DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Jon81

I keep getting contacted by PRA t group aproximately every six months to tell me that step change have told them they've cancelled their agreement with me - they never have of course then o have to go on this merry go round of getting stepchange to send them the proposal again

Seems as if PRA don't have much control of their documents

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Welshie28 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice really.

Started my DMP with Stepchange nearly 4 months ago however I'm starting to struggle with living month to month.. already!

Currently paying £450 a month with leaves me with £60- £100 a week for me and my son to live on. Debt balance is £20,000.

How easy is it for me to possibly change my payment amount to my DMP so that I have a bit extra to live on after I've paid for all that I need to pay and my DMP payment? I didn't get much chance to save an emergency fund as my dmp started 1 month after my initial phone call to them?

Many thanks

Hi,

We have a budget of £100 for our family of 4. It is pretty tough and at times we do struggle. If you are finding that your budget is too tight I would advise you to contact SC and discuss lowering your monthly payment with them.

Did you put anything against the emergencies section in your budget review? If not, ask SC if you can add this in as you have no back up in case of any emergency. We put £35 month against our emergencies section of the review and they haven't questioned it. I'm not sure how this compares to other people's budget but it means that if you put a similar amount it would give you a bit more breathing space each month.

Honestly, give SC a call - I'm sure they will help, you don't want to be struggling to afford food and essentials, especially with a child too.

Good luck and take care,

BDFSH x

Sazzie23

Welshie28 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice really.

Started my DMP with Stepchange nearly 4 months ago however I'm starting to struggle with living month to month.. already!

Currently paying £450 a month with leaves me with £60- £100 a week for me and my son to live on. Debt balance is £20,000.

How easy is it for me to possibly change my payment amount to my DMP so that I have a bit extra to live on after I've paid for all that I need to pay and my DMP payment? I didn't get much chance to save an emergency fund as my dmp started 1 month after my initial phone call to them?

Many thanks

Hi Welshi and welcome:T

What you could do is to go to the SC on line DMP remedy and play about with the budget figures, this can be done anonymously, or put in a different email address if you feel more comfortable that way. There are folk on here that have claimed for parking charges when they have a free car park, for dry cleaning when they where uniform, for smoking when...., etc etc. some declare overtime, some don't etc etc then when you are happy with figures do an on-line review and update your figures to whatever works for you.

Don't be fooled into thinking you'll get better treatment the more you can pay to creditors, reverse is actually true, less you pay, more likely you are to get an early default and no interest. Think of a DMP as a marathon and not a sprint.

For some DMPers getting to the end quick is their goal, for many others, me included, it's about living just above survival to get to the end, everyone makes a decision depending on what's important to them.

Hope this helps

Saz

Sleepysophie

We began a DMP about 2 years ago and have managed to make all of the monthly payments on time (although it has been a bit tough at times.) We have now repaid over half of the amount we owed two years ago (£24,000 of £47,000 ) which is great and with only two years left to go we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.
The problem is that now we are meeting what would have been contractual minimums on these creditor accounts (mostly credit cards) the majority of our creditors are applying interest to our accounts as they would have before we began the DMP. In fact, ironically, when we owed £47k in unsecured debt we often were offered 0% deals and further credit. Now, of course, our credit limits reduce with every payment made to them and our interest increases! Only a couple of our creditors defaulted our accounts so other than for these two creditors, presumably they are within their rights to continue to add interest at a higher rate as they see us as a higher risk, having previously been unable to meet our contractual payments?
My question is whether we should continue to pay our monthly payments to StepChange even though we are now exceeding what would have been minimum payments to our creditors or, whether we should be taking back control of our debt and paying direct given there seems to be no advantage to paying via SC?
Presumably there comes a point within everyones DMP when this happens, towards the end?
I have spoken to SC and they have not really helped me with this having no strong view either way. I wondered with the wealth of experience and knowledge on this forum, whether any of you could help me out? (With advice of course, not the £23k I still need to pay !!)

blisteringblue

Sleepysophie wrote: »

The problem is that now we are meeting what would have been contractual minimums on these creditor accounts (mostly credit cards) the majority of our creditors are applying interest to our accounts as they would have before we began the DMP.

Alas you are going to have to take more control now. I always think of Stepchange as a comfort blanket for the DMP. But at the end of the day they are funded by the banks so you have to wonder where their true allegiances lie?

Simply go self managed and do it yourself, and then those still charging interest you simply pay them a token amount of £1 for probably 4-6 months. This will get them back onside and probably a default which is no bad thing.

I did it last year when I had the same problem with a couple of my creditors. These are now all defaulted and all my debts are 0% and there was barely any kicking and screaming from the predators.

Start here, this is the process I used

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

Welshie28

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Hi,

We have a budget of £100 for our family of 4. It is pretty tough and at times we do struggle. If you are finding that your budget is too tight I would advise you to contact SC and discuss lowering your monthly payment with them.

Did you put anything against the emergencies section in your budget review? If not, ask SC if you can add this in as you have no back up in case of any emergency. We put £35 month against our emergencies section of the review and they haven't questioned it. I'm not sure how this compares to other people's budget but it means that if you put a similar amount it would give you a bit more breathing space each month.

Honestly, give SC a call - I'm sure they will help, you don't want to be struggling to afford food and essentials, especially with a child too.

Good luck and take care,

BDFSH x

Hi BeingDebtFreeStartsHere,

In my emergency and sundries section on my budget, I have £30 per month for birthdays and christmas and £100 towards a loan my brother has for me. The way in which my budget works is that, I use my wage from work to pay my DMP payment, my car finance, the £100 to my brother and my mobile phone bill. And then my weekly payment from my working/child tax credits pays for my little boy's nursery fees and allows me to have an amount to live on weekly. However I am struggling with living off £60-£100 a week as my petrol also comes out of that each week. Which doesn't leave me with much, with a debt of £20,000, I pay £450 a month. In your experience would you think a payment of around £350 per month is to low to pay towards my DMP.

Many thanks for all of you're help :j

Welshie28

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Hi Welshi and welcome:T

What you could do is to go to the SC on line DMP remedy and play about with the budget figures, this can be done anonymously, or put in a different email address if you feel more comfortable that way. There are folk on here that have claimed for parking charges when they have a free car park, for dry cleaning when they where uniform, for smoking when...., etc etc. some declare overtime, some don't etc etc then when you are happy with figures do an on-line review and update your figures to whatever works for you.

Don't be fooled into thinking you'll get better treatment the more you can pay to creditors, reverse is actually true, less you pay, more likely you are to get an early default and no interest. Think of a DMP as a marathon and not a sprint.

For some DMPers getting to the end quick is their goal, for many others, me included, it's about living just above survival to get to the end, everyone makes a decision depending on what's important to them.

Hope this helps

Saz

Hi Saz,

Thank you for you're advice. I will have a go at that over the weekend and see what it comes up with.
I need to lower my repayment if possible so that money is not so tight each week so I'll have a go and contact SC on Monday.

Thanks again

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Welshie28 wrote: »

Hi BeingDebtFreeStartsHere,

In my emergency and sundries section on my budget, I have £30 per month for birthdays and christmas and £100 towards a loan my brother has for me. The way in which my budget works is that, I use my wage from work to pay my DMP payment, my car finance, the £100 to my brother and my mobile phone bill. And then my weekly payment from my working/child tax credits pays for my little boy's nursery fees and allows me to have an amount to live on weekly. However I am struggling with living off £60-£100 a week as my petrol also comes out of that each week. Which doesn't leave me with much, with a debt of £20,000, I pay £450 a month. In your experience would you think a payment of around £350 per month is to low to pay towards my DMP.

Many thanks for all of you're help :j

Hi Welshie,

I think £350 a month is absolutely fine - we have debts much higher than yours (now £58k :eek: but started at £70k+ so coming down slowly ) and pay £416 per month.

I agree with Sazzie that it may be worth looking at your online SC account and "tweaking" your expenditure a bit to get your lower monthly repayments. You could even up a few of your utility bills by £5 here and there to give you more wiggle room.

As Sazzie says, you don't get treated any more favourably by paying a large amount off each month and struggling to get by. Definitely adjust a few figures in the budget review and get yourself a lower monthly payment. I always write my figures on paper as I'm doing my review than add it up manually to make sure the repayment suits me before hitting submit, going back and amending figures as needed until I get the amount I am comfortable with paying.

Good luck and shout up if you need any more help/advice

Take care,

BDFSH x

Welshie28

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Hi Welshie,

I think £350 a month is absolutely fine - we have debts much higher than yours (now £58k :eek: but started at £70k+ so coming down slowly ) and pay £416 per month.

I agree with Sazzie that it may be worth looking at your online SC account and "tweaking" your expenditure a bit to get your lower monthly repayments. You could even up a few of your utility bills by £5 here and there to give you more wiggle room.

As Sazzie says, you don't get treated any more favourably by paying a large amount off each month and struggling to get by. Definitely adjust a few figures in the budget review and get yourself a lower monthly payment. I always write my figures on paper as I'm doing my review than add it up manually to make sure the repayment suits me before hitting submit, going back and amending figures as needed until I get the amount I am comfortable with paying.

Good luck and shout up if you need any more help/advice

Take care,

BDFSH x

Hi again,

When I log on to my online dmp account and try to tweak a few figures it says 'the amount is outside of the amount we would recommend' even though I'm entering £60 and underneath it says they recommend £104+. I'm worried that they won't lower my payment so I'll have to struggle for the next 3 years. I thought the whole point of being in a dmp was being able to live more comfortably.

Thank you for your advice

Puzzcat

Welshie28 wrote: »

Hi again,

When I log on to my online dmp account and try to tweak a few figures it says 'the amount is outside of the amount we would recommend' even though I'm entering £60 and underneath it says they recommend £104+. I'm worried that they won't lower my payment so I'll have to struggle for the next 3 years. I thought the whole point of being in a dmp was being able to live more comfortably.

Thank you for your advice

Hi,
Put in the recommended amount and it will reduce your monthly dmp payment...Your entering lower than what they are recommending.
Puzz. X