A couple of questions for those who run their own DMP

purpledelly

Hi Folks
As you can see I'm quite new to these forums... and I have noticed that a number of people mention they run their own DMP.
We have had a DMP with the CCCS for 3 years and whilst we probably could never have contemplated setting one up and dealing with everything alone 3 years ago and are therefore totally indebted to the CCCS for their help, I am wondering if running our own might be a little more flexible. The biggest thing is that the CCCS have their payment from us on the 1st of the month and this is non-negotiable, yet our creditors don't get paid until about 26th of the month - now if we did it ourselves we could pay people just before the 26th and that would help as my monthly wages get paid on 21st. So it would help the cash flow.

So I have a few questions:

1. Would it be advisable to stop the DMP with the CCCS now or is it a no-no as we've already done 3 years with them.

2. Would we have to let the creditors all know that we were now running it ourselves or would it not matter (not sure how much direct contact they have with the CCCS at the moment - we certainly hear very little from the creditors except monthly statements from some but not all of them).

3. Would we have to do an annual review for all creditors (and is this easy?) or only if any of them requested it?

4. Are creditors as sympathetic to DMPs from individuals as they are with the CCCS or are they likely to try and put the pressure on us to pay more?

I'd appreciate it if anyone could tell me the benefits they see of running it yourself as opposed to going through CCCS too....
Don't ask much do I ?? :rotfl:

Many thanks in advance for any advice and comments on this!

As a footnote... we're only planning on doing the DMP for another couple of years when we will be able to raise enough money to offer a full and final settlement (otherwise we'd be DMPing until kingdom come!).

rayday2

Well the benefits to me are you can slip more to some and chisel away at them which is a morale booster.

The longer you have been on a DMP the less creditors bother with reviews, I personally don't do one until they ask.

I use the national debthepline payment calcutlor and template letters and it is a two minute job if that. Most of my creditors accept standing order and I do online banking so I don't really have to think about thingss.

I think to be honest because at the beginning I responded to letters next business day creditors were actually very quick in accepting payments and stopping interest. None of them have ever queried me doing it alone.

But I never ring my creditors it is all in writing with me so what can they do but send letters and a year on if I get a letter a month that is not a statement obviously then I am unlucky.

I keep spreadsheets of my payments that I send cheque numbers etc which I would be happy to email you a blank one if it helps, all my letters are in a file and on my computer so it is a well oiled machine really and you can deal with things straight away.

Did I answer everything or did I miss something?

purpledelly

rayday2 wrote: »

Did I answer everything or did I miss something?

That's brill - thank you - and to be honest the first thing you mention is something else I was thinking of - i.e. chucking a bit more at some of the smaller ones to get rid of them - but only when I can afford it rather than every month (my hubbie does overtime but it's different each month).

The only thing I'm still not sure about is whether I would need to let my creditors know I was now going it alone as I'd need their details to pay them and I'd obviously need to let the CCCS know - does anyone know if that would be a problem?

As for the rest - I'd love to see your Spreadsheet template thank you!

rayday2

PM me your email and I will send you one its nowt fancy but it means I can prove payments and thats good enough for me!

There was a similar topic to this where people had transferred from Payplan maybe pming them would help let me see if I can find it!

purpledelly

Thanks again -you're great
I'll also do a board search see if I can find it.

I've PMed my email addy to you

rayday2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=128970&page=2

This was the topic didn't want to bump it up again and it was pinkcat I think!

Crown

Hi PD, I thinkRayday has given excellent advice as normal but I just wanted to ask a question.

Have all your creditors froze interest on your accounts at present and are receiving there payments without any hassle?

If so then why dont you each time you earn a little money or make a saving pay it into a savings account with the full intention of using it to make a settlement offers on the smaller debts once you are in a postion to do so.
I know this could be against the CCCS rules but if the creditors are not making a fuss why alert them to any potential problem?

Just my thoughts

purpledelly

Crown wrote: »

Have all your creditors froze interest on your accounts at present and are receiving there payments without any hassle?

If so then why dont you each time you earn a little money or make a saving pay it into a savings account with the full intention of using it to make a settlement offers on the smaller debts once you are in a postion to do so.
I know this could be against the CCCS rules but if the creditors are not making a fuss why alert them to any potential problem?

Hi Crown
Yes they have all frozen the interest and all are happily receiving the payments. We now and then get (very nice) calls from some of them offering for us to pay a final settlement of say 30% of the total owed - but until now we've not had the cash for that as we were never expecting them to do it so we hadn't thought of starting a proper savings a/c. But I think that's a fantastic idea.
As you say - it IS against CCCS rules -they insist if you have a lump sum it must be equally shared amongst creditors - but I recently was down to the last £25 on one creditor and paid it off and amended the amount accordingly on the CCCS online form and no-one has sent the boys round to ask why :rotfl:
So perhaps you're right.... especially as we should be able to finish it withing a couple of years....

All good food for thought (although I'd still like the option of paying after the 21st of the month so I might still look into going it alone)

pinkkat8910

Hi Purpledelly,

I'm so happy to see more people are starting to do their own DMP (as I'm sure Rayday is too!!! )

I've answered your questions in bold below .....


So I have a few questions:

1. Would it be advisable to stop the DMP with the CCCS now or is it a no-no as we've already done 3 years with them. There is no reason whatsoever for you to stay with them if you're confident enough to deal with these counts yourself. Just make sure you time your cancellation just right as to not miss another months payments with your creditors

2. Would we have to let the creditors all know that we were now running it ourselves or would it not matter (not sure how much direct contact they have with the CCCS at the moment - we certainly hear very little from the creditors except monthly statements from some but not all of them). The first month I had cancelled from Payplan I wrote a letter to all of my creditors saying that I would be looking after my account again and assume I can continue with the previous agreed payments and attached a cheque for the reduced amount they had agreed with Payplan. I only had a response from 2 out of 8 asking me to complete a S.O.A. which I did (with the same figures I had signed up to Payplan) and they wrote back saying I could continue at the previous agreed payment.

3. Would we have to do an annual review for all creditors (and is this easy?) or only if any of them requested it? You would only need to do this if requested, or if you felt you could pay more - its a case of filling in the same paperwork you would of done with CCCS for incomings and outgoings. Nothing would change unless you had a payrise or your outgoings suddenly dropped (ie. something was paid off).

4. Are creditors as sympathetic to DMPs from individuals as they are with the CCCS or are they likely to try and put the pressure on us to pay more? YES!!! If anything I have found the majority of my creditors prefer dealing direct with the customer rather than through a third party. A couple of mine (the debt collection agencies) were pushy on the phone but you just have to stand by your guns and tell them you'll post your SOA and you simply cannot afford anything else - BE STRONG!

As a footnote... we're only planning on doing the DMP for another couple of years when we will be able to raise enough money to offer a full and final settlement (otherwise we'd be DMPing until kingdom come!).Ah me too :j

purpledelly

Thank you so much Pinkkat - that answers a lot of my questions too. I'm going to look at how much difference it would make to us cash-flow wise and chat to hubby about it and I think we'll go for it!
Thanks

Crown

Great post Pink Kat,

I think you summed it up nicely. You need to be confident in dealing with the creditors directly as they do try and twist things and threaten you with a lot of legal mumbo jumbo.

I have run my own DMP for a year this month as the CCCS would not accept me at first as I was overspending still. Its taken me a this time to rearrange my SOA and find extra income ect.

You do need to be organised though as if you do not respond to there letters or do miss a payment then they are iunlikely to be as understanding but with online banking and standing orders I havent had a problem as yet