DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Sazzie23

Great post CBC

alianza

Hi, first time poster . I need a few bits of advice.
I had a dmp with a company who decided that they were no longer staying in the business. I know now it was a fee paying one and i should have used a free one etc but they were recommended to me when i was at a very low point and they did solve all my immediate problems and helped me through a very difficult time. However they pulled out of the dmp business in October and told me to phone Payplan. I did this but I just didn't like the people i spoke to and they kept phoning me when I was at work when I had asked them not to so after looking at advice here I decided to try and sort these debts out on my own with the help of my sister. Since the DMp stopped 2 of the creditors have written to me. I paid off an £800 debt to my ex bank for £500. I have arranged a monthly payment to another and am ok with that.
Three of my creditors have not written to me since October and the y stopped getting their monthly payment.. Is the onus on me to contact them or do I just wait for them. i don't want to say their names here as they probably read these forums! They are not the original creditors, dca maybe the 2nd or 3rd one in some cases. I am currently just putting what i used to pay them into a now very fat envelope in my bedside table.

sourcrates

alianza wrote: »

Hi, first time poster . I need a few bits of advice.
I had a dmp with a company who decided that they were no longer staying in the business. I know now it was a fee paying one and i should have used a free one etc but they were recommended to me when i was at a very low point and they did solve all my immediate problems and helped me through a very difficult time. However they pulled out of the dmp business in October and told me to phone Payplan. I did this but I just didn't like the people i spoke to and they kept phoning me when I was at work when I had asked them not to so after looking at advice here I decided to try and sort these debts out on my own with the help of my sister. Since the DMp stopped 2 of the creditors have written to me. I paid off an £800 debt to my ex bank for £500. I have arranged a monthly payment to another and am ok with that.
Three of my creditors have not written to me since October and the y stopped getting their monthly payment.. Is the onus on me to contact them or do I just wait for them. i don't want to say their names here as they probably read these forums! They are not the original creditors, dca maybe the 2nd or 3rd one in some cases. I am currently just putting what i used to pay them into a now very fat envelope in my bedside table.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

And well done for choosing to self manage, lots of good advice available to you here.

Despite what you may of heard, sometimes debt collectors can take a long time to write to you in these situations, months, even years.

It's just a case of waiting till they do.

Another thing, if your debts have been passed around a lot, maybe when they do write to you, bang in CCA requests to see if the accounts are still enforceable.

jubilee14

Hi all not been on for ages. But just wanted to re-iterate Carbootcrazy's view of how Stepchange in terms of support. Been on the DMP for 4 years now and late last year i came up against large vet bill, dentist and insurance excess due to someone driving into me. With xmas coming up too i was wiped out. so i reduced one month and they said call back the next month if still needing to reduce. I did and i am glad i did even though i reduced it less than the month before if i hadnt i would have been on washers by now waiting on pay day which is still a couple of weeks away or worse now funds to pay DD.

They did say if i needed to reduce again that i should review my budget. I had been putting more on every month to try and push the date forward but while i will try and keep going if i feel i am really struggling i will review before my budget. There was no issue with them i wasnt in trouble as sometimes I felt when i used to ask for an OD. So would recommend although not as a habit but things happen and it is flexible for this reason.

sourcrates

Just to echo some recent posts on here, the regulars will know this, but this is for any newbies, who may be unsure.

All unsecured debt is low priority when it comes to payments and budgeting, unsecured debts go bottom of the list, you budget for everything else first, and whats left, goes to your creditors.

No matter the hell a creditor may raise, just ask them outright, is unsecured debt the bottom of the list for paying ?

They will say yes, it is.

Stepchange are there to help you, they are flexible to a degree, but if your constantly having to reduce your payments, then revisit your budget, and put more into your emergency fund.

Any solution you choose, needs to work for you, if it isn't working, then maybe a rethink on strategy is needed.

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Sourcrates is spot on, borrowing to repay debt is a nasty vicious cycle you don't want to get into (again?).

How SC deal with it seems a bit dependant on who you get responding. Because of the urgency, I'd call them, but also message them, so they can see what you asking for... But ,What are you asking for ? I'd do a non overtime dependent review, which will likely show your repayment is too high. Then if you get extra money on the following months, stash it for F&f or pick off your lowest debts one at a time.

Saz

Thanks Saz

I will definitely give SC a call this week - will explain the situation and see what they advise. I agree that I need to do a budget review - doing a non-overtime dependent review is great advice. I think we were trying to pay as much as we could but after being on here and reading all the advice it is better to add a few months onto the DMP than live life on the edge every month.

Take care,

BDFSH x

Former_StepChange_Linsi

[FONT=&quot]Hi BDFSH[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I hope you don’t mind but I saw your post and thought I could offer a bit of advice.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A DMP is a flexible solution so if your monthly payments aren’t affordable then please get in touch so we can review your budget and work out an amount that is affordable. Your budget can be reviewed anytime your circumstances change.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There a few ways to review your budget:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]1. You can call us anytime between 8am to 6pm weekdays; you can find our contact details in your welcome pack or here on our website. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]2. You can review your budget online using our onlineDMP tool, here’s the link.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You mentioned in your post a credit card that hasn’t been included in your DMP. If there’s an outstanding balance owed on the card then it’s best to add it to your DMP. This way you’ll be treating all your creditors fairly and they’ll be more likely to accept a reduced payment through your DMP.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We look forward to hearing from you.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Linsi[/FONT]

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere wrote: »

Hi DMPers

I really need some advice on what to do next month :think:

I will not get any overtime pay in my wage and already know I am going to struggle to make our income for Feb stretch the whole month.

I can think of a couple of options but would like some advice from you knowledgable folk on here please

1. Borrow some money on a credit card that is not linked to our DMP and pay it back over a few months when I get more overtime (not my ideal solution as I do not want to borrow more and also do not want to put our current DMP in jeopardy if our existing creditors notice and feel we are favouring one creditor over the others by paying the minimum payments on the non-linked CC)

2. Contact SC and ask for a reduced payment for Feb's direct debit. If this is the best option how do we go about it? Are SC normally accommodating and are they reliable at altering the DD for just the one month? What then happens if we have an unexpected car repair bill to pay and I have to ask for further reduced payment later on in the year - don't want to rock the boat with the creditors who have been very accommodating.

3. Are there any other options that I haven't considered?

I just know that with all the extra outgoings (school residential payments, swimming fees etc etc) and no overtime that I am going to be lft with next to nothing for food/petrol/day to day living expenses.

Any advice would be so welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Take care,
,
BDFSH x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Hi BDFSH

Easy to say I know but please stop worrying. We're all here to help you through this and SC will do the same. You will get through this anxious time:beer:


If ever I've had a major problem I've always phoned SC. Like Sazzie said, it depends on the operative that you get, they all seem to interpret their 'rules' slightly differently;). Also, it sometimes takes ages to get through on the phone especially at this time of year when they seem exceptionally busy. Just persist, someone will be available to talk to you eventually.


I had to ask for help from SC early last year after a series of major expenses (such as unexpected big vet's bill, washing machine and cooker completely dying, car needing endless essential bits replacing etc etc) I just didn't know how I was going to cope or who to turn to for money. I didn't have the 'luxury' of getting into more debt to pay for it all:(


I asked SC for a month of non-payment (although this would barely have touched the sides but I was scared to 'rock the boat' with them:o). It would have meant an extra £730 though and would have been a major help.


The operative suggested I take 3 months not just the one I asked for so I could pay for everything and maybe have a bit of an emergency cushion for next time as I'd spent every penny of my 'savings'. She suggested £5 a month token payments to creditors (which they dealt with on my behalf, I had to do nothing myself such as contacting anyone:j). She rejigged my budget there and then and amended the DD.


They are perfectly amenable to people doing this as emergencies and unexpected events can happen to anyone but she did warn me that creditors don't like this happening on a regular basis. It is much better to have a budget which caters for life's needs (with a cushion for emergency savings built in) rather than keep going back to request payment breaks.



When the 3 months was up I phoned them again as agreed to set things in motion and she did a full budget review. I wasn't going to change some of the category amounts I had in my budget and she seemed surprised as most people's insurances, council taxes etc had gone up in that time. She almost suggested I should claim more as I was cutting the money I had to live on to the bone.


I hope this helps you but I appreciate that we all have different needs and ways of getting through the scary times. Good luck and, as I said at the start of this longer than I intended post:o, please stop worrying:)

cbc - I cannot thank you enough for this

Sounds like you have been exactly where we are now. Your advice has been so helpful and so good to hear you had a postive outcome from SC.

I am going to call SC this week and see what they say. I am hoping they advise the same as they did for you - that would give us so much more breathing space to get things back on track. I have just checked my SC budget and we too haven't put anything in the 'emergencies' section. I will mention this to SC when I phone and ask to put something in that box as we have no emergency fund left now

I so appreciate you sharing this with me - it really made me feel less anxious and that there is an answer. I know everyone says that it will be ok but when we have done 2 years plus keeping creditors happy and not missing/dropping a payment it is a bit scary to drop payments albeit for a couple of months or so.

I know there is no alternative and I am so glad I came on here for advice.
As always you guys are the best Thank you so much.

I will let you know the outcome of the SC conversation. Will try to call them tomorrow when I get home from work.

Take care,

BDFSH x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

jubilee14 wrote: »

Hi all not been on for ages. But just wanted to re-iterate Carbootcrazy's view of how Stepchange in terms of support. Been on the DMP for 4 years now and late last year i came up against large vet bill, dentist and insurance excess due to someone driving into me. With xmas coming up too i was wiped out. so i reduced one month and they said call back the next month if still needing to reduce. I did and i am glad i did even though i reduced it less than the month before if i hadnt i would have been on washers by now waiting on pay day which is still a couple of weeks away or worse now funds to pay DD.

They did say if i needed to reduce again that i should review my budget. I had been putting more on every month to try and push the date forward but while i will try and keep going if i feel i am really struggling i will review before my budget. There was no issue with them i wasnt in trouble as sometimes I felt when i used to ask for an OD. So would recommend although not as a habit but things happen and it is flexible for this reason.

Thanks jubilee - great to know I'm not on my own in this situation. It really does help to know there are others out there who have faced the same worries and have come out the other side

Take care,

BDFSH x

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

StepChange_Linsi wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Hi BDFSH[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I hope you don’t mind but I saw your post and thought I could offer a bit of advice.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A DMP is a flexible solution so if your monthly payments aren’t affordable then please get in touch so we can review your budget and work out an amount that is affordable. Your budget can be reviewed anytime your circumstances change.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There a few ways to review your budget:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]1. You can call us anytime between 8am to 6pm weekdays; you can find our contact details in your welcome pack or here on our website. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]2. You can review your budget online using our onlineDMP tool, here’s the link.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You mentioned in your post a credit card that hasn’t been included in your DMP. If there’s an outstanding balance owed on the card then it’s best to add it to your DMP. This way you’ll be treating all your creditors fairly and they’ll be more likely to accept a reduced payment through your DMP.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We look forward to hearing from you.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Linsi[/FONT]

Thanks LInsi,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply

The CC I mentioned has a zero balance so we didn't need to include it.

I am definitely going to call SC tomorrow to discuss our situation.

Take care,

BDFSH x