DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Outofthehole

Hi all,

After almost five years of burying my head, I've finally admitted I need help with my debts.

Yesterday I rang StepChange and it's the best thing I've ever done. I feel as if a weight has been lifted!

I have £19,768.41 in debt... I had no idea it had grown so much!!!

I've contacted my creditors asking for a 'payment holiday's until I can work out a DMP with StepChange.

I was always too embarrassed to go down this route, but now I see it's the only way to sort myself out.

I'm not very clued up on finances, so I'm unsure of what my future holds, but I'm glad to have someone like step change at my back.

I look forward to reading this thread and all the others during my journey.

Thank god for organisations and forums like this!! I bet it's saved thousands of lives xx

sourcrates

SuzyN wrote: »

Has anyone had pension contributions listed on their I/E?

SC have put mine on as it comes directly out of my wages and I!!!8217;m worried my creditors will insist on me cancelling it as it!!!8217;s using a chunk of my income?

SuzzyN,


Your creditors cannot insist on anything, you are not in a regulated agreement, and even if you were, they cannot take your pension contributions.

They have no say whatsoever in your finances.

Red_Athena

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lurking and reading for a little while and have decided to take the plunge and post!

My debts are around £36k and I have registered with StepChange. I’ve used their budget planner to work everything out.

I’ve just now got to the point where I need to face that I can’t make the minimum payments on my debts, and the toll this has taken on my mental health recently has been awful.

I’m hesitating on taking the final step and cancelling my dds for my minimum payments, I don’t know why. I guess I see it as the point of no return. I know that I need to do it before my DMP is set up, so that I can establish a little emergency fund, but it’s so hard to take that step!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread, it has helped me focus so much better on what I need to do

DMP_Tiger

Red_Athena wrote: »

I’ve just now got to the point where I need to face that I can’t make the minimum payments on my debts, and the toll this has taken on my mental health recently has been awful.

I’m hesitating on taking the final step and cancelling my dds for my minimum payments, I don’t know why. I guess I see it as the point of no return.

Cancelling DD's is not the point of no return, it's one of the first steps towards easing the strain on your mental health and getting your life back.

If you are unable to make minimum payments, you have nothing to lose (apart from a wrecked credit file) and everything to gain.

Edited to add: My debts are around £36k too

SuzyN

Red Anthea ;m the same. I took the plunge and cancelled them all on Saturday via my online banking (didnt cancel my Santander CC one though as I need to get everything moved over to my new nationwide account first incase Santander decide to help themselves to my wages to pay off my cc!!

I felt sick cancelling them and then the first texts and emails have now been arriving and I expect them all to start filling in now but I will get my letters sorted to say "give me space - Im working with step change" this weekend and post them on Monday.

Suseka97

A general post having read this thread over last few days and seeing how many new folks have come on board the DMP train or are working their way towards it :wave:

You've all taken a very important first (and oftentimes, scary) step -by facing up to your financial predicament and seeking help and advice, The first few weeks can throw you into a bit of a turmoil, but if you don't overthink things and try to put the 'what ifs' into perspective, you'll get to a much better place than where you started.

If you have years stretching ahead of you - put that aside and focus on the here and now. Take control of your DMP and by that I mean, don't be told what to do by creditors or, eventually, DCAs. Set your budget at a realistic level and live a little. Expect calls, texts, emails and so forth, they are par for the course and mostly computer generated - don't let them worry or concern you. Just stick to the plan and tell creditors that you will only deal with matters in writing and tell them to remove all other forms of communication from their records.

In a few months the letters, calls etc. will diminish and eventually all you can expect to receive will be an annual statement, or requests for the annual review. Some creditors will default you quickly (defaults are good ) others will take their time - if it's taking too long, chase those defaults down (don't give them more than 3 months grace).

Lastly - raise your collective heads up and don't call yourselves names like 'failure' or 'useless' or anything negative. There are loads of people across this nation who will owe debts both greater and smaller and will do all and anything to elude payment - you are not among them. There are also genuine cases of hardship and for anyone in that situation I hope creditors write those debts off and you can carry on with your lives.

I took ownership of my debt - as you all are -and I for one am proud of myself for doing so.

Good luck :beer:

Red_Athena

DMP_Tiger wrote: »

Cancelling DD's is not the point of no return, it's one of the first steps towards easing the strain on your mental health and getting your life back.

If you are unable to make minimum payments, you have nothing to lose (apart from a wrecked credit file) and everything to gain.

Edited to add: My debts are around £36k too

You're right The credit rating is going to be screwed anyway, so I may as well get started! My new bank card came today, so I'm almost set up. I feel like I'm about to get somewhere!

sourcrates

Red_Athena wrote: »

You're right The credit rating is going to be screwed anyway, so I may as well get started! My new bank card came today, so I'm almost set up. I feel like I'm about to get somewhere!

Everyone feels that way at first, i know i did, then i realized I could not carry on paying what i was paying, the money simply was not there, and they could not take what i did not have, after which everything became a lot clearer.


DMP world is a completely new way of thinking, and you will get street wise, trust me.

defected

Hi
I want to do a self managed DMP, have followed advice from here, started token payments etc. I created an account with Nedcab saved my dmp calculations, but when i have logged back in its all gone

Is there any other websites or tools that offer the same kind of free calculator that also works out the percentage you need to pay each creditor with your leftover budget?

thanks in advance

SuzyN

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but I will ask anyway ....

I'm sending my letters to creditors at the weekend. What address do I use?

Is it just a generic one from each website?

Sx