DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Growurown

Scaredofdebt wrote: »

Congratulations and we'll done. It must be an amazing feeling :beer:

It is pretty good, you will get there too!

carbootcrazy wrote: »

A wonderful day all round,
:j:j:j


I'm so pleased the car-repair wasn't as painful as it might have been:T

No, not too bad although they removed the battery and now the radio is asking for a code and the one written in the book doesn't work! OH is a bit put out, but at least he doesn't need the poker any more:D

GibbsRule_No3 wrote: »

Well done Growurown, nice feeling, isn't it. :T :T:beer:

Thanks, and yes a nice feeling. Kind of felt like life was a bit on hold whilst on the DMP. Not quite sure what to do with my self now!

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Many thanks to Mrs TTFTM for tipping me off to the fantastic news.

Very pleased for you

You made my journey easier and I appreciated your friendship so it brings me double pleasure to say well done and hope you enjoy your next chapter.

HHx

Hi HH I did post a reply in the debt free role of honour, thanks so much for the support and useful advice you gave me and, well all of us really. Hope the debt free life is treating you well.:A

Sorry Stormpassing, I think we got a bit carried away!

Sazzie23

stormpassing wrote: »

Evening all,

I'm very annoyed. I swapped energy suppliers in Feb this year and paid what I thought was a final bill. Not thought anything about it until I receive a random email from them saying my bill is ready. Turns out the previous bill was for gas only and I owe for the electricity originally to the tune of £101.00. I queried the meter reads and once adjusted I owe £91.00. Really not happy as this is months later and just before Christmas.

My question is do I struggle to pay it or add to the DMP and is this worthy of a written complaint.

Thoughts please, TIA
SP x

Hi Storm,

Definitely worthy of a complaint, and I wouldn't struggle to pay it now, especially as it's just before Christmas. Are you with SC, I think they would tell you to reduce your DMP payments to pay it off, I would probably try to negotiate with the old utility company and ask to pay it off in instalments of ...whatever suits, see what they say?

Absolutely rubbish they came up with this bill this month, and it took them so long. Give em hell.

Sazzie23

Growurown wrote: »

It is funny and you are forgiven!:D

Well I've done it, I can officially say that I am debt free:j:j:j

Four and a half years, it has gone very quickly really, so for all you DMPers out there, stick at it, your time will come.

Car goes in tomorrow, I'm hoping I don't have to beat the starter motor with the poker:p

No more poker beating the starter stories:rotfl: what will I do:eek:

Seriously happy for you, definitely one of my DMP heroes GUO :D

canuckinuk

Hi. I have no idea if I have posted correctly. I just want to say hi and to ask for some general advice/encouragement.


I called Stepchange (SC) on Monday and went through a budget with them. They advised a DMP and I am now just waiting for it to be activated, having sent them what they asked for.


We are a family of me and hubby, 19 year old son at home, 17 year old daughter part time at home but officially lives with her Dad, and a 2 year old son too. Oh and 2 dogs.


We owe approx. 13,500 to 8 creditors including child tax credits, store finance x2, 1 store card, 2 credit cards, bank loan, and bank overdraft.


This debt was ran up because we had an unplanned baby, I was then off work for one year maternity leave with zero income (I didn't qualify for ANY maternity pay or benefits because I'd been out of the country for 7 years prior to coming back and getting pregnant), and then to top it all off we were evicted from our fully furnished property (landlady wanted to move back in) and had to move into an empty shell of a house which meant we needed EVERYTHING from knives and forks to towels to furniture and appliances. I am so distressed that we got into this state of debt. And its not like we've had holidays or nice clothes, or a social life out of it.


After our bills and other budget costs, we have 74 pounds to pay to the DMP.


I have to say that this is the beginning of a 'journey' for us. I am totally open to new ideas for saving money and for paying off the debts. I have to say that I am not very money savvy and when I read a lot of articles on this site about finances it feels like it goes over my head.


I feel really nervous about the DMP and fear how we will be hounded by the creditors. And I feel like a failure for the fact we will have bad credit for so many years.


Does anyone have any tips for getting started with a DMP? Do I let SC do all the dealing with the creditors or do I still try to negotiate with them?


I work fulltime, but does anyone out there know of any legit ways to make some extra income?


Thanks

Puzzcat

canuckinuk wrote: »

Hi. I have no idea if I have posted correctly. I just want to say hi and to ask for some general advice/encouragement.


I called Stepchange (SC) on Monday and went through a budget with them. They advised a DMP and I am now just waiting for it to be activated, having sent them what they asked for.


We are a family of me and hubby, 19 year old son at home, 17 year old daughter part time at home but officially lives with her Dad, and a 2 year old son too. Oh and 2 dogs.


We owe approx. 13,500 to 8 creditors including child tax credits, store finance x2, 1 store card, 2 credit cards, bank loan, and bank overdraft.


This debt was ran up because we had an unplanned baby, I was then off work for one year maternity leave with zero income (I didn't qualify for ANY maternity pay or benefits because I'd been out of the country for 7 years prior to coming back and getting pregnant), and then to top it all off we were evicted from our fully furnished property (landlady wanted to move back in) and had to move into an empty shell of a house which meant we needed EVERYTHING from knives and forks to towels to furniture and appliances. I am so distressed that we got into this state of debt. And its not like we've had holidays or nice clothes, or a social life out of it.


After our bills and other budget costs, we have 74 pounds to pay to the DMP.


I have to say that this is the beginning of a 'journey' for us. I am totally open to new ideas for saving money and for paying off the debts. I have to say that I am not very money savvy and when I read a lot of articles on this site about finances it feels like it goes over my head.


I feel really nervous about the DMP and fear how we will be hounded by the creditors. And I feel like a failure for the fact we will have bad credit for so many years.


Does anyone have any tips for getting started with a DMP? Do I let SC do all the dealing with the creditors or do I still try to negotiate with them?


I work fulltime, but does anyone out there know of any legit ways to make some extra income?


Thanks

Hi,
Welcome to the best thread on Mse. I would strongly suggest delaying the start of your dmp to allow you to build up an emergency fund as once in a dmp you have no access to credit. As Long as you communicate with your creditors and send a token payment £1 is fine before the dmp starts. I did this for 3 months before starting my dmp.
Puzz

[Deleted User]

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi,
Welcome to the best thread on Mse. I would strongly suggest delaying the start of your dmp to allow you to build up an emergency fund as once in a dmp you have no access to credit. As Long as you communicate with your creditors and send a token payment £1 is fine before the dmp starts. I did this for 3 months before starting my dmp.
Puzz

canuckinuk

That's very good advice from Puzzcat:T. I didn't find this thread until months after my DMP started and it had never occurred to me to do token payments in order to build up a little emergency fund prior to starting it:o.. I think you need to contact StepChange to let them know what you are planning so they can start your DMP payments at the right time.

Once the DMP started I had very little wiggle room (or is it wriggle room?) in my budget as all my savings had been spent pre-DMP just to keep my head above water with my creditors. As Puzzcat said, you probably won't have access to credit when the DMP starts. This can be a real shock to the system when emergencies have a nasty habit of cropping up:eek:

Incidentally, although taking the decision to go on a DMP is scary it is the best thing I (and very many others on this thread) ever did to sort out our financial problems:T. Yes, your credit rating will be very poor for a few years but what's the alternative? On the plus side, your creditors will stop hounding you once your plan is running successfully. I felt a massive load lifted from my shoulders when the constant phone calls stopped completely:j.

Good Luck and please keep posting to let us know how you are doing:beer:

Boldhoof

canuckinuk wrote: »

Hi. I have no idea if I have posted correctly. I just want to say hi and to ask for some general advice/encouragement.
I called Stepchange (SC) on Monday and went through a budget with them. They advised a DMP and I am now just waiting for it to be activated, having sent them what they asked for.
We are a family of me and hubby, 19 year old son at home, 17 year old daughter part time at home but officially lives with her Dad, and a 2 year old son too. Oh and 2 dogs.
We owe approx. 13,500 to 8 creditors including child tax credits, store finance x2, 1 store card, 2 credit cards, bank loan, and bank overdraft.
This debt was ran up because we had an unplanned baby, I was then off work for one year maternity leave with zero income (I didn't qualify for ANY maternity pay or benefits because I'd been out of the country for 7 years prior to coming back and getting pregnant), and then to top it all off we were evicted from our fully furnished property (landlady wanted to move back in) and had to move into an empty shell of a house which meant we needed EVERYTHING from knives and forks to towels to furniture and appliances. I am so distressed that we got into this state of debt. And its not like we've had holidays or nice clothes, or a social life out of it.
After our bills and other budget costs, we have 74 pounds to pay to the DMP.
I have to say that this is the beginning of a 'journey' for us. I am totally open to new ideas for saving money and for paying off the debts. I have to say that I am not very money savvy and when I read a lot of articles on this site about finances it feels like it goes over my head.
I feel really nervous about the DMP and fear how we will be hounded by the creditors. And I feel like a failure for the fact we will have bad credit for so many years.
Does anyone have any tips for getting started with a DMP? Do I let SC do all the dealing with the creditors or do I still try to negotiate with them?
I work fulltime, but does anyone out there know of any legit ways to make some extra income?
Thanks

Hi There,
Congratulations on taking the step to being debt free. We have been with SC for 11 months now. You could speak to SC about making £1 token payments to your creditors for a few months to build up an emergency fund. Noticed like us you have a Bank Loan as one of your creditors, not sure if you have already done it, but you need to move banks as they can access money held in your account to pay the debt, also that includes any credit cards issued by a bank. Just check which banking group they are in and go for a basic account with a bank that is not part of the same group.

As for your creditors if you go with the DMP with SC then do not offer to pay anything extra to any of them, SC will send them all your budget and the offer, do not be surprised if a creditor refuses the offer, SC will keep sending them the amount worked out. You will get letters and arrears notices, these are normal, and also default notices.

I can only speak for our creditors which are MBNA, Halifax Loan and Credit Card, LloydsTSB, Tesco Credit Card. We only receive letters, no phone calls.

If you have any questions ask here, it is a wonderful friendly helpful place, and SC have been fantastic and supportive to us.

January2015

Hi canuckinuk

You've already received some great advice. I can only second the comment to make at least 3 months of token £1 payments to your creditors and build yourself up an emergency fund. Remember you will have no access to credit from now on if something crops up that simply must be fixed/replaced. The creditors are fine the minute you say the magic words stepchange and DMP.

This really is the best thread on MSE. I consider this thread to be my essential daily dose of friendship from others in similar situations to me. I can't talk about my debt to my real life friends and family - so I come here and talk to my virtual friends who always know the answer to questions related to my debt situation. They understand the ups and downs and inbetweens of living through the set up of your DMP and getting on the road to maintaining it and your new way of life.

Since I've joined I've seen other members join and then stop posting. I hope they are coping okay out there on there on their own. For me - I know I couldn't make this journey for the next 8 years without the fantastic support of my friends on this thread. I would definitely recommend subscribing to this thread

Good luck with your DMP

Sazzie23

canuckinuk wrote: »

Hi. I have no idea if I have posted correctly. I just want to say hi and to ask for some general advice/encouragement.


We are a family of me and hubby, 19 year old son at home, 17 year old daughter part time at home but officially lives with her Dad, and a 2 year old son too.

After our bills and other budget costs, we have 74 pounds to pay to the DMP.


I have to say that this is the beginning of a 'journey' for us. I am totally open to new ideas for saving money and for paying off the debts.

I feel really nervous about the DMP and fear how we will be hounded by the creditors. And I feel like a failure for the fact we will have bad credit for so many years.


Does anyone have any tips for getting started with a DMP? Do I let SC do all the dealing with the creditors or do I still try to negotiate with them?


I work fulltime, but does anyone out there know of any legit ways to make some extra income?


Thanks

Hello canuckinuk

Welcome to the thread. Like a lot of others I am with SC, and I think they are a great place to start for folks starting out with a DMP.
This forum in general will help you a lot, and this thread is well known to be the friendliest and most gentle so we're glad you found us.

Tips for saving money - the DFW forum has lots of challenge threads, I'd read through a few pages before you sign up, just to get a feel for what they are asking. You can always try a few days of the ideas before signing up, there are grocery bills challenges, no spend days challenges, savings challenges, some people find them really motivating.

Tips for making money, there a few thread ideas about, I manage to make a very small amount, we're talking a few quid a month, from surveys such as the GFK media survey, pine cone surveys, inbox pounds. I can easily work these when I'm in from of the TV so it fits round my working hours. I also joined the freepostcodelottery, and there is a link on their page to a lady who makes quite a lot from on-line stuff, also skint dad blog has some ideas.

Tips for DMP, the previous posts has given good advice about. Delaying til you at least have a small fund, otherwise what happens if your fridge, cooker etc gives up? I'd also recommend you have a good read through the earlier pages of this thread, we do go on a bit AT&T Times but hopefully you'll find some ideas and motivation. It'll also give you an idea what to expect, different creditors handle things diffirently, sometimes if you have 2 debts with one creditor they will be treated differently. It's all bizarre but try not to stress about it.

Some of the letters you'll get might be quite scarey, but remember most of them will be computer generated automated things and nothing to worry about if you've already got your DMP under way.

Most important advice from Boldhoof about shifting your bank account to a safe bank where you don't have debts.

Hope this helps, there's a lot to get on with and sure you'll have questions so come back here and we'll try to oblige.

Like Puzz, I love my DMP, despite the fact I'm very skint, at least I know I'm not getting in more debt and eventually I'll get through it.

canuckinuk

Hi everyone and thank you so much for the welcome and for the advice and support. It is a big relief to know that there are other people in the same boat. The past few weeks have been very stressful as I finally came to the realisation that the debt was out of control. My husband and I have had quite a few rows because he did not know the full extent of what I had spent on credit and he didn't know about the loan and credit cards (he knew about the overdraft). In a way I was annoyed that he reacted so badly towards me because he must have known the money was coming from somewhere. I think he just kept his head in the sand while I spent and spent to try and get us all the basics that we needed for our home. He has now come to terms with the truth and he is on board for us to be debt free again.


I have a few more questions:


1) SC have said for my husband to be included as part of the DMP. We went along with this and he has signed the DMP agreement that we sent off to SC. However all of the debt is in my name only with the exception of the 315 pounds owed to child tax credits which is in both of our names. Why have they included him in the plan? Is it because we combine our finances? Will he receive bad credit for being part of the DMP even though none of the main debts are in his name?


2) I have changed my direct debits and wages from the dismal debt burdened Lloyds account over to my old building society account. With this account I don't even have a debit card so there is no way fro me to spend out of it unless I go to one of their cashpoints or into branch. This suits me fine because all of my monthly wages, every penny of them, will go on monthly direct debits. My husband gets paid weekly so from his wages we have budgeted for food, weekly bills, pocket money, petrol, and all the little pots etc. Now, his account is also with Lloyds. Am I right that Lloyds will not be able to take anything from him because all the Lloyds related debts are in my name only?


3) Since we are going with SC, do I still need to contact each of the creditors myself to say anything/propose anything? If so, what exactly do I write to them? Does anyone have a link to a template or example letter?


4) With regards to making token payments for 3 months to save up an emergency fund- this sounds like a good idea. However as things currently stand we only have 74 pounds a month surplus to go towards the DMP. (FYI this will change as our 2 year old's large childcare bills get less and less as he goes to nursery and then school). So if we did token payments of 1 pound to each creditor that would only leave 67 pounds a month to put towards an emergency fund. So we'd save up 201 pounds in 3 months. Do you still think it is worth it to do this for 3 months for such a small amount of savings? If so, what exactly do I say to SC? Will they approve of this idea? If they do allow us to start the DMP in 3 months time, do they still oversee the token payments plan for the next 3 months? Like do I send the 7 pounds to them? Or do I have to sort it all out with each creditor? If I have to sort it out, what exactly do I do? I don't even know how I would send 1 pound payments. I am so confused!


5) What is the advantage of managing a DMP myself vs. going with SC?


Ok sorry that is so many questions. I really appreciate the help.