DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

January2015

angela1976 wrote: »

I have had to reduced my payment via stepchange to £50 this month instead of the usual £650.00 due to my boiler packing in, stepchange we!!!8217;re fine as this is the first reduction in 3 years however I!!!8217;m panicing as to how my creditors will react will they start chasing or will they have had my next months full payment by the time they realise ?? Any advice would be grateful thanks

Creditors will not bat an eyelid. Don't panic. You won't even hear from them

January2015

Akelly wrote: »

Looking at debt camel and the financial statement. Where do I input how much in currently paying out in debt? Cause right now it looks like I have 600 to live off. I definitely don't.

Could anyone help?

I can't help with the Debt Camel website, as I've never used it. However, the Stepchange Debt Remedy tool will help you.

[Deleted User]

Akelly and EmergencyNurse

Sorry, in a rush, but just wanted to add that January and I are both self-managing our DMP now. I started with Stepchange and after about 2 years I had major unexpected expenses which had to be covered:eek:. I contacted SC and they accepted tokens of £5 per creditor for 3 months and notified creditors about it on my behalf. I had to do nothing myself. Definitely no hassle from anyone. And no phone calls from creditors because I requested contact to be only by mail.


After the time was up I went back to normal payments, although at a slightly reduced rate. SC are not happy letting people on DMPs pay tokens for too long:(. That's why a lot of us decide to self-manage our DMP, it allows total flexibility which SC doesn't.


After 4 years on a DMP I decided to self-manage my DMP. There's lots of invaluable advice/help plus templates on National Debtline and NEDCAB if you want to go down that route. After filling in a new I&E form for individual creditors (into which you can input whatever expenses/costs that you want;)) you negotiate directly with creditors individually. In my experience they are amenable and willing to accept a payment as low as £1 if your I&E reflects that it's all you can afford. I have definitely never had any hassle over it but, after all, I'd already paid them over half my debt balance before going down this route.


I'm sure someone else will be along to give you more help. Can't comment on helpfulness of Debt camel as I've never used it:o

sourcrates

Akelly wrote: »

So what's the bets advice on this then. Do it yourself threw debt camel with the letters. Or do it via Step change?


I'm just worried about courts and people knocking on my door. My credit rating I'm not bothered about anymore.

Anniee88 wrote: »

Two of my debts have disappeared from my credit report...

1) MBNA- quite a recent debt, total of £3500 ish CC. So far been defaulted and paying £1 pm for the last 2 months.

2) NEXT account- 2013 ish £2,000. I!!!8217;ve asked for a CCA and they returned postal order, acted dumb and said Brecon there in house debt collectors would take over the account. I!!!8217;ve said to Brecon I!!!8217;ll pay £1 PM when I get the CCA. I had letters from their to set up payment but I!!!8217;ve not responded as no CCA yet from next.

So.. does this mean they have been bought from a debt buyer? I!!!8217;m really hoping this is the case as we have started saving for partial settlements and I would love to get MBNA out of the way!

Akelly wrote: »

Looking at debt camel and the financial statement. Where do I input how much in currently paying out in debt? Cause right now it looks like I have 600 to live off. I definitely don't.

Could anyone help?

A Kelly,

If you are confident enough to do a DMP yourself, then by all means do so, it gives you more freedom to vary what you pay, and debt camel pretty much covers most scenarios, i cannot find the financial statement link you mention, but we have one in the stickies on this forum http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

No one will be knocking on your door, and no court action will happen, as long as you are paying what your budget says you can pay.

Anniee88,

Some times when making CCA requests, the account is treated as though it has gone into dispute, if the creditor informs the CRA of this, it can sometimes remove the entry (temporarily) from public sight.

julies123

Akelly wrote: »

Morning all.

My Nat West account is just a basic account with nothing going in and out of it. So I think I'll be using that one from now on. Unless there's a good deal changing bank accounts maybe it's something to consider however with my credit rating i probably won't be allowed.

The more I think about this DMP the better I feel about it. I've been doing overtime for a while missing out being with my little girl and barely making ends meat. I know overtime is going to stop and that's what is pushing me to do this. I can't carry on with all this debt.

I'm just as I said before anxious about my partner finding out (cannot consider telling him due to his health problems) and people coming knocking on my door or the constant telephone calls and worse Court. But I have realised you can change ya number.

Thankyou for everyone commenting back to my worries etc. Honestly have no one else to talk to about this due to shame.

Hi Akelly,
i'm new too!, and in similar situation, Dont want my partner finding out so as you are concerned about knocks on the door ! but going off everyones helpful replies to me, seems that this wont happen.

Carbootcrazy is also in this situation!, and posted a helpful reply on page 169. It's slightly reassuring that Im not the only one :-(

One of my biggest debts is with ratesetter, there are peer to peer lending, ive not seen anyone post about these, and a bit worried about what they will do!, has any one had any experience with these?

Thanks everyone

sourcrates

julies123 wrote: »

Hi Akelly,
i'm new too!, and in similar situation, Dont want my partner finding out so as you are concerned about knocks on the door ! but going off everyones helpful replies to me, seems that this wont happen.

Who exactly do you think would be knocking on your door ?

There are currently 4.1 million people in the UK who are struggling with debt repayment, do you really expect debt collectors to be able to knock on the doors of 4.1 million people ?

No of course not, that is why the letter and the telephone are the DCA weapons of choice, some companies still do use self employed collection agents, but the number is decreasing, and their use is normally restricted to inner city areas where they can visit lots of clients in a short space of time, as they are only paid on results.

It is important to remember these collection agents, have no more rights or powers, than you or I have, its just a fancy name for a money collector, they may be more aggressive in their approach, because they rely on you to pay them, so that they get paid, if you do not pay, they do not get paid, so if one does call, simply tell them to go away, as you will not speak to them, if they are persistent, call the police, or filming them, and uploading to YouTube seems to work well.

January2015

julies123 wrote: »

One of my biggest debts is with ratesetter, there are peer to peer lending, ive not seen anyone post about these, and a bit worried about what they will do!, has any one had any experience with these?

Thanks everyone

It appears from this 2016 article that Ratesetter either agree DMPs or sell the debts on. Either option is fine.... although I would prefer debts to be sold on personally.

Akelly

Hi,


Thanks for the replies everyone, I honestly love how much support can be made on here and how everyone can settle my nerves!


Ive had a look and printed off some letters in terms of sending details of how much I would be willing to pay.
Ive already suspended loads of payments from my bank, and cancelled the direct debits. So Im aware that no payments are going to be taken. Ive also contacted several of them yesterday saying I was struggling and that I probably will be going to stepchange.

Now that Ive got a settlement statement and produced the letters to the main ones that im concerned about ( I have payday loans but im in a battle with them with resolver to solve this so they are already suspended )


I think ill send these letters off, see what replies I get, if I get agreements then that's fine ill leave it with Stepchange. If I don't get what I want from the companies , then ill go with Stepchange and see what they can offer me.


Ill put the money aside what ill have for this month with the amounts I would agree to pay them with ( if that makes sense) most of the letters ive sent ive just halved the amount and asked for interest to be frozen, it may take a long time but that's what im going to have to do for now.


I cant let my partner know due to his mental health difficulties and anything like this could really have such an impact on him that I couldn't cope. Hes recently just had to have his medication changed cause of family affair going on.




Thankyou everyone for the lovely comments again and the help your providing me. Im honestly feeling soo much better in myself already that I can already feel my health improving. All weekend ive been posting and considering things and I haven't felt this relaxed and calmed in such a long time in regards to my debts. My worries are slowly fading.


Thankyou x

Akelly

woops, sorry forgot to ask. Best to send these letters via recorded delivery you think? So I have proof that they have been sent?


Thanks
Akelly

January2015

Akelly wrote: »

woops, sorry forgot to ask. Best to send these letters via recorded delivery you think? So I have proof that they have been sent?


Thanks
Akelly

Don't bother with recorded delivery - complete waste of money. Many of the letters go to bulk sorting houses for banks and credit card companies and they don't sign for them individually.

If you want you can get proof of posting at the Post Office, which is free :T