DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

crispycornflake

Hi, not been on here for a while. Currently on a dmp with stepchange, debt started off at a massive £115,000 :shocked:!! Been on dmp for nearly 6 years & debt is now down to approx £74,000, still huge I know but a least it's going in the right direction. We recently received an e mail from step change regarding changes to their terms & conditions, they seem to be getting a lot stricter with their rules & also mention something about accessing & recording dmp's with credit reference agencies. I'm not really clear what it means tbh. Anyway in a nutshell we are now thinking of self managing our dmp but our joint list of creditors is about 19. I would like some advise from other dmp'ers who have gone down this route e.g do creditors still freeze interest, do they ask for proof of income & expenditure or is a statement ok? We would like more freedom to pay some debts more money, do f&f settlements on the lower amounts and have more control of our own money. Thanks in advance.

sourcrates

crispycornflake wrote: »

Anyway in a nutshell we are now thinking of self managing our dmp but our joint list of creditors is about 19. I would like some advise from other dmp'ers who have gone down this route e.g do creditors still freeze interest, do they ask for proof of income & expenditure or is a statement ok? We would like more freedom to pay some debts more money, do f&f settlements on the lower amounts and have more control of our own money. Thanks in advance.

First off, congratulations on getting this far, you have done well, but 74k is still a Hugh amount of money.
Is there any specific reason why you have not looked at a quicker, more regulated option ?


As regards self management, I would say go for it, it allows you the flexibility to make your own decisions, creditors should not treat you any differently, than if you were still with stepchange, income/expenditure details will have to be exchanged still, but that should not present any problems for you.

2spicy

crispycornflake wrote: »

Currently on a dmp with stepchange, debt started off at a massive £115,000 :shocked:!! Been on dmp for nearly 6 years & debt is now down to approx £74,000,

WOW !!!... and we thought we had high debts !..

Weve been with PayPlan for the long haul. Looked at SC (when it was CCCS) and didnt like their way of running things.
Looked at doing our own DMP too, but in the end it was simpler to just dictate to PP and work the figures in our favour by keeping the DMP payments manageable and making the occasional payment to each creditor as an extra.

Anyway, Ill stop rambling, but basically, going solo seemed easy. You can get the Income and Expenditure off your existing DMP, and with just a simple spreadsheet, work & track your DMP yourself.
From what I was told, being in control gives you the ability to directly interact and negotiate with your creditors. I remember reading that it seems daunting, but quite easy.

[Deleted User]

2spicy wrote: »

it was simpler to just dictate to PP and work the figures in our favour by keeping the DMP payments manageable and making the occasional payment to each creditor as an extra.

The only thing I dislike about SC is the fact that they frown on us making additional payments to creditors outside the payment plan.
I'm assuming from what you say that PP are much more amenable to it:T. Might check out their website.

crispycornflake

sourcrates wrote: »

First off, congratulations on getting this far, you have done well, but 74k is still a Hugh amount of money.
Is there any specific reason why you have not looked at a quicker, more regulated option ?


As regards self management, I would say go for it, it allows you the flexibility to make your own decisions, creditors should not treat you any differently, than if you were still with stepchange, income/expenditure details will have to be exchanged still, but that should not present any problems for you.

Hi, we never wanted & still would not consider iva/bankrupt which I assume is what you mean by quicker & more regulated. This is because we are happy to pay off our debt regardless of how long it takes & it suits our circumstances to do so. Thanks for your advise re: dmp

2spicy

carbootcrazy wrote: »

The only thing I dislike about SC is the fact that they frown on us making additional payments to creditors outside the payment plan.
I'm assuming from what you say that PP are much more amenable to it:T. Might check out their website.

Just made the payment to the individual creditors directly and let PP discover the difference in their figures at the next review.

We also negotiated F&F payments with a few creditors then just informed PP what had happened after the debts had been settled. PP just re-issued new offers to the remaining creditors (who couldn't really argue as they would all receive more each month anyway).
As far as we were concerned, any creditor that wanted to "engage with us and negotiate a settlement" on the remaining balance, was their prerogative.
All we did was inform PP what had happened, and sent a copy of the confirmation letters once the offers had been accepoted and the debt settled.

Planning to check with Experian in the next few months and add a note on any "Partially Settled" entries to say that by negotiation with the creditor, a "reduced offer to settle the account was accepted".

lucielou5

My ex partner and I have a DMP with PP which expires in February after 7 years of consistent payment.
He left in December.
Ironically, over the last year I have been hit with even more creditors chasing me up and am still, personally, in debt for another £12k.
I feel, at this point, I need to point out that I have mental health problems. Having read through everyone's posts I believe my best plan of action is to start a new DMP. There's no way I could cope with a self managed plan.
I did look at SC but am wondering if I should just go with PP again. We've had no issues with them but I feel so embarrassed and stupid.
Also, I'm on IS and have been advised that (as a full time carer for my disabled son) that I wont be expected to seek work for three years. I'd really like to use the time to go back into education and re-train and pay as much debt off in this time but it seems like a massive battle.
I estimated that I would need to be paying £83pw to do this (I may be wrong, maths is not my strong point).
Sorry for the long post, I guess I'm just looking for reassurance and happy endings.

Dandytf

Increase SC DMP payments.

Think the late 2019 is getting to me.

Have been playing with the dmp payments calculator.

With my multiple defaults as late or later than dmp finish date,is it really 'worth' it increasing payments to pay 1 or 2 years earlier?

Thoughts please from existing dmp'rs

January2015

Dandytf wrote: »

Increase SC DMP payments.

Think the late 2019 is getting to me.

Have been playing with the dmp payments calculator.

With my multiple defaults as late or later than dmp finish date,is it really 'worth' it increasing payments to pay 1 or 2 years earlier?

Thoughts please from existing dmp'rs

I wouldn't increase DMP payments even if I could. I would save any extra available money into a fund for a) emergencies and b) full and final settlement offers as and when you can make them. By getting to a point where you could make F&Fs to individual debts you could potentially reduce the total amount you pay to clear your debts and bring your DFD forward.

January2015

lucielou5 wrote: »

My ex partner and I have a DMP with PP which expires in February after 7 years of consistent payment.
He left in December.
Ironically, over the last year I have been hit with even more creditors chasing me up and am still, personally, in debt for another £12k.
I feel, at this point, I need to point out that I have mental health problems. Having read through everyone's posts I believe my best plan of action is to start a new DMP. There's no way I could cope with a self managed plan.
I did look at SC but am wondering if I should just go with PP again. We've had no issues with them but I feel so embarrassed and stupid.
Also, I'm on IS and have been advised that (as a full time carer for my disabled son) that I wont be expected to seek work for three years. I'd really like to use the time to go back into education and re-train and pay as much debt off in this time but it seems like a massive battle.
I estimated that I would need to be paying £83pw to do this (I may be wrong, maths is not my strong point).
Sorry for the long post, I guess I'm just looking for reassurance and happy endings.

Is this debt you incurred during the DMP with PP?

If not, and it is 'old' debt - which is what it sounds like from your post, you need to CCA each one first as they may be unenforceable (more likely if they are pre April 2007 debts).

If they are recent debts, I would talk to PP about a DMP. You have built up a good relationship with PP and clearly trust their advice and support and a little bit of embarrassment when initially talking this through with them will soon be gone and you will be on a path to clear the debts with their help. You already know what it takes and you already know you can do it.

Good luck with your journey to be debt free:beer: