DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Whatamidoinghere

Thanks for your kind reassuring words Sourcrates and Suseka97 you don't realise how much it means to have someone to talk to. Many thanks

Marble030509

Sorry you have to keep holding my hand step by step at the moment but questions keep arising in my head.

Starling Bank phoned us this evening asking for our StepChange reference. Was i correct in giving them it even though we don't plan on starting with StepChange until August? Wasn't too pleased we received the call in all honesty as i stated in all of letters that we sent out to be contacted by writing only.

As you know by now we plan on starting the DMP in August. How do i keep these creditors at bay in terms of wording in letters. Is it just something like ''I'm still in talks with StepChange regarding my financial situation''? Would they really buy into that until August?

Sorry once again for all the questions i just don't want to leave any stone unturned in our quest to become debt free.

Thank you.

Susie12345

Hi
I am new to this site and would like to ask for some advice regarding DMP and if I have other options. Should I make a new post or can I ask here?
I have been with step change for a year making token payments and now they want to review and I'm hoping I can go on dmp plan but wondered if it's doable without step change? I haven't been able to read all the posts as there are so many. Is there anything I should read that would help?

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thank you

Willing2Learn

Marble030509 wrote: »

As you know by now we plan on starting the DMP in August. How do i keep these creditors at bay in terms of wording in letters. Is it just something like ''I'm still in talks with StepChange regarding my financial situation''? Would they really buy into that until August?

Hello again :hello:

Don't be fearful. Countless people before you have delayed the start of their DMPs so that they can build up a sizeable Emergency Fund.

Take a look at the thread linked below. The advice given by Suseka97 and sourcrates is invaluable in explaining the mindset required.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5889160

Willing2Learn

Susie12345 wrote: »

I have been with step change for a year making token payments and now they want to review and I'm hoping I can go on dmp plan but wondered if it's doable without step change? I haven't been able to read all the posts as there are so many. Is there anything I should read that would help?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Hi Susie and welcome to the forum

Have a look at the NEDCAB site for guidance on how to self-manage a DMP.
https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

Marble030509

Superb! That thread was a real help

Thanks so much once again.

Susie12345

Hi
Thanks for the response. I checked the website and will do some more reading but wanted to ask few questions after reading some of the posts on here.

I see that some people put off starting dmp. Is this something that is a good thing to do ?
What is this emergency fund? Do you advice that I should try and save up some cash before starting dmp? And how much this emergency fund should be?
How much would I pay on dmp? Is this tailored to what people can afford? Even if it's like £5 a month to each creditor?
I am with step change now. Can i try to self manage dmp myself and if it doesn't work out can I join step change again?
Thank you

Suseka97

Susie12345 wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for the response. I checked the website and will do some more reading but wanted to ask few questions after reading some of the posts on here.
I see that some people put off starting dmp. Is this something that is a good thing to do ?
What is this emergency fund? Do you advice that I should try and save up some cash before starting dmp? And how much this emergency fund should be?
How much would I pay on dmp? Is this tailored to what people can afford? Even if it's like £5 a month to each creditor?
I am with step change now. Can i try to self manage dmp myself and if it doesn't work out can I join step change again?
Thank you

In your earlier post you mention that you've been with StepChange for a year making token payments and now they want to review your financial position. So some of your questions are a little confusing. If you've been paying tokens for a year, you have in effect been delaying the start of your DMP in the true sense and would have been paying tokens whilst you saved an emergency fund - yes?

Anyway - if you want to self-manage then if you use the NEDCAB site resources you can put in your income and expenditure details onto their template and it'll show how much is affordable for you. It'll also give you all the template letters to get you up and running on a self managed DMP.

With that said- why not go through the review with SC and see where you stand and yes, if you leave SC you can always return to them. It's an informal arrangement, one that you are ultimately in control of.

Susie12345

Hi and thank you for your response. I have not managed to save up for emergency fund as I genuinely could not afford more than token payments due to needing some dental work so I could not save up. I also had some priority debt that I had to pay off using more than token payments but sc knew that.
I think what I was wondering was that after my financial review if they say I can't have dmp as my disposable income isn't high enough can I stop paying creditors for a few months and try to save some money and then go with step change again? Or would they not accept me then.

Also if I stopped paying creditors and they offered reduced settlement can I accept it while I'm not on dmp and then if I want to have dmp could I do that? Or would they see this as a fact that if I managed to pay reduced settlement would they say I have to pay quite high amounts for dmp. I'm just confused I don't want to get myself into more trouble.
Thanks

Marble030509

Hi guys.

Question of the day time.

Since we sent the holding letters on Monday our creditors seem to be really on the ball. Even though we told them not to phone and only contact us in writing. Every phone call we have taken from creditors has been them asking for the Step change reference.

My question is by giving this reference if they are on the ball which they seem to very much be won't they just contact Step Change to ask them why my DMP has not started yet? If they do, Step Change will surely tell them that they have not received our papers back. It just feels like we are going to caught out somewhere during this 6 months of saving our emergency fund.

Thanks guys.