DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

milocat

Hi everyone *waves*

I've sat down this morning with the snowball calculator, and it says I could be debt free by November 2020, which would be great, as my aim in life is to be debt free by age 30.

Trouble is I'm with Stepchange, and can't increase any payments until next January. At the moment I am paying the bare minimum just to give myself the breathing room to get my finances on their feet, before I take the full plunge. However, I'm wondering if it would be better to go it alone?

At my current rate I will be debt free sometime around 2035, at which point my daughter will basically be moving out. I want to be able to enjoy her childhood and not panic constantly about my debt, but do you all think its easier to let a company handle it for me? Or should I brave doing it myself?

Any advice is totally welcomed. Thanks x

timetosayenough

Hi everyone,


Rang SC yesterday and glad I did, I asked for November to start DMP but the DD had been set up for September 1st. All sorted though. Lovely people they really are.


Had statements this morning from old bank for 2 credit cards I had. They've frozen interest!! This might be short term though mightn't it? Haven't heard from any other creditors yet, it's all been really quiet!


Milo, I'm new to all this but someone will be along who is more knowledgeable than me. Good luck.


GUO good luck with your car.

2spicy

If you have a lump sum to pay off .... Contact your creditors and see if they would be willing to accept say 40% of the total outstanding as Full & Final settlements of the debt.
There are plenty of templates in the previous 10 threads about taking your finances seriously and making full & final offers to creditors to settle the debt.
You might find that you will be able to clear 2 or 3 of those debts.
Obviously you don't tell them you have £5k or they won't accept anything less than the full amount but if a 'family member' were to 'gift' you some money, 'how much would each creditor be willing to accept to clear the debt and Mark your credit file with "SETTLED"' ??

Sazzie23

KrazyKel wrote: »

I had been trying to decide to go DMP or not for a long time now but never went ahead as always worried about ruining my credit so ive been trying to ebay and earn more and cut back a lot and managed to save £1500 over the last 2 months to pay off my debts and i was really pleased - had a good month! (Cleared a £1400 Nationwide CC)

... then Ive just gone and won £10,000 which will clear up over half of my debt! so thrilled!
Also slightly gutted that I cant enjoy it like I could have if I wasnt in debt but I know I need to clear this debt and can see an end to being in debt a lot sooner than I would ever imagined!

I just dont know which cards/overdrafts to pay off with it!
I have almost £5000 overdraft so thats first to go as that costs me around £70 in fees each month

I then have £5000 to put towards other Credit Cards, all interest rates are similar 19.9 or something :
ASDA CC £3200
Barclaycard £4800
MBNA £2250
Virgin £3200

I haven't updated my address on my Virgin CC but Ive got an offer of 0% till 2017 (to my surprise) - will updating my address affect that?

My plan is using £3200 to pay off the Virgin in Full, then using the £4400 Available balance to transfer to barclaycard and get that paid off in full, ive had offers from barclaycard previously so hoping If i pay that off and my credit score improves I could maybe get the Asda and MBNA onto that as 0% in the future..
Ill still have Asda, MBNA and then the full Virgin to pay off...

Will still have about £1500 left which I may keep in my bank as emergency fund or use towards remaining credit cards, plus will continue earning more/saving to get the rest down

Im 30 in March so I would love to start my 30's debt free and new start! :j:j:j:j:j:j

Hi Kk

Great news on the debt busting and the windfall.

2spicy gives good advice above, but maybe consider posting a new thread on the main forum for other suggestions from folk in the know?

Glad you've no need to join us in DMP world.

Happy birthday, treat yourself a little.

Sazzie23

milocat wrote: »

Hi everyone *waves*

I've sat down this morning with the snowball calculator, and it says I could be debt free by November 2020, which would be great, as my aim in life is to be debt free by age 30.

Trouble is I'm with Stepchange, and can't increase any payments until next January. At the moment I am paying the bare minimum just to give myself the breathing room to get my finances on their feet, before I take the full plunge. However, I'm wondering if it would be better to go it alone?

At my current rate I will be debt free sometime around 2035, at which point my daughter will basically be moving out. I want to be able to enjoy her childhood and not panic constantly about my debt, but do you all think its easier to let a company handle it for me? Or should I brave doing it myself?

Any advice is totally welcomed. Thanks x

Hi Milo,

Please do not go to a fee paying DMP, your hard earned dosh will go towards the company fees rather than your debt, that cannot be a good thing.

The snowball calf relies on your interest staying the same, if you come out of DMP or increase payments, your interest could change, so make sure you understand what the implications are before making a move.

It's sounds like it's either 5 years of extreme hardship to get to a 2020 DFD or 20 years of slightly less pain to get to a 2030 DFD,miss there a middle ground? Can you save the extra you might have paid and then pick off your debts slowly with f&fs ?

Don't rush into anything til you've thought it through.

Saz

Sazzie23

Growurown wrote: »

Well that's what the AA man thought but it isn't a sudden stop, the engine sort of slowly loses power and then stops. It has had a new coil pack and one of the spark plugs was cracked which was replaced.



Yes I could extend the DMP and I know it won't be the end of the world, but I'm so close to the end and so looking forward to being debt free. I'm pretty mad at the guy who hit us because the old car was one we had bought from new and it was fine. Now we've seem to have landed up with a lemon again.

I think my real worry about all this is where are we going to find the money from to buy a replacement car. I could approach my credit union for a loan but pretty sure the credit record will put a stop to that. Last resort would be asking my Mum:(

Defo no mechanic, but I had a car that used do that and it was something to do with fuel blockages. That was an old car though, things have probably changed.

Ok I get it now, were you thinking I'm going to be DF in x months and my problems will be over (even though you know thats not the case, that little voice was hoping) but this has made you realise it's still going to be a slog and you don't want to get in debt again but what he heck else can you do, and actually can you even get credit for something you really do need, despite all the amazing stuff you've done to get DF, Yup I'd be ticked off too :mad:

Life is pants sometimes

KrazyKel

2spicy wrote: »

If you have a lump sum to pay off .... Contact your creditors and see if they would be willing to accept say 40% of the total outstanding as Full & Final settlements of the debt.
There are plenty of templates in the previous 10 threads about taking your finances seriously and making full & final offers to creditors to settle the debt.
You might find that you will be able to clear 2 or 3 of those debts.
Obviously you don't tell them you have £5k or they won't accept anything less than the full amount but if a 'family member' were to 'gift' you some money, 'how much would each creditor be willing to accept to clear the debt and Mark your credit file with "SETTLED"' ??

I didn't think that would work for me as I haven't missed any payments/defaulted and all are with the original creditors

sourcrates

Growurown wrote: »

Well that's what the AA man thought but it isn't a sudden stop, the engine sort of slowly loses power and then stops. It has had a new coil pack and one of the spark plugs was cracked which was replaced.



Yes I could extend the DMP and I know it won't be the end of the world, but I'm so close to the end and so looking forward to being debt free. I'm pretty mad at the guy who hit us because the old car was one we had bought from new and it was fine. Now we've seem to have landed up with a lemon again.

I think my real worry about all this is where are we going to find the money from to buy a replacement car. I could approach my credit union for a loan but pretty sure the credit record will put a stop to that. Last resort would be asking my Mum:(

That's a bummer, if nothing showing on the fault computer, then some kind of electrical fault sounds like the culprit, its just finding it that can take forever, this is going back a while, but I once owned a Mk 2 fiesta XR2, great little car, but developed a bit of a misfire, and lumpy running, had it in at various garages to attempt a fix, none of them could find the fault.


So thought id have a go myself, started a methodical search of every likely culprit, got to the carb, stripped it down, right down to each individual jet, and that's when I found a tiny piece of tissue paper wedged in one of the jets, removed it, put it all back together, ran like a dream !!!!

bsclp118

So I've been facing a to DMP or not to DMP dilemma all week I've been facing this week. I had my light bulb moment where I realised something had to give.

However on reflection, if I cut back to the bare minimum for few months and meet the minimum repayments. Then I can start to think about snowballing and clear the debt that way. Although I'm sure if things change and I really can't meet my minimum payment then I may reconsider a DMP for now I am not ready to sign up. To be honest I have just gone 30 and me wanting to get a mortgage at some point in the future is a massive priority for me.

Just want to thank the forum and this thread for helping me make what I hope is the right decision for me. I think it's easy to panic at rush into things. SC are lovely and made things sound very easy, however in reality I think a DMP would be the wrong move for me.

boring1

Hi
I know I can phone them tomorrow and ask, but just wondered if anything similiar had happened to anyone else. I am nearing the end of my DMP (6 years so far...) so many of my debts are now paid. I had a debt to capital one that finished a few months ago, then suddenly this month cccs tried to send them £16.59, says on the website creditor has returned payment and cccs will try and send again next month? Just thought it was odd that they had decided to send a random amount to a creditor that had been paid off months ago?
Any ideas/thoughts welcome!