Payplan DMP or go it alone?

Enough17

I posted on here a few weeks back re my debt - unsecured 55k, also own a property that we rent out.


I contacted StepChange and went through the online thing putting all details of debt in, rang them and they said have to contact nationaldebtline or businessdebt (sorry cant remember exactly) because we rent out the property we own, this wasn't the case a few months ago when first went to go with SC.


I rang the number they suggested and basically they can't help as we live in NI and there is only one person over here dealing with these queries, he suggested a dmp with Payplan. Reading the reviews for them is very worrying, I was all set and ready to go with SC and felt comfortable working with them. I just want to get this sorted once and for all, i.e start a DMP.


What are people's views on payplan, or would you recommend going it alone? Most are cc debt and wit DLA's now - PRA, Westcot etc. I think all are defaulted.


Any advice much appreciated please, thanks in advance

sourcrates

Hi,

Just go it alone, you dont need any 3rd party help to run a DMP.

Write to all your creditors, make your offer of payment, ask for their payment details (online banking quickest and best), job done.

Pixie5740

Is there a reason you are holding on to the rental property? For example, do you see yourself returning to live in it in the near future? If your fiances are such that you are considering a DMP how will you cope if something in the property needs repaired or replaced, or the tenant doesn't pay the rent, or you have a void period?

Iwanttobefree

My experience with both Payplan and Step change is that they are only effective if every company agrees to their suggested repayment plan.

Sadly in my case there were at least 3 that didn't.

I still had the calls and letters, I still had interest. When I asked both Payplan and Stepchange, they said they had no power to stop them, and I needed to contact them myself to try and get it resolved.

Initially I was with Payplan but left them as they seemed more interested in selling me insurance than helping me. That was about 4 odd years ago now, things might have changed, but to say I was unimpressed is an understatement.

Payplan are also not a charity but are a commercial company.

I then changed to Stepchange, much better, but couldn't stop the letters or help when a company refused to lower or freeze interest.

As I ended up having to talk to half the companies direct (Stepchange, or the people there I spoke to, wouldn't contact them on my behalf when they wouldn't freeze the interest) on the advice of this forum, I started doing our DMP myself.

It's been really easy to manage, in many ways less hassle than dealing with the likes of Stepchange (can pay different companies at different times of the month for example, whereas going through Payplan etc require you to make one monthly payment which they then split between creditors) .

Hopefully it all goes well. I have one company that's caused me grief since day one, the others have all been fine.

Wantingtojustlive

Hi this is the question I was wanting to ask, it sounds like I should do our own dmp, where do we start we have credit card debts with about 9 or 10 cards, my husband self employed and I'm part time, all the time robbing Peter to pay Paul, just recently as Lloyds are charging overdraft fees of nearly £5 a day about a month ago transferred onto virgin 0% and now find ourselves in sane position with nearly £4000 overdraft and charged everyday, we have around 65000 credit card debt, do you think it's possible. Done a budget and were minus, help please

sourcrates

Wantingtojustlive wrote: »

Hi this is the question I was wanting to ask, it sounds like I should do our own dmp, where do we start we have credit card debts with about 9 or 10 cards, my husband self employed and I'm part time, all the time robbing Peter to pay Paul, just recently as Lloyds are charging overdraft fees of nearly £5 a day about a month ago transferred onto virgin 0% and now find ourselves in sane position with nearly £4000 overdraft and charged everyday, we have around 65000 credit card debt, do you think it's possible. Done a budget and were minus, help please

Right, its a very simple process, first you need to stop paying all your unsecured debts, then, you must source a new, basic bank account, with a bank with whom you have no debt, there is no borrowing facility, and anyone can open one.

Get all your essential payments over to your new account.

Work out what you can afford to pay towards your unsecured debts after you have budgeted for all your essential bills, once you have that figure, you need to divide it proportionally between your creditors, to come to a monthly amount for each one.

Next, write and inform all your creditors that you are in severe financial difficulty, that you have taken debt advice, and will be in touch again soon with a resolution, they will automatically put all accounts on hold for 30 days, in reality, you can stretch this out for a much longer period.

Make sure you save an emergency fund, you will need it.

When you are ready, write again, to each creditor, telling them what you intend to do, how much you intend to pay them, and when, ask for payment details from each one (best to save everything to online banking, much easier to mange).

Then on an agreed date, start paying them, you will get automated calls and letters, that is normal, most can be ignored, as long as you keep your creditors informed about what you are doing.

Work out the figures, see if they are viable or not, if they all, all well and good, if not, you may have to look at other alternatives such as selling your rented out house.

Wantingtojustlive

Hi I have tried to ask the credit card companies for addresses, but instead got passed through to their money management teams where I was asked about budgets ,so I think I've put accounts on hold for breathing space. So now I need to send letters of offers, I think, and how do you work out proportions to pay each one? And get the address of each one to send a recorded letter of offer? And where to pay the amounts into for each card. Thanks in advance. hope I am posting in correct place