Starting a DMP- really scared

fatbelly

leighavfc wrote: »

Well i would suggest you tell your creditors to ring SC if they being funny as they are in charge of your accounts now technically. I told them this in the early days whilst DMP was being set up and all my creditors soon stopped hassling me about stuff.

This is the way it is supposed to work. It's FCA rule CONC 7.12.2(4), that they must not:

(4) where a person is acting on behalf of a customer, directly contact the customer without the customer's consent, unless there is an
objectively justifiable reason for doing so;

leighavfc

fatbelly wrote: »

This is the way it is supposed to work. It's FCA rule CONC 7.12.2(4), that they must not:

Rebecca this is exactly why this is the best place to come for advice/guidance!! So many people on here know their stuff!

Thanks Fatbelly :beer:

Rebeccadougherty

Thanks for the advice all 😀😀😀😀 I only phoned all the creditors to tell them for next month I would be reducing my payment as StepChange said to, I reaaaalllly didn't want to speak to any of them 😩 They were all really nice and accepting of it apart from Everyday Loans. Stepchange said it's polite to let them know myself via phone call rather than via letter. It took me two days to dare to call Everyday loans. I'm proud I managed to do it because they scare me. Then they demanded proof of why I was reducing my payment, where nobody else wanted it yeah I shouldn't have lied but I just wanted to increase my emergency fund and I can't tell them that. If I get any contact from them I'll just say contact stepchange from now on, I don't want to make any more reduced payments I just wanna pay this all off

And yes this forum is amazing! Feeling so much better after speaking to people on here.

StopIt

Rebeccadougherty wrote: »

Thanks for the advice all 😀😀😀😀 I only phoned all the creditors to tell them for next month I would be reducing my payment as StepChange said to, I reaaaalllly didn't want to speak to any of them 😩 They were all really nice and accepting of it apart from Everyday Loans. Stepchange said it's polite to let them know myself via phone call rather than via letter. It took me two days to dare to call Everyday loans. I'm proud I managed to do it because they scare me. Then they demanded proof of why I was reducing my payment, where nobody else wanted it yeah I shouldn't have lied but I just wanted to increase my emergency fund and I can't tell them that. If I get any contact from them I'll just say contact stepchange from now on, I don't want to make any more reduced payments I just wanna pay this all off

And yes this forum is amazing! Feeling so much better after speaking to people on here.

You're a lot braver than you give yourself credit for.


Don't let these guys scare you. Any bullying tactics they may try is because they know it works. Show them you're not to be scared!


If they contact you again, tell them you're with StepChange and that any further contact will be seen as harassment and will be followed by formal complaints. That usually shuts them up.


Good luck with your DMP and if you ever have any questions or need support, feel free to post away.

Rebeccadougherty

Thank you StopIt, I wasn't feeling very brave at the time lol. Thank you so much for the advice x

Just a quick question to anyone who might know the answer, the worst debt is to everyday loans as it was a 5,500 loan but I'm paying back 12,000. The interest was an agreed amount upfront.. yes I know so stupid of me if I save stupidly hard I could potentially clear that particular debt late next year... if I didn't have to pay the whole thing. If it's only the 5,500 plus interest up until, say, next November when I might be able to clear it, , would they only want 5,500 plus interest to that date or the whole amount? Sorry if this is a stupid question! I also hope it makes sense!! Thanks in advance. If I could do this it would save me so much money and reduce the DMP! I'm possibly being too hopeful here though.

usedtobeblue

Hi Rebecca, How are you? Im just wondering how you are getting on? Ive just started out and feeling very daunted by the whole thing! Im a natural worrier though which doesnt help. I have £30k of debt and for the last 3 years was hoping for that lottery win like lots of other people. i had to draw a line when i had to use a credit card to withdraw money for my kids school dinners! So scared but also excited at the thought of getting my life back!

whattodo1967

DMP was the best thing for me, it made me budget and plan, am proud that I have not used credit since 2012, as I had lost count of the amount of times I had consolidated, and then used credit cards again. I am 51 and once its paid off that will be the first time I have been debt free apart from my mortgage in my adult life, I cant wait to be debt free.

Akelly

Just hoping for a little advice. I think I'm going to have to do my DMP self managed.

I've been doing overtime past few months and cleared some other debts off... Yey! However Step change are going to take this overtime in consideration.

I've wrote letters to my companies I owe money too with a financial statement showing my outgoings and I goings and waiting to hear back.

Shall I wait to see if they agree to these conditions I've wrote about or do I just bite the bullet and go with step change. I don't want it to come to next month and have loads of letters and calls etc. I'm in such a worry atm. Can anyone help

Larac

Akelly wrote: »

Just hoping for a little advice. I think I'm going to have to do my DMP self managed.

I've been doing overtime past few months and cleared some other debts off... Yey! However Step change are going to take this overtime in consideration.

I've wrote letters to my companies I owe money too with a financial statement showing my outgoings and I goings and waiting to hear back.

Shall I wait to see if they agree to these conditions I've wrote about or do I just bite the bullet and go with step change. I don't want it to come to next month and have loads of letters and calls etc. I'm in such a worry atm. Can anyone help

I am with SC and get an 'intermittent' bonus each year and none some times according to how the company has traded. I excluded this from the calculations as was so up and down. Is it not possible to exclude OT from your calculations?. I have never had any issues with SC and even reduced payments, where over the last 2/3 years pay rises (or lack of) have not kept up with inflation.
Personally would keep the OT payments out of the calculation and as and when you get them save then either for emergency funds or build up for F&F