Teeny tiny steps

motivated

Hi MMC

Glad to see you’re relaxing a little over the DMP. This time last year I was a total wreck worrying over the DMP I was about to enter into. Worrying about the amount I’d added to the CCs just to sort Christmas and Worrying about creditors etc. However, this year I can honestly say I’m looking forward to Christmas and have not stressed about money at all in the run up to it. We have managed to organise Christmas and not even look at a credit card.

You have tackled the hardest part and from now on things will get easier and your strength to deal with it all will become stronger.

Have a lovely relaxing Christmas and just think you are starting a brand new year with a brand new plan of action.
M

MMC87

Thanks, Motivated. As mentioned on the DMP support thread, I’m now facing a pretty big bill to replace my broken hearing aid but I’ll get to where I want to be eventually!

motivated

Sorry about your hearing aid thats pants. Remember one day at a time.
The title of your diary says it all MMC. Teeny tiny steps and you WILL get there.
M

MMC87

Didn’t think about my debts once yesterday. It was nice. Because I spent Christmas alone, I thought there was a chance of feeling down but I just made myself a nice little dinner, watched lots of films and relaxed.

MMC87

The past week has been pretty good. Needing contact with Stepchange over the Xmas period has been a ballache as after the Xmas bank holiday, I discovered that I’d sent my email to the wrong place. I’m hoping they’ll get back to me tomorrow. As I’ve been lonely, I’ve revved up my gym training to try and distract myself from worrying and it seems to be working. I think that’s in part because I’ve accepted that there’s little to be done over the holidays so let’s see how I feel tomorrow!

I also forgot to set up my standing order for rent with virgin and frustratingly, this can’t be done online. I’ve never been late paying rent so I’m hoping that if I call tomorrow, they can get it up and running for my rent to come out on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

MMC87

Wow! Nearly 3 weeks since I updated my diary. I’ve received the following letters:

• CAPITAL ONE: Confirmation of payment plan with default notice attached.

• BARCLAYCARD: Default notice and note explaining that it’s due to reduced payments.

• NAT WEST: Copy of letter to Stepchange confirming DMP arrangements and instructions for me to return any cards/arrange new banking facilities etc.

• STEPCHANGE: Letter to confirm that Nationwide overdraft have rejected the offer but that I don’t need to worry. I assume it’s a case of tough luck and that nothing terrible will happen.

I haven’t had anything about my Nationwide loan so I’ll look out for a letter although perhaps it’s already been accepted/acknowledged and there’s going to be no correspondence as I’ve had nothing else from Nationwide in writing and this letter from SC is dated 10th Jan.

So all in all, stuff is happening! Capital One’s letter is my favourite purely because it seems really cooperative. To be fair, their call centre were really encouraging when I admitted I was struggling with payments.

I’ve been ill for just over 2 weeks but am starting to feel loads better so my task for this week will be to check that Nationwide loans have got all the necessary details although presumably StepChange would have let me know if there were any issues.

MMC87

Oh - I absolutely hate my Virgin Money account! There’s basically no online function which is really annoying although the good news is, I can check my statements at work because our computer system doesn’t see Virgin as a real bank

I’m going to look into getting the equivalent account at Co-op as that seems to have normal banking functions. I’ll keep the Virgin one and put my emergency fund into it, perhaps.

lonelyrat

Hey MMC! Just read through your diary and sounds like you're really motivated! Well done on sorting your DMP I'm with you with Virgin... I've just joined them and the online banking is pants. Spent about 15 minutes trying to find an app - turns out they don't have one! I've heard good things about the Co-op. If you have dds set up on your Virgin account it may be worth going through the switch service and you could then maybe open a wee instant access savings with the Co-op as well. Would make things easy for moving around!

Good luck! I've subscribed so I'll cheer you on