DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Mkl79

Hi,
I hope this is in the right place and sincere apologies if not.
I just sent my paperwork off to Stepchange on thursday and cancelled all my nasty direct debits which felt amazing (after over 8 years of hell) but now i am nervously awaiting a deluge of intimidating calls/letters/men at the door when my 8 creditors realise that i cant pay them any more. If anyone knows what the next few weeks are going to be like for me some advice on how to handle it/what to do or say would be greatly appreciated!!
Ive been in debt nearly 9 years now and never ever missed a payment but at well over £900 a month for 40k debt it has become too much for me to handle.
My partner went into a dmp years ago and it has been great,so i dont know why i struggled on for so long without seeking help,i guess you just dont want to admit you need it?! My immediate family are not close and not the sort you can turn to,they're great when everything is ok but as soon as there is a bump in the road they dont want to know. So it is great to have somewhere like this to have a rant!!!
Apologise again if ive posted in the wrong place and thanks in advance for any advice/encouragement!!

Sazzie23

Mkl79 wrote: »

Hi,
I hope this is in the right place and sincere apologies if not.
I just sent my paperwork off to Stepchange on thursday and cancelled all my nasty direct debits which felt amazing (after over 8 years of hell) but now i am nervously awaiting a deluge of intimidating calls/letters/men at the door when my 8 creditors realise that i cant pay them any more. If anyone knows what the next few weeks are going to be like for me some advice on how to handle it/what to do or say would be greatly appreciated!!
Ive been in debt nearly 9 years now and never ever missed a payment but at well over £900 a month for 40k debt it has become too much for me to handle.
My partner went into a dmp years ago and it has been great,so i dont know why i struggled on for so long without seeking help,i guess you just dont want to admit you need it?! My immediate family are not close and not the sort you can turn to,they're great when everything is ok but as soon as there is a bump in the road they dont want to know. So it is great to have somewhere like this to have a rant!!!
Apologise again if ive posted in the wrong place and thanks in advance for any advice/encouragement!!

Hi MKl

This is exactly the place to be and you are in good company. Many of us have a history like yours with no missed payments etc and I think most of us will remember with trepidation that first month, but actually you know it wasn't that bad. In most cases after one contact with the creditor they back off and leave you to sort it out.

There does tend to be a few automated 'pay now or else the world ends' letters, but just keep in mind it's a computer sending them, not a real person. Keep them in your file and move on. If they keep coming after 3 months that's the time to question if the creditors have their act together. You can also get automatically generated phone calls, again ignore them once contact with creditor made.

Some suggest going on line and removing all your phone contacts before the DMP starts which can save bother. Always answer the calls somewhere where you are not hiding anything, I.e. Not at work or with mum and dad depending on your circa etc. if it's not convenient or you can't face them, ignore, block or answer and hang-up.

Since Mrs MKl is on a DMP I'm guessing you know all about emergency funds, token payments and then CCA's etc etc, if not probably best to have a read through our lovely DMP thread to catch up.

We're a bit militant at the moment with creditors, especially those that don't play nice but we're all interested in getting debt free, just some choose a more direct route than others.

Starting out a DMP is tough because it's an admission that things need to change, and who wants to change? But we are here and if you struggle with anything, even the 'I can't do this moments', chirp up and we'll give a shoulder to lean on.

Meanwhile, well done, it's the start of a new chapter for you, next stop DFDom.

Sazzie23

sourcrates wrote: »

Brogden.

A realitive of my ex wife works for a well known collector of debts, ....

Only 1-10% of debts ever see a court room, (intermediary figures), 90-99% never do, those odds are staggering, they place a total reliance on there ability to get you to pay by pestering you on the phone, or by scaring you witless with official looking letters, and people fall for it, that's what keeps them in Buisness, anyone who makes a fuss, by requesting a CCA, or other evidence of a debt, usually gets put to the bottom of the pile for collection, people who ignore them completely, have around a 90% chance of not paying anything.

I'd take those odds any day of the week !!

Great post Sourcrates

January2015

Mkl79 wrote: »

Hi,
I hope this is in the right place and sincere apologies if not.
I just sent my paperwork off to Stepchange on thursday and cancelled all my nasty direct debits which felt amazing (after over 8 years of hell) but now i am nervously awaiting a deluge of intimidating calls/letters/men at the door when my 8 creditors realise that i cant pay them any more. If anyone knows what the next few weeks are going to be like for me some advice on how to handle it/what to do or say would be greatly appreciated!!
Ive been in debt nearly 9 years now and never ever missed a payment but at well over £900 a month for 40k debt it has become too much for me to handle.
My partner went into a dmp years ago and it has been great,so i dont know why i struggled on for so long without seeking help,i guess you just dont want to admit you need it?! My immediate family are not close and not the sort you can turn to,they're great when everything is ok but as soon as there is a bump in the road they dont want to know. So it is great to have somewhere like this to have a rant!!!
Apologise again if ive posted in the wrong place and thanks in advance for any advice/encouragement!!

Hi and welcome

Creditors implement a 30 day holding process where no interest or fees are charges and they do not contact you whilst your DMP is being set up. That's once they know about it though.

If creditors phone up - just politely interrupt them and advise you have been working with SC and they are in the process of setting up a DMP with you.They may ask for your DMP reference number - tell them as soon as it's set up SC will contact them with the number.

Creditors all seem to be fine with people going onto DMP- at least they know you are going to be paying something and not avoiding the debts completely. It was strangely quiet and peaceful during the set up of my DMP with SC. I say strangely quiet because I expected (and worried about) more calls and letters from creditors. They just didn't come.

All of my creditors were mainstream lenders and by that I mean I didn't have any payday loans so I don't know if they respond/behave differently.

Welcome to our DMP family :beer:

Mkl79

Thanks,
Its really the monthly amount that i am bothered about,SC said this will now be £159 instead of the previous £889!! I think that alone will keep me positive over the duration of the dmp,and with an expireing gym membership and hp on car in next 3yrs,all going towards it i could be done in 7/8 yrs.
Ive thought of nothing else for last few years and have read every word about token payments,CCA's etc. The two overiding feelings right now are immense happiness that i have FINALLY begun to sort it out and not have to pay so much but also a nagging guilt or a feeling of "if its so simple why have'nt i done this 5/6 years ago",feel like i cant let the happiness take over quite yet...hope i'm making sense!!
Unfortunatly for me Mrs MKL, (nicknamed 'the Ostrich') likes to hide from her situation,pay her monthly dmp and forget it but as her problems arose before we met i dont get involved,i just think that if i sort MY issues out it will benefit all of us.

Mkl79

January15,
Thats the sort of answer i was hoping for!! All mine are 'mainstream' also so HOPING to just be allowed to crack on and pay them asap without having to deal with their self serving 'advice' or fake sympathy. Letters i can deal with,its just phonecalls that i am not looking forward to!

January2015

Mkl79 wrote: »

January15,
Thats the sort of answer i was hoping for!! All mine are 'mainstream' also so HOPING to just be allowed to crack on and pay them asap without having to deal with their self serving 'advice' or fake sympathy. Letters i can deal with,its just phonecalls that i am not looking forward to!

You don't have to, but you might want to consider writing to each creditor advising you working with stepchange and that SC will be contacting the creditor shortly. Also you could put in the letter something like....

"[FONT=&quot]Please ensure all communication regarding this account if via written letter only. I do not give permission for you to contact me by telephone. I will always respond promptly to any letters received. Please ensure all contact telephone numbers relating to me are removed from your systems immediately."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have done that since going self-managed. It's great

[/FONT]

January2015

Mkl79 wrote: »

Thanks,
Its really the monthly amount that i am bothered about,SC said this will now be £159 instead of the previous £889!! I think that alone will keep me positive over the duration of the dmp,and with an expireing gym membership and hp on car in next 3yrs,all going towards it i could be done in 7/8 yrs.
Ive thought of nothing else for last few years and have read every word about token payments,CCA's etc. The two overiding feelings right now are immense happiness that i have FINALLY begun to sort it out and not have to pay so much but also a nagging guilt or a feeling of "if its so simple why have'nt i done this 5/6 years ago",feel like i cant let the happiness take over quite yet...hope i'm making sense!!
Unfortunatly for me Mrs MKL, (nicknamed 'the Ostrich') likes to hide from her situation,pay her monthly dmp and forget it but as her problems arose before we met i dont get involved,i just think that if i sort MY issues out it will benefit all of us.

I am fairly early on in the DMP journey, but for me the support on this particular section of the forum has been invaluable. I don't post everyday, but without fail I log in and read the posts from others on the same journey as me. We've hit a few bumps in the road over the last year but with support from this forum we pick ourselves up and move forward.

When belonging to this wonderful group you realise you are not alone in this journey. If you hit a problem you soon realise someone else has hit the same thing before you and will pop in with advice and guidance.

The other thing is you can talk freely to others you know are in the same boat. If, like me, you rarely talk about your financial situation in real life, having this forum to chat to, to vent frustrations to, to crack jokes with, to moan about predators (er....creditors), etc. is a lifeline that makes the days, weeks, months literally fly by. I cannot believe we are one year into our DMP already. For us life has changed so much, and people who know me on this forum know I often end my posts with 'life is good'. Life really is good now and I couldn't say that before January 2015 - which really was the start of the rest of my life.

Looking forward to getting to know you and the Ostrich

Scottishmummy

January2015 wrote: »

You don't have to, but you might want to consider writing to each creditor advising you working with stepchange and that SC will be contacting the creditor shortly. Also you could put in the letter something like....

"[FONT=&quot]Please ensure all communication regarding this account if via written letter only. I do not give permission for you to contact me by telephone. I will always respond promptly to any letters received. Please ensure all contact telephone numbers relating to me are removed from your systems immediately."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have done that since going self-managed. It's great

[/FONT]

I'll be adding that bit about contact to my letter. They already know this but no harm in reminding them.

Scottishmummy wrote: »

Paper work from SC arrived today so I am now ready to inform all the predators we are going self-managed. It was a single piece of paper with addresses and phone numbers on it with a covering letter. For some reason I had thought there would be at least a sheet of paper per predator. Oh well. So I have prepared the following letter to inform them all. Once I hear back from all of them I will actually be sending them a CCA request but this is the first contact. So how does this sound? Is there anything else I should add at the moment?

I have been making payments to you via Stepchange for some time now and have decided to take matters back into my own hands. After you receive your March payment from Stepchange I will be taking over and doing a self-managed DMP. In order for me to facilitate this could you please send me the bank details required for me to make payments direct to you. I also require an up to date balance of the account.

Until I have payment details from all of my creditors I will make token payments to you. Once I have details from everyone I will make payments on a pro-rata basis. As Stepchange calculated payments differently this may mean payments to you will change.

Since no-one has commented or made other suggestions I'll presume this is okay to send.

Scottishmummy

Welcome to the group Mkl79