clear all of the debt, the mortgage and have say 90k left over for buying another house?

NewcastlePaul

Started my DMP with Stepchange (then CCCS) 9 years ago.
Owed a staggering £108,000 in loans and credit cards.

Payment increased over the years gradually and at the moment its £475 per month. My debt is down to £52,000 at the moment.

Also did you have any PPI. Might be worth checking out.
I sat down with a laptop, a note pad and a phone on the first day in January this year and currently I have received over £27,000 back
Am just waiting of final FOS case against HBOS and then I will start and make F&F settlement offers. Even if they all refuse any reduction I will have a maximum of 5 years left on DMP.

It's been a bloody hard road but have come through the other end.
Also whilst it is scary and new at the beginning it does get easier.
I don't get any communication from Creditors bar 6 monthly statements.
I just wish I had of done it earlier instead of sinking deeper

whattodo1967

Rooster01 wrote: »

I'm fragile as it is.....Received letter today from very....You could clearly see Collection Arrears Department on it......felt so humiliated....embarrassed....Postman just looked. Do they deliberately do this to belittle you? That's twice now........

How much did you owe Nationwide? I'm more terrified of Halifax.....Morgage is £28,000 and house worth around £170,000

I really would not worry, I know it's hard to do easy to say. Once you have been on dmp for a few months things will settle down. It's very intense in the beginning, I just remember lots of tears, but it does get easier. We owed nationwide £3500, our mortgage is around 50k and worth around £250k. I can honestly say all of the creditors have been very understanding of our situation. Try not to worry.

midlander81

I can relate to your feelings of stress and anxiety as I felt the same a few months ago. We owed 40Kish between us and it seemed like such a mountain to climb.




The thing that I constantly remind myself is that I am dealing with the debt, it is decreasing and it will eventually be gone ( by Dec 2016 all being well!! ) so whilst it's annoying, it's fixable!!
I am sure that you will feel this way too as soon as you get your DMP up and running. Make your payment, stick to your budget and get on with life.
One of the things that I am doing is trying to not think about the total balance of my debts too often otherwise I get dragged down by it


I wish you all the best in your DF journey

Rooster01

Well Natwest confirmed new bank account open and ready to use. I opened wrong account.....opened a Select Account instead of Basic Account so very surprised it went through as they did a credit check....

dimestorediamond

seanavfc92 wrote: »

There are some banks that offer basic accounts to be opened online. Maybe it's worth trying that?

They do - Lloyds Cash Account can be done completely online - I did it last week!

Puzzcat

Rooster01 wrote: »

Well Natwest confirmed new bank account open and ready to use. I opened wrong account.....opened a Select Account instead of Basic Account so very surprised it went through as they did a credit check....

As long as you don't have an overdraft facility that account will be fine. I opened my new account pre dmp and it wasn't a basic one, as in I have a chequebook and debit card. I love my dmp, 1 year in and 10% of the debt gone. Do remember that it is up to you to check statements and to do the legwork to get interest frozen/reduced if it's not done. The balances on the SC website assuming that is who you are using are based on no interest and you don't want any nasty surprises later on.
Token payments during set up, build up an emergency fund as you will have no access to credit.
Pop over to the dmp mutual support thread, that is where us dmp'ers hang out, loads of information and people in the same boat.
Puzz.x

seanavfc92

Rooster01 wrote: »

Well Natwest confirmed new bank account open and ready to use. I opened wrong account.....opened a Select Account instead of Basic Account so very surprised it went through as they did a credit check....

See? All is not lost. May I remind you of your previous comment:

I'm s*****g bricks, feel worthless, ashamed and all kind of things are going through my head.....Charging orders, creditors refusing Stepchange payment plan, CCJ the list is endless.

Natwest were willing to provide you with a full credit account. Not everyone is eligible for that, so they obviously don't view your predicament as a worst case scenario.

Now is the time for you to regain control.

Make sure all of the direct debits in your new account are what you need, not what you think you should have. All you need is the DD's for your household bills (mortgage/rent, council tax, utility bills, etc etc), and your payment to StepChange (if that's your preferred method of payment).

As long as you have an income regularly coming into the Natwest account, and your spending doesn't exceed £0, you will see an improvement to your levels of debt.