DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

S1Ebbz

Couple of months into DMP and whilst phone calls have slowed down some of the letters are confusing and still leaving me unsettled.

A few creditors have said would accept and review in 6 months or 12 months (not sure if this is normal but it gives some breathing space)

HSBC have cancelled my accounts , not accepted but looking online seem not be adding charges. They have however said not accepting the amount on my overdraft payment which is a concern

Some creditors have not been in contact - More worried about these as I can't seem to log in online to the PDL ones and have no clue if charges are racking up

Really hope things go smooth - got such a long road ahead here with my large debts and whilst its SO far to think when this will be over my credit is screwed now with the defaults (oh well don't want credit) but I just want to get on with things and progress forward

sourcrates

S1Ebbz wrote: »

Couple of months into DMP and whilst phone calls have slowed down some of the letters are confusing and still leaving me unsettled.

A few creditors have said would accept and review in 6 months or 12 months (not sure if this is normal but it gives some breathing space)

HSBC have cancelled my accounts , not accepted but looking online seem not be adding charges. They have however said not accepting the amount on my overdraft payment which is a concern

Some creditors have not been in contact - More worried about these as I can't seem to log in online to the PDL ones and have no clue if charges are racking up

Really hope things go smooth - got such a long road ahead here with my large debts and whilst its SO far to think when this will be over my credit is screwed now with the defaults (oh well don't want credit) but I just want to get on with things and progress forward

No acknowledgment is the norm.

Even if a creditor refuses your payment offer, they will still accept the payment, all it means in reality is that the debt will be sold on quicker, and the new owner will be paid the same, if they don't like it, they sell it on, and so on, and so on!!

All perfectly normal in DMP land.

S1Ebbz

Ok thank you. A couple have indicated its passing to "collection department" and one PDL has sold it on so I am trying to get the details of my account number with this new collector as the DMP payment was sent back to step change

I will write to them as they have not responded via email. Or just pick up the phone if have the courage

Thanks for help in understanding some of this

satriales3

Hi guys, I've been on a DMP with Stepchange since November and things are just starting to settle down now. I had just over £25k of unsecured debt at the start with £9k owed to BarclayCard and a couple of other credit cards at £4k and then the rest is smaller debts (smallest is £1200). My monthly payments are £625 and total debt is now around 22.5k. Debt-free date is around mid 2020.

I'm just about managing with the DMP and really want to pay off my debts as soon as I can, but I'm wondering if I'm going about it the right way? I have no savings/emergency fund at all and i'm finding it impossible to put anything aside as other unexpected costs always crop up. This month I couldn't afford to MOT my car, so I've done an online budget review with Stepchange and reduced my payments from £625 to £575 but this doesn't take effect for another month and I probably should've tried to get it a bit lower than that but can't redo the budget now.

I've read through this thread and see people eager to get defaults and people paying £1 token payments, but I don't quite understand the theory behind it, perhaps someone could explain?
I am at the stage now where I have spreadsheets of my monthly expenses and know that I can get everything under control, but I'm wondering if it would be better to pay less each month and get some savings together, perhaps even use these savings for a final offer on some of the smaller debts? I'd be happy to manage the DMP myself now too if that would be better for me. One of my debts is £4k with MBNA. I am paying £100/month and they are charging £40/month interest. If I managed the DMP myself could I prioritize that debt to reduce the interest? I know other creditors wouldn't like it but it seems like the best option for me if there's a way to do it.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

[Deleted User]

Hello everyone on this lovely sunny morning in DMP land:j. A big welcome to all the new posters:beer:


I'd be very grateful if sourcrates or anybody else could give me a bit of advice please.

I currently have 5 defaulted debts. No problems (except for having to pay them;)). I also have a smaller one with Newday with a balance of just under £1000. This relates to an Asda credit card issued by Santander. Whereas 4 of the others will drop off my credit file in 2019:j the Newday one has never been defaulted and has always shown as green on my Noddle credit file except for a few months in early 2013 when I was in severe financial difficulties and starting my DMP. The green markers have DM under them and UC inside them.


My problem is should I push for a default on this account (and maybe not get it) or leave things as they are? It's nice to see 3 and a half years worth of green markers on any of my accounts on my credit file;). This one is probably the earliest I'll settle as the balance is by far the lowest of my debts and I know they'll not be interested in a F&F as I'm obviously 'up to date' on payments. I've seen mention on this thread of AP markers, and that they are not a good thing to have on credit files. Is what I've got the same sort of thing as AP please?


I am starting to make £1 token payments to my other creditors from 1st June in the hope of forcing F&Fs but was thinking maybe I should keep paying the 'usual' amount to this particular creditor seeing as it has been showing as 'green' on my credit file for so long. Any views on that please? The monthly payment is £25.


Incidentally, this is the only one of my accounts that I haven't CCA'd and I deliberately kept this out of the equation as I didn't want to rock the boat and make things worse:o. The card was taken out in 2006 so is the most recent of my cards and may well be fully enforceable anyway.


I know I overthink things:o but this problem is causing me stress:(

sourcrates

Carboot,

Like i say all the time, creditors can be unpredictable.

If they are marking your file green, then let them continue to do so, if they do add a default at any time, that would be the time to complain, if the date was not backdated to the time you first got into trouble.

I would wait and see what happens with that one.

sourcrates

satriales3 wrote: »

This month I couldn't afford to MOT my car, so I've done an online budget review with Stepchange and reduced my payments from £625 to £575 but this doesn't take effect for another month and I probably should've tried to get it a bit lower than that but can't redo the budget now.

I've read through this thread and see people eager to get defaults and people paying £1 token payments, but I don't quite understand the theory behind it, perhaps someone could explain?
!

Hi,

The theory behind it is threefold.

(1) Your account will be defaulted quicker, which then gives you a period of 6 years until the default drops off your file, so your credit report will be cleared by a certain date.

(2) Once defaulted all interest and charges stop, and the balance is frozen, and will not increase, so the money you pay actually does reduce your balance.

You have made the classic mistake of jumping in too quickly with the DMP, dont beat yourself up about it, stepchange encourage you to start payments as soon as possible, but its not always the right thing to do.

On this thread, we like to inform you of the things that the debt charities dont tell you, such as about defaults, emergency funds, and doing whats best for you basically.

(3) Before committing to a DMP its a good idea to stop all unsecured creditor payments for a few months, or as long as possible really, then by the time your ready to start the DMP, hopefully, most of your accounts will be defaulted, interest stopped, and you have a nice emergency fund built up.

debtisnotme

Thanks firstly to Sourcrates who pointed this thread out to me, am duly subscribed. I got to post 342 and ran out of energy but will definitely go back and catch up at sometime.

I'm in the process of going self managed with my DMP, I'm only six months in but lacking in any back up funds to speak of. I'm very excited and ready to feel fully in control (which I didn't with Stepchange). I accept it works for some but I felt like I couldn't make my own decisions.

I have 11 creditors and have letters to go, I'm explaining my circumstances have changed and offering them a temporary £1 token payment for several months. I will then look at the default situation and start up payments again, probably at the same rate.

Of the 11 I only have three defaults so far (one of my creditors is Halifax!) so hopefully token payments will produce more.

I totally agree with whoever stated they were almost looking forward to letters coming through the letterbox.

One question I do have is when i start payments again if I chose to leave one r two on token payments (to extract a default) am I able to do this? Will they know? I know we are supposed to treat all fairly but if only they did the same to us :T

make_the_change

Has anyone had any dealings with Very and can advise the best way to tackle them? Thanks!

[Deleted User]

debtisnotme wrote: »

One question I do have is when i start payments again if I chose to leave one r two on token payments (to extract a default) am I able to do this? Will they know? I know we are supposed to treat all fairly but if only they did the same to us :T

Well done on biting the bullet and going self-managed so soon into your DMP:T. I've finally done it this year after almost 4 years with SC and so far haven't regretted it for a minute:T

I'm very interested in your question about paying creditors at different rates and whether they are likely to find out that it's happening. I want to pay tokens to 5 of mine for a few months but the 'regular' £25 to the final one as they are marking my file as 'up to date' and I want that to continue;). I'm looking forward to reading what the advice is that people give on this;)