DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

JohnnyRotten

Thanks CBC. Great to hear your story - seeing the numbers in your signature is inspiring :T

The advice I got from SC was invaluable and without them I wouldn’t have even heard of a DMP; I’d spent years juggling credit and remortgaging It was only through reading threads 11 and 12 that I started to think about self-managing. My plan was to do exactly what you did and start with SC then switch to NEDCAB when things had settled down. I felt the same as others when I started - miserable, embarrassed and mortified - but from reading the forum and some great advice my confidence built.

I’m so grateful to those forum members (too many to name - you included!) who take the time to read and respond - hearing from people who have been in this situation makes a huge difference. I’m just at the start of my journey, and I’m sure there will be bumps along the way, but knowing I can come here for advice is a huge relief.

Loobylou07

Hi,

First of all, thank you thank you thank you for this amazing forum!
Three days ago I thought we were sunk! But having literally spent the last 3 days reading through EVERY post since January 17, I actually see the light at the end of our tunnel!!

Mine and Hubby's situation is classic I suppose....we bought our house two years ago with a nice squeaky clean credit file. Unfortunately, since then a mixture of paying family back (for house deposit) and stupidly spending on CC's to furnish the house, we are in the situation of not being able to afford the CC debts and personal loan.

We currently owe approx. £33,000. I have been in touch with SC who have advised the DMP route.
Having read a lot on this forum, I am seriously considering the SM route. We both have 3x cc's and Hubby has another with Vulturquis and I have a personal loan with N/wide, who we also have our current account with. We have no overdraft. So 7 cc's and 1 loan.

I am at the stage now that I have set up a different bank account and have my salary being paid in at the end of this month with Hubby's going in middle of Nov. (too late for his payroll to sort for Oct.)

I feel reasonably confident to SM, and we are both aware that we will get ALOT of letters and phone calls initially.

I do feel though, that being with SC might offer added protection? ie. telling our creditors that we are going through SC MIGHT make it all sound a bit better to them?
Also, does anyone know if we can continue payments to family? I really don't want to have to stop these or tell them that we are struggling. They are all in their mid 70's and have their own health related issues going on.
I'm not sure if I have seen that these are classed as priority debts?


Thanks for reading. I already feel calmer just sharing my concerns.

Loobylou07.

January2015

Loobylou07 wrote: »

Hi,

First of all, thank you thank you thank you for this amazing forum!
Three days ago I thought we were sunk! But having literally spent the last 3 days reading through EVERY post since January 17, I actually see the light at the end of our tunnel!!

Mine and Hubby's situation is classic I suppose....we bought our house two years ago with a nice squeaky clean credit file. Unfortunately, since then a mixture of paying family back (for house deposit) and stupidly spending on CC's to furnish the house, we are in the situation of not being able to afford the CC debts and personal loan.

We currently owe approx. £33,000. I have been in touch with SC who have advised the DMP route.
Having read a lot on this forum, I am seriously considering the SM route. We both have 3x cc's and Hubby has another with Vulturquis and I have a personal loan with N/wide, who we also have our current account with. We have no overdraft. So 7 cc's and 1 loan.

I am at the stage now that I have set up a different bank account and have my salary being paid in at the end of this month with Hubby's going in middle of Nov. (too late for his payroll to sort for Oct.)

I feel reasonably confident to SM, and we are both aware that we will get ALOT of letters and phone calls initially.

I do feel though, that being with SC might offer added protection? ie. telling our creditors that we are going through SC MIGHT make it all sound a bit better to them?
Also, does anyone know if we can continue payments to family? I really don't want to have to stop these or tell them that we are struggling. They are all in their mid 70's and have their own health related issues going on.
I'm not sure if I have seen that these are classed as priority debts?


Thanks for reading. I already feel calmer just sharing my concerns.

Loobylou07.

Welcome and well done on facing up to your debt problem - that's the hardest bit

If you go SM, when you contact creditors say you are seeking support for your financial problems from Stepchange or one of the other debt charities. You don't have to follow through and take up their help, but it does make the creditors take you seriously at the beginning and that is a big help.

You sound strong enough to go SM straight away.

I highly recommend the NEDCAB DMP website for generating letters etc. which can be personalised/adjusted in Word if you nee to.

Always included in EVERY letter you ever send to your creditors that all communication regarding the account(s) must be put in writing and you do not give them permission to contact you by phone.

Good luck and I look forward to following your journey :beer:

Moveslikeagger

Hi, just one more question following from me posting on here. Can I email my creditors instead of writing to them? And have all communication via email?

Loobylou07

Thank you Jan15.
I'd like to say I've been 'lurking' for some time and have read a lot of your posts. You (and many many others) have been directly responsible for me facing up to our situation, so thank you once again.

I've been onto the nedcab site and started to work through the different tabs with them, it's a really good site, the letters are fab.

I've just got to find my big girl pants tomorrow to cancel all the DD's for the cards...eeeeeek! I have to leave the loan for now as it's with our current bank and need to make sure our pay will go smoothly into our new bank first. Then I'll run all the letters off and send...double eeeeeek!!

I went through fear, shame, stress last week...this week it's action. I feel strangely calm and determined.

I want to repay the debts, I just hope the creditors help us by stopping the charges and interest quickly so we can start making in roads.

I'm planning on making token payments until Feb/Mar, unless I bottle it sooner, and get our EF as healthy as poss. Living without credit is seriously scaring me, but I absolutely know and realise that living WITH credit, for us, is not a good idea. We can't manage it. We got ourselves in debt in 2010, and worked our !!!!!! off to get 'mortgageable' in 2015, and now we're back in debt. So although we had no dmp or anything else in 2010, we did budget and struggle so we know we can do that again.
I've just confirmed a 7 year fixed rate deal with our mortgage company so can tick that off my list of worries.
We just need to get our heads down now, follow the process, and get it done.
I don't want to put our lives on hold though, we have two children and want to enjoy the occasional day out/treat with them, so I want our budget to allow for that.
I'm going to start a diary on here too.
I have to admit to being quite obsessive and have spent HOURS researching the path we have chosen which makes me feel more prepared.

So yes, I'm scared, yes I feel crappy, but I'm ready.... bring it on defaulticon!!

Loobylou07

January2015

Loobylou07 wrote: »

Thank you Jan15.
I'd like to say I've been 'lurking' for some time and have read a lot of your posts. You (and many many others) have been directly responsible for me facing up to our situation, so thank you once again.

I've been onto the nedcab site and started to work through the different tabs with them, it's a really good site, the letters are fab.

I've just got to find my big girl pants tomorrow to cancel all the DD's for the cards...eeeeeek! I have to leave the loan for now as it's with our current bank and need to make sure our pay will go smoothly into our new bank first. Then I'll run all the letters off and send...double eeeeeek!!

I went through fear, shame, stress last week...this week it's action. I feel strangely calm and determined.

I want to repay the debts, I just hope the creditors help us by stopping the charges and interest quickly so we can start making in roads.

I'm planning on making token payments until Feb/Mar, unless I bottle it sooner, and get our EF as healthy as poss. Living without credit is seriously scaring me, but I absolutely know and realise that living WITH credit, for us, is not a good idea. We can't manage it. We got ourselves in debt in 2010, and worked our !!!!!! off to get 'mortgageable' in 2015, and now we're back in debt. So although we had no dmp or anything else in 2010, we did budget and struggle so we know we can do that again.
I've just confirmed a 7 year fixed rate deal with our mortgage company so can tick that off my list of worries.
We just need to get our heads down now, follow the process, and get it done.
I don't want to put our lives on hold though, we have two children and want to enjoy the occasional day out/treat with them, so I want our budget to allow for that.
I'm going to start a diary on here too.
I have to admit to being quite obsessive and have spent HOURS researching the path we have chosen which makes me feel more prepared.

So yes, I'm scared, yes I feel crappy, but I'm ready.... bring it on defaulticon!!

Loobylou07

I remember the panic feeling at the thought of living without credit.

Now.... I would panic at the thought of getting credit. We buy what we need - occasional wants are purchased, but they are seriously thought about and justified first, but I would be a liar if I said we never had the occasional treat for ourselves. Everything is paid for with money that is ours.

It's a great feeling

sourcrates

Moveslikeagger wrote: »

Hi, just one more question following from me posting on here. Can I email my creditors instead of writing to them? And have all communication via email?

Hi,

Some creditors have embraced email, and use it a lot, and respond very quickly to contact, others, unfortunately do not, and that can be frustrating.

Also from a legal perspective anything agreed about your accounts should really be in writing, it may be a tad olde worlde but it’s helpful to have a paper trail, plus email is not secure, it can be hacked quite easily.

make_the_change

Carbootcrazy re: the discussion about Hoist. I have just had a letter stating Hoist Finance UK have now taken ownership of my debt from Hoist Portfolio. Seems a company restructure.

[Deleted User]

make_the_change wrote: »

Carbootcrazy re: the discussion about Hoist. I have just had a letter stating Hoist Finance UK have now taken ownership of my debt from Hoist Portfolio. Seems a company restructure.

Thank you for the information:T

[Deleted User]

Loobylou07 wrote: »

….I have to admit to being quite obsessive and have spent HOURS researching the path we have chosen which makes me feel more prepared.

So yes, I'm scared, yes I feel crappy, but I'm ready.... bring it on defaulticon!!

Loobylou07

Well done on making such a positive start and thank you for such an inspiring post:T

Yes, it is scary at first, we've all been through that stage:eek:, but those feelings soon vanish and DMP life becomes positively stressless in comparison.

It's great that you're researching everything so fully, I wouldn't call it obsessive at all. I wish I'd known more pre-DMP, I just sleep-walked into mine because I knew nothing about the finer points of starting off on the right foot. It all worked out OK in the end but I had several wobbles during the first few months when things happened that I wasn't prepared for:o.

As sourcrates told an earlier poster (I think it was sourcrates)
'Knowledge is Power'

Good luck :beer:. Keep us posted how you get on.