January 2015 is the beginning

System

January2015 wrote: »

Not a very debt busting weekend. OHs car broke down - well it went into limp mode - could drive but no acceleration. Fortunately we have recovery to home with AA. Recovery guy said its the engine management system - sounds expensive

I am now panicking about not having enough money to sort this out. We definitely have no access to credit as we've told all the card companies we are working with SC and sent them the first £1 token payment. Oh shoot

I can only hope it's a cheap(ish) fix. We can't manage without the car as DH works over 25 miles away and there is no direct bus/train route, plus he needs his vehicle for his job (and part of his salary is a car allowance)

Oh dear, hope you can get car sorted soon. If he is paid a car allowance, is there no way his company would agree to paying for/ supplying a courtesy car while yours is being fixed?

Puzzcat

Hi January,


Sorry to hear about the car, very difficult when the emergency fund/car fund isn't yet up and running or gets depleted in my case..!


Do you usually use the same garage if you do they may allow you to pay them back in installments? Just a thought. Hope you get it sorted quickly.


Puzz. x

January2015

Tried to phone SC tonight to chase up progress of DMP setup - they close at 6pm. I was sure I read on their website they were open until 8pm. I probably can't phone them tomorrow as I am at work all day and we have family visitors tomorrow evening - unlikely to leave before 6pm. So it's likely to be Wednesday before I get to call - and maybe they will have contacted me before that anyway

I phoned N@t West tonight because I had a call on my mobile whilst at work. Didn't answer it, but googled the number and it's NW card services so rather than worry about them calling me at inappropriate times I phoned them. I explained I had written (they say they haven't received the letter), and I explained DMP progress with SC. They were lovely and told me not to worry about making a token payment - but I already have anyway - and not to worry about any letters I receive but if I am concerned I can call them - as if I would :rotfl:

Very concerned that DH's salary payment will go into the old bank account. I am going to ask SC not to write to the old bank until next week at the earliest. Although we have overdraft and 2 loans with them they are all up to date so we could get the salary out and transferred to new bank account if we need to.

Also spoke to DH about asking SC to delay starting DMP until 1st April because of car breakdown - just as we put some funds away for an emergency they are being swallowed up. We really want to start the DMP asap though so are trying to work out how we can manage if we do start it on 1st March, i.e. what else isn't tied down that we can sell

January2015

ploppy57 wrote: »

Oh dear, hope you can get car sorted soon. If he is paid a car allowance, is there no way his company would agree to paying for/ supplying a courtesy car while yours is being fixed?

Hi Ploppy

The car allowance is for maintenance/wear and tear on his vehicle so they wouldn't be very supportive if he asked for a courtesy vehicle whilst his in being fixed.

He has to have the car regularly serviced and submit evidence of service in order to get the car allowance - and it is serviced. In fairness they are paying for it through his salary but it helps us as well as it keeps the vehicle maintained. This is just something beyond regular servicing unfortunately

He put it in the garage tonight and will speak to them tomorrow to get a quote for repair.

January2015

Oh, just remembered that I am due some additional hours to be paid this month so fingers crossed that will go a long way towards paying for car repairs. Positive thinking

January2015

January2015 wrote: »

Spoke to SC today - DMP is all set up and first DD will be collected on 1st March:j:j

We thought about asking to delay it because of car troubles this month, but then realised I had some additional hours being paid in February's salary so decided we would just jump right in and get the DMP started. The car will impact slightly on our emergency fund - which is a bit of a downer in the first month of having an emergency fund but hey ho - the car will be paid for and not by using credit cards.

Revised DFD is 8 years 9 months which I think is October 2023 :eek: This does assume the debt doesn't increase (which it will before creditors hopefully freeze interest). No matter what we will definitely be working to reduce that figure.

The light at the end of my tunnel is dim, but it is getting brighter by the day:D

I posted this on the DMP Mutual Support thread earlier tonight but wanted to post it in my diary as well as it is an important marker in my DFW journey:T

I was speaking to DH tonight - it is so great to be able to talk to each other about our debts without worrying he doesn't know or will flip or something. One of our loans has 6 years to run with a £20k balance, so I said it's not too bad to extend that to 8+ years and know all the debts will be paid.

We don't give two figs about our credit record. We have our home - not paid for by any means but it will be by the time we retire and we will also be debt free by then as well - and possibly have a few years during which we can save. We will have been used to paying SC by then so hopefully we can just chuck all that money into savings instead for a few years. At almost £1k per month that will give us a nice nest egg. We both have good pensions to look forward to and the latest forecasts are that we should have an income on retirement of about £38k - which seems massive if we have no debts, no mortgage, no stress:j For the first time we are looking forward to a retirement we can afford. It's still over ten years away but we have a plan and we are going to stick to it.

Finally, I read a post on another thread tonight which commented the amount of debt was small compared to others on this forum and with a bit of rejigging it could soon be sorted. I totally understand where that poster was coming from, but in my view - and it is just my view - the level of debt doesn't matter. Someone may owe just a few thousand and it can seem like the largest mountain and the end of the world if their income/ability to pay is extremely low. What I mean is that suppose someone had a debt of £2,000 and could only pay £30 per month towards clearing those debts and another person had debts of £20,000 and could afford to pay £300 per month towards clearing their debts - the second debt is much greater and the amount they can pay is much greater but both lots of debts will take about 5 and half years to clear on a DMP. And both lots of debts will, no doubt, be worrying the person/family to much the same extent as their ability to pay them off is relative in terms of how much they can afford as a ratio of the debt.

I am now officially waffling:rotfl:

Scottishmummy

January2015 wrote: »

Someone may owe just a few thousand and it can seem like the largest mountain and the end of the world if their income/ability to pay is extremely low. What I mean is that suppose someone had a debt of £2,000 and could only pay £30 per month towards clearing those debts and another person had debts of £20,000 and could afford to pay £300 per month towards clearing their debts - the second debt is much greater and the amount they can pay is much greater but both lots of debts will take about 5 and half years to clear on a DMP. And both lots of debts will, no doubt, be worrying the person/family to much the same extent as their ability to pay them off is relative in terms of how much they can afford as a ratio of the debt.

I am now officially waffling:rotfl:

This is exactly how I feel about it now. I have seen threads where people have had over £100k debt but have paid it off in five years and I used to think how the hell did they get into that much debt in the first place if they can afford to pay it off that quickly. Then I would see people worrying about £2k or £6k etc and think why are they worrying about so little - they should try £60k. But reading all these diaries you can see how it affects people so differently and debt is debt - worry is worry. Now I read and think I know exactly how you feel and hopefully I am able to give advice and comfort.

SM

System

so so true, it all depends what someones earnings and lifestyle were in the first place.

January2015

Another night of panic - DHs salary is due to be paid into the new account for the first time. In the old account it was always there within minutes of midnight. It's not in the new account yet

However, thinking positively, my salary didn't land in the new account until about 50 minutes after midnight so I am going to stay up and log in to DHs new account about 12:50am to check. It's no good even thinking of going to bed because I am worrying.

On the positive side - it hasn't landed in the old account either because I logged in to that to check. If it does I will whip it across to the new account pronto. I will be sooooo glad once I know that both salaries are going where they need to

January2015

Salary has landed in the new account:j:j

I can go to bed