DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Larac

I don't often post in this forum as now at the end of year 3 of DMP, and after a while you kinda of have to accept the DMP is part of your life and not try to obsess over it every day.

I find encouragement when I read of people clearing their debts as being on a DMP can be quite a long haul.

I have to remind myself regularly that my debt took over 20 years to accumulate, and will take a while to clear.

Good luck to those on a DMP journey - but important to remember that life goes on and try to enjoy it whilst you clear your debts.

Sazzie23

Larac wrote: »

I don't often post in this forum as now at the end of year 3 of DMP, and after a while you kinda of have to accept the DMP is part of your life and not try to obsess over it every day.

I find encouragement when I read of people clearing their debts as being on a DMP can be quite a long haul.

I have to remind myself regularly that my debt took over 20 years to accumulate, and will take a while to clear.

Good luck to those on a DMP journey - but important to remember that life goes on and try to enjoy it whilst you clear your debts.

Good point Larac, for some it's quick, for some it's slower, but we're all heading for that ultimate DFD.
maybe those of us that have longer DFD have more we need to learn:( I've certainly learnt a lot about my spending habits since the start of the DMP.

Brogden

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi,
I have had no issues with changing insurance for car or home since starting my dmp.
Puzz.x

As Puzz says, press on and find the best deal. A DMP will not cause any problems. The two things which may are IVA's and CCJ's.

I passed a credit check for Virging on the Ridiculous Media (TV / Phone / Internet) supposedly with flying colours and qualified for the bonus cheapo family mobile deal for perfect people (:rotfl:) However, in changing the home insurance the other week, I was not credit checked but declared my three year old satisfied CCJ. This meant the perfect choice of insurance company rejected me and I had to take second best. Still.....it saved me £15 a month but I was hoping on £25 to £30 saving .

Oh.....paying for the sins of the past :eek:

Brogden

timetosayenough

Just renewed car insurance. Much cheaper deal half of what I was paying certainly pays to shop around. Thanks Brogden and Puzz.

Philip624

I am sure I have seen reference to this before on the forum but not sure where. i get the free noddle report each month and all of my creditors are showing as default except one which shows as 'up to date' It has orange circles and late payment for all months up to June which is green and says 'early arrears' and july and August also green and 'arrangement to pay'. Any ideas what this means and why it is not showing as a default?

The lender concerned wrote to me in July to state that they were changing the contractual minimum payment to that which I pay through the DMP. There is no interest charged.

Iwanttobefree

Feeling peeved off to put it politely.

Getting to the point where I don't want to speak to any creditor or open their letters (although I am doing so).

Am on a self managed DMP.

When it first started I went through hell trying to get Creation Finance to lower the interest.

Initially I was with Payplan then stepchange but as I ended up still having to spend hrs trying to lower the interest, I thought I might as well manage it myself.

I sent loads of letters and had loads of stress with creation (three different creation accounts), had to go to the financial ombudsman in the end and while they admitted no fault, that at least got them to lower it.

With the lowered amount, on one account where I owe £6500, for every £40 I pay off they charge me £16.38 interest, meaning I'm only paying £23.62 a month off my debt which means at the current rate (which is not likely to improve due to age and health) will take me 22 years to pay off (or until I'm 73).
That was the best I could get them to agree to.

Now about a year later we have received letters about all 3 accounts saying on 10 days they will revert to the original payments.

I have sent in a letter saying that our situation hasn't changed, a full list of our income and outgoings but they refuse to accept it without seeing my bank statements.

My bank statement does not show our income, I'm on minimal benefits due to health, my wife is a self employed mobile hair dresser and most of her money is paid in cash and is spent on things like food and petrol before it ever reaches the bank.

On top of that, we also have a £500 OD on the bank which we are currently having to use every month just to pay everything due to unexpected large car bills etc.

Technically we are not supposed to have this OD but if we didn't, my wife would not be able to work as we couldn't have fixed the car.

Saving an emergency fund has been impossible the last year just because of so many unplanned expenses that the income/outgoing plans simply do not accommodate.

On top of this we have noticed we now owe Barclaycard more now than we did over a year ago when we started the plan due to them adding charges.

I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking why bother.

I really really really cant face this stress every 6 to 12 months it's not doing me any good at all.

We own our own house (well we have a mortgage that will take up until my wife retires to pay off)

It's a year later we've paid a little off but am now getting charges etc again which is going to push it back up in no time.

We owe £29.437
I get £473 a month benefits
We thought my wife averages over the year (but is more some months and less others) about £1576 month which is about £18840 a year, and is the figure we put down on the income/outgoings we send the creditors.

However the accounts for her last year shows her taxable income (after expenses) at just £11000

This doesn't seem to add up to me as the difference between £18840 and £1100 works out at £7840 or £653 a month and we are not £653 a month short, we are paying slightly too much though not being able to save anything for clothes or emergencies, but more like £100 not £653.

£11000 wouldn't give us enough to pay our other bills yet alone something towards a DMP

So I'm confused, depressed and not sure what to do. Am I going to spend another 2 months sorting it out now only to be faced with all this again next year and for the next 20 plus years?

I need a better way out that doesn't involve loosing the one thing we own, a house (well am paying for) , I simply cant go through this every year, it's killing both of us.

blisteringblue

So far my "promised" defaults from BC and Opus are failing to materialise? BC debt has magically disappeared from my file and I am paying the DCA BC "appointed" but it's simply BCs next weeze to NOT default you, IMHO.

Not the end of the world as every debt is now 0% and I will keep paying them £5 a month and ignore all review letters until they do default me.

Opus is a tinpot company and my smallest debt but they have gone 0% which is a first for them.

Sainsbury's have taken to ringing again early on a Saturday. Obviously to annoy you, and if they do it again I may "£5" them for a laugh.

Anyway, it's slowly getting there. Payday tomorrow so will be another little % off my debt.

Puzzcat

Philip624 wrote: »

I am sure I have seen reference to this before on the forum but not sure where. i get the free noddle report each month and all of my creditors are showing as default except one which shows as 'up to date' It has orange circles and late payment for all months up to June which is green and says 'early arrears' and july and August also green and 'arrangement to pay'. Any ideas what this means and why it is not showing as a default?

The lender concerned wrote to me in July to state that they were changing the contractual minimum payment to that which I pay through the DMP. There is no interest charged.

Hi Phillip,

Sounds like it hasn't been defaulted and is being reported as ar or dmp. This isn't so great as the ap/dmp markers don't disappear after the 6 years like a default and remain on file until 6 years from settled. Not much we can do about it mind, the joy of being on a dmp.. Depending which creditor it is you could ring/write and ask them to default you, but they don't have to.. if its Barclaycard they won't they are the devil creditor...

Puzz.x

Puzzcat

Iwanttobefree wrote: »

Feeling peeved off to put it politely.

Getting to the point where I don't want to speak to any creditor or open their letters (although I am doing so).

Am on a self managed DMP.

When it first started I went through hell trying to get Creation Finance to lower the interest.

Initially I was with Payplan then stepchange but as I ended up still having to spend hrs trying to lower the interest, I thought I might as well manage it myself.

I sent loads of letters and had loads of stress with creation (three different creation accounts), had to go to the financial ombudsman in the end and while they admitted no fault, that at least got them to lower it.

With the lowered amount, on one account where I owe £6500, for every £40 I pay off they charge me £16.38 interest, meaning I'm only paying £23.62 a month off my debt which means at the current rate (which is not likely to improve due to age and health) will take me 22 years to pay off (or until I'm 73).
That was the best I could get them to agree to.

Now about a year later we have received letters about all 3 accounts saying on 10 days they will revert to the original payments.

I have sent in a letter saying that our situation hasn't changed, a full list of our income and outgoings but they refuse to accept it without seeing my bank statements.

My bank statement does not show our income, I'm on minimal benefits due to health, my wife is a self employed mobile hair dresser and most of her money is paid in cash and is spent on things like food and petrol before it ever reaches the bank.

On top of that, we also have a £500 OD on the bank which we are currently having to use every month just to pay everything due to unexpected large car bills etc.

Technically we are not supposed to have this OD but if we didn't, my wife would not be able to work as we couldn't have fixed the car.

Saving an emergency fund has been impossible the last year just because of so many unplanned expenses that the income/outgoing plans simply do not accommodate.

On top of this we have noticed we now owe Barclaycard more now than we did over a year ago when we started the plan due to them adding charges.

I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking why bother.

I really really really cant face this stress every 6 to 12 months it's not doing me any good at all.

We own our own house (well we have a mortgage that will take up until my wife retires to pay off)

It's a year later we've paid a little off but am now getting charges etc again which is going to push it back up in no time.

We owe £29.437
I get £473 a month benefits
We thought my wife averages over the year (but is more some months and less others) about £1576 month which is about £18840 a year, and is the figure we put down on the income/outgoings we send the creditors.

However the accounts for her last year shows her taxable income (after expenses) at just £11000

This doesn't seem to add up to me as the difference between £18840 and £1100 works out at £7840 or £653 a month and we are not £653 a month short, we are paying slightly too much though not being able to save anything for clothes or emergencies, but more like £100 not £653.

£11000 wouldn't give us enough to pay our other bills yet alone something towards a DMP

So I'm confused, depressed and not sure what to do. Am I going to spend another 2 months sorting it out now only to be faced with all this again next year and for the next 20 plus years?

I need a better way out that doesn't involve loosing the one thing we own, a house (well am paying for) , I simply cant go through this every year, it's killing both of us.

Hi,

Not sure what to suggest really, but you sound really down as didn't want to read and run...!! Have you thought about going back to either payplan or stepchange so they can deal with the bulk of the paperwork? I also battled creation for interest and like you took them to the fos so my interest is lowered, but not frozen and not defaulted. I guess sorting out your income/outgoings and allowing yourself enough in the budget for some wiggle room would be a good start. I don't think there is any quick fix to get out of debt, I'm taking the scenic route as it took me at least 20 years to get here..!

Have you written complaint letters re interest and charges to your creditors, this unfortunately is for us to do, regardless if self managed or with pp/sc.

Hopefully someone much wiser than me will be along with some advice for you.

Puzz. x

Boldhoof

Evening all,

Just checked my Noodle Report for this month and one of my debts has disappeared from the report. Originally it was MBNA, who recently sold it to the PRA Group, whom SC are paying, but it no longer appears on my credit report. Also my Halifax debt, which they sold to Wescot a bit back still says Halifax on Noodle. Just wondering if anyone can shine any light on this.

Thanks