DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

DireDebts

I send you the message Time to face the music.

Puzzcat

Oh my goodness me.. what happened to the best thread on mse....

We are/were so proud of the help and assistance we gave to others in starting/enduring the dmp journey. Of course we are all different but I have to say since I started my journey and that began with this very thread albeit 3 years ago now its a very diffferent read these days.

I do agree that all should have the information given about cca's/unenforceable/enforceable/defaults etc.. but surely the main part of the thread is to help and encourage newbies at the start of the journey and they can pick up other tips along the way.

I am interested in all of the above but do sometimes feel sad for the newbies who come on for help in the setting up process and then get distracted by all of the above.

I think we should get back on track and concentrate on what we were good at.

Puzz.x

Mkl79

Well said.
Here is a question then.
When people say 'it will settle down after first month' do they mean the first month from when you ring stepchange and start cancelling your direct debits OR the first month after your first dmp payment goes out? (1st April in my case).
Got 2 letters today,one from Lloyds and one from Littlewoods saying my direct debit to pay them has been cancelled,please make other arrangements etc or it will be passed on to collections. Anyone know what (if anything) to make of this?
Thanks in advance!

Puzzcat

Mkl79 wrote: »

Well said.
Here is a question then.
When people say 'it will settle down after first month' do they mean the first month from when you ring stepchange and start cancelling your direct debits OR the first month after your first dmp payment goes out? (1st April in my case).
Got 2 letters today,one from Lloyds and one from Littlewoods saying my direct debit to pay them has been cancelled,please make other arrangements etc or it will be passed on to collections. Anyone know what (if anything) to make of this?
Thanks in advance!

Hi Mk179,

At the beginning there is always a rush of letters, many of which don't make sense but most are nothing to worry about. It really settles down when the dmp gets started as the creditors receive payment and then you shouldn't hear much from them.

I assume you have cancelled the dd's to the creditors, have you written to them advising of the dmp with a token payment? Often letters we send don't always get to the right person before the computer spits out its dummy.

Puzz.x

make_the_change

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi Mk179,

At the beginning there is always a rush of letters, many of which don't make sense but most are nothing to worry about. It really settles down when the dmp gets started as the creditors receive payment and then you shouldn't hear much from them.

I assume you have cancelled the dd's to the creditors, have you written to them advising of the dmp with a token payment? Often letters we send don't always get to the right person before the computer spits out its dummy.

Puzz.x

Hi Puzz,

Directing this one to you as it seems a little chaotic on here at present although others please feel free to comment / advise.

I am planning on delaying my DMP, my accounts have all been put on hold until the end of March / beginning of April, any way of getting them to stall a little longer? Best way to go about it?

Also, would usually make my payments online using my debit card (or a bank transfer from my current bank account to my old overdraft). What is the best way to make the token payments? Continue to make them this way? They will still show up on the statements as a payment.

I am hoping to be brave enough to go self managed so just trying to gather all my info in preparation for it!

Thanks in advance.

Puzzcat

make_the_change wrote: »

Hi Puzz,

Directing this one to you as it seems a little chaotic on here at present although others please feel free to comment / advise.

I am planning on delaying my DMP, my accounts have all been put on hold until the end of March / beginning of April, any way of getting them to stall a little longer? Best way to go about it?

Also, would usually make my payments online using my debit card (or a bank transfer from my current bank account to my old overdraft). What is the best way to make the token payments? Continue to make them this way? They will still show up on the statements as a payment.

I am hoping to be brave enough to go self managed so just trying to gather all my info in preparation for it!

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I did token payments for 3 months without any problem. I just wrote each month, quoting.. further to my recent correspondence I am in the process of setting up a dmp with sc.. etc etc.. They didn't seem to react to the delay at all. So I would just do that for now and include your token payment.. £1 is fine.. I used cheques but you could use postal orders but that costs an extra 70p for each one.. And they do show up on your statements.. don't make a lot of difference to the balance mind.. :rotfl:

It is quite usual for the debt to go up until the dmp is in place, mine certainly rose by about 1% but that's the price you pay for not starting straight away and to me an emergency fund was more important than an extra 1% on my mighty £60k debt...:)

Puzz. x

make_the_change

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi,

I did token payments for 3 months without any problem. I just wrote each month, quoting.. further to my recent correspondence I am in the process of setting up a dmp with sc.. etc etc.. They didn't seem to react to the delay at all. So I would just do that for now and include your token payment.. £1 is fine.. I used cheques but you could use postal orders but that costs an extra 70p for each one.. And they do show up on your statements.. don't make a lot of difference to the balance mind.. :rotfl:

It is quite usual for the debt to go up until the dmp is in place, mine certainly rose by about 1% but that's the price you pay for not starting straight away and to me an emergency fund was more important than an extra 1% on my mighty £60k debt...:)

Puzz. x

Thank you!

January2015

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi,

I did token payments for 3 months without any problem. I just wrote each month, quoting.. further to my recent correspondence I am in the process of setting up a dmp with sc.. etc etc.. They didn't seem to react to the delay at all. So I would just do that for now and include your token payment.. £1 is fine.. I used cheques but you could use postal orders but that costs an extra 70p for each one.. And they do show up on your statements.. don't make a lot of difference to the balance mind.. :rotfl:

It is quite usual for the debt to go up until the dmp is in place, mine certainly rose by about 1% but that's the price you pay for not starting straight away and to me an emergency fund was more important than an extra 1% on my mighty £60k debt...:)

Puzz. x

I second everything Puzz says - except for me I made the token payments via online banking or logging into my online account with individual creditors (that option does disappear quite quickly though).

My debt balance also increased whilst setting up DMP, but it was a small price to pay for being able to set up the emergency fund - which we definitely needed.

Good luck with it all :beer:

January2015

Puzzcat wrote: »

Oh my goodness me.. what happened to the best thread on mse....

I think we should get back on track and concentrate on what we were good at.

Puzz.x

I think you are right Puzz. There are separate threads for F&Fs and CCA queries - which are both great in their own right, but also anyone can start their own thread if they have a specific query.

Jan x

Mkl79

Yes all direct debits to creditors have been cancelled. I've not written or made any token payments though as the guy at stepchange didnt mention them. Although i am now starting to fret that maybe i should make some!
What happens if i dont? My first dmp payment is due on 1st April.