DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Suseka97

Good Morning All

I posted, a few pages back, that I have been successful with a PPI complaint -and now that the initial shock has gone, the seed, planted by Sazzie23, that maybe I should think about F&Fs has been growing in my mind. Once I've sorted the boiler problem and fixed the conservatory roof, I will have some money left to work with. Those who may have read past threads will know that my DMP payment is high and that I've mentioned in the past I wish I had gone self-managed years ago so I could do what others have done -but because I'm so close to the end I had just put that thought aside focussing on the end game. But now I am in a position to rethink.

Of the 8 remaining creditors - I can clear the 2 small ones easily (combined less that £500). Of the remaining 6 - PRA holds 3 accounts and Link Financial holds the other 3. The highest 2 debts (combined around £8.500) are with PRA. Obviously if I carry on with SC as smaller debts drop off, payments to the remaining ones increase - hence why currently I would be debt free in 9 mths. Now I imagine that creditors don't know the detail of a person's DMP so they don't know when payments will increase - if that's correct, then if my payments to the 2 highest stayed at the same level it would take around 18 - 20 months before they were cleared and that might make them more amenable to an F&F offer.

So my thinking is to take control of the DMP first, carryon with a couple of monthly payments as is - then make an F&F offer to PRA group for the two highest. If they don't play ball - then I guess I could just carry on as SC would and use the snowball method so that I still complete my DMP within a year - or I could keep their payments at a more manageable level so my life is a bit easier - even though that may extend the term of my DMP.

I used to think that getting debts cleared the quickest was the way to go - but experience (and lots of advice from the good folks on here) has taught me different. All accounts are defaulted back in 2013 - so as I understand the default will fall off the credit file irrespective of how long it takes to clear the amounts outstanding. So really - there's no rush and nothing, on the face of it, to lose by trying.

Any thoughts or advice folks?

Julie67

Suseka 97 I would think they would be more likely to accept your F&F if you drop down to token payments for a couple of months. I am definitely no expert! Just my initial thoughts

Leanneglos1

Hello
Trying to see how I can post on here but no good with computers, I'm considering opening a DMP with SC and have a couple of questions;

1. Whilst getting set up with the plan should I make small payments such as £1 until set up and inform creditors I'm in the process of setting one up

2. Can I choose to not include certain loans within the plan, e.g I have a small sofa hp with hitachi which is £34 and will finish soon so would rather just continue paying that.

3. I have a log book loan which has 11 months remaining, can I include this as I don't want to not pay and risk loosing my car as its not a bill of sale and not a typical loan.

4. If creditors were to still pursue me for legal action, has anyone encountered this and what type of action would it involve, will I have bailiffs knocking at my door?? Serious q!!

TIA for your help, need to get this all sorted.

sourcrates

Leanneglos1 wrote: »

Hello
Trying to see how I can post on here but no good with computers, I'm considering opening a DMP with SC and have a couple of questions;

1. Whilst getting set up with the plan should I make small payments such as £1 until set up and inform creditors I'm in the process of setting one up

2. Can I choose to not include certain loans within the plan, e.g I have a small sofa hp with hitachi which is £34 and will finish soon so would rather just continue paying that.

3. I have a log book loan which has 11 months remaining, can I include this as I don't want to not pay and risk loosing my car as its not a bill of sale and not a typical loan.

4. If creditors were to still pursue me for legal action, has anyone encountered this and what type of action would it involve, will I have bailiffs knocking at my door?? Serious q!!

TIA for your help, need to get this all sorted.

Hello Leanneglos1,

All your questions have been covered previously, but as its a (very) long thread, i will just give you a quick response.

(1) some people make token payments, but its not really necessary.

(2) pay the sofa off first.

(3) You will have to continue paying the full amount to the logbook loan (priority debt) otherwise they will repossess your car.

(4) Legal action is quite rare, especially if your already repaying your debts, but it does happen, it would be in the form of a county court judgement, all that means is you would have to pay the amount the court stipulated, which would usually be the amount your paying anyway, so all that would suffer would be your credit file.

Bailiffs are only used after a CCJ has been obtained, and if you still dont pay, they are just another recovery option, as is an attachment of earnings order.

Hope that helps.

Suseka97

Julie67 wrote: »

Suseka 97 I would think they would be more likely to accept your F&F if you drop down to token payments for a couple of months. I am definitely no expert! Just my initial thoughts

Point taken, thanks Julie 67. Problem is if I have to send a I&E then it would be pretty obvious that I can afford more than token payments. While I could stretch the truth with the I&E, I doubt I could get it low enough to demonstrate I can only pay a small amount. I guess I was just hoping it would be in their interest to get a lump sum from me rather than continue with payments across a much longer term.

Does anyone have experience of handling F&Fs with PRA? Even if they won't accept then what I'm now thinking is that I'd rather handle my own DMP and reduce my monthly payment a bit -to give me some breathing room. The payment is high and I'm realising that whilst being able to claim that I'm debt free in 9mths and counting would be awesome - there's more to life.

I need to think this through a little more methinks

unicorndeva

Just had a letter from PRA Group enclosing a reconstituted copy 'agreement' for my Barclaycard but it's actually just a copy of the T's and C's. PRA have deemed it unenforceable (but give the usual blurb about how they can still chase it etc.... good luck with that!!!).

Really happy

Leanneglos1

Thanks for all your help, with the sofa loan would you just say continue paying that as I am now and again the log book continue paying that at the agreed amount?
Is it a case of stoping my payments to creditors and notifying them that I will be entering in to a plan?

sourcrates

Leanneglos1 wrote: »

Thanks for all your help, with the sofa loan would you just say continue paying that as I am now and again the log book continue paying that at the agreed amount?
Is it a case of stoping my payments to creditors and notifying them that I will be entering in to a plan?

There are two types of payments, essential, such as mortgage, rent, council tax, secured loans etc, and non-essential, such as credit debts, and everything else really.

A debt that is secured on something, is an essential payment, otherwise you risk losing the collateral.

As i said, keep paying the two essential debts, and put the rest in to a DMP.

Stepchange will help you with all aspects of this.

You can write and tell them yes, they will put all accounts "on hold" for 30 days to allow time to set up your arrangement.

Sazzie23

Suseka97 wrote: »

Good Morning All

I posted, a few pages back, that I have been successful with a PPI complaint -and now that the initial shock has gone, the seed, planted by Sazzie23, that maybe I should think about F&Fs has been growing in my mind. Once I've sorted the boiler problem and fixed the conservatory roof, I will have some money left to work with. Those who may have read past threads will know that my DMP payment is high and that I've mentioned in the past I wish I had gone self-managed years ago so I could do what others have done -but because I'm so close to the end I had just put that thought aside focussing on the end game. But now I am in a position to rethink.

Of the 8 remaining creditors - I can clear the 2 small ones easily (combined less that £500). Of the remaining 6 - PRA holds 3 accounts and Link Financial holds the other 3. The highest 2 debts (combined around £8.500) are with PRA. Obviously if I carry on with SC as smaller debts drop off, payments to the remaining ones increase - hence why currently I would be debt free in 9 mths. Now I imagine that creditors don't know the detail of a person's DMP so they don't know when payments will increase - if that's correct, then if my payments to the 2 highest stayed at the same level it would take around 18 - 20 months before they were cleared and that might make them more amenable to an F&F offer.

So my thinking is to take control of the DMP first, carryon with a couple of monthly payments as is - then make an F&F offer to PRA group for the two highest. If they don't play ball - then I guess I could just carry on as SC would and use the snowball method so that I still complete my DMP within a year - or I could keep their payments at a more manageable level so my life is a bit easier - even though that may extend the term of my DMP.

I used to think that getting debts cleared the quickest was the way to go - but experience (and lots of advice from the good folks on here) has taught me different. All accounts are defaulted back in 2013 - so as I understand the default will fall off the credit file irrespective of how long it takes to clear the amounts outstanding. So really - there's no rush and nothing, on the face of it, to lose by trying.

Any thoughts or advice folks?

Imagine getting the DMP cleared in less than a year ....:beer:
But bearable and manageable is probably the most important at the moment.

I'm not around much at the moment (die to good things rather than bad), though I do try to keep up with the thread on the daily digest.

There is an F&f thread somewhere which could shed light in the best way to go, or I seem to recall Time to Face the music, and Newcastle Paul did wonderful things with F&f offers, so maybe worth looking at their past posts (or pm). I'm pleased you have been able to look at alternatives, I think that's what's makes this thread special, we look for help to do things one way then find there are other options.

If I find inspiration on this I'll let you know, best of luck with it

Saz

Plucky_Lion

Hi. First of all I would like to thank everyone for the advice that they have put up on this thread. I have been in financial difficulty for some time now and I have had enough. Reading the posts on her has given me the confidence to go down the DMP route and one day get back on track. I used the debt remedy tool through stepchange and they recommended going onto DMP. I have cancelled the direct debits with the two credit cards that I have and I have applied for a Santander basic bank account. I'm hoping to be able to save some money for an emergency fund before I start the DMP.

The one issue that I have is the overdraft that I have with HSBC. I have now gone over my overdraft and they have started to charge me a daily charge of £5. I have sent a letter to HSBC, letting them know that I am in financial difficulty and have asked for all charges to be stopped while I sort myself out. I was wondering if anyone knows if they will stop these charges. I do not have the money to get back into my overdraft at the moment and I am worried that the situation will get worse.

Thanks