DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

motivated wrote: »

Hi all and thank you all so much for your reassurance and your non judgemental advice.

I do have a question though. Roughly how much would we be paying a month towards a DMP. I only ask as I am trying to give him an idea of how much we would be left with to hopefully save a little for a couple of treats (nothing extravagant)

our outgoings at the moment just on loans and CCs is approx. £1600 :eek: and we also have been robbing CC A to pay CC B and so on. I constantly think about money and worry every month until I know everything is paid. Although every single penny of my wages goes on bills and debt payments with nothing left for a small treat and its actually not enough now.

Feeling quite fed up at the moment as my head is racing with it all

I'm not looking for pity I just wanted to vent a little
Thank you again
M

Hi motivated and welcome to the best forum on MSE!! :hello:

Some fantastic advice so far on here from January, Sazzie, Sourcrates, cbc and Harry

I started my DMP in Oct 2014 after my LBM in Aug 2014. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that it was the best decision we ever made. We were paying £1100 on cc/loan payments, had a £5000 on our overdraft with a £7500 limit and were needing to spend more and more on the O/D and pay for stuff on ccs just to get through the month. Our income was just not enough to cover our outgoings

With the advice from this amazing bunch of people we completed our budget and gave ourselves a bit of wiggle room to allow for the odd treat here and there. Just to give you an idea, our monthly DMP payment is just over £400 compared to the £1100 we were paying to meet the minimum payments on our debts.

Recently we have been struggling a little, especially in the last week before payday and had a few expenses such as school trips and car repairs. I posted on here and was given great advice to contact SC and ask for a couple of months reduced payments and then I will be reviewng my budget in April with a view to lowering the regular monthly payment s to SC.

It is very daunting at the beginning and it seems like a huge mountain to climb, but it does get easier. And as Martin has often said you find that you are able to sleep better at night without your debt worries going round and round in your head.

I have not looked back since the start of my DMP - my only regret is burying my head in the sand for so long and not starting it sooner.

I am another one of those folk, as January said, that loves my DMP. I love this forum too - it's my DMP family!!!!

Good luck and I really do hope you can get OH on board. Yes no access to credit is worrying initially when you have relied on it for so long, but with careful budgeting in the early stages you can build up that emergency fund. I, for one, never want credit of any form again!!

Take care,

BDFSH x

Polgara72

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi Polgara,

Seems to me like your relationship with Payplan has come to an end also.
I think you are in need of a fresh start to your debt free life, write to payplan, and cancel your DMP.

Take some time out, have a think, save some money up, then consider going to stepchange, start a new DMP, just you, you can include your joint debts too, but you get to call the shots, not them.

I think that would do you a world of good, and put you back in control of things, which is how it should be.

Of course if you feel confident enough, its something you can take on yourself, now that really puts control back in your hands, going self managed is easy peazy, lots of people have done it, January been a prime example.

Have a good think about it, but i think you and payplan should part company as soon as possible.

Thank you sourcrates.

I think you're right 😔 I can't continue with a company that won't listen to me. I don't mean that they won't do as I ask, but the payments they currently get are the most we could afford together, running one household, when I was working. We now run two separate households, I'm no longer working after being dismissed, so am reliant on ESA/tax credits, etc for my income. I'm worried that no one else will 'take me on' as I'm not working. The prospect of moving it all fills me with dread.

I think I'm going to try and shelve it for a week or so. Hopefylly I'll be better able to deal with it then.

sourcrates

January2015 wrote: »

I'm on a contract for my phone and have no problems with upgrades etc. However, I've been with my provider for years. You will both still have mobile phones but you may not be able to upgrade the handsets. Does that matter. If it makes calls, receives texts etc....does it matter if it's not the latest handset?

You do not require a credit check for upgrades with any of the networks as far as i am aware.

I went through a six year IVA and upgraded 3 times without a single hitch.

sourcrates

Polgara72 wrote: »

Thank you sourcrates.

I think you're right 😔 I can't continue with a company that won't listen to me. I don't mean that they won't do as I ask, but the payments they currently get are the most we could afford together, running one household, when I was working. We now run two separate households, I'm no longer working after being dismissed, so am reliant on ESA/tax credits, etc for my income. I'm worried that no one else will 'take me on' as I'm not working. The prospect of moving it all fills me with dread.

I think I'm going to try and shelve it for a week or so. Hopefylly I'll be better able to deal with it then.

How much debt do you have ?

Do you own a house or rent ?

Do you own a car worth more than £1000 ?

any other assets ?

motivated

January Sourcrates and BDFSH Thank you Thank you and Thank you again :A

I know in my heart it will be the best thing for us I just need to get OH onside. We will actually (hopefully) have money left each month once our DMP kicks in and we will be able to budget and save a little etc.

I estimate that within the next 5-6 months we really will be up the creek without a paddle if we don't act now.

I also applied for a basic bank account as well as mistakenly applying for a current account. I already have a basic bank account but it is with the same bank that I have my current account and also my 2 big loans. I hope they let me have it.

I said to OH ALL you will need to do is give your boss your new account details for your wages to be paid into. I'm still working on him

I'm not in the least bit worried about our credit file its just a number but our debt number is 20 times that so hey ho
M

Polgara72

sourcrates wrote: »

How much debt do you have ?

Do you own a house or rent ?

Do you own a car worth more than £1000 ?

any other assets ?

About £21k unsecured debt (in my name).

I'm paying the mortgage on my house.

Car isn't worth £1000

No other assets.

sourcrates

Polgara72 wrote: »

About £21k unsecured debt (in my name).

I'm paying the mortgage on my house.

Car isn't worth £1000

No other assets.

Ah, ok, was thinking debt relief order, but you are a homeowner so wouldn't qualify.

Think about going self managed with your DMP, then that will eliminate all the potential pitfalls and worries you have regarding having a 3rd party to deal with.

Its just the same as when you were paying the bills before, except you will be paying less, get all your payments set up on the computer, click, click, click, job done.

Triangle

Hello you lovely lot, it's been a flurry of posts over the last few days but I wonder if anyone has an opinion on this please?

Thanks

Triangle wrote: »

Hi all

A few months ago following the wise advice on here I decided to go self-managed after being with SC for a year. Mainly for flexibility but also frustration that one of our four debts (Argos) had not defaulted the account. Success! After a couple of months of no payment they did default and it was passed to Zinc to manage the account on their behalf.

I haven't paid anything to Zinc yet as wanted confirmation from them who owned the debt - which Argos have since provided. Today I received Zinc's latest letter - this time offering a one off settlement of £422.81 on a debt of £843.61 :eek: They are also offering three monthly payments of £154.66 to settle the debt.

I so want to do this - is it just me or is it a good deal?! (Don't worry - I would of course get written confirmation that the debt is fully settled and will not be chased for by anyone else etc etc). There is no way I can pay the one off figure but if I make reduced payments to our other three debts for three months then it is possible. I'm not prepared to pay it in addition to our other debt payments - we simply can't afford it.

Any thoughts would be most welcome

January2015

Triangle wrote: »

Hello you lovely lot, it's been a flurry of posts over the last few days but I wonder if anyone has an opinion on this please?

Thanks

The numbers don't quite add up, i.e. 3 x £154.66 does not equal £422.81. Maybe they are adding an amount for administration each month - who knows.

That's about 50% discount and it clears one of your debts. You could counter offer with a lower amount, but as you would likely need to organise monthly payments even then they may not accept. You can but try.

Personally, I would accept the offer on the table - as you say subject to the usual confirmation in writing of no further liability etc.

One final thing - how old is this debt? If you've had the account a long time it might be worth CCA'ing it. They don't usually offer a low settlement out of the blue for no reason. Maybe they know it's not enforceable.....but maybe it is and they are just being nice :rotfl:

mica2

I'm planning to start a DMP with SC in the next few days but I'm wondering whether to stop my direct debit to Barclaycard this month to give myself some extra money saved. Would this be a bad idea? What will happen?