DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

tommo761

I finally accessed my Experian last night and now have a total to aim at - £37,203 spread over 8 creditors and all unsecured.

It feels totally insurmountable this morning and all a bit helpless but I've completed a budget on SC and am awaiting a call back from them.

I need to know what the best option is for us as a family to put the debt nightmare behind us once and for all, we can afford to make one monthly payment, I don't know whether to just increase my £1 token payment across thm all to refect this or try the 'managed' route?

Does a DMP reduce debt or does it just ensure that it's all paid but in a manageable way?

Newbie questions I know, but any advice would be gratefully received.

changeforbetter

tommo761 wrote: »

I finally accessed my Experian last night and now have a total to aim at - £37,203 spread over 8 creditors and all unsecured.

It feels totally insurmountable this morning and all a bit helpless but I've completed a budget on SC and am awaiting a call back from them.

I need to know what the best option is for us as a family to put the debt nightmare behind us once and for all, we can afford to make one monthly payment, I don't know whether to just increase my £1 token payment across thm all to refect this or try the 'managed' route?

Does a DMP reduce debt or does it just ensure that it's all paid but in a manageable way?

Newbie questions I know, but any advice would be gratefully received.

There are better people to advise here than me, but my 2-penneth.

You sound like you need a DMP - it won't reduce the debt, but can stop things like interest and charges being added. So each payment actually reduces the debt. In addition, you're right, you can pay at smaller (manageable amounts).

So, I'd suggest a good option for you from what you said above.

sourcrates

Misst wrote: »

i received a county court order which is grey and white it looks like a really bad photocopy as the court badge is all blurred. it has a number on and i have tried ringing the court number 0300 123 1056 but this number is out of service. I think possibly the company are trying to use a bullying tactic. there is a dead line of 14 days to respond to the form before action. what do I do?

Thank you in advice for any advice from a worried mum

Hi,


You should really post this in the general forum, as this is a specific thread about DMP`s and it could easily be missed.

If its a county court claim form from Northampton bulk centre, it should have a reference number on it somewhere ?

You can go to money claim online, enter the ref, and acknowledge service there, that then gives you 28 days to file your defence.

You should then get yourself over to Legal beagles for further advice on how to respond to them :


http://legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

Triangle

After a lot of consideration I have decided to go self-manged

I'm never going to get anywhere with Argos unless I drop to token payments. I did consider saving extra in my budget to make overpayments but decided against this. So it's all systems go! Will be doing the paperwork this evening.

Quick query for you experienced lot first though please - the NEDCAB page says to maintain current DMP payments from original agency (re stepchange) whilst the process is being set up. My plan was to do a budget, write to them all to explain (including sending budget and requesting their bank details & current balances) but to do token payments for a month or two whilst it gets set up (apart from Argos who will be getting only token payments). Is this acceptable and is this what you did? We have four creditors and 3 have already issued defaults.

Also in these letters should I be stating the %/amount of the money I have to pay towards the debt? (Eg I have £275 to spilt between 4 - should I say you will be getting £50 of this etc)?

Many thanks

sourcrates

Triangle wrote: »

Is this acceptable and is this what you did? We have four creditors and 3 have already issued defaults.

Also in these letters should I be stating the %/amount of the money I have to pay towards the debt? (Eg I have £275 to spilt between 4 - should I say you will be getting £50 of this etc)?

Many thanks

Hi,

The absolute beauty of going self managed is that you do what's best for you.
DMP`s are non regulated arrangements, so there are no rules, you arrange things exactly how you want to.

You decide who gets what payment and when, you decide how much information to share with a creditor, personally I think token payments are a waste of everyone's time, you simply tell the creditor in your letter, when they can expect the first payment from you, and leave it at that.

You will no doubt provide each creditor with a copy of your income/expenditure, so you can show them what's available for credit repayments, and there pro rata payment, if that's how you want to do it, but if your paying one more than another, then I`d leave out how much each is getting for the time being.

Triangle

I was hoping you would be about Sourcrates - thank you :j

sourcrates wrote: »

You decide who gets what payment and when, you decide how much information to share with a creditor, personally I think token payments are a waste of everyone's time, you simply tell the creditor in your letter, when they can expect the first payment from you, and leave it at that.

So, in your opinion, it would be fine to write to them and say you will be getting first payment on 1st November/1st December then?

Thanks again

Also, and not really related to my situation at the present time but I'm interested to know, how do creditors look upon full and final offers? I mean obviously you haven't paid it all off so do they take a dim view on it? Presumably it will be off the credit report within 6 years anyway?

sourcrates

Triangle wrote: »

So, in your opinion, it would be fine to write to them and say you will be getting first payment on 1st November/1st December then?

Thanks again

Also, and not really related to my situation at the present time but I'm interested to know, how do creditors look upon full and final offers? I mean obviously you haven't paid it all off so do they take a dim view on it? Presumably it will be off the credit report within 6 years anyway?

Yes I would say that's fine, the only thing a creditor would say to that, is that collection activity may recommence in the meantime, which basically means you may get letters and calls, but once the payments re-start all should be fine.

The "full and final" question gets asked a lot on here, without going into too much detail, you will be wasting your time unless the debts are fairly old, have been sold on a few times, or may have questionable paperwork.

Original creditors may knock a little off for early settlement, but DCA`s offer by far the best discounts for a lump sum offer, especially near the end of the tax year when they want to clear there books, I've known Lowell to offer up to 60% off, and regularly see 40-50% deals on offer.

They go through a routine with you you see, first is a "pay up or else" letter, maybe followed by a threat of court action, when they realise they cant scare you into paying, then comes the discount offers.

Its all just a big game in the end, and you just have to be better at playing the game than they are.

heavenlyharry01

Sazzie23 wrote: »

HH

unsecured loan instead of mortgage, sounds like misselling to me, secured yes ....
£1 payments - either through your normally bank transfer or a cheque or a postal order or if it's too much hassle, don't worry about it. I was in such a state at start I didn't pay them and nothing bad happens.

Sorry it's brief, I'm away on shared Internet.
Saz

Sorry probably didn't explain properly!!

It's a good ol' Northern Rock Together mortgage. So it's a 125% mortgage with part an interest only mortgage and the other an unsecured loan!
Sold to us a couple of months before NR crashed!! Go us!!!

LadyMorticia

Triangle wrote: »

I was hoping you would be about Sourcrates - thank you :j



So, in your opinion, it would be fine to write to them and say you will be getting first payment on 1st November/1st December then?

Thanks again

Also, and not really related to my situation at the present time but I'm interested to know, how do creditors look upon full and final offers? I mean obviously you haven't paid it all off so do they take a dim view on it? Presumably it will be off the credit report within 6 years anyway?

Hey Triangle.

What problems are you having with Argos? Sorry if you've said and I've totally missed it. I'm having problems with them too. The interest they're adding is more than my minimum payment and they keep writing to me saying that I've made late payments and they're adding £12 late fees.

tommo761

Thanks for that, your two penneth is gratefully received!:beer: