DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

January2015

motivated wrote: »

Well I have sent all paperwork to SC today so no going back now. Still positive and looking forward not back from now on.

Hopefully things will run smoothly and if any of my creditors decide to not play ball I will be ready. Well I will be back here with more questions :rotfl:

I would never have found the courage to take these steps if it wasn't for the honest, excellent non judgemental advice I have received on here. :A

Will keep you updated

Thank you all
M

Seriously you will never look back with any regrets :T
Think of this point as the beginning of the rest of your life. You will be able to cope with the debts in a realistic manner that allows you a reasonable quality of life and you will feel such a sense of achievement as you see the debt level reduce.

Watch those milestones come tumbling along as the debt comes tumbling down. First milestone achieved....DMP paperwork returned, second milestone will be first DMP payment, then set milestones to keep you motivated, e.g. debt reduced by £5k, creditor challenged and interest refunded etc. etc.

Well done and a huge official welcome to the DMP family :beer:

motivated

January2015 wrote: »

Seriously you will never look back with any regrets :T
Think of this point as the beginning of the rest of your life. You will be able to cope with the debts in a realistic manner that allows you a reasonable quality of life and you will feel such a sense of achievement as you see the debt level reduce.

Watch those milestones come tumbling along as the debt comes tumbling down. First milestone achieved....DMP paperwork returned, second milestone will be first DMP payment, then set milestones to keep you motivated, e.g. debt reduced by £5k, creditor challenged and interest refunded etc. etc.

Well done and a huge official welcome to the DMP family :beer:

Thankyou so much January
I do actually feel a sense of calm considering the situation. I plan to sit down later and work out a proper weekly budget. Groceries, gas electric etc and stick to it like glue.

It has really helped that DH is now on board. We sat today checked everything together and both signed before I sent paperwork off.

I feel we have made massive progress so far already. I am not even tempted to log in and continuously check CCs as I would do normally.
My mindset has changed and a new start awaits us.

I phoned SC today regarding our DD payments and the man said when the paperwork comes back to us with the first payment date etc we can ring them and change it if need be.

Roughly how long does SC take to get back to us?

I am looking forward to having a DMP signature that I can update with progress etc. It doesn't take much to please me these days
M

sourcrates

S1Ebbz wrote: »

Been advised to post on here

DMP was planning to set up In a month but advice indicates I should hold payments and wait longer

Does this include loans, credit cards, over drafts and payday loans .... Won't they just slam on interest and charges and chase me? Appreciate no guarantee won't happen in DMP but shouldn't I be showing I am getting help as soon as possible

Confused now

My apologies, my intention was not to confuse you, but to try to assist you.
I'll leave it to the regulars, who are actually going through this now, to bring you up to speed on the best process to follow.

This is the OP's original question :

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5602416

MrsSammyB

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Well done, Sammy:beer:. Excellent result:T

Please could I ask what it was that you complained about? My largest debt is with Lloyds and I wonder if I might have grounds for a complaint;). Not so much a problem with charges but with lateness of their default:(. Did you ask for the backdated default specifically please?

Hiya, I wrote and complained that since I'd told them about our financial difficulties in June 2015 they've carried on and applied interest and charges and made our situation worse (I've been token paying them for months) and I told them the resolution I requested which was interest and charges refunded, and a default added immediately and backdated to when I first told them about our situation. They simply wrote back and said complaint upheld, default added and backdated, charges refunded and £150 cheque too! Go for it, the worst they can say is no! x

DJB343

Evening guys,

So I've now received paperwork to fill in and send back to SC to start my DMP, am I right in thinking though that I should hold off sending any paperwork until my CC and personal loan debts default and I've saved a emergency fund?

Or do I send the paperwork off and tell them to delay the DMP?

neiljmuk

Hi all. Not paid Argos anything for about 4 months as they won't default. Sent a nice email today saying pay or be defaulted. Result, but then they said if I don't they might send someone to my home to take the money. They havin a laugh?

sourcrates

DJB343 wrote: »

Evening guys,

So I've now received paperwork to fill in and send back to SC to start my DMP, am I right in thinking though that I should hold off sending any paperwork until my CC and personal loan debts default and I've saved a emergency fund?

Or do I send the paperwork off and tell them to delay the DMP?

neiljmuk wrote: »

Hi all. Not paid Argos anything for about 4 months as they won't default. Sent a nice email today saying pay or be defaulted. Result, but then they said if I don't they might send someone to my home to take the money. They havin a laugh?

Best practice is to with hold payment until the default notice drops on your doormat, then you are clear to carry on.

As far as I know Argos don't employ doorstep collectors, it's possible they could farm the job out to a DCA, but like most creditor threats, that's probebley all it is, a threat.

If anyone called you do not have to engage with them, they have no more power than next doors cat, so easy to deal with.

January2015

S1Ebbz wrote: »

Been advised to post on here

DMP was planning to set up In a month but advice indicates I should hold payments and wait longer

Does this include loans, credit cards, over drafts and payday loans .... Won't they just slam on interest and charges and chase me? Appreciate no guarantee won't happen in DMP but shouldn't I be showing I am getting help as soon as possible

Confused now

sourcrates wrote: »

My apologies, my intention was not to confuse you, but to try to assist you.
I'll leave it to the regulars, who are actually going through this now, to bring you up to speed on the best process to follow.

This is the OP's original question :

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5602416

Hi S1Ebbz

I understand your concerns. You feel if you don't pay them something it will appear as though you are not really working towards a DMP and creditors will charges interest and add default fees etc. to your debts.

Do communicate with them. Do advise them you fully understand the impact a DMP is going to have on your credit reference files and hence the ability to obtain credit. Advise them you are not ignoring your debts and you will commence DMP payments when you have managed to save an emergency fund. Drag this out for however long it takes to get those defaults.

Do let them know you realise they will end up having to default your account. Let them know that you recognise that your circumstances mean you will not be abe to repay these debts for 'x' many years and let them know this will only be if the debts can be frozen at current balances. Tell them as there is no possible alternative course of action for you it would be preferable for the account(s) to be defaulted sooner rather than later and this is something you formally request they do asap.

The key is to communicate with your creditors. Do not ever ignore them. Do put in writing that you wish all communication to be in writing and that you do not give them permission to telephone. They have to honour that request providing you do stay in communication with them.

You can, if you feel really uncomfortable with making zero payments, make token payments until the accounts are defaulted. Only you will know what you feel comfortable with doing.

I know it goes against everything you feel is right to not make payments. However, the longer you keep making some kind of payments, the longer it will take some, but not all, creditors to default your accounts. Unfortunately this is the 'game' creditors force people to play. Ideally a creditor should default an account once it is clear the relationship has broken down, i.e. the debtor cannot meet the minimal contractual payments and it is clear this is not a short term situation. Entering a DMP is clear evidence it will not be a short term situation - but not all creditors play fair. Barclarcard - can you hear me shouting at you in particular :eek:
I say it often - I started my DMP close to £100k in debt. Two years later I've played the default game, I've played the CCA game and I am still here, with my own home (which has equity) and nothing bad has happened. I've had interest and charges refunded to the tune of almost £2k across a few accounts.

My debt in no way has increased since my DMP started due to interest and charges. Yes, along the DMP journey some creditors did get funny (in letter only) but I just wrote back and quoted the rules/regulations/legislation etc. They always ended up backing down and refunding those charges and interest.

Please be assured, we are all here to support you every step of the way. We have all been where you are, and we have all felt the nerves. We've all thought - have they really told me to do that. I can't do that - the letters will come, the phone calls will come, I'll end up in court, etc. etc. We are all here to evidence you will come through the other side and none of these things will happen providing you follow the advice. We are not here to give bad advice. We are all in the same boat and all helping each other through our learned knowledge through shared experiences of this journey to be debt free.

January2015

motivated wrote: »

Thankyou so much January
I do actually feel a sense of calm considering the situation. I plan to sit down later and work out a proper weekly budget. Groceries, gas electric etc and stick to it like glue.

It has really helped that DH is now on board. We sat today checked everything together and both signed before I sent paperwork off.

I feel we have made massive progress so far already. I am not even tempted to log in and continuously check CCs as I would do normally.
My mindset has changed and a new start awaits us.

I phoned SC today regarding our DD payments and the man said when the paperwork comes back to us with the first payment date etc we can ring them and change it if need be.

Roughly how long does SC take to get back to us?

I am looking forward to having a DMP signature that I can update with progress etc. It doesn't take much to please me these days
M

A huge lifesaver for me, when starting our DMP journey, was that I discovered YNAB (budgeting software). I've always had spreadsheets and forecast where we should be with our money. Clearly I was rubbish at it because we never ended up where we should be and always ended up more in debt. The difference with YNAB is you only budget with money you have NOW. It just works for me - and from reading threads on this forum about it, it works for others as well. It might be worth giving it a trial. I only have the classic version. I did try the new web based version but didn't get on with it.

Edit: Forgot to say, I can't remember how long SC took to get back to me when I sent the paperwork in. It wasn't long though.

Billy12345

Hi all

Just had a lovely letter from Santander stating they will stop their collections activitiy but that interest will be charged in line with the original loan agreement. :eek:

Does anyone have a standard type letter I can send to them asking them to freeze interest in accordance with the lending code. I'm sure I saw a great letter on here but I've looked all morning and cant find it (perhaps i had better pay a visit to specsavers lol)