SOA- DMP Stepchange.

emeraldhills

I've been reading this forum for months & decided at the weekend I needed to face facts, I am in debt & need help. I went on the Stepchange website entered all of my details & am waiting on Stepchange sending me the relevant paperwork to sign to begin the process of life on a DMP.

I am a single lady on a state pension living alone on a total of £1038.80 a month from pension, pension credits & housing benefit. I owe £5650 to 4 creditors, all unsecured debts. Credit card from Capitalone, bank overdraft, personal loan at 103% interest & a payday loan. I've been trying to make do & keep up with repayments but I can't manage it anymore.

I did a SOA but I can't post it to this thread because my mobile won't let me but the result of the SOA was that I have £30.90 surplus monthly once essentials have been paid for, rent, food, tv license, gas, electricity, phone. £30.90 isn't going to stretch far between 4 creditors I'm worried they will refuse the offer once Stepchange contact them. It wasn't my intention to borrow money without repaying but my circumstances changed & embarrassingly I am struggling. I spend very little on luxuries, £10 a month on wool as I like to knit, a haircut once every 6 months for £15, my mobile is pay as you go I top it up £10 a month, I have a free buspass so spend nothing on travel, I don't have Sky tv or any extras like that.

What happens if my creditors refuse to accept my DMP?

Pixie5740

They can't get blood out of a stone. If you haven't got the money then you haven't got the money. People's circumstances change, it's nothing to be ashamed about.

Do you rent or are you an owner-occupier?

sourcrates

emeraldhills wrote: »

I've been reading this forum for months & decided at the weekend I needed to face facts,

What happens if my creditors refuse to accept my DMP?

Hi,

Welcome to MSE.

You have made the right decision here.

In answer to your question, not much will happen in reality, stepchange will continue to pay your creditors for you, it's irrelevant weather they accept your DMP or not, they won't physically refuse the payment.

It's important to understand how creditors and debt collection actually work, if there not happy, they will simply either, assign a debt collection agency to collect the balance, in which case payments are then made to them instead, or the creditor will sell on the debt to a specialist debt buyer, and your payments continue to the new owner instead.

That's it really, debts are bought and sold all the time, you would just refer anyone who writes to you, to stepchange, and they will deal with it, court action is EXTREAMLY unlikely to happen, and if it did, you would simply acknowledge service, provide your income/expenditure, and the court would set payments at what you can afford.

So you really have nothing to worry about here, creditors issue all kinds of threats sometimes, but when it's all boiled down, there's nothing of any consequence they can do to you, as long as you pay what you can afford, all should run smoothly for you.

emeraldhills

I rent from a private landlord. Housing benefit covers £344 a month & I cover the remaining £256 from my pension/pension credits.

so_very_confused

Has SC suggested Bankruptcy as a debt solution assuming you could raise the fee?
Possibly worth a discussion.
svc

sourcrates

so_very_confused wrote: »

Has SC suggested Bankruptcy as a debt solution assuming you could raise the fee?
Possibly worth a discussion.
svc

I would say a Debt Relief Order may be more appropriate.

The OP seems to meet most of the criteria on the face of it.

Info here : http://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/DRODebtrelieforder.aspx

emeraldhills

I did the debt relief questionairre on the Stepchange website on Friday & their suggested solution was a SOA but after reading the link you posted I think I may be more suited to that as my income is not going to increase.

But I actually made a mistake when completing the questionarre, it had asked for "take home pay" I put in £1038.80 then it asked for "benefits" I put the same figure in again, so it worked out that Stepchange thought I had more than £1000 a month to pay my creditors when in actual fact I have no where near that. I was just going to wait until Stepchange sent me the forms to sign & tell them I made a mistake on the questionairre but maybe I'd be better ringing them. I don't want them to think I lied though, it was a genuine mistake & today I emailed all of my creditors informing them of my intention to enter into a DMP so can I now change my mind and enter into a DRO? I've messed things up before I've officially started anything.

tealady

Hi
You havent messed things up, you made a genuine mistake thats all. Give stepchange a ring and explain, they wont judge you, they are there to help.
With regard to your rent have you looked into finding somewhere cheaper, it might be worth while checking Housing Associations (may be listed as Registered Social Landlords) as some may have housing just for retired people.
HTH

When_the_going_gets_tough

You can always move on to a dro after setting up your dmp. A dmp is essentially an informal way to manage your debts whilst a dro is legally binding on all parties. I would echo the idea to register for social housing it is sometimes easier to obtain an older persons property. You probably have a form of home choice operating in your area check your local authority website or consult age uk for advice.

emeraldhills

I've been on the housing executive waiting list for 9 years. They did find me a property 2 years ago but it wasn't suitable because it had alot of stairs & I wouldn't have been able to manage them. I haven't been offered a property since but I do ring them for an update every few months.

I live in a bungalow & I know the rent is a heavy burden on my finances but with no stairs & handrails in the right places it suits my needs. I have looked many times for something similar at a cheaper cost but no luck yet.

I didn't have the time to speak to Stepchange today due to a hospital appointment but I will tomorrow. Can anyone give me some advice on bank accounts? I owe my bank for an overdraft & have included that in the DMP so yesterday I opened a Lloyd's current account (no overdraft facility was offered) but will I use their switch facility or set the new account up manually? I only need an account for income to be paid into & household direct debits.

National_Debtline

Hi emeraldhills


The emphasis here must be on your quality of life at the expense of your creditors, and not the other way around.


It does seem to me that a Debt Relief Order is likely to suit you far better than a DMP here. There's no obvious reason here to hold back for fear of trashing your credit file. Rather than trying to pay that £30 a month towards the debts, you could save up the £90 cost of the DRO within three months instead.


Please don't worry that you may have messed anything up with Stepchange - just let them know so you can have the right forms sent out.


Re: the new Lloyds account - I'm not too familiar with their switching facility, but if you do choose to use it, please ensure that it is only the essential direct debits that are moved over and not those you may have in place for credit card/loan repayments.


Dennis
@natdebtline