Where to start???

delirious

Ok, so as my other thread mentions, my wife and my debts were being dealt with by StepChange in the form of a token payment plan. StepChange cancelled this plan after 12 months as is their policy, which has resulted in being chased again for the debts.

I have a list of accounts from StepChange, that they were dealing with, and a huge pile of letters from various debt companies which I'm going to sort through and put in date order this evening, to try and work out who owns which debt.

Are there any tips anyone can give to help me along the way?

Is it worth trying to make a spreadsheet or something to detail what letters have been sent/received? Last time I tried to do something similar, i got into a mess when companies wrote back and said they were no longer reaponsible for the debts so that's what I'm trying to avoid.

Also, is it worth sending my letters to all these debt companies by recorded delivery? Really want to make sure this is all dealt with but don't feel I can rely on a debt charity now.

Max_and_sasha

Hi delirious

I have 7 creditors and I bought a ring bind folder and polly pockets to keep everyone separate and I also put a blank piece of paper in with them just to write notes down on, like how much I am paying them, when I cca,d them, if they have the correct paper work and how much I owe each of them, that way it refreshes my mind when thy contact me, I hope this helps

Good luck in your debt free journey

Max

delirious

Max_and_sasha wrote: »

Hi delirious

I have 7 creditors and I bought a ring bind folder and polly pockets to keep everyone separate and I also put a blank piece of paper in with them just to write notes down on, like how much I am paying them, when I cca,d them, if they have the correct paper work and how much I owe each of them, that way it refreshes my mind when thy contact me, I hope this helps

Good luck in your debt free journey

Max

Thanks Max, that's really helpful

Max_and_sasha

Are you going self managed dmp ?

delirious

Max_and_sasha wrote: »

Are you going self managed dmp ?

Going to give it a try yeah....should I not?

Max_and_sasha

Hi delirious

I am also self managed, the best thing my wife and I ever did, we are in total control of it now.
Before you start save an emergency fund incase off things like the car breaking down or the boiler and so on.

Just remember you will have days when you think it gets to much but we are all here with you as some of us are in the same boat as you and lots on here have come out the other side , and you will get great advice from everyone

Max

delirious

Max_and_sasha wrote: »

Hi delirious

I am also self managed, the best thing my wife and I ever did, we are in total control of it now.
Before you start save an emergency fund incase off things like the car breaking down or the boiler and so on.

Just remember you will have days when you think it gets to much but we are all here with you as some of us are in the same boat as you and lots on here have come out the other side , and you will get great advice from everyone

Max

Thanks Max, I really appreciate it. The reason I want to try self managed is because I felt really let down by StepChange. I get they have to have integrity to be able to gain creditors trust, etc, but they just cancelled my token payment plan without any discussion and really left me hanging (I'd paid my payment to them every month, and this was apparently their usual thing to do after 12 months), so now I'm back to square one with debt collectors bombarding us with letters.

I've spent this evening going through all of our debts (for both myself and my wife).

I have £17,330.39 worth of debt (although I'm unsure if one of the debts for £3700 has been added twice, but will wait and see what comes back when I've written to everyone.

My wife has £10,678.04 of debt and while these numbers are huge, they're not as bad as I first thought and I really believe that through making token payments to start with, and making settlement offers down the line as we can afford it, we'll be debt free at some point.

I think I'll post a SOA and see what I've got available to offer these creditors.

Geoff1963

I've gained inspiration from this one :
"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged." Thomas A. Edison

Or, if you prefer something more recent, a tagline from "Dunkirk" :
"At the point of crisis, at the point of annihilation, survival is victory."
In other words ; keeping going, is success.

This may be even better :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale#Stockdale_Paradox
His coping strategy during 7 years in a Vietnamese POW camp.
"I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."
When asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
"Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
Stockdale then added:
"This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

Good luck.

Max_and_sasha

Hi delirious

No problem at all as I say we are all in it together I am glad I can help, when we started our debt management plan it was for 60k+.�� I was paying a debt collection agency every month but after reading this site and with the help from everyone I do my own dmp.

1, Have you cca,d all your creditors to make sure they have the correct paper work, even if they do have the correct paper work it buys you some time to get your things in order

2, Post a soa and you will get great advice on how and where you can possibly save money

3, Write to all your creditors and explain that you are self managing your dmp and you need time to save an emergency fund

There are more things you can do and someone else will come along with things that will help you, as a side note when I did my soa over the phone with Westcot the person I spoke to says they allow £46 a month to save towards an emergency fund( hope that helps someone), when doing your soa for the creditors I suggest you don't leave yourself to skint every month as you still have to live life to a certain degree.

Max

delirious

Geoff1963 wrote: »

I've gained inspiration from this one :
"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged." Thomas A. Edison

Or, if you prefer something more recent, a tagline from "Dunkirk" :
"At the point of crisis, at the point of annihilation, survival is victory."
In other words ; keeping going, is success.

This may be even better :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stockdale#Stockdale_Paradox
His coping strategy during 7 years in a Vietnamese POW camp.
"I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."
When asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:
"Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
Stockdale then added:
"This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

Good luck.

Thanks Geoff, means a lot to know there's support here

charmed1318

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