DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Suseka97

Hopeforthefuture wrote: »

Thank you for the advice. Will Stepchange not look at my bank statements then to check income coming in? I thought I would have to include it. The trouble is that it varies so much from month to month to having a really low paying month in the likes of February to a much bigger amount in August when everyone is reading!
How would you advise to get in contact with creditors? Phone, email or letter? I also don't want to be contacted as much as possible by phone so should I include the instruction to please not contact me in that way? Many thanks again!

I don't recall SC asking for bank statements at the time - but even if they do, you just have to point out the income from Kindle is not guaranteed. When I submitted my OHs payslips it showed overtime payments he was receiving, but because again those weren't guaranteed SC advised not to include it. So I think you'll be okay on that score.

Its up to you how you prefer to handle your creditors, by phone would be quicker (but only if you feel you're up to it), otherwise do it all by letter and include a statement to the fact that you do not want to be contacted by any other means other than by letter (put it in bold if you have to )

pinkpunto

Hi Sourcrates, I built up the courage again and rang HSBC and they are saying that they haven!!!8217;t received my letter so I need to resend it again. He was asking all sorts of questions about was I still working at the same company, was I full time, how much I was paying my other creditors. HSBC can!!!8217;t contact my employers can they? They have put my account on hold for 7 day!!!8217;s so will resend the letter off again on Monday and he said to send it registered post. Thanks again for your advice.

sourcrates

pinkpunto wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates, I built up the courage again and rang HSBC and they are saying that they haven!!!8217;t received my letter so I need to resend it again. He was asking all sorts of questions about was I still working at the same company, was I full time, how much I was paying my other creditors. HSBC can!!!8217;t contact my employers can they? They have put my account on hold for 7 day!!!8217;s so will resend the letter off again on Monday and he said to send it registered post. Thanks again for your advice.

No they will not contact your employer.

If they did not receive your other letter, then they will not of been aware of your situation, and they were treating you as a defaulter with no contact.

Once they are aware of the DMP etc, i am sure it can be worked out.

Just be aware they should not get any preferential treatment just because they are threatening legal action, pay all your creditors equally.

Dandytf

As Jan2015 recently kindly mentioned savings which could be achieved via F+FF's for outstaing dmp creditors debts.
As I've just read another thread via Loans -Question -Is it posssible to make a Full and Final Settlement offer on Full SC DMP balance-If so this is something I could consider in future as I haven't yet seen the benefit of making individual creditor offers.
Something that hasn't been answered yet-If FF+F's are accespeted and paid -does this in effect have an additional 6 year negative effect on rating (In addition to soon to drop defaults)
Thanks in advance mser's

Hopeforthefuture

So I have been manually transferring all priority DD's to my new account and from next month they should all be going out the new way so pleased about that.
The trouble is, I keep logging on to my current account and wanting to cancel the DD's to my creditors but keep bottling it...is this common reaction to taking this step towards starting a DMP? Did anyone else feel like this? What am I scared of-after reading countless posts I know what to expect next and have already prepared myself for many phone calls and letters. Is it sensible to wait until each CC or loan payment next goes out and then cancel from there or just bite the bullet and do them all in one foul sweep? Any advice much appreciated x

sourcrates

Hopeforthefuture wrote: »

So I have been manually transferring all priority DD's to my new account and from next month they should all be going out the new way so pleased about that.
The trouble is, I keep logging on to my current account and wanting to cancel the DD's to my creditors but keep bottling it...is this common reaction to taking this step towards starting a DMP? Did anyone else feel like this? What am I scared of-after reading countless posts I know what to expect next and have already prepared myself for many phone calls and letters. Is it sensible to wait until each CC or loan payment next goes out and then cancel from there or just bite the bullet and do them all in one foul sweep? Any advice much appreciated x

Just get the job done, and finished with, you need to see through the false foggy screen you appear to be building for yourself.

Yes it goes against the grain at first, but it is something that must be done, so go ahead and do it, i felt just the same the first time i realised i had to re-take control of my finances, i too had never missed a payment and had a cracking good credit record, but i had been living beyond my means for so long, and simply could not pay the minimums anymore.

It was something that had to be done or i wouldn't be eating for the next few weeks, remember, unsecured debt is non priority.............you know what to do.

System

Going to be coming into a few £££ soon via an old pension of Hubby's. He says we need another car....which we do as ours will probably not last much longer than a year or 2. We can then have our EF, which I want at 2K. So the rest will go in the F&F pot....but do we negotiate a couple now or play the long waiting game? I'm thinking wait a bit, would every body agree?

EmergencyNurse

Hopeforthefuture wrote: »

So I have been manually transferring all priority DD's to my new account and from next month they should all be going out the new way so pleased about that.
The trouble is, I keep logging on to my current account and wanting to cancel the DD's to my creditors but keep bottling it...is this common reaction to taking this step towards starting a DMP? Did anyone else feel like this? What am I scared of-after reading countless posts I know what to expect next and have already prepared myself for many phone calls and letters. Is it sensible to wait until each CC or loan payment next goes out and then cancel from there or just bite the bullet and do them all in one foul sweep? Any advice much appreciated x

I felt like that too while I was considering going on a DMP. Once I'd decided to go ahead and spoke to SC I didn't hesitate in cancelling the non priority DD's. They don't hesitate to add interest if you simply change the date of a payment and you're not even in arrears. It's a great feeling to know that once the priority DD's and SC are paid the rest will be mine. I don't need to worry about where the next meal is coming from anymore. A real weight has been lifted.

Just go for it, you won't regret it.

Onebrokelady

Hopeforthefuture wrote: »

Yes, I have a large overdraft with my bank so have opened a Nationwide current account and am going to start transferring everything over now.
In regards to stopping the DD's my loans/CC's etc, do i simply stop them and send out letter about financial hardship? Can I really not pay for 6 months so as to build up an emergency fund? I like the idea of going into the Stepchange DMP but it would be great to have some money behind me first for the things which crop up.
Sorry for all the questions, I just want to do this right and get myself sorted once and for all.

I have just started a DMP with Stepchange and they asked me to send 3 recent wage slips not my bank statements so you could just send the wage slips from your main job,my pay varies depending on how much unsocial hours I work and Stepchange added together my wages and divided it up to get an average wage,it means that if I have a month where I earn the minimum things will still be affordable but they will be very tight so I feel you can get away with not declaring the other earnings you should do it
The timeline of my DMP went like this
Contacted Stepchange and started DMP process over the phone
Cancelled the DD to my creditors and collected the money to put in emergency fund
Phoned my creditors and told them I was arranging a DMP with Stepchange
Opened new bank account
Contacted payroll to transfer my wages over to new account
Moved all my DD SO to the new bank account
Stepchange peprwork arrived in the post was signed and posted back
Chopped up all my credit cards and did a little dance round the living room
Squirreld away every spare penny into emergency fund
Received letters from my creditors Confirming that they had frozen everything for 30 days
Nothing happened for a while
Then got letters asking me to pay up or I would be defaulted.......yippeeeee
DMP payment went out of my bank,I officially started on my journey to be debt free
Received letters asking me to pay or clarify my situation,I wrote back stating that my situation is not going to change and that I would be paying them all through Stepchange and also told them they can only contact me via letter and not phone,they shouldn't be able to phone me because I removed my phone number from their records before I started the whole thing,I don't trust them though so wrote anyway:rotfl:
I have had no letters yet over the last two weeks:T

Summer12

Not sure I can quite believe it and of course things do change and paperwork does turn up however heard tonight that 3 more of ours are UE! Thank you to this forum otherwise I would never have questioned any of them! :beer: