DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

DMP_Tiger

Maverick87 - Looks like you are at the same stage as me. I have received the exact same message from Barclaycard. Stepchange aren't handling my DMP whilst I am building up my EF but everything is in place for when I decide to sign the form and send it back to them to begin my DMP.

I am going to send BC (and everyone else when they ask for it) a copy of my Stepchange budget because that is what will be used and that is what shows how much I can pay my creditors. It also confirms to creditors that I have actually spoken to SC.

The Stepchange sheet also lists creditors and balances (although balances will change if and when late payment charges are added).

BalanceBy50

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I'm still paying token £1 to each creditor at the moment now I'm self-managing and trying to get a decent F&F pot together, None of the creditors have asked me to review or up the payments yet and it's gone on for months now:j


That is. except for Cabot who have bought my old RBS Mint card debt. Looks like Wescot are still managing it though as the letter I got from them yesterday came from Wescot. It mentions my agreed repayment plan is coming up for review, although it doesn't ask me for details or an updated I&E at this stage. It does say Cabot have allowed them to discuss a settlement discount although no figure was mentioned.


I'm tempted to start my F&F ball rolling with this one and contact them very soon. The problem is that I need to keep on with the £1 monthly payments for as long as possible (any updated I&E I would send will reflect this is all I can afford;)) so I'm a bit concerned that if I suddenly propose a settlement they'll think I have money available and demand more than £1 per month should their settlement figure be refused by me. Not sure how to go about this:o


It's my second smallest debt, only around £2500 so I should be able to clear this one first. Strange that £2500 is described as 'only' but after the mountainous debts I started my DMP with:o it seems like a drop in the ocean to me now.

Hi CBC,

I have done a couple of F&F offers (successfully!). In my letter to them I said a relative was giving me this money hence why a lower amount. I was asked if it was a gift or loan - i was advised on here to say it was a gift as they would want to know if i could afford to pay back another loan! I also gave them a timescale but i was dealing with Robinson Way i think.

Good Luck - i managed to settle for about 28% of what i owed

BB50 xx

[Deleted User]

BalanceBy50 wrote: »

Hi CBC,

I have done a couple of F&F offers (successfully!). In my letter to them I said a relative was giving me this money hence why a lower amount. I was asked if it was a gift or loan - i was advised on here to say it was a gift as they would want to know if i could afford to pay back another loan! I also gave them a timescale but i was dealing with Robinson Way i think.

Good Luck - i managed to settle for about 28% of what i owed

BB50 xx

Thank you. That's really helpful:T

I also have a debt with Robinson Way so I'm hopeful they'll be reasonable when the time comes to make my offer;).

Could I ask, was the 28% the starting offer or was it negotiated please?

jubilee14

Quick question, will credit file markers say different to a F&F settlement than paying off DMP in full ( but not in line with the contract ie original interest rates?)

January2015

jubilee14 wrote: »

Quick question, will credit file markers say different to a F&F settlement than paying off DMP in full ( but not in line with the contract ie original interest rates?)

Credit file will show 'satisfied' for a reduced payment negotiated in F&F rather than 'settled' when the balance is paid in full.

BalanceBy50

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Thank you. That's really helpful:T

I also have a debt with Robinson Way so I'm hopeful they'll be reasonable when the time comes to make my offer;).

Could I ask, was the 28% the starting offer or was it negotiated please?

Hi CBC
Just got out my paperwork. I owed RW £7233.80 and they wrote offering to settle at £1825 so a discount of almost 75%. I wrote back and said a relative would help me out but could only give me £1500 - they accepted within days. So apologies I settled at 20.7% not the 28% i quoted in my original reply!! We have 2 other debts with RW so hoping to get good settlement offers with them too. I was only paying them token payments too xx

[Deleted User]

BalanceBy50 wrote: »

Hi CBC
Just got out my paperwork. I owed RW £7233.80 and they wrote offering to settle at £1825 so a discount of almost 75%. I wrote back and said a relative would help me out but could only give me £1500 - they accepted within days. So apologies I settled at 20.7% not the 28% i quoted in my original reply!! We have 2 other debts with RW so hoping to get good settlement offers with them too. I was only paying them token payments too xx

Thanks very much for going to the trouble of checking your paperwork:T. The information you've given is really useful to know. Congratulations on getting that one paid off:beer:

I've been paying RW tokens of £1 for almost a year, but the final balance I owe them is now 'only' about £2600 so they may not be willing to settle as low as the 20.7% that you managed as it's only just over £520. Won't do any harm to ask though;).

Maverick87

Thank you for taking the time to reply January2015, really appreciate it!

DMP_Tiger wrote: »

Maverick87 - Looks like you are at the same stage as me. I have received the exact same message from Barclaycard. Stepchange aren't handling my DMP whilst I am building up my EF but everything is in place for when I decide to sign the form and send it back to them to begin my DMP.

I am going to send BC (and everyone else when they ask for it) a copy of my Stepchange budget because that is what will be used and that is what shows how much I can pay my creditors. It also confirms to creditors that I have actually spoken to SC.

The Stepchange sheet also lists creditors and balances (although balances will change if and when late payment charges are added).

Thats nice to know because at least we can compare notes along the way!

So you are actually going to send the budget to BC and the other that shows you can afford £xxx but reiterate that you will only be paying £1 for 5 months still? I assume you are ignoring the request to use that website and instead will just email your stepchange budget over and reply as normal via the secure message system?

I went for 4 months, are you expecting them to start charging interest and charges after the initial 30 day period? I should be able to build up quite a nice buffer between now and then...
I also have everything ready to go with step change but they have told me to hang onto it for 3 months and then send it in when I'm ready to start.

It's funny, the thought of telling them I'll be paying whatever I want just sounded like madness when I first started reading up on this, now Im quite looking forward to the challange and winning!

sourcrates

Maverick87 wrote: »

Thank you for taking the time to reply January2015, really appreciate it!



Thats nice to know because at least we can compare notes along the way!

So you are actually going to send the budget to BC and the other that shows you can afford £xxx but reiterate that you will only be paying £1 for 5 months still? I assume you are ignoring the request to use that website and instead will just email your stepchange budget over and reply as normal via the secure message system?

I went for 4 months, are you expecting them to start charging interest and charges after the initial 30 day period? I should be able to build up quite a nice buffer between now and then...
I also have everything ready to go with step change but they have told me to hang onto it for 3 months and then send it in when I'm ready to start.

It's funny, the thought of telling them I'll be paying whatever I want just sounded like madness when I first started reading up on this, now Im quite looking forward to the challange and winning!

Just because you owe money to these people does not mean they rule your life, and can dictate payment plans that are not sustainable.

Although this was the case in the not too distant past, thanks to regulator intervention affordability is the new key word when dealing with debt matters now.

The olde adage is more true now than ever before “they cannot take what you do not have”.

I just wish more people would be so empowered when dealing with their debts, but we are very set in our ways in this country, what a creditor demanded, a creditor got, once upon a time, even though that meant a family going without food etc.

This is now starting to change, we are not there yet, but we are getting there.

Maverick87

Indeed! But if it wasn't for this forum and yours and others posts then I wouldn't have even known where to start, or believe that I even had such options.

You all need to give yourselves a serious pat on the back because you are literally changing lives, saving marriages and even lives. At one point before I could tell my wife, I even checked if my life insurance would cover my debts for my family. It was a dark moment and I've gone from that to my wife and I being in the best place we have for years since realising we had this option.

That's enough of me getting emotional now, I've got creditors to sort out as my nationwide bank account details have finally arrived. Time to switch!