DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

sourcrates

IWILLgetthere wrote: »

Hello everyone, I have been reading this thread over the past week and was wondering if I could please join?

I will be posting my letters off tomorrow and hoping for a good outcome but am INCREDIBLY SCARED .
Does anyone have any words of wisdom and/or comfort they can offer??

Hi,

Of course you can join !!

Words of wisdom, stop been scared, they are financial institutions, not the mob, they won’t be breaking your legs for non payment.

Millions of people are in debt, it’s nothing they don’t see every day, no one will be knocking on your door, instead a perfectly oiled machine will swing into action, it’s called a “debt management plan”.

Are you intending to self manage ?

If so you simply send your offer of payment backed up by a budget sheet, explain your situation, then pay what’s agreed.

For someone who’s never done this before, it can be unknown territory, I can tell you things will be fine.

motivated

Hi Iwillgetthere

I haven't paid my creditors properly for months now and I can relate fully to your concerns about people knocking on your door etc I can assure you my legs are still in one piece and my knocker hasn't been knocked by any debt collectors or creditors. We have all felt the anxieties that you have, you wouldn't be normal but I can assure you they will soon pass.

By the way you are not a failure, you've just gotten yourself in a pickle but dealing with it now. You're not the first and certainly won't be the last

Good luck.
M

January2015

IWILLgetthere wrote: »

... what I'm really worried about is that I'm just going to get more letters telling me that I'm behind on my payments, followed by default notices, followed by people knocking on my door and my children asking what's going on! (feel such a failure to them )

You want those letters telling you the accounts are being defaulted When on a DMP not all letters are bad letters.... they would be to other people, but not to us DMPer's :rotfl:

I'm another one who has been paying £1 payments to my creditors for over a year now. See my signature - my debt was almost £100k when I started. £1 a month has been fine. Not one phone call - since I told them in writing not to phone me, not one knock on the door, and not one threat of court action.

You will soon get into the swing of being on a DMP and find you have a life after all

StopIt

IWILLgetthere wrote: »

... what I'm really worried about is that I'm just going to get more letters telling me that I'm behind on my payments, followed by default notices, followed by people knocking on my door and my children asking what's going on! (feel such a failure to them )

See, this is why debt is a cycle.


You get so scared to confront it, that your imagined worst case scenario is exactly where you'll be heading if you don't tackle it.


Entering a DMP is a positive step. Yes, you'll get those letters, but that's part of the way out. Defaulted debt = frozen interest. Frozen interest = a line in the sand and a figure that isn't constantly going up, one that can be dealt with.


As long as you enter a DMP (Always, ALWAYS save an emergency fund before your first payment), you wont get visits at the door. Even CCJs for people on a DMP is exceptionally rare, as they're usually reserved for those who ignore the debts and hope they go away on their own.


Get in touch with Stepchange or the National Debtline, speak to them. They'd have heard your story countless times and can help, you're not a bad person, and have nothing to be ashamed of. It's time to take control, and leave the guilt behind.


Just look at other posts here. Like Motivated and Carbootcrazy etc (Edit: And January2015, sorry *runs*), you'll see a pattern. People come here with guilt, and come out empowered to deal with their debts as at the end of the day, it's a number on a spreadsheet. All your children need to know is that you're helping make their future brighter, nothing more needs saying.


Edit: I just read a follow up post you made and disagree completely.


You need to STOP ALL of your credit accounts TODAY. You build an emergency fund before entering a DMP to pay for things you mention, and then budget for all known spending BEFORE your debt payments. You will not be debt free if you have access to more credit, and I implore you, for your sake not to go self managed until you've gotten out of this mindset.

[Deleted User]

IWILLGETTHERE, welcome. We're very glad you decided to join us:T. If there's ever anything that's worrying you or that you aren't clear about please come and ask. There's usually someone on here who has been through something similar. It is scary at the start, we've all been there, but if you read the thread you'll see lots of encouraging examples of how a DMP has really turned people's lives around. Good luck to you.

EDIT
While I was writing the long post below I see StopIt beat me to it and posted a great response to you. I'll leave mine as it is though as it might add something else for you to think about too.


Just a quick comment about your Littlewoods and Next debts. Have you left them totally out of your DMP with Stepchange? As you will know, lines of credit are shut off on a DMP, the creditors effectively close them down. It is usually impossible to access your account details through these creditors' online banking either. Make sure you make a note of balances and other details while you can.


The other thing I need to say is that on a DMP with SC it is best to just pay what the agreed amount decided between you is each month. I'm not sure it's advisable/acceptable to them to keep making additional small payments to individual creditors. SC like us to treat each creditor fairly and that's why they decide the pro rata payments made to them out of the total we pay SC each month. That's the way a SC DMP operates, they pay creditors on your behalf. That's why a lot of us have found SC to be a lifesaver at the start of our DMP journeys as they take all the payment hassle and the juggling of individual payments away. If you are managing your own DMP and have just used SC's online tools to help with the process and are not going the whole hog with them taking over from you then obviously you can do what you like.


If you are letting SC manage your DMP though I would advise holding onto the extra sums of money that you get coming in from time to time and save towards an emergency fund. With most lines of credit cut off there are sometimes occasions when we absolutely need money to pay for something unexpected. I think most of us on here have experienced that at some time or other. Of course, you could pay that towards your 2 non-DMP debts (Next and Littlewoods) instead.

manue1970

I am about to embark on a Debt management program but I am worried about few things and need clarification.
1 Who to use : Stepchange of National Debt relief ?
2 Do I need to write to all my creditors or will they do it for me ?
3 Do I need to open a new bank account before starting the proceedings
4 My debt amounts to 23k and will be paying 772 a month, when would you think I will be debt free?
5 Will I received Bailiff letters
6 Which bank can I use? I have my debt with Barclay and NatWest and my mortgage with NatWest.
7 My mortgage is due for renewal in December 2019 so will I have problem to get good rates?

Many Thanks
Emmanuelle

alana171

This month will be my first payment to my DMP, I was banking with a halifax (have switched back to an old RBS where I have no debt) but my halifax account had an overdraft (part of my DMP) and a Credit card. This morning I’ve tried to log into my online banking with Halifax and it says the log in details I have been issued have been suspended. Is that the norm? Thanks

StopIt

manue1970 wrote: »

I am about to embark on a Debt management program but I am worried about few things and need clarification.
1 Who to use : Stepchange of National Debt relief ? The one who doesn't charge you.
2 Do I need to write to all my creditors or will they do it for me ? You write to all creditors with the same template letter saying you're going to be moving to a DMP powered by Stepchange, and that any further communication should go to them.
3 Do I need to open a new bank account before starting the proceedings If you have any debt with the bank you have an account with, yes. Open a cash account with a bank that you have no financial ties with.
4 My debt amounts to 23k and will be paying 772 a month, when would you think I will be debt free? That depends on when your creditors issue default notices, and stop interest. Your letter to your creditors should state that you're in financial difficulty, and as part of the process of entering a DMP, ask that they default your accounts, and freeze interest at the earliest point possible. Have you saved an emergency fund?
5 Will I received Bailiff letters Only if you ignore your creditors to the point of receiving CCJs, ignoring them, and ignoring any further steps. If you're paying into a DMP managed by Stepchange the chances of this is almost 0.
6 Which bank can I use? I have my debt with Barclay and NatWest and my mortgage with NatWest. Any bank that isn't them. TSB, Co-Op and Lloyds are options.
7 My mortgage is due for renewal in December 2019 so will I have problem to get good rates? Yes, in a word.

Many Thanks
Emmanuelle

Comments in red.


If you post a FULL SOA http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5720967 we can advise a bit more. A DMP will severely affect your credit rating, and any re-mortgaging or renewal of special fixed deals will be impacted by this. Have you spoken to Stepchange about this issue and have they advised the DMP is the way to go?


Edit: I thought this was a familiar poster. Certainly seek advice as honestly, I wouldn't say a DMP is right for you, but Stepchange can help you more if you contact them directly.

vaper

Mi think this is normal. I am unable to log into any of my online accounts now.
Sometimes it says I have used an incorrect password when I know I haven't. They then put a number to ring them on.
I think they do this to force you to make contact with them

StopIt

alana171 wrote: »

This month will be my first payment to my DMP, I was banking with a halifax (have switched back to an old RBS where I have no debt) but my halifax account had an overdraft (part of my DMP) and a Credit card. This morning I’ve tried to log into my online banking with Halifax and it says the log in details I have been issued have been suspended. Is that the norm? Thanks

Yes, your account will be closed to online banking etc as you'll be defaulting on the Overdraft.


Completely normal and to be expected. You still should have access to the account via the branch etc, but it'll likely be downgraded to a basic account with no access to internet services etc. It's also partially why you shouldn't have an actively used bank account when in a DMP as you may lose many features of the accounts when you do.