DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Sazzie23

Evening all

Got my letter from Link saying my BC debt has been transferred to them. Keep paying for next 6 months and we won't bother you. Will make sure it's changed on SC, otherwise let sleeping dogs etc ....

Saz

bsclp118

I've not got anything through the post Sazzie, but I just checked on clearscore this morning and it is showing my BC balance as 0 looks as though my balance is with Link, so fingers crossed this is correct!

beckybow

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi beckybow,

If you think the Halifax should of defaulted you earlier, then send in a written complaint to that effect.

Companies usually issue a default notice after 3-6 missed contractual payments, then, if not remedied, also apply a default to your credit file, but not all follow the same time-frame unfortunately.

If you believe you will be unfairly affected by them issuing a late default, then send the complaint in.

Hi Sourcrates,
thanks for the advice to contact Halifax. I called them today and they raised a complaint. they called me back within a couple of hours and have agreed to backdate the default to July 2014 when they think they should have defaulted me. They have credited back the interest the continued to charge from July14 to August15, along with a £50 apology, and £8 expenses for my call. This means i've gone from having nearly £1600 still owing this morning, to less than £300 tonight!! It means i'll be debt free totally by February17, rather than April 17, and will have paid back every penny i ever owed:j

sourcrates

beckybow wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates,
thanks for the advice to contact Halifax. I called them today and they raised a complaint. they called me back within a couple of hours and have agreed to backdate the default to July 2014 when they think they should have defaulted me. They have credited back the interest the continued to charge from July14 to August15, along with a £50 apology, and £8 expenses for my call. This means i've gone from having nearly £1600 still owing this morning, to less than £300 tonight!! It means i'll be debt free totally by February17, rather than April 17, and will have paid back every penny i ever owed:j

Well done, great result for you !!!!!

blisteringblue

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Evening all

Got my letter from Link saying my BC debt has been transferred to them. Keep paying for next 6 months and we won't bother you. Will make sure it's changed on SC, otherwise let sleeping dogs etc ....

Saz

Mrs BB had her letter like this last month and our first SO went to Link this month. Hers had been zero on Clearscore since about March mind you.

We did get letters about this account going to PRA(t) Group when my BC went last year, but it never actually happened.

Just glad to finally see it move though, BC are a proper DMP Enigma.

Ps. DMP so close to 50% paid !! Almost at the top of the hill

January2015

blisteringblue wrote: »

Ps. DMP so close to 50% paid !! Almost at the top of the hill

Well done - fantastic achievement. Clearly on the home stretch now. :j:j:j:j:j:j:j

PinkNE

Hello everyone, I've done a lot of reading over the last few days and spoke to stepchange today. Tonight we have decided to go with a joint DMP but I hoped someone may be able to help with just a couple of things I'm still unsure of. Maybe I will have to ring back and find out more before going ahead. Just really want to make sure I've understood everything correctly.

I've been told to set up a new bank account (high proportion of my debt is with The company where my current account is). Is it just a basic bank account I should look for (credit rating ok at present). I was thinking of going with co-op as neither of us have any other accounts with them at present. We haven't missed any payments yet - just living off more and more credit each month, have I understood correctly that I should now cancel all direct debits for credit cards/loans that will be covered by the plan. Obviously I will ring and tell them my reference number and that stepchange will be in touch. They advised to make a token payment - is it enough to pay £1 to each?

I've tried to read as much as possible on here but one thing I read and didn't understand was someone referring to "why lower payments can help us to be debt free faster" and "why defaults are your friend". I'm trying really hard to understand as much as I can but do feel in a bit of a panic. We've relied entirely on credit cards for a long time and will have no savings at all to fall back on.

Total debts £69,680 they recommended £976 to be paid each month.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can offer any advice.

sourcrates

PinkNE wrote: »

Hello everyone, I've done a lot of reading over the last few days and spoke to stepchange today. Tonight we have decided to go with a joint DMP but I hoped someone may be able to help with just a couple of things I'm still unsure of. Maybe I will have to ring back and find out more before going ahead. Just really want to make sure I've understood everything correctly.

I've been told to set up a new bank account (high proportion of my debt is with The company where my current account is). Is it just a basic bank account I should look for (credit rating ok at present). I was thinking of going with co-op as neither of us have any other accounts with them at present. We haven't missed any payments yet - just living off more and more credit each month, have I understood correctly that I should now cancel all direct debits for credit cards/loans that will be covered by the plan. Obviously I will ring and tell them my reference number and that stepchange will be in touch. They advised to make a token payment - is it enough to pay £1 to each?

I've tried to read as much as possible on here but one thing I read and didn't understand was someone referring to "why lower payments can help us to be debt free faster" and "why defaults are your friend". I'm trying really hard to understand as much as I can but do feel in a bit of a panic. We've relied entirely on credit cards for a long time and will have no savings at all to fall back on.

Total debts £69,680 they recommended £976 to be paid each month.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can offer any advice.

Hi,

Welcome to the thread.

£69,000 ? Have you looked at all your options for dealing with this debt ?

I will answer your second question first, basically if you go straight from making normal payments onto a DMP with lower payments, the creditor will mark your credit file "AP" (arrangement to pay).

AP markers will stay on your file and effect your credit for 6 years AFTER you have cleared the debts, were as if you stop all payments for 6-8 months, or until you are defaulted, then you know for certain that default will be gone 6 years from default date, regardless of anything else.

Depends if that's important to you or not.

Rule number one is a new basic bank account, no borrowing facility, cancel all your regular credit payments.

Making token payments is a waste of time and effort really, costs the creditor more to process a £1 payment than it's actually worth.

PinkNE

Hi sourcrates,
thank you for your quick reply. We have looked at all options and bankruptcy is another option open to both of us but it terrifies me because of our house. IVA is an option open to my husband but not to me. Do you think we should consider these options more?

Basically we have 2 children (6 and 2), we also have a mortgage - not much equity maybe £10k but that's just a stab in the dark. I might need to look into it more as been burying my head in the sand for too long.

In answer to your question the thought of an AP marker on file for what is probably 12 years isn't what we want but we just need to be out of the mess we are in now. From what I've read over the last few days am I right in thinking that what we want is actually a default from all 13 creditors - the sooner the better? Please correct me if I'm wrong here. Is your suggestion that rather than a DMP we just stop paying? What would usually happen in these circumstances, worst case scenario? Would it be a case of negotiating affordable payments once we've defaulted and will this involve people knocking at the door demanding money and/or trying to take our things? Sorry for all of the questions I just feel quite out of my depth.

We will try and open a basic bank account tomorrow and I'm going to cancel direct debits now.

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

PinkNE wrote: »

Hi sourcrates,
thank you for your quick reply. We have looked at all options and bankruptcy is another option open to both of us but it terrifies me because of our house. IVA is an option open to my husband but not to me. Do you think we should consider these options more?

Basically we have 2 children (6 and 2), we also have a mortgage - not much equity maybe £10k but that's just a stab in the dark. I might need to look into it more as been burying my head in the sand for too long.

In answer to your question the thought of an AP marker on file for what is probably 12 years isn't what we want but we just need to be out of the mess we are in now. From what I've read over the last few days am I right in thinking that what we want is actually a default from all 13 creditors - the sooner the better? Please correct me if I'm wrong here. Is your suggestion that rather than a DMP we just stop paying? What would usually happen in these circumstances, worst case scenario? Would it be a case of negotiating affordable payments once we've defaulted and will this involve people knocking at the door demanding money and/or trying to take our things? Sorry for all of the questions I just feel quite out of my depth.

We will try and open a basic bank account tomorrow and I'm going to cancel direct debits now.

Hi PinkNE,

If you do decide to go with a DMP I think that Sourcrates means (please correct me if I'm mistaken) rather than paying £1 token payment just cancel all direct debits and inform your creditors that you are in the process of setting up a DMP with SC and provide them with your SC reference number, You don't need to send token payments to them.

The advice from long term DMPers on here is not to rush into starting your DMP. Give yourself a few month (3 or 4) before you arrange for your first DMP payment to go out. This gives you time to build up an emergency fund to give you a bit of money saved in case of emergencies such as car repairs, household appliances replacements etc. Remember you will have no access to credit of any kind once you start your DMP.

It is daunting starting out, I remember it well. There are lots of helpful, knowledgable and friendly folk on here who can offer advice at every stage of your journey. Ask as many questions as you like - there will always be someone who can advise

Good luck and take care.

BDFSH x