DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

OohSoHolly

DMP_Tiger wrote: »

I sent first letters to creditors in May, followed up by full I & E. I haven't heard anything back from Aqua either. They have stopped trying to call me though so I'm assuming that they are dealing with me in some way without telling me anything.

Aqua do give CC's to people with not so good credit reports so presumably they have a high rate of defaults/DMP's They may have a different system of dealing with things, maybe somebody on here knows more?

When you sent your I&E did you attach that with a similar letter that StepChange sent with a copy of your other creditors and explaining this was your offer of payment?

I’ll need a separate DMP for all these postage stamps haha. I’ve not bought stamps for years and couldn’t believe the price when I bought a pack

DMP_Tiger

2017spark wrote: »

HMMMMMMMMMMM Had an email from SC saying they will pass to relevant dept but clearly not happy with delaying the start date. Has anyone had experience of this?
As far as i'm concerned its my plan so I need it to work for ME - I'm waiting to hear back from them but it may be a case of stopping the plan with them before its started and then starting from scratch in November - not ideal though.
I will let my creditors know the status once agreed with SC though.

You are correct, it is your plan and it does have to work for you. However, by delaying the start so it works for you, it then does not work for Stepchange. I was in exactly the same situation and was told by SC to contact my creditors and begin the DMP/token payments by myself and then to get back to them when I was ready to start the DMP properly.

They did also say to contact them if I had any problems/queries and they would still help me and they also said that I could use their name and my DMP ref number when writing to creditors. So although they weren't willing to run my DMP before it started properly, they were still a lot of help.

Edited to add: You won't have to start from scratch in November because what you've already done with SC will still be there.

DMP_Tiger

OohSoHolly wrote: »

When you sent your I&E did you attach that with a similar letter that StepChange sent with a copy of your other creditors and explaining this was your offer of payment?

SC didn't send them anything. I sent initial letter to all creditors saying that my finances were up sh*t creek and I'd cancelled DD's and was working with Stepchange to work out a way forwards.

Then I sent another letter saying that I was building up an EF and would be paying £1 per month until October, then I would have £*** to split between my creditors. I included a list of creditors and balances and also a detailed I & E to back up my figure.

Aqua haven't even acknowledged my initial letter. They did freeze interest for 30 days but now they're adding it on again

KID77

A message for January2015 :-)

I have some PRA debts which they had said were unenforceable but apparently now they deem them enforceable due to some transaction lists they sent. I have spoken to AAD and the 2 x post 2007 are enforceable according to them and would have been even without the transaction lists, it's all so confusing.

Anyway, I offered small settlements but no joy, they are offering 10% discount. I ignored the last offer which was end of May and thought I would play the waiting game as court action isn't a quick process from what I've gathered.

Today we have received a letter but again only offering 10% discount. It's a nice letter in terms of no threats and just saying here to help blah blah.

I know you held on until you got 90% discount so I wanted to ask how many letters you got and over what time frame?

Thank you in advance x

2017spark

DMP_Tiger wrote: »

You are correct, it is your plan and it does have to work for you. However, by delaying the start so it works for you, it then does not work for Stepchange. I was in exactly the same situation and was told by SC to contact my creditors and begin the DMP/token payments by myself and then to get back to them when I was ready to start the DMP properly.

They did also say to contact them if I had any problems/queries and they would still help me and they also said that I could use their name and my DMP ref number when writing to creditors. So although they weren't willing to run my DMP before it started properly, they were still a lot of help.

Edited to add: You won't have to start from scratch in November because what you've already done with SC will still be there.

Thankyou That's what I thought and works for me, i'm happy for them to sit on my plan info until first payment on 1st November. Glad someone else has been there too! xx

January2015

KID77 wrote: »

A message for January2015 :-)

I have some PRA debts which they had said were unenforceable but apparently now they deem them enforceable due to some transaction lists they sent. I have spoken to AAD and the 2 x post 2007 are enforceable according to them and would have been even without the transaction lists, it's all so confusing.

Anyway, I offered small settlements but no joy, they are offering 10% discount. I ignored the last offer which was end of May and thought I would play the waiting game as court action isn't a quick process from what I've gathered.

Today we have received a letter but again only offering 10% discount. It's a nice letter in terms of no threats and just saying here to help blah blah.

I know you held on until you got 90% discount so I wanted to ask how many letters you got and over what time frame?

Thank you in advance x

I only held out for discount on an unenforceable debt. I had several letters over a period of almost a year. Each letter asked me nicely if I would pay and offered a reduced settlement. Offers started at settle for 90% of the balance, then 70%, then 50%, then nothing for months and finally settle for 10%. I ignored all letters and did not pay them anything either - until the settle for 10% letter. I responded to that to ensure the terms were solid and the debt would not be sold on etc.

If you debts with PRA are enforceable you are better off negotiating token payments for as long as you can to wear them down into accepting a low settlement offer.

Achieving low settlement offers on enforceable debts is a long term strategy in my view. Pay them as little as possible for as long as you can and hopefully they will eventually see that a lump sum to settle is preferable to years of drip fed payments.

MK-4

tillboy wrote: »

Anybody got any experience of getting rid of a lease car as part of a DMP? Wife has rheumatoid arthritis, and has recently been forced out of her job as a result.
Can just about scrape by but her car lease is a problem, there's about 16 months left to go, if we could get rid we'd potentially have another £225 per month.

I have a car on lease and SC accepted this no problem. Even suggested a monthly savings for the balloon payment at the end of the lease.

In most cases returning the car to the lease company will see you still owing something, so possibly not good for your DMP?

Once the lease ends there will be enough in the balloon savings to make the final payment, and then increase the amount being paid to the creditors (through SC) by the lease PLUS the savings amount.

Never-again

Hello everyone,

I posted on here last year with a different just as I began my scary journey into my DMP.
Anyway recently things have became more difficult, and I feel like I need to express myself to stop bottling everything up.

I have struggled pretty much since going into my DMP, I have been sticking to my budget however I had constant unexpected bills, and then a brief period where my wife was in hospital for a week leading to reduced income.
We recently had some amazing news that we’re going to be parents! This was completely unexpected, and 5 years sooner than we had hoped, but nevertheless we are thrilled as we were told during my wife’s hospital stay we’d need IVF if we were ever to conceive, so it shows I do have some luck after all. But, that being said it will have a negative affect on my already strained budget for repaying creditors.

I’ve also had a change in jobs, which means a slight change in income (possibly negatively, however I won’t find out for a couple of months yet.) and also a change in responsibility as I will have to pay for my fuel and claim it back, where as previously I had a fuel card.

All these things have sent massive shockwaves through my system, and honestly have led me to panic. I have no savings or rainy day fund, and I was until last month in arrears with my council tax. It’s really starting to have a negative affect on me, and I made the decision to not pay StepChange this month due to needing the money for other bills.

I’ve came to the conclusion that I think I should restart my DMP, if this is possible, I.e send token payments to creditors for a duration so I can build up savings, and also attempt to reduce my priority bills to give a bit of breathing space, and also give my creditors a decent payment when i do restart. What are people’s opinions on this?

Sorry if this post was mainly pointless rambling, but I’ve been bottling this up as I don’t want to put any more stress on my wife, and feel like a bit of a failure due to the fact we’re all going to be cramped up in our little house until the debts are cleared.

Thanks again.

sourcrates

Never-again wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I posted on here last year with a different just as I began my scary journey into my DMP.
Anyway recently things have became more difficult, and I feel like I need to express myself to stop bottling everything up.

I have struggled pretty much since going into my DMP, I have been sticking to my budget however I had constant unexpected bills, and then a brief period where my wife was in hospital for a week leading to reduced income.
We recently had some amazing news that we’re going to be parents! This was completely unexpected, and 5 years sooner than we had hoped, but nevertheless we are thrilled as we were told during my wife’s hospital stay we’d need IVF if we were ever to conceive, so it shows I do have some luck after all. But, that being said it will have a negative affect on my already strained budget for repaying creditors.

I’ve also had a change in jobs, which means a slight change in income (possibly negatively, however I won’t find out for a couple of months yet.) and also a change in responsibility as I will have to pay for my fuel and claim it back, where as previously I had a fuel card.

All these things have sent massive shockwaves through my system, and honestly have led me to panic. I have no savings or rainy day fund, and I was until last month in arrears with my council tax. It’s really starting to have a negative affect on me, and I made the decision to not pay StepChange this month due to needing the money for other bills.

I’ve came to the conclusion that I think I should restart my DMP, if this is possible, I.e send token payments to creditors for a duration so I can build up savings, and also attempt to reduce my priority bills to give a bit of breathing space, and also give my creditors a decent payment when i do restart. What are people’s opinions on this?

Sorry if this post was mainly pointless rambling, but I’ve been bottling this up as I don’t want to put any more stress on my wife, and feel like a bit of a failure due to the fact we’re all going to be cramped up in our little house until the debts are cleared.

Thanks again.

Absolutely do what’s best for you, emergency fund a must, especially if your expecting a new arrival.

Any other option available to you ?

Never-again

Thanks SourCrates.

I!!!8217;ve looked into an IVA, but with my current situation I don!!!8217;t think it!!!8217;ll be beneficial until I!!!8217;m 100% set with my budgets, as I can!!!8217;t risk not being able to afford to pay. I think I just need a few months to get my head together and on top of everything.