DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

timetosayenough

Hi Maddie,

I send postal orders to my creditors for token payments and on payee line I put name of creditor followed by my account number with them. Seems to be ok, £1 has been credited to my accounts with them. Good luck

rainbowgirl1

Hi all,

I am new to DMP and just found this forum and I have been reading it and it has been so helpful and re assuring. We just started our DMP with SC and first payment will be 1st of Nov.

I am looking for advice. I have never missed a payment and the reason for the DMP was that we kept on borrowing to stay afloat and our debts are now £41k and finally came to our senses that we need to do something about our debt so we contacted SC. We had agreed with SC that we will let our direct debits go through this month and then cancel them. The DDs for most of our creditors went out yesterday and I went online and cancelled them the same day. I checked my bank account today and its now showing that no money left the account even though yesterday it was. Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? I'm worried as what will happen with missing a payment. Many thanks.

2spicy

rainbowgirl1 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am new to DMP and just found this forum and I have been reading it and it has been so helpful and re assuring. We just started our DMP with SC and first payment will be 1st of Nov.

I am looking for advice. I have never missed a payment and the reason for the DMP was that we kept on borrowing to stay afloat and our debts are now £41k and finally came to our senses that we need to do something about our debt so we contacted SC. We had agreed with SC that we will let our direct debits go through this month and then cancel them. The DDs for most of our creditors went out yesterday and I went online and cancelled them the same day. I checked my bank account today and its now showing that no money left the account even though yesterday it was. Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? I'm worried as what will happen with missing a payment. Many thanks.

First of all, WELL DONE !.. We were in the same situation, only our debts were almost double yours. Weve played the games with the creditors and are nearly at the end of the tunnel.

Dont worry about not making payments, defaults are yoru friends .. the sooner you are defaulted, the quicker they will expire when you are finally debt free.

From our experience, never ignore your creditors, call them, tell them you cannot meet the financial obligations as your are in difficulty, and are starting a DMP.
put it in writing too, requesting they only contact you via letter.

Do contact SC and keep them informed, they will guide you through, they will contact the creditrs with the I&E reports / and will make the offers of payments to them.

Now, if you've defaulted on your payments, your going to get hassled. At this point the creditors will try to get as much money as they can out of you "just one small payment" ... "can you make it £x amount" ... etc. BE STRONG.
Formulate a standard reply "Im sorry, im in financial difficulty, SC are managing my DMP, the DMP number is XXXXXX. Thankyou for calling / your understanding". Dont be bullied or feel any further obligation to meet the old payments.

Now is also the time you need to be making token payments, to show commitment to settle your debt, and also to build up a cash reserve for emergency (or a big TV, but I wouldnt recommend it!)

rainbowgirl1

2spicy - Thank you for your advice makes me feel better. When we were making our I&E to SC we made sure we our outgoings would be able to build up an emergency fund. Hubby also has a bonus payment coming up in Nov so we will put that towards our emergency fund.

Decked

Rainbowgirl1,
It was 3 years ago when I was in a similar position to you, I owed £58k and someone from SC saw my post on this forum. We planned our transition into the DMP, because just like you we hadn't missed a payment but were not making any headway into the massive interest payments each month. I can't remember quite what happened during the first month regarding payments, but I do know I still had many a sleepless night wondering what was going to happen. What did happen was virtually nothing, no phone calls from creditors, the occasional standard letter, and slowly some more letters as debts got passed to DCAs.
We paid Sc each month and they paid the creditors, there was the odd time when there were slight issues because some debts had dropped off my DMP, it caused an issue because the creditors payment plan was set up for a specific amount and they actual got paid a few pounds more and this messed up the plan, a quick call and normal order was restored. Just tackle any minor glitches like this straight away, for you own peace of mind and to ensure it doesn't escalate into something more serious.

So here I am 3 years on owing £29k and it feels good, I am paying £1450 per month and am hoping to be done in 18 months. My advice would be to be realistic with your budget, I have never had to reduce a DMP payment, I have had the odd bonus from work and some overtime, which always seems to get swallowed up by some unforeseen expense or another, I never told SC because I think the fact all may payments go through ok is positive for all concerned .
Good luck, if my experience is anything to go by, it's not easy, but once you get used to the fact your credit rating is shot, everything else does bring an element of stability to your finances, and even though I still have £29K to go, I can see a big light at the end of the tunnel. Ps, SC have been great with us.

rainbowgirl1

Decked = Thank you so much and well done to you. We have done it in such a way that we will be paying £570 a month and should take us 6yrs and 2 months. Its just not knowing what will happen that makes me worry, but reading your post and all the others here is putting my mind at rest.

Boldhoof

rainbowgirl1 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am new to DMP and just found this forum and I have been reading it and it has been so helpful and re assuring. We just started our DMP with SC and first payment will be 1st of Nov.

I am looking for advice. I have never missed a payment and the reason for the DMP was that we kept on borrowing to stay afloat and our debts are now £41k and finally came to our senses that we need to do something about our debt so we contacted SC. We had agreed with SC that we will let our direct debits go through this month and then cancel them. The DDs for most of our creditors went out yesterday and I went online and cancelled them the same day. I checked my bank account today and its now showing that no money left the account even though yesterday it was. Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? Do I contact the creditors to pay them or just let SC know and start the payment with them on 1st of Nov? I'm worried as what will happen with missing a payment. Many thanks.

Hi Rainbowgirl,

We were exactly the same as you last December, never missed a payment but were struggling. My wife lost her job so we went into the bank on the Saturday as we had a loan and credit card with them. Put on the phone to someone and they cancelled the loan DD immediately, said they would inform the Credit Card Department and advised us to get debt advice. We then rang our other creditors, MBNA, Tesco Credit Card, Llyods Credit Card told them our situation and that we were going with SC, they all said they knew of them. We went on a £1 token payment plan with SC. We have since starting had lots of letters with default notices, no phone calls. Now all of them have defaulted us, and 2 have been passed onto other agencies. We have found this forum really helps, people here are amazing and very helpful, also SC have been brilliant, just ask if you have any questions.

patch22

Hi rainbowgirl! Me and my OH started a joint DMP with Stepchange in August and have not long made our third payment. We'd also never missed a payment, but were getting to the point where it was going to start happening as we'd stretched ourselves so much and were constantly using credit just to live and only able to make minimum payments so our balances were barely being reduced. I was petrified at the beginning, imagining all sorts of horrible things. It's a hugely worrying and stressful time and you'll feel just about every emotion possible. Facing up to the fact that you're in debt is a huge thing but things do get better. You're doing something positive about your situation. My stomach still flips slightly when the post arrives or the phone rings, but the overwhelming emotion now is relief. SC have been really good and have answered/helped with everything we've asked them so don't be afraid to call or email them with any niggly worries. We informed some creditors before the plan started but left a couple to SC and there have been no problems so far. Lastly, this forum has been a big help. Just knowing that others have been where you are is reassuring.

Decked

Rainbowgirl,
I am glad that my post has given you some reassurance.
When I started out, I think I was paying about £645 a month off £58k, so your payment seems comparable. Even though I still owe so much, it is a really good feeling to be in credit at the end of the month. Stick with it and take pleasure from seeing your balance reducing each month. You can log in to your DMP on SC's website. One thing I forgot to mention was that most creditors stopped interest, the only one that didn't was Barclaycard.

phoenixx

Kate_fixing_it wrote: »

Woo hoo :j :j it's happy dance time!!!

SC payment has gone out today so I have just hopped over the £9k paid mark!!! :j :j

DH has transferred the money so I'll be paying the F&F today too taking the remaining debt under £4,000.

Massively happy right now

Kate x

Good news indeed, Kate. Progress to be proud of. X:T