DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Never-again

Apologies for that last post being messy, it wont let me edit the post and Im unsure as to what happened.

ayupmeduck

How many people have debts with Very and how long before they defaulted you?

Balance = 767.73
Min payment = 343.88
Arrears = 311.97
Credit = 107.27
Payment each month = 1.00

My credit report shows AR/up to date.

Its the same with JD Williams and my credit goes up by how much I pay them each month.

tillboy

thanks, but this is an actual lease not a PCP so no balloon payment at end and looking to get rid to save some money ultimately

January2015

Never-again wrote: »

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.

Never-again wrote: »

Apologies for that last post being messy, it wont let me edit the post and Im unsure as to what happened.

Do not use apostrophes when posting. Seems to cause the !!!8217; problem :beer:

It is a known issue - seems to happen to me when posting from my mobile, but I now try and avoid apostrophes whenever possible

January2015

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.

A DMP is completely flexible. My DMP payments started at £1k per month and dropped a few times based on changes in our lives. We are currently only paying token payments.

You don't need to restart your DMP, you just need to contact your creditors and let them know your current situation. Even if you need a complete payment break of a number of months - don't worry. As long as you keep in contact and explain creditors are, in general, supportive.

Huge congratulations on the baby news :j:j:j:j:j

tillboy

ok, so I've taken a chance...

Have cancelled direct debit and written to them explaining about the DMP etc. and that I can no longer pay for the car. Hopefully this will cause a voluntary repossession and any termination charges I'll add to my DMP... Fingers crossed!

TopsyMum

I did all the questions on stepchange and it advised bankruptcy!
However I really don't want to do that. An Iva is an alternative but again I'm reluctant.
A DMP seems to be the most appealing to me but having had a quick look on here before posting I'm thinking there are more pros to doing it yourself?

My first question really is where/how the hell do I start?? I want to be fairly quick with this as my direct debits mainly go around the 1st of the month and I am understanding I need to cancel them? But then how do I let them know? How do I make a nominal payment?
And am I right in thinking I can just pay £1 a month for a few months whilst I work out exactly what's what then write again explaining how much I have and what I can pay?

I owe about 23k with my main creditors being a Tesco loan, barclaycard and a Tesco credit card then a few smaller ones, although I am due to start paying for sofa and carpets I got last November on one of those first year free etc deals -how do I go about this?

Also this debt was pretty much mostly built up in the last 16 months with the full intention of being able to pay back which is why I morally prefer a DMP, but personal circumstances changed massively and it's just now where I've realised I've run a lot of it up using one to pay other etc (so no missed payments)and it's a never ending vicious circle- but does it make a difference that it's all recent??

I'm fairly organised and more than able to communicate ( letter is best?) but really do need and would appreciate an idiots guide on exactly how to start this.

And also as one of my debts is barclaycard and my bank account is Barclays am I best using a different bank account and using that for my direct debits for utilities/rent etc?

Thank you x

DMP_Tiger

TopsyMum and Rae28250 - I don't have the knowledge to answer all of your points as my DMP hasn't properly started yet. However, your thought/worries are the same as mine were and probably everyone else's when they were drowning in debt repayments.

I would advise you both to take a few hours to read through this entire thread (Part 12), you will find the answers to most, if not all, of your questions and I guarantee you will feel a whole lot better and you will have the knowledge to move forwards.

Alternatively, phone Stepchange and pour your heart out to them. They are not necessarily the best way forwards but they are fantastic when your brain is scrambled and you don't know what to do.

DMP_Tiger

Hopefully answers in red will help for now:

TopsyMum wrote: »

I did all the questions on stepchange and it advised bankruptcy! Mine did too but I'm doing a DMP
However I really don't want to do that. An Iva is an alternative but again I'm reluctant.
A DMP seems to be the most appealing to me but having had a quick look on here before posting I'm thinking there are more pros to doing it yourself? Yes, but you can always start with Stepchange and self-manage when you're confident enough. Or there is enough help on here to self-manage from the start.

My first question really is where/how the hell do I start?? I want to be fairly quick with this as my direct debits mainly go around the 1st of the month and I am understanding I need to cancel them? But then how do I let them know? How do I make a nominal payment?
And am I right in thinking I can just pay £1 a month for a few months whilst I work out exactly what's what then write again explaining how much I have and what I can pay? If you cancel DD's today, you have almost 2 weeks breathing space before the 1st. My DD's all went out on the 28th and I didn't cancel them until the 27th :eek:

I owe about 23k with my main creditors being a Tesco loan, barclaycard and a Tesco credit card then a few smaller ones, although I am due to start paying for sofa and carpets I got last November on one of those first year free etc deals -how do I go about this? Not sure on this one, but you could pay them off today with your credit card to get them out of the way. An extra few hundred pounds on your CC won't make any significant difference

Also this debt was pretty much mostly built up in the last 16 months with the full intention of being able to pay back which is why I morally prefer a DMP, but personal circumstances changed massively and it's just now where I've realised I've run a lot of it up using one to pay other etc (so no missed payments)and it's a never ending vicious circle- but does it make a difference that it's all recent?? No, I don't think so.

I'm fairly organised and more than able to communicate ( letter is best?) but really do need and would appreciate an idiots guide on exactly how to start this. letters are best because you will have a complete paper trail.

And also as one of my debts is barclaycard and my bank account is Barclays am I best using a different bank account and using that for my direct debits for utilities/rent etc? Yes, definitely 100%. Open up a new one today.

Thank you x

TopsyMum

Thank you!
I don't have enough credit on my credit card to do that unfortunately...although I do have an unused one with just enough money on (it's 2.2k) but will this not look bad when I use it then say i can't actually pay??

And bank account I have a basic,no overdraft account that was opened up with my partner last year but not really used - few maintence payments in but no d/ds, etc. Could I just start using this account and transferring everything to it??