Step change dmp questions

angela1976

Thank you for your replies. When I send out the letters I'm going yo request they contact by email or letter only can only try I suppose. I'm also a nervous wreck as I've never missed a payment yet but constantly worrying about robbing petter to pay Paul so figured I will be calmer once everything is up and running. Let's hope 2015 is the start of new beginings for us.

phoenixx

Hi Angela
We are well into our DMP. I was so anxious to start with about calls and work finding out etc. Better these days but always nags at the back of my mind that someone may call. But then I think - so what if they do? I am doing the best I can and paying back what we owe. Unlike some of the banks that we owe money to. So glad we did the DMP - we could not have carried on as we were. Tixy's letter template is a good way to tell them to back off with the phone calls. We had to send a similar one to the Hellifax and Barclays...

Good luck with it all - lots of support on this forum.

just.me_3

Hi Angela (addressing you from your username, apologies if incorrect!).

You're absolutely doing the right thing and you should be so proud of yourself for doing so. I've not read the other posts here I'll be honest.

I would say that by having a small savings amount you are absolutely fine. To be honest the DMP people (the free ones) are usually on your side and will do everything they can to work with you to reduce your monthly payment but make sure you are clearing your debts effectively. They'll try and work it out so that you end up with spare cash each month (even by not telling your creditors - they'll find a way. And remember you have to live!)

Don't worry about it too much. You will soon clear your debts

Sazzie23

Hi Angela

The SC budget usually encourages you to save a certain amount for things like house repairs, car repairs etc, I save mine together into one account which is my emergency fund. Unfortunately it's a bit depleted at the moment after car repairs and another £200 dentist bill, and I need new specs and new car tyre too soooo it's not easy.

We were in your position of just managing the minimum repayments for years, and probably would have stayed that way but serious illness to OH at the same time as massive cuts to my pay (thanks NHS) meant I had to give up.

I'm not sorry though, I wish I'd been brave enough to go to a DMP earlier and I'd have learnt the importance of want v need and impact of credit much sooner. I'm 2 years in, it's starting to bite a bit and I have about 40 more payments to go so some more belt tightening - but it's character, building and I'm smiling as I write this.

Well done for making a start at facing your debts. I'd also recommend token payments, and at least a month practicing your budget before your commit.

sourcrates

angela1976 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. When I send out the letters I'm going yo request they contact by email or letter only can only try I suppose. I'm also a nervous wreck as I've never missed a payment yet but constantly worrying about robbing petter to pay Paul so figured I will be calmer once everything is up and running. Let's hope 2015 is the start of new beginings for us.

Most people are nervous when they first miss a payment, i dont know what they expect will happen to them, they expect the sky to fall in or something.
The truth is, the debt collection process can be a very long drawn out affair, thousands of people find themselves in this situation, so putting everyone through the courts would be impossible, the same goes for doorstep collectors, another empty threat, you will get phone calls, first weapon of choice for collections dept`s, easy to deny them this weapon, either get a phone that blocks numbers (cheap on ebay) or certain providers do a similar service (talk talk for free) for a small fee, or simply dont answer the phone.

You will also get letters, again, mostly threatograms, as long as you have informed them you are on a DMP then these should all dry up.
However debts do get sold on, and the new owner may not be aware of your DMP, so if this happens,just refer them to SC, and they will deal with it for you.

After a while you will find these people are pretty spineless, and issue lots of threats, but not too much in the way of action, as long as you keep to your payments all should be well, you will soon realise there was nothing to be nervous off at all.

angela1976

Thanks to you all again for your words of reassurance, feel nervous yet relived at the same time.

Learning2Budget

We have been with stepchange since 2008. Few phone calls initially but we always referred them to stepchange. We are so pleased we went to them. Our debt is reducing, we can afford to live and have 2 months worth of savings in the emergency fund. This would cover all bills if need be. Good luck to you. L2B.x

sourcrates

As an example, back in the mid 2000`s, when i was in debt, i was getting 5-10 calls a week, and a similar number of letters.
I was pretty naive about such things at the time (this site changed all that).
However, one day, against advice, i answered one of the calls, out of pure curiosity, the guy on the other end was from 1st Credit, yippee i thought, (not), he was aggressive from the off, which straight away got my back up, he said "are you going to pay ?" ,the debt was about 1700 quid, and i had about 10 quid in the bank at the time, i just said "nope", i cant afford it just now, he went berserk, threatening court action straight away, bailiffs at my door, you name it, he threatened it.

At this point i started laughing, as i knew enough to know he was talking shollocks, and i told him so, he shut up then, he tried a different tack, saying he could accept 1000 today, i burst out laughing this time, he hung up at that, never answered the phone to them again, but it actually gave me a lot more confidence now i knew what kind of pondlife i was dealing with, and that all of there threats, were just that, empty threats.

Adviceneeds

Hi, I'm looking at getting a DMP with Smartchane but am confused over a couple of things. Am I only allowed one bank account?? Also I know they set amount you can earn but if I earn above this just one month as doing overtime do I need to inform them.. Thanks new to this..

sourcrates

Adviceneeds wrote: »

Hi, I'm looking at getting a DMP with Smartchane but am confused over a couple of things. Am I only allowed one bank account?? Also I know they set amount you can earn but if I earn above this just one month as doing overtime do I need to inform them.. Thanks new to this..

Hi,
Assume you mean stepchange ? Free debt charity, yes ?

Why would you want more than one bank account ?

Unsure what you mean about earnings, they don't set anything as far as I'm aware !!
You have a review every six months or a year, unsure, certainly not on a monthly basis no.