DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

[Deleted User]

kram wrote: »

Hi Carbootcrazy
I am with the Nationwide as well, the only thing was I was unable to open a basic account with them they put me on to flexdirect instead.
What you say about putting money aside for different things makes total sense to me and being able to do it all from within online banking makes it even better.
How long do they normally take to process add a savings account, as I would like to have this in place before the defaults start being applied to me.
Thank you

Sorry, kram, it was a while since I opened the last one and I can't remember how long it took:o. I know it wasn't within hours as motivated encountered with another bank. Only 2 or 3 days though at the most, if I remember correctly. If you start the ball rolling now you should be in good time.

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

January2015 wrote: »

Strangely, the only thing I miss having a basic bank account is a cheque book. I say strange because when I had one I rarely used it - but on the occassions I have needed a cheque I have to make the effort to go into town and get a counter cheque at the bank. They are supposed to charge £5 for cheques but I have never actually been charged for cheques yet.

It does bug me that basic accounts cannot have cheques books. Cheques are no longer guarantted by bank cards anyway, so it is no longer a form of credit. I appreciate the use of cheques is gradually dwindling away but there are occassions when you need a cheque and cannot use a debit card. One example is when sending off data protection subject access requests. Frustratingly I did this and at the time got a postal order (because I couldn't be bothered to go into town, pay for parking just to get a cheque). I receivedback all the information I needed and the company involved returned the postal order to me saying they did not require it. The postal order was crossed and made payabe to the company and I could not get my £10 back from the post office (I tried - and I had the receipt from when I bought it). If that had been a cheque I could have just shredded it - the money would never have left my account in the first place.

Hey ho - I can't have a cheque book and I will just have to live with it :rotfl:

Happy Sunday everyone :rotfl:

I actually do have a cheque book with my basic bank account from Santander - I only really use it to pay for kids' school clubs etc but nice to have it there as an option.

Take care,

BDFSH x

Debtfreehopeful

Having some teething problems at the moment with my DMP with SC. I'll be making my first payment to them in May (was supposed to be March but my job came to an end in Feb and started a new job 20th March so my first full wage will be this month)- as my tax credits have reduced by £20 a month, I've joined the union in work which is £15 a month and didn't put any emergency funds down on my DMP expenditure I tried amending it online but a message popped up asking me to phone SC for them to talk to me in more detail about my circumstances.

I'm not sure whether to bite the bullet and go self managed as when I last phoned SC they advised me that they couldn't make any other amendments to my DMP. If I did would it be ok to do a new income and expenditure form and send that out with a covering letter explaining my recent circumstances? Also do I need to include a list of all my creditors with the proposed payment amount or just the proposed payment amount for each particular creditor I have addressed the letter to?

Thanks for any advice you can offer me- once everything's set up I can relax!

heavenlyharry01

Having some teething problems at the moment with my DMP with SC. I'll be making my first payment to them in May (was supposed to be March but my job came to an end in Feb and started a new job 20th March so my first full wage will be this month)- as my tax credits have reduced by £20 a month, I've joined the union in work which is £15 a month and didn't put any emergency funds down on my DMP expenditure I tried amending it online but a message popped up asking me to phone SC for them to talk to me in more detail about my circumstances.

I'm not sure whether to bite the bullet and go self managed as when I last phoned SC they advised me that they couldn't make any other amendments to my DMP. If I did would it be ok to do a new income and expenditure form and send that out with a covering letter explaining my recent circumstances? Also do I need to include a list of all my creditors with the proposed payment amount or just the proposed payment amount for each particular creditor I have addressed the letter to?

Thanks for any advice you can offer me- once everything's set up I can relax!

Hello

I had one payment go out with StepChange and then cancelled and went self managed. I reduced my payments hugely. And currently we are paying £1 to most, a little more to NRAM and nothing to Creation. We have already cleared one debt with a 50% reduction FF settlement. (Something which we couldn't have done with SC)
Loving being self managed and having the control!

January2015

Debtfreehopeful wrote: »

Having some teething problems at the moment with my DMP with SC. I'll be making my first payment to them in May (was supposed to be March but my job came to an end in Feb and started a new job 20th March so my first full wage will be this month)- as my tax credits have reduced by £20 a month, I've joined the union in work which is £15 a month and didn't put any emergency funds down on my DMP expenditure I tried amending it online but a message popped up asking me to phone SC for them to talk to me in more detail about my circumstances.

I'm not sure whether to bite the bullet and go self managed as when I last phoned SC they advised me that they couldn't make any other amendments to my DMP. If I did would it be ok to do a new income and expenditure form and send that out with a covering letter explaining my recent circumstances? Also do I need to include a list of all my creditors with the proposed payment amount or just the proposed payment amount for each particular creditor I have addressed the letter to?

Thanks for any advice you can offer me- once everything's set up I can relax!

If you want to go self managed then I would recommend using the NEDCAB DMP as a brilliant starting point. It will walk you through the self managed DMP, generate an income and expenditure form and all the offer letters to your creditors. The I&E form includes a table of all your debts and what you will be paying each debt - so yes, you do need to show all creditors who you owe what to and how much you will be paying each of them.

Debtfreehopeful

Thank you for sharing your experience. Hope you don't mind me asking but how did your payments reduce significantly after you cancelled with SC? Were your creditors accepting of the revised payments? It's good that you could put some money aside for F&F's- good luck on your DMP journey

Debtfreehopeful

Thank you for your help January2015, will take a look

January2015

Debtfreehopeful wrote: »

Thank you for sharing your experience. Hope you don't mind me asking but how did your payments reduce significantly after you cancelled with SC? Were your creditors accepting of the revised payments? It's good that you could put some money aside for F&F's- good luck on your DMP journey

Hi

When we went from Stepchange to self managed we just did a far more realistic budget. We had set it far too tight when we were with Stepchange. We were managing but only just.

When you go through the NEDCAB DMP and put figures in for expenditure - put in a high figure and it will tell you if it's too high. We used this to adjust our figures and made sure we put in the highest figure we were allowed before it for each category (adjusted each figure down until the pop up stopped saying it was high :rotfl:

We were prepared to explain the sudden big drop to creditors but no-one asked. We just told them we would be paying £1 per month for x many months and from x month we would be paying £xxx to them.

No problems from any creditors. Don't overthink this - the creditors are getting money, you are in communication with them and hence you are far less of a problem than customers who don't pay, don't correspond etc.

Debtfreehopeful

Thanks January2015- going to make the most of the Easter break to work things out and bite the bullet with my self managed DMP

Amandadwi

Hi, I have been following this thread for the last few weeks.
Two months ago my husband left the family home due to mental illness leaving me with a big mortgage and £42000 worth of debts in my name, but built together. I have struggled on trying to pay but realistically I cannot afford it. Each month I am having to use my credit cards to pay for food and petrol. Each months my debts are growing and it's really scaring me. I cannot sleep or eat properly.
I have been on SC page and done their debt remedy tool which suggested a dmp. I have a good income but with 3 children it doesn't go far.
I have then spent the last week talking to my friend about my options and reading this thread and some diaries. Some days I feel strong and ready to take that step and some days panicking, worrying that I will loose my house or my parents will find out. I am deeply ashamed but know living as we are at the moment is not fair on the children as they are going without.
I think what i am scared about is cancelling those first payements. I have never missed a payement ever. However they are due out on the 1st and I cannot afford another month with out further increasing my debt. I have no one here to support me and don't want to make the wrong decision.
Also I have a car that is on lease. The payments are high but I cannot get out of the lease. Can I add this as an essential payement? And what on earth do I do when it runs out in 2 years cause presumably I will not get another lease!
I am deeply ashamed of my debt, feel alone and scared about the future. Trying to deal with my husbands mental health, even when he is not in the house, hold down a full time job and look after three children and all this debt is draining me.
Any advice or help would be gratefully received. Thanks