DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Dandytf

2018 SC dmp budget reviewed today 1 short phone call from my car.
Resisted temptation to reduce end date by 2 or more years,
Settled with £10 monthly increase.
-6mths less to end date.
Advised I'll try that for a while and call if I want to increase payments further or decrease if required.
Reasonably happy though will prob aim for £100+ next few weeks.

System

Just wondering if anyone else felt like me after going SM. I used to feel like we were paying off a reasonable chunk of our DMP every month, even though it had been reduced after I got made redundant. now that we have gone SM and only paying token payments at the moment, I just feel bad because the debt is not reducing.:( We have 3 accounts on hold with PR* as they say they are UE and the 3 from L*NK we are currently not paying as they have not even responded to our request, which were made in January. The others we are currently paying £1 a month and originally said we would increase payments in August. I just wish we could see the total coming down a bit more. I wish they would realise how many years it is going to take to get their money back and offer us a good deal.

Suseka97

ploppy57 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone else felt like me after going SM. I used to feel like we were paying off a reasonable chunk of our DMP every month, even though it had been reduced after I got made redundant. now that we have gone SM and only paying token payments at the moment, I just feel bad because the debt is not reducing.:( We have 3 accounts on hold with PR* as they say they are UE and the 3 from L*NK we are currently not paying as they have not even responded to our request, which were made in January. The others we are currently paying £1 a month and originally said we would increase payments in August. I just wish we could see the total coming down a bit more. I wish they would realise how many years it is going to take to get their money back and offer us a good deal.

Hi Ploppy.

I guess you have to get into a different sort of mindset for now. Setting aside the PR* and L*NK ones for now and focus just on the others. Are you in a position to offer any F&Fs to those? If not, just carry on with tokens until either they do accept reasonable offers, or perhaps they'll escalate collection strategies and you'll revert to what you were paying them before. I hope this is not coming across as flippant - but it's just a number and if they've all defaulted, will be falling off your credit file before the 'end date' of your SM DMP I imagine (which is a positive). With that said, if this is really starting to bother you - then make arrangements with the non-UE ones. It's your choice really.

I'm similar to you (although I appreciate my balances are less) in that PR have 3 accounts all UE (so far) and LNK have 3 which they've failed to provide on and so I haven't been paying either of them anything since last July. I have money set aside for F&Fs and for now am playing the long game.

I read on a difference thread recently about scandalous tactics of PR who apparently buy up statute barred debts from others and then try to go after the debtor/s basically chancing their arm. I'm sure some poor folks who are less informed about the statute of limitations act get anxious about their letters and end up paying some, if not all, of the debt -which makes me so darn cross :mad: and so I don't feel guilty at all not paying UEs.

jak669

I am just about to send back my paperwork to step change but I am so worried about it. I keep reading stories online trying to reassure myself it will be ok.

I have approx 84k of debt which will take about 12 years to pay back but I am worried about loan companies and credit card taking me to court. I have a joint mortgage with my ex and I currently pay the whole amount but I am concerned about companies not accepting my payments and going for the equity in my property. I can’t sell it as I will have no where to live and rental is just too expensive.

Can anyone help put my mind at rest as I am driving myself mad - not sleeping - constantly worrying

Suseka97

jak669 wrote: »

I am just about to send back my paperwork to step change but I am so worried about it. I keep reading stories online trying to reassure myself it will be ok.
I have approx 84k of debt which will take about 12 years to pay back but I am worried about loan companies and credit card taking me to court. I have a joint mortgage with my ex and I currently pay the whole amount but I am concerned about companies not accepting my payments and going for the equity in my property. I can’t sell it as I will have no where to live and rental is just too expensive.
Can anyone help put my mind at rest as I am driving myself mad - not sleeping - constantly worrying

Hello there :hello:

Okay - firstly you need to try to calm down a little and take a deep breath. Of course its natural to be anxious (I was when I started), but if you take a little time to read back on this thread you'll see there are plenty of us in the same boat, just all at different points in the journey.

You've started the ball rolling with SC, which is good - don't rush to send your paperwork back though. Give yourself a few months (not paying non-priority debts) so you can build up an emergency fund (again, if you read back on this thread you'll see that advice being given to new DMPers consistently). If you haven't already, let your creditors know you are in financial difficulty and that you are in talks with SC (you can give them the SC reference as proof). Most, if not all, will put your accounts on hold for 30 days generally as a standard.

Yes, you will get letters about paying outstanding balances, using words like 'Default' and affects on your credit ratings etc. But that's just par for the course and to be expected. No-one is going to come knocking at your door and they won't be able to push for equity release unless a court order was given - and trust me, it's highly unlikely that'll ever happen if you just keep creditors informed and continue making the DMP payments.

Some might not accept the payment - well that's tough. SC will pay it anyway because they'll have proven you can't afford more (as part of the process) and no court would view that differently anyway. A lot of the time it's just 'bluster' from the creditors, or standard computer generated blurb. We've all been there.

If it helps you to know I started off with around £85k worth of debt and I have a reasonable amount of equity in my property and no, I wasn't going to sell up to pay off some/all of my debts. In fact the question never really arose and no creditor has raised this either (and I had 14 creditors/accounts at the start).

So, again - do read back because I think you'll find it helpful and there are loads of us on her to help you along the way.

jak669

Thank you suseka97, it’s nice to know someone was in the same boat as I am. How long have you been doing your dmp and how did you find the creditors to deal with. I am just worrying about everything at the moment.

Thank you for the advice. I have only contacted one of my creditors so far - another 7 to go. My main worry is a loan I have with Shawbrook Bank for 28k including interest, all others are around the 5-10k mark so this one is the biggest.

I have only had the loan for about 4 months - tried to consolidate but just ended up getting in more of a mess.

The payment is due out of my account on Thursday - if I call them will they be able to stop the direct debit. Should I offer a smaller payment like £50 instead of the £335 that they would usually take.

Any help and advice is really appreciated.

Suseka97

jak669 wrote: »

Thank you suseka97, it’s nice to know someone was in the same boat as I am. How long have you been doing your dmp and how did you find the creditors to deal with. I am just worrying about everything at the moment.
Thank you for the advice. I have only contacted one of my creditors so far - another 7 to go. My main worry is a loan I have with Shawbrook Bank for 28k including interest, all others are around the 5-10k mark so this one is the biggest.
I have only had the loan for about 4 months - tried to consolidate but just ended up getting in more of a mess.
The payment is due out of my account on Thursday - if I call them will they be able to stop the direct debit. Should I offer a smaller payment like £50 instead of the £335 that they would usually take. Any help and advice is really appreciated.

You're welcome - its a lot to get your head around at the outset, but once the DMP gets going, everything will settle down and you can just focus on life and not money worries

Mine was a joint DMP with my other half so whilst a high starting balance, our combined salaries allowed for quite a high monthly repayment plan. Problem was though, it was too high and after around 3 years it became unsustainable. I/we limped along for another year until I decided to bite the bullet and go self-managed (we were with SC at the time). I can understand why you'd be concerned about the Shawbrook Bank loan, but my surprise is how they would have offered you such a high loan when surely your financial situation gave some indication that it might not be the best option. Banks and Credit Card companies should check for affordability these days.

I would definitely get in contact with all your creditors now, just bite the bullet and do it - especially the Shawbrook one. I somehow doubt they would cancel the direct debit so close to the payment date, but you could try your end by contacting your bank. Some folks do offer what's called 'token' payments whilst setting up the DMP and that's down to personal choice. Some tokens go as little as £1 a month (that's what I did) but frankly its not worth the bother - for yourself or the creditor (costs them more in administration costs to process the £1 than its worth).

I should point out that when I started out I hadn't come across this forum yet - so I kind of winged it a bit and I was a complete mess (if I'm honest). I was less concerned about a knock on my door - it was more to do with pride. We'd had an excellent credit record for many a year and I held that up as some sort of accolade (which it isn't). We lived beyond our means - plain and simple, confident that we would always be able to service our debts. Then the recession hit my OH's employer and he cut back on all overtime and shift allowances - which reduced his income by around 1/3rd and then everything went 'bang'.

One of the biggest mistakes we made back in the day was to consolidate our then debts, only to end up taking out more credit over the years. So I will say its good you were refused a consolidation and can now work towards debt freedom.

We held debts mainly with Barclays (loans and credit cards), also MBNA (cc), Halifax (loan) and a few smaller credit cards balances with others. I was surprised credit card companies were so willing to keep giving my OH another card and was actually quite cross when I realised the extents of the debts - but that was then and now I handle all financial affairs He's fine with that and prefers it that way.

We had a few issues with creditors along the way (but no banging on doors issues) - but best not to overload you with too much info right now. Just see how things go and come back on here for advice as and when you need it.

Hope that helps and apologies for the lengthy post

bumblebee78

bumblebee78 wrote: »

Hi all - I have finally decided to pull my head out of the sand and deal with my debt issues. I am not currently in any arrears but my repayments are just too high for me to keep up with. I have read this thread from start to finish over the past few weeks and there is so much very helpful information for which I thank you. A large percentage of this debt has accumulated in just the last two years and I do feel ashamed. I think deep down I have been dealing (or rather not dealing) with some mental health issues but it is time for me now to get sorted.

I am not a homeowner and have decided to go down the NEDCAB DMP route and am putting together my details and working out exact current balances. I have cancelled all direct debits - only one so far this month will have tried to have been collected. I have not made any contact with any of the creditors yet. I have no savings and no emergency fund - I will build this up while making token payments to begin with.....

Hi everyone. As kindly suggested, I CCA'd Barc Card for my two cards on 6th April. They have sent a reconstituted agreement for one: letter enclosing 1 page with a block relating to cancellation period and two sheets of conditions (one is double-sided) - my name and address are on one page and there is no signature. There is a date and time stamp printed in two places but it is not the same each time :huh:. I will double check this later but has that any bearing? (not at home at the moment).

I have not received anything at all about the second card that used to be with Egg - the letters were both sent in the same envelope so they can't say they got one and not the other!

I still have lots of questions and hope you don't mind me asking. I am sorting out a statement of affairs/income & expenditure to send out. Can I be cheeky and ask for suggestions as to how you all "bump" yours up?? I am trying to hold onto as much as possible for F&Fs in the future but don't want anyone querying the amounts I claim to spend on certain things that seem OTT to them.

I don't smoke but I will be taking a tip from here (January's, I think!) of putting a figure down for tobacco - no idea how much it actually costs though!!! I also don't drive and so would have no idea what would be an acceptable figure for this if I was trying to make out that I did!

I did a rough version of the NEDCAB one and at the end of it, some of the payments it was suggesting to creditors were over or very close to the current minimums. In the case of BC, it was showing as more than the 1% I want to pay to try to get no interest and charges applied.

I see there is a SC budget sheet example which has income and expenditure details, but does not show the breakdown of what you are able to pay creditors. Since I am using the NEDCAB self-managed route, is it acceptable to use the SC version instead of the NEDCAB one to send to creditors? Do you HAVE to show each creditor what you are paying (and what you owe) to your other creditors? I want to be able to tweak who gets what!!

jak669

Thanks again suseka97 - all the info you have given is helping me. I have now called marks and spencer!!!8217;s about one of my loans and they were surprisely quite nice. Put my account on a 2 month break and said they will wait for Stepchange to implement the new payment. 2 creditors called - only 6 to go.

It is very draining though - I feel mentally exhausted at the moment.

Tomorrow is pay day so I will be sorting my finances and the will try to pluck up the courage to contact the rest of my creditors.

System

Suseka97 wrote: »

Hi Ploppy.

I guess you have to get into a different sort of mindset for now. Setting aside the PR* and L*NK ones for now and focus just on the others. Are you in a position to offer any F&Fs to those? If not, just carry on with tokens until either they do accept reasonable offers, or perhaps they'll escalate collection strategies and you'll revert to what you were paying them before. I hope this is not coming across as flippant - but it's just a number and if they've all defaulted, will be falling off your credit file before the 'end date' of your SM DMP I imagine (which is a positive). With that said, if this is really starting to bother you - then make arrangements with the non-UE ones. It's your choice really.

I'm similar to you (although I appreciate my balances are less) in that PR have 3 accounts all UE (so far) and LNK have 3 which they've failed to provide on and so I haven't been paying either of them anything since last July. I have money set aside for F&Fs and for now am playing the long game.

I read on a difference thread recently about scandalous tactics of PR who apparently buy up statute barred debts from others and then try to go after the debtor/s basically chancing their arm. I'm sure some poor folks who are less informed about the statute of limitations act get anxious about their letters and end up paying some, if not all, of the debt -which makes me so darn cross :mad: and so I don't feel guilty at all not paying UEs.

We should be in a position to make some F&F's in a few months. But I am thinking that at this stage they may not accept a very low offer, although if they only stopped to work it out, it is going to take years for them to get there money back so they might as well accept low offers...LOL
You have done well to have cleared that amount of debt in only a few years. Ours will take years, even if we go back to what we were paying before going SM, so hoping for some F&F's in the not too distant future.
I think I know we are doing the right thing, playing the long game. But it makes me feel slightly guilty that we are not paying it back quicker.