DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Futuredebtfreecouple

Hi everyone,

I've not posted for a few weeks when we were looking into things and asking advice of some of you but I've been reading with interest.

Update: our dmp with Stepchange is now set up, first payment due out this week. They have contacted our 13 creditors and we have too. Now we just have to sit and wait to see how many of the 13 creditors will accept it. A few of you were concerned they wouldn't accept it as we will be paying £1400 a month. Ours is a joint DMP and that payment is more than my months salary which means the rest of our budget comes from hub us salary. As step change have worked it out, we will be paying everyone just less than the minimum repayment.
So far we've heard back from the following:

MBNA- accepted and frozen interest at 12.7%

HSBC overdraft- accepted and frozen charges/interest

Barclays overdraft- accepted, frozen charges/interest and closed account

3 down. 10 to go. Balance we have to pay off: £45,246

Daunting, scary and upsetting but feels good to be finally doing something about it for once and for all.

Thanks to all for your advice so far and I look forward to more to come over the months/years to come.

Sazzie23

Futuredebtfreecouple wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I've not posted for a few weeks when we were looking into things and asking advice of some of you but I've been reading with interest.

Update: our dmp with Stepchange is now set up, first payment due out this week. They have contacted our 13 creditors and we have too. Now we just have to sit and wait to see how many of the 13 creditors will accept it. A few of you were concerned they wouldn't accept it as we will be paying £1400 a month. Ours is a joint DMP and that payment is more than my months salary which means the rest of our budget comes from hub us salary. As step change have worked it out, we will be paying everyone just less than the minimum repayment.
So far we've heard back from the following:

MBNA- accepted and frozen interest at 12.7%

HSBC overdraft- accepted and frozen charges/interest

Barclays overdraft- accepted, frozen charges/interest and closed account

3 down. 10 to go. Balance we have to pay off: £45,246

Daunting, scary and upsetting but feels good to be finally doing something about it for once and for all.

Thanks to all for your advice so far and I look forward to more to come over the months/years to come.

Hi congrats for getting it all set up. It'll come as a big relief once you start making payments and everything settles down.

Don't put too much store into waiting for acceptances, some may never say anything other than update a statement. You'll have read the thread already and understand why we worry about making high payments, but that's your choice. It's your DMP and you make it work for you. Stay on the thread though and you might find your plans change over time.

Some people find motivation in spreadsheets to watch/plan for that DFD.

Come back soon

Saz

blisteringblue

Daisypop wrote: »

Hello
Can anyone let me know if they have moved away from Stepchange and gone self managed?
If so how did you do it and did you have any problems? I've been with SC for over 4 years who have helped me enormously but I am in the process of trying to settle 3 of my debts so have cca'd them and 2 have said accounts are on hold at the moment. SC have still paid them and said they will continue to pay them unless they are settled even though I've asked them not to as I have letters from the company saying accounts suspended. Also if I agree f and f's with those 3 the DMP may not be for me as I'm giving preferential treatment. I already know this but figured it's up to me to try and help myself and if I can settle the debts for a low amount as they can't provide me with the paperwork then that's what I'm going to do.
Anyone done this please who can reassure me it will be fine?
Thanks

Piece of P1ss !! Excuse my frankness but it really is. Nedcab have a website to help, even produces your letters.

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

Stepchange are great but they don't work in your best interests, they are paid by the banks so it's banks 1st clients 2nd. You are playing a legitimate CCA card, stepchange will not recognise that. You have to go it alone and then simply stop paying those debts.

Puzzcat

Daisypop wrote: »

Hello
Can anyone let me know if they have moved away from Stepchange and gone self managed?
If so how did you do it and did you have any problems? I've been with SC for over 4 years who have helped me enormously but I am in the process of trying to settle 3 of my debts so have cca'd them and 2 have said accounts are on hold at the moment. SC have still paid them and said they will continue to pay them unless they are settled even though I've asked them not to as I have letters from the company saying accounts suspended. Also if I agree f and f's with those 3 the DMP may not be for me as I'm giving preferential treatment. I already know this but figured it's up to me to try and help myself and if I can settle the debts for a low amount as they can't provide me with the paperwork then that's what I'm going to do.
Anyone done this please who can reassure me it will be fine?
Thanks

Hi,

I moved from SC to self managed and its very easy to do as BB has already said. As long as you are happy dealing with your creditors all will be fine. I haven't had any problems from any of mine, in fact having dropped my payments down to tokens for the next few months I have spoken to nearly all of them and they couldn't be more pleasant.. Good Luck.

Puzz. x

Puzzcat

Futuredebtfreecouple wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I've not posted for a few weeks when we were looking into things and asking advice of some of you but I've been reading with interest.

Update: our dmp with Stepchange is now set up, first payment due out this week. They have contacted our 13 creditors and we have too. Now we just have to sit and wait to see how many of the 13 creditors will accept it. A few of you were concerned they wouldn't accept it as we will be paying £1400 a month. Ours is a joint DMP and that payment is more than my months salary which means the rest of our budget comes from hub us salary. As step change have worked it out, we will be paying everyone just less than the minimum repayment.
So far we've heard back from the following:

MBNA- accepted and frozen interest at 12.7%

HSBC overdraft- accepted and frozen charges/interest

Barclays overdraft- accepted, frozen charges/interest and closed account

3 down. 10 to go. Balance we have to pay off: £45,246

Daunting, scary and upsetting but feels good to be finally doing something about it for once and for all.

Thanks to all for your advice so far and I look forward to more to come over the months/years to come.

Hi,

Once your up and running I would still be tempted to challenge any still charging interest. I know they are allowed to but most don't. You would need to write to them to complain and then follow it up with the Financial Ombudsman Service after they have replied if not satisfied. You can do that bit online..! I got one of mine reduced but not frozen, then it defaulted and got sold on anyway so all interest free...

Good Luck
Puzz. x

Sleepysophie

Hi Daisy Pop.
I have moved away from Step Change now but when I was with them I did do a F&F on my overdraft. They encouraged me to spread the £2k I had across all my creditors but when I explained why I wanted to pay the overdraft off (Barclays were offering £2k F&F against a £2.8k debt) they said they understood why but just that they could not say that they agreed with it. I paid Barclays directly and then reduced the balance online using the Stepchange website so no more was paid to that creditor by Stepchange from that date forward. The payment I made to SC did not change so they were able to pay each of my remaining creditors more each month. I have moved away from StepChange now because I feel I can manage my debt now its half of what it used to be. I started out owing £48k but now owe around £22k and it doesn't feel as scary although it is still quite a substantial amount. I just feel I can control it better than SC could as I would prefer to pay more to creditors who are still charging me interest and less to those who have defaulted me as over the two years I have left, it will cost e less doing it this way. SC would only apportion it equally to everyone (based on a percentage presumably?) so I feel I was being penalised by further interest from CC's that refused to stop it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Daisypop

Thanks blisteringblue and puzzcat I'm going to do it!
Time to take a bit more control!

bsclp118

Apologies Futuredebtfreecouple I didn't see your initial post so I'm replying without any other information than was in your latest post:

I was in a similar position in that if I struggled I could meet all the minimum repayments. But like you I found that not all creditors were willing to freeze interest at this level of repayment. So I'll be frank, I found that actually if I was going to get my credit record ruined regardless of it I payed more or less, I found I wasn't willing to struggle each month and adjusted my expenditure budget accordingly. I also had a period of 3 months token payments. Most creditors have now defaulted me and I've gone self-managed now to get the last few to follow suit.

It depends on your circumstances but it is something to think about. An AP maker stays on your credit file for 6 years AFTER the debt is repayed, A default clears 6 years after it was recorded. So if you do the math you might work out whats best for your circumstances.

Obviously once the defaults have been registered and the debt is passed on the interest is a lot less likely to be added. Therefore you can increase the repayments if you wish,

Just something to think about. Unless you can meet the monthly repayments there's not that much to be gained from paying anything more than is comfortable for you.

Daisypop

Thanks sleepysophie that's sounds good. I just want to pay off at the best deal I can and I think that the 3 creditors I owe the least to is a good place to start especially as they haven't forwarded me the cca paperwork.
Thanks again for all of the replies

NewcastlePaul

Daisypop wrote: »

Hello
Can anyone let me know if they have moved away from Stepchange and gone self managed?
If so how did you do it and did you have any problems? I've been with SC for over 4 years who have helped me enormously but I am in the process of trying to settle 3 of my debts so have cca'd them and 2 have said accounts are on hold at the moment. SC have still paid them and said they will continue to pay them unless they are settled even though I've asked them not to as I have letters from the company saying accounts suspended. Also if I agree f and f's with those 3 the DMP may not be for me as I'm giving preferential treatment. I already know this but figured it's up to me to try and help myself and if I can settle the debts for a low amount as they can't provide me with the paperwork then that's what I'm going to do.
Anyone done this please who can reassure me it will be fine?
Thanks

It should be fine.
Although I found I never had cause to leave Stepchange.
When I was doing F&F settlement offers with any of my creditors. As soon as they cashed the cheque I went online onto my DMP and changed the balance to £0.00
The amount I had paid that Creditor was then divided amongst the rest.