please delete

sourcrates

melysion wrote: »

But I don't have the funds to pay for everything from April onwards. So it absolutely has to be in this current month. It won't help deferring I dont think. I won't have any way to eat if I don't have it in place by the beginning of April so it's out of necessity it's done for then.

Err, your misunderstanding here, most people who start DMP's have long since stopped paying there accounts, you should to.

Only pay your essentials, mortgage, rent, council tax etc, all unsecured consumer debt can wait until you are able to pay, clearly you are not in a position to pay, so why are you ?

As I said before, slow down, your rushing into this, and people who do that will most likely fail !!!!!

January2015

melysion wrote: »

I wish I hadn't started this thread now. Particularly now someone is assuming I'll fail before I start.

Could someone please tell me the quickest basic bank account to apply for and I'll go from there. Thanks.

Please don't feel down - everyone is only trying to give you the best advice they can. If you try and cover March's payments and start the DMP in April you will leave yourself short of money for emergencies as you will have no access to credit in the future.

Forget about paying all but essential bills from this point on, make only token £1 payments to debts and stash all money that would have been used to pay those debts in an account for emergencies.

We opened Nationwide basic accounts. We did it online and it was pretty quick, but if you are in a real hurry go into a branch of any bank and make an appointment to open a basic bank account asap

You have had loads of advice, and it's all good/positive advice. Sometimes it's not the advice you want to hear, but at the beginning of this process (which is where I still am) take the advice with the good intentions it is given with. Good luck with the journey to becoming debt free:beer:

Edit: I cannot stress enough how good every creditor has been from the moment we said StepChange are helping us. So your mental state will only improve from this point on - you just need to mentally get yourself into a place where you accept you can't make any more full payments to your debts.

sourcrates

January2015 wrote: »

Please don't feel down - everyone is only trying to give you the best advice they can. If you try and cover March's payments and start the DMP in April you will leave yourself short of money for emergencies as you will have no access to credit in the future.

Forget about paying all but essential bills from this point on, make only token £1 payments to debts and stash all money that would have been used to pay those debts in an account for emergencies.

We opened Nationwide basic accounts. We did it online and it was pretty quick, but if you are in a real hurry go into a branch of any bank and make an appointment to open a basic bank account asap

You have had loads of advice, and it's all good/positive advice. Sometimes it's not the advice you want to hear, but at the beginning of this process (which is where I still am) take the advice with the good intentions it is given with. Good luck with the journey to becoming debt free:beer:

Edit: I cannot stress enough how good every creditor has been from the moment we said StepChange are helping us. So your mental state will only improve from this point on - you just need to mentally get yourself into a place where you accept you can't make any more full payments to your debts.

This is good advice OP, there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, make sure you do it the right way, I've been there and done this, so I do know what I'm taking about, I wish you luck with it.

melysion

Thanks for the advice, but could moderators please delete this thread? Thanks

jools35

I was in the same mindset as you until very recently after looking at step change and reading here. I've never missed payments and spent every month moving money from credit cards, loans and my bank accounts just to make sure all our dds were covered. I made myself physically sick with worry, didn't sleep and developed severe neck pain all through stress. I couldn't even imagine missing a payment with any creditor let alone my bank. Step change put it into perspective and now I realise that I need to take control of the money we have and not let it get sucked away every month.

My other realisation was when I asked our bank for a small increase to our overdraft (£50) to cover a direct debit for 3 days. They refused. I realised then that I was just another number and if the computer said no, then you were nothing to them.

It's just computers that see your missed payment. Please don't be hard on yourself. Take control of YOUR money and you'll feel the pressure lifting. Good luck x

melysion

Thank you. Much appreciated. I'm going to ring up stepchange tomorrow evening and go from there. My problem is I'm in a very fragile state of mental health at the moment (I am bipolar) and don't have any support so not really feeling as capable as I could be at dealing with horrible phone calls from creditors because of missing payments (well deserved or otherwise). I don't appreciate the accusation that I'll fail before I start but I am grateful for all other advice.

sourcrates

melysion wrote: »

I don't appreciate the accusation that I'll fail before I start but I am grateful for all other advice.

Hi,
Sorry if I have offended you, that was not my intention.

I was simply trying to make the point that without some kind of emergency pot, if an unexpected expense pops up, you will not be able to deal with it, and things may then spiral out of control.

It happens a lot, people fail to budget correctly, that was all I was (trying) to make you aware of.

January2015

melysion wrote: »

Thank you. Much appreciated. I'm going to ring up stepchange tomorrow evening and go from there. My problem is I'm in a very fragile state of mental health at the moment (I am bipolar) and don't have any support so not really feeling as capable as I could be at dealing with horrible phone calls from creditors because of missing payments (well deserved or otherwise). I don't appreciate the accusation that I'll fail before I start but I am grateful for all other advice.

Do not panic about phone calls from creditors. Just prepare a phrase which says something along the lines of "I am working with StepChange to put together a plan to help me manage my financial situation. As soon as I have a reference number from StepChange I will give it to you"

I cannot state strongly enough how pleasant each and every credit card/bank adviser was once the magic words StepChange were uttered. I said we were making token £1 payments and they all said we didn't need to worry. They all said interest and charges and phone calls would be stopped for 30 days pending contact from StepChange.

I understand bipolar (we have several family members who suffer with this). I myself suffer with severe depression and don't know how my DH has coped with me for so many years. I am lucky I have him to talk me round and make me see the positives when all I want to see are the negatives. Don't feel you are alone in this - you have a whole new group of friends on here who have been through, or are going through exactly the situation you are in and no-one is judging you for how you got there.

If you feel down or worried - just post and talk to the lovely people on this forum.


Edit: if you have online accounts for your CCs, many have online secure message systems. Send the standard letter about working with SC and ask that all communication is in writing. No phone calls anyway then.