Help & Advise needed ASAP

Brightspark87

interest being frozen is never a guarantee - doesn't matter if you do the DMP yourself or give it over to someone else to manage. You can only ask.

zenshi

I have been in a self managed DMP for nearly a year now I guess. All interest and charges have been frozen by various credit cards companies.

Katie22313

zenshi wrote: »

I have been in a self managed DMP for nearly a year now I guess. All interest and charges have been frozen by various credit cards companies.

By self managed you do it all yourself? and how is that working for you? How much debt if you don't mind me asking do you owe. How have you worked this out?

sourcrates

Katie22313 wrote: »

if I do my own DMP im guessing it wont ?

If debts are sold on to DCA's all interest and charges stop.

They also offer generous discounts for early settlement.

Makes no difference to having interest stopped if you engage a fee charging company, go with one of the debt charities, or self manage, there's nothing any 3rd party can do, you can't do yourself.

Katie22313

sourcrates wrote: »

If debts are sold on to DCA's all interest and charges stop.

They also offer generous discounts for early settlement.

Makes no difference to having interest stopped if you engage a fee charging company, go with one of the debt charities, or self manage, there's nothing any 3rd party can do, you can't do yourself.

So if I tell a companie I have a self managed debt plan they will freeze intrest?
would you advise doing DMP through a charity companie or self?

Kimble13

I've just signed up to a dmp through step change. They've been amazing. Honestly cannot thank them enough. They've halved my payments. When you speak to them explained your predicament. They'll help you as much as they can x

crazy_cat_lady

I also highly recommend Stepchange. It was nice for me to hand over the hassle to someone else because I have plenty of other stuff to be getting on with... It's worked brilliantly for me. Simple fact is that if you're living a life beyond your means then it will all hit the fan sooner or later, so a big change/rethink of spending habits is needed. Good luck with it.

sourcrates

Katie22313 wrote: »

So if I tell a companie I have a self managed debt plan they will freeze intrest?
would you advise doing DMP through a charity companie or self?

Hi Katie,

You need to understand what a DMP is, essentially it's an informal agreement between you and your creditors, to repay the debts you owe them, at a lesser rate than your original contract stipulates.

You need to advise them, in writing, that your in financial difficulty, and you cannot afford your normal agreed repayments, you should ask them to freeze interest and charges, and offer them an amount you can comfortably afford.

They are not obliged to stop interest, but most will when asked.
It's simple to do this yourself, as you seem to of had issues with stepchange previously, it may be better to do this on your own, if you can write a few letters, and can work out a simple budget, there should be nothing stopping you.

dancingfairy

I'm not sure why the amount Stepchange thought you could afford a month was so different from what you feel you can afford? It's not set in stone, it's an INFORMAL agreement and Stepchange (or another free charity) help set up the plan on your behalf. It's not in anybodys interests for a payment plan to not be realistic. You're less likely to stick to it and are then likely to default which means your creditors won't be happy.
Stepchange should work with you to come up with a sensible, workable budget. Either you have misunderstood what they think or they have misunderstood the situation/you have missed off vital expenses.
Have you actually spoken to a person (rather than trying to do it online)? I think it can work better if you talk it through with a human (and discuss your concerns) rather than just going off what a computer program says.
Having said that, if you're not happy with Stepchange there are other charitable organisations out there and other free resources such as National Debtline or your local CAB or, of course you can do a dmp yourself.
As mentioned above, it is an informal agreement between you and your creditors so there is nothing to stop you agreeing a plan between you, without the help of the middle man. Sometimes it can be helpful to engage a charity as it can help add weight to your argument, on the other hand some people manage better by taking control themselves and writing the necessary letters /staying in contact with their creditors and pushing for interest to be frozen, it's horses for courses really, some people prefer one approach, others the other
df

dancingfairy

£20 a month could be a problem, is this £20 towards the arrears or £20 in total for the month?
Council tax is a priority debt which means it should come before any credit card debts/unsecured loans etc so you may have to pay less to the credit cards/loans to sort out council tax (i'm assuming National Debtline will have gone through all this with you though).
Are you claiming all the benefits/help you are entitled to? especially any that relate to council tax?
Have you checked what council tax band you are in as this could possibly be an area where you could save?
As stated, it's not for the bailiffs to pluck a figure out of thin air. If the council and bailiffs refuse to accept your offer (assuming it's backed up by your budget/SOA) then you can ask the council to attach your earnings. This means it will be deducted from your salary but it is deducted at a set rate (you might want to have a look into this and work out if this is a better or worse option for you). Obviously if it works out better, you can try and push for this.
Good luck getting it sorted.
df