DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

DMP_Tiger

Maverick87 wrote: »

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.

Yes I am going to send the SC budget to BC and my other creditors. MBNA and Shawbrook have also asked for it. The sympathetic tone of the letters received suggests that they are making sure that I can afford the repayments and mortgage, council tax and utilities are up to date. Just waiting to hear back from Barclayloan and Aqua then I will have a full set!

I will enclose the budget with a covering letter, reiterating my 5 months of token payments. Secure messaging is ok but I prefer to have written records of everything. I'm using SC budget and ref number for now, even though I will possibly self-manage when I get started.

With regards to interest and charges, every creditor seems to be different so we'll have to wait and see....

2017spark

Hi all, last time I posted I was having a wobble about going SM.... I have decided to return to SC. All set up and ready to go in July, with a fair budget and plan - I've come to realise that SM is not for me!! Too many other things going on, I'm getting stressed and I need someone to do all this for me with one thing to remember at my end!!
No fannying about this time, my DFD is set for 8 years and 2 months - I was offered an IVA but decided i'd rather the DMP as I have one payment that will end in 4 years leaving me £385 a month better off - and to chuck at the DMP (more than my monthly payment) so that will shorten things
Hope you are all ok - I'm feeling positive, hope you all are too xxx

[Deleted User]

2017spark wrote: »

Hi all, last time I posted I was having a wobble about going SM.... I have decided to return to SC. All set up and ready to go in July, with a fair budget and plan - I've come to realise that SM is not for me!! Too many other things going on, I'm getting stressed and I need someone to do all this for me with one thing to remember at my end!!
No fannying about this time, my DFD is set for 8 years and 2 months - I was offered an IVA but decided i'd rather the DMP as I have one payment that will end in 4 years leaving me £385 a month better off - and to chuck at the DMP (more than my monthly payment) so that will shorten things
Hope you are all ok - I'm feeling positive, hope you all are too xxx

Don't worry too much about how far away your DFD is. Often events happen that bring the date forward, such as a windfall from somewhere when you can pay more or the fact that further down the line your creditors may accept reduced settlements.


SM isn't for everyone, it's probably a wise decision for you not to pursue this if you have doubts:T. I don't think many of us have felt able to SM right from the start, I know I certainly wasn't. It took me over 4 years of SC holding my hand before I was brave enough to take the plunge:o. I would have happily stayed with SC until the end of my DMP but I wanted to pay tokens to all my creditors for as long as I possibly could so I could build up a fund to offer F&Fs and clear the debts once and for all. SC were very obliging and understanding but are not happy at the long-term token payment scenario:(. I was really scared to go it alone but with the encouragement and wonderful advice of other posters on here I found it very easy and hassle free. Maybe in a few years when you've become used to living on a DMP and all that it involves you might opt for self-managing too. It's not as if you are locked into an unbreakable contract with SC. They probably have people leaving all the time.


Good luck:beer:. Keep posting any questions you may have and to let us know how things are going.

AlwaysHungry2016

Hello everyone!

Joining the group today to begin the journey with my DMP! :j

Woke this morning in panic and tears after seeing my overdrawn current account - overdraft charges took away my last £60 I had to live of until end of the month, I haven’t felt this devastated for a long time. I think this was the most stressful wake up to my debt problem I ever had. My current debt from 3 credit cards and an overdraft, today stands at £9796.61. :eek:

After trying for very long time to manage this myself (if one can call avoiding phone calls and generally glossing everything else in my head managing…) today I finally got in touch with SC and asked for help. I took a day off work and I said I will not move until I find a solution for this mess. First thing - I logged in to this group - everyone is amazing ! Even by reading this thread I felt so much better and got some answers.
After, I completed SC remedy tool questionnaire and planning to go ahead with the suggested DMP. I also managed to open new basic bank account with Natwest!!! just like that :T - finally after years of working out how much money I actually have in the minus I will be able to actually see a normal number.

Still a way to go, but I am feeling much better already. Will keep everyone posted about my progress.
Thank you so much everyone who posts here, this is an incredibly helpful feed!

Maverick87

Well done AlwaysHungry2016!!
Don't forget to build up an emergency fund before you get going with SC if possible.

I send out my letters/online messages to my creditors this week, Barclaycard have just come back and accepted that I will only be paying them £1 pm until 1st October, at which point my SC DMP will kick in.

DMP_Tiger wrote: »

Yes I am going to send the SC budget to BC and my other creditors. MBNA and Shawbrook have also asked for it. The sympathetic tone of the letters received suggests that they are making sure that I can afford the repayments and mortgage, council tax and utilities are up to date. Just waiting to hear back from Barclayloan and Aqua then I will have a full set!

I will enclose the budget with a covering letter, reiterating my 5 months of token payments. Secure messaging is ok but I prefer to have written records of everything. I'm using SC budget and ref number for now, even though I will possibly self-manage when I get started.

With regards to interest and charges, every creditor seems to be different so we'll have to wait and see....

Had a reponse from BC, I replied with Januarys recommendations and left out the I&E stating that I would send that seperately. They Ok'd it and asked me to send it to them once done and passed on the standing order details for the £1 pm until October

Not heard from MBNA yet, now to tackle Santander who are my main bank account and Credit card. I have just 3 direct debits to switch and then everything is up and running with my new nationwide accounts. (Where I've just opened up 2 current accounts (Flexbasic) - 1 for Wages and DDs, the other for weekly spending.....then 4 savings accounts for various things to ensure my SC budget is stuck to.

Suseka97

carbootcrazy wrote: »

..........SM isn't for everyone, it's probably a wise decision for you not to pursue this if you have doubts:T. I don't think many of us have felt able to SM right from the start, I know I certainly wasn't. It took me over 4 years of SC holding my hand before I was brave enough to take the plunge:o. I would have happily stayed with SC until the end of my DMP but I wanted to pay tokens to all my creditors for as long as I possibly could so I could build up a fund to offer F&Fs and clear the debts once and for all. SC were very obliging and understanding but are not happy at the long-term token payment scenario:(. I was really scared to go it alone but with the encouragement and wonderful advice of other posters on here I found it very easy and hassle free. Maybe in a few years when you've become used to living on a DMP and all that it involves you might opt for self-managing too. It's not as if you are locked into an unbreakable contract with SC. They probably have people leaving all the time.

I second that CBC - I too needed the 'security blanket' that I felt SC provided at the outset and it took me 4 years to get my head in the game and go SM. Personally I wish I done it sooner, but I wasn't emotionally stable enough until that 4 year point. There's nothing wrong with using the services of free 3rd party providers such as SC and Payplan and I encourage anyone looking at whether a DMP is suitable/doable or not to let them take the strain at the beginning. The only reason for going SM is to have more control and flexibility to either 'snowball' or save for F&Fs using 'token payments' as a mechanism for good discounts. Also going SM sometimes helps push for defaults -but its a journey and everyone has to chose the route that best suits their needs at any given time.

Suseka97

AlwaysHungry2016 wrote: »

Hello everyone! Joining the group today to begin the journey with my DMP! :j Woke this morning in panic and tears after seeing my overdrawn current account - overdraft charges took away my last £60 I had to live of until end of the month.....After trying for very long time to manage this myself (if one can call avoiding phone calls and generally glossing everything else in my head managing…) today I finally got in touch with SC and asked for help. I took a day off work and I said I will not move until I find a solution for this mess. First thing - I logged in to this group - everyone is amazing ! Even by reading this thread I felt so much better and got some answers.

Good for you and well done for taking control :T Do make sure you don't jump in too quick, and by that I mean give yourself a bit of a buffer between now (firstly by cancelling all non-priority debt payments) and when you start the DMP. From what I've read of late SC seem to be happy with people delaying the start at anything up to 6 mths. Maybe if you can cancel some DDs now that are due later in the month you can free up some income to offset those dreadful OD charges

Good luck.

Sian62

Has anybody had their dmp company close. If so what happened .do i contact the remaining creditors.myself ive bo idea

sourcrates

Sian62 wrote: »

Has anybody had their dmp company close. If so what happened .do i contact the remaining creditors.myself ive bo idea

Hi,

Usually we do not recommend you use a debt management company that charge you, it’s a very bad idea, so the fact yours has closed is very good news for you.

You should contact one of the free debt charities in my signature who will be able to sort you a new DMP totally free, with no fee whatsoever.

*Sable*

Well, I'm making progress of a sort, I suppose!

Barclaycard - Very reasonable and timely response, agreeing to freeze interest and charges for 30 days.

M&S - Acknowledgment, asking for a further letter detailing my payment offer within 60 days. They will continue to charge interest until a suitable repayment plan is agreed.

MBNA - They'll pause all activity to collect the overdue amount, but they can't consider a payment plan without me completing the income and expenditure form they've sent out.

Halifax - No response as yet.

With MBNA, can I just write back and say that SC will forward my income and expenditure to them in due course? And is there any point in trying to appeal again to M&S about the charges?

Also, I see the posts about SC agreeing to delay the DMP to allow you to build up some funds. How does this work? The forms I have from SC say the first direct debit will be collected by a certain date. Presumably I can't enter into the DMP but then ask for the first payment to be delayed? And how would I deal with creditors in the meantime?