DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

bsclp118

OK thanks for the advice January. I shall ask for the DMP to start in May to give me two months funds. I am a bit scared as my income will be dropping in September so I kind of want to get on with paying as much as possible while I can, but I guess I really do need an emergency fund for that.

gawebb99

Stepchange were really against me doing any token payments and advised me to start the dmp straight away . We posted out forms back to them to start it just a few days ago. I really wanted three months of token payment but they were against it as was my husband so we are starting sooner .

Brogden

Boldhoof wrote: »

Thanks for a brilliant post on F&F's. PRAT are one of mine, they refused the offer and didn't come back with a counter offer. Family are wanting to help, as long as it clears a debt, not spread over them all. Any suggestion on how long between sending a F&F and having it rejected should approach again? 65% to them is around £7000, so would have a big effect on our debts.

PRAT - A bit like Leicester City.......came from nowhere and are now the biggest thing in the world (for the wrong reasons though unlike Leicester )

PRAT used to send 'money off vouchers.' Not sure if you received any? A gimmick where they offered a discount of 30% so you paid 70% to clear a debt. I got a few of these over a year or two. I thought when I engaged with them that I would beat a 30% discount big style....but.....NO !! They offered 35% discount , asking me to pay 65%.

My feeling is they are not as flexible as some. I would be very surprised if you couldn't nail them for a 65% settlement though !! Try a little below if you like......I did and they came back with a counter offer. Just for information, they allow payment of reduced settlements over three months

Brogden

gawebb99 wrote: »

Stepchange were really against me doing any token payments and advised me to start the dmp straight away . We posted out forms back to them to start it just a few days ago. I really wanted three months of token payment but they were against it as was my husband so we are starting sooner .

You really must do what you need to do .

Sorry to say it but whilst SC is a great thing we must be the bosses here and if we don't like what they suggest then consider doing it ourselves.

Just make sure that your predators see 'something' from you...£1 a month whatever. You could do that for three months and then just go back and start with Step Change. Having said that and depending on how you feel you (like I did) will then have fallen into self-managing and you may want to simply carry on............

Brogden

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi Broggers,

Very rare an original creditor takes you to court for a consumer debt.

Usual process is to either sell on accounts, or assign to a DCA.
They usually wash there hands of bad debts after so long, they get a bit back from the debt purchaser, and a bit more in tax relief.

It's normally the debt purchaser that can get litigious, but again, there are no hard and fast rules on this.

Yes, I know .

Whilst they may not bother with litigation they will without any doubt at all go down screaming. If I lived alone I would take them on but as it is with what I've been through a while ago, I will probably end up being a good boy, sticking to the plan and finally paying 80% and receiving a pat on the head and a dog biscuit !!

aharia_2

HI there new to this but just want some advice Nationwide sent me a letter that they want to set aside my CCJ due to not meeting standards set out in the Consumer Credit Act, obviously I will accept this but can anyone advise if they can put in for another CCJ ?

Thanks

Puzzcat

bsclp118 wrote: »

OK thanks for the advice January. I shall ask for the DMP to start in May to give me two months funds. I am a bit scared as my income will be dropping in September so I kind of want to get on with paying as much as possible while I can, but I guess I really do need an emergency fund for that.

gawebb99 wrote: »

Stepchange were really against me doing any token payments and advised me to start the dmp straight away . We posted out forms back to them to start it just a few days ago. I really wanted three months of token payment but they were against it as was my husband so we are starting sooner .

Hi,

A dmp is an informal arrangement and it is your dmp so you decide when it will start. Starting without an emergency fund is really not a good idea! I did the online debt tool on SC, got my dmp reference number and then did 3 months of token payments sending each creditor a letter every month with a £1. SC sent me the documentation and when I was ready I sent it back.

Puzz. x

KID77

Hi Gawebb

If you want to delay starting dmp then I would just ask SC to hold for a few months, just email them if you dont want to talk amd say that you are working some things out and deciding best way forward.
Then write to all creditors and say you are speaking with SC and deciding best way forward but in the meantime, please accept £1, £5 or £10 token payment for the next 3 months whilst you seek this advice.
When you stop paying a creditor the mininum payment you have broken terms if the agreement so they will have black marked you regardless of whether you pay £1 or £50 to start with.
I am not sure who your creditors are but all of mine would have been fine with token payments, I didnt do any but we were lucky and had some ppi money come in at the right time to help us.
It is scary at the start as you feel lile a criminal but as long as you communicate with them they will be fine. SC are a charity not someone you owe money to so don't be afraid of telling them what you want :-)

Kid xx

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

2spicy wrote: »

ITS DONE !!!!


..... Balance Transfer of £3401.68 has been made, DMP Officially Paid off !
No thanks to BarclayCard for never stopping adding interest and refusing to default us (We shall NEVER use your financial services ever again).

7 Years of "financial re-education" has made us wiser to the pitfalls of credit. Whilst we both agree we will probably use credit in the future, it will be used far more wisely.

:j:beer::beer::j:beer::j:beer::beer::j

Just catching up with the thread - fabulous news 2spicy!!!! :T

BDFSH x

little_library_lady

Good morning all

Just a small update. We started a DMP with StepChange last month so our first DD came out yesterday. I've been in touch with all our creditors and at the minute all but one have agreed to freeze interest and charges (some for the full term of the plan, some just for 6 months). The only one I've not heard back from is NewDay, but I rang this morning and the balance hasn't changed. The CSA advised that no interest and charges would be added so, so far very happy. Just wanted to reiterate a really big thank you to all who post on this thread and especially to those of you who have responded to my naive questions. :T

Barclaycard (2 Accounts): interest and charges stopped (unsure how long for)

Marks and Spencer: (2 Accounts): interest and charges stopped for duration of the plan (36 months) :j

Capital One - Long Term Payment plan in place and interest and charges stopped. We have received a default notice from Capital One :beer:

Virgin - Not enough for a formal arrangement - on an informal arrangement but interest and charges stopped for the duration of the plan

Santander Overdraft - Accepted Plan and interest and charges stopped, but advised they may sell it on.

Next PLC - Accepted Plan and interest and charges stopped for 6 months

Debenhams -

The current debt total is sitting at £24,809 :eek: and DFD is October 2029 but we're looking forward to seeing this go down. With the SC budget and in addition to my SC direct debit I'm also able to save £400 extra each month at the minute to put into a emergency fund for full and finals at some point. This will probably go down to £100 though later this year as ......... (see below)

On the down side I've been told that my redundancy is going ahead in October :cool: At the moment what we plan to do is pay the mortgage off with it (£30K) and hope I get a new post soon after (boss has told me unofficially she'll try to get me extra hours in another dept. whilst I look for work elsewhere). If this doesn't work out I just hope extra tax credits and benefit payments make the shortfall.

Anyhow just wanted to check in and thank you all for all the posts. Feel like I'm learning so much. I could have paid our debt off 20 years ago if I'd known about organisations like SC then. Gosh, when I think of the interest I've paid :eek: (never missed a payment in 20 years - but was paying minimum payments) --- so so stupid :money: Anyway new leaf turned over - Don't care about my credit rating now as I never want credit again!

Sorry to ramble - thanks all - I hope each and every one of you have something wonderful happen today