Debt Be Gone

booksandbacon

Hey DFW-Nerds!

This weekend OH and I went away on a mini-break...

"BUT YOU ARE IN SO MUCH DEBT!" I hear you cry. Yes we are, to the anxiety-inducing tune of £36k. BUT - I had tickets to a show that had been planned for months, and a highly discounted hotel paid for as a gift. The only thing we really had to buy were our train tickets which were, admittedly, a little bit on the pricey side. We did pay cash (as I'm pretty sure all our credit cards are now frozen anyway) and we had about £35 to last us while we were away (one night).

Here's the thing: In the past, this lack of money would have depressed me. Factoring in dinner, some drinks, brunch, coffee shops, a gift or two...but this time, it didn't bother me at all. In fact, we hardly spent a thing! We were given free drinks tickets at the hotel because our room wasn't quite ready, so we sat with our (freeeee) wine and chatted...about the debt! :rotfl: We had a great time, the show was amazing and the only thing we bought were coffees and breakfast muffins the next morning.

It's pay day soon and I'm really excited about it - something has definitely switched in my brain because I'm excited to save. SAVE! I've got my savings pots sorted and I can't wait to see them grow. Haven't decided a start date for the DMP yet, still tinkering with the budget a little but I think we're aiming for December 1st. Part of me thinks why not just make it January 1st? I'm super keen to get the emergency fund in place before we make any DMP payments, but I also don't want to leave the banks hanging (except Hellifax, they can hang :mad:)

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

B&B

juliejim

Pleased you enjoyed your weekend away and you kept your MSE heads on as well - well done.

GlendaSugarbean

Re: the start date, I suppose it partly depends on whether you think you can stay on track with savings until Jan it if you are likely to be derailed by Xmas expenses. If there's a chance you'd be tempted to overspend over the holiday I'd be inclined to start in Dec.

booksandbacon

Hey Debt-Fighters!

This week on Debt Be Gone...

I decided to review the budget we had been working on. When we decided we were going to do a DMP, OH and I sat down and worked out our realistic outgoings so that we could work out our pro-rata offers to the Creditors. It wasn't great and I felt pretty low about the amount we had left - even though I know it won't be like that forever, it still sucked. I've since had to review it because I'll have to start using the train to get to work on some days - this also won't last forever, but it does mean the Creditors will only be getting £1 token payments for a bit.

And I'm weirdly okay about this.

Something has definitely shifted in my mindset. I've been reading the DMP Support Thread whenever I have a spare few minutes (I'm on page 65 - July 2017-ish) and it's just so brilliant. There's something for everyone, the advice is super helpful, the pep talks keep me fired up to get rid of my own debt and I love catching up on how everyone is getting on. It's also good to know about what specific Creditors are like and how to deal with them.

Sent out the next round of letters this morning. Decided to self-manage the DMP right from the get go, I feel confident I can organise everything it's just a case of keeping on top of who's been sent what and when. Ideally everything would go out and come back in at the same time :rotfl:

Keep Calm & DMP On!

B&B xoxo

UncannyScot

You are a girl on a mission. Love it and your wee topic titles too

Whilst I am taking a different route to becoming debt free (sequestration), I have the same attitude towards debt and credit. I never want to be in debt again and I don't want to ever use credit again either.
When I was discussing my debt with SC and my local CAB they both recommended sequestration over DMP. Basically, my situation was that I would have never been able to clear it in a reasonable time frame so was advised to go for sequestration and wipe the slate clean.
Almost 60K of debt will be gone in 4 years. I have already been "discharged" but have a further 3 years to go before the sequestration completes and the appointed trustee is discharged and so I continue to pay an agreed DCO amount each month until then.

I also stressed and worried about going through this... if you've read through my diary then you'll know what a roller coaster ride it has been... However, I am moving forward and I am getting on. I am living a frugal but fulfilling lifestyle.

As my insolvency practitioner said, "it's about living within your means..." once I learnt myself how to do that I was then able to begin to make the necessary changes and move forwards.

Keep positive in thought and deed and you will achieve a positive outcome... think that is a wee bit o zen... or something...

Keep on keeping on you are on the right road and you have a fair few travelling companions and debt- fighters with you.
Love that... Debt Fighters... almost as cool as Foo Fighters (although seriously, no-one is as cool as the Foo Fighters...)

UncannyScot

You've been very quiet... hope your ok

booksandbacon

UncannyScot wrote: »

Love that... Debt Fighters... almost as cool as Foo Fighters (although seriously, no-one is as cool as the Foo Fighters...)

Definitely agree with you there!

booksandbacon

What's up Debt Fighters!

Hope you're all enjoying a lovely three-day weekend I myself have begun it with an almond croissant and a trip to the library...living the rock and roll dream :cool:

Update on my DMP Journey...

Barclaycard have been an absolute delight to deal with - prompt clear letters, accepted my payment plan no bother, all interest frozen and a default date set for October. I was quite worried about them as I'd read on the DMP Support Thread they can be problematic but so far so good. Most of the other creditors have also gotten in line with my plan.

Others have not...

I've not heard a bloomin' peep out of Halifax and Vanquis except for "give us your money!"-type letters. Neither have acknowledged my initial financial difficulty letter, my follow-up financial difficulty letter and then my token repayment+income and expenditure letter. Oh they've added interest too. A**hats. :mad:

NatWest have acknowledged my financial difficulty but seem to have a problem with my I&E form - they haven't said what the problem is and are proving to be somewhat vague: "Please contact us".

Other Debt News: I find I'm kinda judge-y with other people's financial decisions now, feeling a little pang of anxiety whenever I hear "Oh i'll just shove it on a credit card" or "It's fine I can just get it on finance". Also I got cross with the fella in Paperchase for questioning why I was buying so many stamps IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS OKAY STEVEN.

That's me over and out

DancingUnicorn

Hi, welcome to the DMP club. I started mine with token payments then moved to a DMP. I've had to lower the payments on mine for the past couple of months, but will be upping them again soon - that's the beauty of a DMP, you can make it work for you!

As for hellifax - they never were helpful for me. They were the last company to default me and stop interest (so theirs will last another 4 months after the others have been wiped!) but they eventually got the message and my DMP is running along tickety-boo now.

I get an annual letter from each creditor stating what I still owe them but I just store these away (I think it's a legal thing they have to send) and keep paying what I've deemed I can afford.

I remember being so nervous at the beginning, but honestly, now, it's just a part of everyday life and 90% of the time I don't even think about it (the other 10% I'm on here haha).

Well done for taking those first few, scary steps and keep going! You've got this!

jwil

Just keep paying them the token payments, some of mine never agreed the payments, they still took them and it was never an issue.

The ones that aren't playing ball, I'd keep them on token payments until they do default you. If they take too long, send in a complaint, I did this and got some charges refunded.