DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Puzzcat

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Hi all,

It's been a VERY long time since I last posted. I'll put my hands up and say I had to walk away from a while. Adding up debts, payments, DFDs, NSDs etc became the only "safe" thing in my life. So so much was going on and in January I suffered a breakdown.

It's now September and I'm finally feeling good again. Throughout the year I've continued paying my DMP to stepchange but I've had to force myself to let the monthly payment go out and the DMP to roll along without my input. Roll along it has! I am right at this second around the £7,500 mark. It's been a long and hard road but it's getting there.

Now for the unbelievable, unexpected and utterly wonderful news that this week the remaining debt total will plummet to £5,000! I cheekily offered 40% of a debt as F&F fully expecting to be told where to go but... They've accepted!!! It's my biggest debt, a third of the total currently owed and the only one still charging interest (albeit at a teeny tiny amount). I'm absolutely thrilled. This will cut 2 years off my DFD!

Being so ill was no picnic but I am now stronger and more alive than ever before. I have missed posting here and hope you can all forgive me for disappearing, I feel a bit like I deserted you all and I'm an ungrateful mare! But you have been in my thoughts and your past support had helped so much as I've recovered.

Kate x

:j:j Hi Kate and welcome back, hope you are now feeling much better.. xxx:j:j

Puzzcat

Good Afternoon from soggy land...!

I had a phone call last night from the PRA (T) group..... took me by surprise, I thought it was yet another person telling me I'd had a car accident/pension review/ppi etc etc.. Anyhow confirmed who I am, who they are, sc authorised to act for me etc.. and how much I am paying. So all good and nothing to worry about.. She then mentioned keeping up the payments or I could get defaulted.. yes please I said.. well after a while she said why? explained about the credit file etc. I also said I was under the impression that when a debt was passed to a DCA it had to be defaulted, she says not... so still in limbo land with this one... Any clues anyone...??? I'm more than happy to take it to the FOS if I have a proper case.

She did confirm no interest charges and as this was BC and I was paying a hefty £6 a month that will now go to my debts which is good..

Elsewhere in my dmp land all is plodding along nicely.

Love Puzz. x

2spicy

danielmarch69 wrote: »

sorry to ask but what is f/f.? newbie.

a F & F or Full & Final settlement is basically a payment the creditor will accept in full and final settlement. There is a fomula for working out what F & F payments to make to creditors "if say you had a lump sum".

Its way back in the early threads, but here is a copy that I have

..

Formula

Lump sum available × each debt

÷ the total amount you owe to your creditors

= offer to the creditior

Example

You may have £10,000 owing to four creditors. You can raise a lump sum of £4,000.

You owe:

• £2,300 to Mastercard
• £1,200 to a catalogue company
• £4,500 to a loan company
• £2,000 to the bank

Use the formula

£4,000 (lump sum available) × £2,300 (debt to mastercard)

÷ £10,000 (the total amount you owe to your creditors)

= £920 (offer to mastercard)

Your offer to Mastercard is £920. You then do the same calculation for each creditor, using each individual debt in the calculation.

Your offers to your creditors should look something like this:

Offers to creditors based on a full and final settlement of £4,000

Creditor

Debt

Full and final settlement offer

Total
£10,000
£4,000
Mastercard
£2,300
£920
Catalogue
£1,200
£480
Loans
£4,500
£1,800
Bank
£2,000
£800
Remember
Do not pay the lump sum to any creditor that does not agree your offer in writing.




This letter is designed to help you negotiate a full and final settlement offer with a creditor. This is a type of offer where you ask the creditor to accept part of the amount you owe and write off the rest.

---

(Your home address)

Date

To:

Without prejudice

Dear Sir/Madam
Account No:
I/we write with reference to the money which you are claiming on the above account.
I/we can confirm that I am/we are unable to offer to pay the money which I/we owe in full (add details of your circumstances and financial situation). However, I/we can raise £(put the amount which you can afford to pay) and I/we want to offer this as an ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement of the account. This offer is made on the clear understanding that, if accepted, neither you nor any associate company will take any other action to enforce or pursue this in debt in any way whatsoever and that I/we will be released from any liability.
I/we also request that, if accepted, you will make an entry on any credit reference agency file relating to the above account as having been paid and the account closed.
Payment can be made within (put the number of days or weeks within which you will pay) of receiving your written agreement of this offer and method of payment.
I/we look forward to receiving your reply.


Yours faithfully


(Your signature)

Growurown

danielmarch69 wrote: »

plus how do u put all your details at the bottom of posts ie dfd n how much u owe etc....many thanks people.

Go to User CP and edit signature in your control panel.

Kate_fixing_it

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Good to see you back Kate, and what a fantastic DFD change that's made for you. Don't ask you don't get.

f&f for anyone new is a full and final payment, some creditors wil offer a discount on the total, but it's highly dependant on what you owe, how long it will take you to pay it off and as Kate says even the time of year, month, or what targets they've met.

Kate you've been an inspiration to me on this thread, and a valuable source of information, did DD make it to vet school?

Wow! Thank you! Really feeling the love thank you all for your kind words.

DD applies on 15th October :eek: was definitely a good idea to do the vet school tour last year, though we have returned to her favourite for a second look. She's been volunteering regularly and she's REALLY determined. Her teacher put a dampener on this on AS-LEVEL results day by saying she's unlikely to get in. She took this as a challenge (after we shared a bottle of pimms ) and she's found a gateway course for less privileged students (her school and our postcode fall into that category) which will be an extra year but lower entry grades AND she's off to Nottingham vet school in December for 3 days, she'll be getting some practical experience of uni life (including budgeting for herself) and extra coaching in sciences and interview techniques.

And the next challenge is DS1 deciding he wants to do an Architecture degree - another 5 year course! He's loving A-level work in his chosen subjects and very motivated. So there's just me struggling to let them go onwards into adulthood - I'm not ready! :rotfl:

May have another F&F in the pipeline too! My second smallest have countered my offer of £200 with £380 to clear a debt of £650. Need to look at funds available but it's looking possible. Knocks another 5 months off the DFD just got to be absolutely certain I can afford it. DH has some savings which he seems to be desperate to pay off my debts with. It's causing a bit of friction as I'm very determined to sort out this mess MYSELF but we'll see.

Still on a massive high for getting the offer accepted! Have splashed out to celebrate and had an eye test today (it's been SIX YEARS and my glasses are falling apart!) Still get a bit of a rush paying by debit card knowing the money is there and I don't need to juggle finances to be able to afford desperately needed glasses and got straight onto the computer at work to claim back the eye test fee on expenses.

Hope you're all having a good debt-busting day...one more day closer to freedom!

Kate x

KID77

Evening Everyone!

Just wanted to say Hi!

Nothing to report as all ticking along smoothly, I haven't had any phone calls, and any letters I have had have been the standard type I read about on here, so all good :-)

Although I haven't said much recently, I still check on this thread daily. Being fairly new myself, I don't feel the best person to offer advice but will chip in when I feel I have something useful to add.

Happy DMPing everyone xxx

Kate_fixing_it

Big Yay for the vigilance of co-op cashminder account! Just called to pay the F&F of £1,000 and they declined it due to unusual activities (I. E. Me spending :rotfl:) have now sorted it and paid so...

I OWE LESS THAN FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS!!!!!!!!

Tad excited here, I'm off to update my signature and most importantly, my SC file :j :j :j

Kate x

ETA 20 months OFF DFD (now Jan 2019 was Sept 2020) and despite the fact it's payday on Friday I'm REALLY excited that my "amount paid" total will tip over £9,000 when my next SC payment goes out.

Kate_fixing_it

KID77 wrote: »

Evening Everyone!

Just wanted to say Hi!

Nothing to report as all ticking along smoothly, I haven't had any phone calls, and any letters I have had have been the standard type I read about on here, so all good :-)

Although I haven't said much recently, I still check on this thread daily. Being fairly new myself, I don't feel the best person to offer advice but will chip in when I feel I have something useful to add.

Happy DMPing everyone xxx

Give it a month and you'll be offering support and help like a pro! There are many posters here but many more lurkers. Chances are something you have asked (and had answered) was something they wanted to know too so technically you're already helping others

Kate x

stormpassing

Evening all,

Hoping someone can help me with a query. Received notification from StepChange yesterday to say they had contacted all creditors, DMP now up and running and first payment to be taken on Oct 1st. Just received an email from Littlewoods requesting that I contact them by telephone to discuss my account. Do I need to respond to this email or should I ignore as StepChange now in contact with creditors?

Confused,
Thanks in advance SP

Kate_fixing_it

stormpassing wrote: »

Evening all,

Hoping someone can help me with a query. Received notification from StepChange yesterday to say they had contacted all creditors, DMP now up and running and first payment to be taken on Oct 1st. Just received an email from Littlewoods requesting that I contact them by telephone to discuss my account. Do I need to respond to this email or should I ignore as StepChange now in contact with creditors?

Confused,
Thanks in advance SP

You can respond if you wish but there's nothing to discuss. Catalogue companies are notorious on these boards for being a pain the rear end.

Personally if I was going to reply it'd be a one line email stating SC account reference and instructions that they should route all queries to them.

For "discuss" I would switch the phrase "pester to increase the available payment".

In the early days creditors are like a gang of kids all wanting a/several biscuit(s) from the tin. They'll all get a fair share of what's available in the biscuit tin but no amount of screaming, shouting, foot stamping, ultimatums or begging is going to increase the number of biscuits in the tin. Much like a gang of stroppy children they eventually shut up, realise there's no magical biscuits appearing from thin air and leave you alone.

At this point what is the worst they can do? They can't send you to the workhouse, they can't auction off your first born as payment, they can't "send the boys round with knuckle dusters and baseball bats" and they can't seize your cat as payment. (Hopefully you'll see these example are an attempt to make you smile in a time of terrible stress and upset but all those examples are as ridiculous as the consequences/threats they will describe to you).

In a couple of months it'll all be quiet, you'll be "happily" paying it off and probably posting something like this hoping to reassure some who is in your shoes now.

Kate x