DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

emmajaynewithay

Unfortunately my partner and I broke up a month ago. I now have to let a flat on my own and will be about £300 less when off. I’m going to contact payplan to get a SA budget produced and ask them to contact the creditors to see if they accept around 1/3 less of the current £800 I’m paying off a month.

Does anyone else have experience of having reduce payments? How did the creditors react? I’ve only been on the plan for 5 months so I’m gutted to have to go back and ask for it to be changed.

Suseka97

emmajaynewithay wrote: »

....... I now have to let a flat on my own and will be about £300 less when off. I’m going to contact payplan to get a SA budget produced and ask them to contact the creditors to see if they accept around 1/3 less of the current £800 I’m paying off a month. Does anyone else have experience of having reduce payments? How did the creditors react? I’ve only been on the plan for 5 months so I’m gutted to have to go back and ask for it to be changed.

Try not to stress about this, life happens and a DMP journey isn't always a straightforward one. Your financial circumstances have changed and so it warrants a review of your I&E, which will subsequently mean you'll have to reduce your payments. Whether creditors accept that or not is neither here nor there. You can only pay what you can reasonably afford - it's as simple as that.

Eugh

Hi,

I received a letter today from Very after missing one payment (have sent holding letters, but have yet to hear from any creditors yet) that talks about default in a way that suggests they are defaulting me already - which I realise is the aim at the beginning...

But I'm concerned the letter is actually not defaulting me and it just worded 'scarily' to make people pay. I'm thinking this as I've only not paid one payment and the wording is a bit odd.

It's says it's a'notice of default sums under the consumer credit act 1974'

It also states they are 'not entitled to charge for interest for the first 28 days after giving notice, but if outstanding amounts aren't paid by xx it will be charged at 39.9%'

Is this just a very puffed up late payment letter??

Also, while I'm here... how long does it usually take for creditors to acknowledge holding letters? I realise business wheels don't turn quickly but I would feel happier if I get a reply before a month is up!

Thanks

Suseka97

Eugh wrote: »

Hi,
I received a letter today from Very after missing one payment (have sent holding letters, but have yet to hear from any creditors yet) that talks about default in a way that suggests they are defaulting me already - which I realise is the aim at the beginning...
But I'm concerned the letter is actually not defaulting me and it just worded 'scarily' to make people pay. I'm thinking this as I've only not paid one payment and the wording is a bit odd.
It's says it's a'notice of default sums under the consumer credit act 1974'
It also states they are 'not entitled to charge for interest for the first 28 days after giving notice, but if outstanding amounts aren't paid by xx it will be charged at 39.9%'
Is this just a very puffed up late payment letter??
Also, while I'm here... how long does it usually take for creditors to acknowledge holding letters? I realise business wheels don't turn quickly but I would feel happier if I get a reply before a month is up!
Thanks

This is just standard blurb that creditors send out when you don't make your contractual payment - some send them quicker than others, but it doesn't mean they will actually follow through with a default in a timely way. And, I'm sorry to say, that Very is notorious for not defaulting people. If you search for Very on this thread you'll find quite a few posts about that particular issue. As for acknowledgements, again some will and some won't - it's just how it is. With that said, irrespective of whether you get acknowledgements or not - you just need to follow through with whatever the payment plan is.

SkintDad87

So with that in mind, how would you approach the situation, to get a default quicker? I've done a search for the word 'Very' and as you can imagine, every thread and post comes up, none with the info required

Minnie82

Hi folks,

I've not been on in forever and have been far more of a lurker than poster.

Firstly I wanted to say to people at the beginning of their journey, this can be a scary time and sometimes the amount of time you need to pay off debts seems forever but honestly, a structured, manageable plan is so much better than living in fear every time the phone goes. You can and will get through this.

DH and I were £40,000 in debt when we looked at the DAS scheme (Scotland), we got into this state with a sudden drop in his workload (trade) that lasted for ages and we had just had a 2nd baby. We had also had some cards that we used before this happened thinking we were invincible and we would easily pay it back. Lesson well and truly learned. We signed up for the DAS in December 2013 and at the end of this month, our debt will be around £3800 with 5 payments left to go. It can be done and when the end is within touching, its an amazing feeling. It wasn't always easy and we had to have a couple of payment holidays along the way but I'm proud that we've been making payments between £700-£800 a month and this will soon be ours to save.

Our defualts are due to start falling off at the turn of the year as some defaulted us straight away, a couple I'm concerned about though, my DH Barclaycard, one RBS joint account and my Next account didn't default us for quite a while (my barclaycard defaulted me straight away which seems odd and another 3 RBS accounts also defaulted straight away but 1 didn't) I'm wondering if its worth getting in touch with them myself to see if they will backdate, should I do this at the end? Any thoughts appreciated.

Jo842002

Hi all,

I have been lurking around these posts after having a lightbulb moment a couple of weeks ago. It seems ours is not an uncommon story - escalating cc debt and increasingly high repayments have resulted in £60k of debt. We tried to increase our mortgage to cover the debt but was declined and as our repayments and other outgoings now exceed our incomings we have realised that a dmp is the way forward for us. I have been in touch with Payplan (who I have found quite persistent) and have done a budget on the SC website so will give them a call next week. Although there is masses of information on here, I would appreciate if someone could talk me through the process in baby steps!

Our cc payments come out throughout the month - do I cancel them all and then send the holding letters once they are missed? Or send the letters once the dd's have been cancelled but before any missed payments?

The holding letter templates generally only ask for breathing space for a month - however in order to save up an EF plus the first payment to either SC or PP (my partner is paid weekly) we would ideally like to start a repayment plan in July/August. I am aware of people asking for CCA's - is this done further down the line?

Once the holding letters have been sent - do we then follow up with a further request in a months time? Do we start the dmp once we have missed payments or before?

Sorry for the long post and the questions - it is quite a lot to get our heads around as although we have a huge amount of debt, we have never missed any payments and our credit score is relatively okay.

It has been a scary realisation but funnily we are both quite positive about the future - going on the figures from PP we will be repaying for 6-7 years, and I realise the journey may not be smooth but at least there may be some sort of end in sight!

I appreciate any responses! Thanks

Willing2Learn

Eugh wrote: »

I received a letter today from Very after missing one payment (have sent holding letters, but have yet to hear from any creditors yet) that talks about default in a way that suggests they are defaulting me already - which I realise is the aim at the beginning...

Suseka97 wrote: »

This is just standard blurb that creditors send out when you don't make your contractual payment - some send them quicker than others, but it doesn't mean they will actually follow through with a default in a timely way. And, I'm sorry to say, that Very is notorious for not defaulting people. If you search for Very on this thread you'll find quite a few posts about that particular issue...

SkintDad87 wrote: »

So with that in mind, how would you approach the situation, to get a default quicker? I've done a search for the word 'Very' and as you can imagine, every thread and post comes up, none with the info required

Just wanted add about Very not defaulting their customer accounts so that they can continue 39.9% APR interest. What we sometimes suggest on these boards, is for the debtor to totally withhold payments from Very, to force them into defaulting the account. Sadly, I am unsure of the success rate

Willing2Learn

Minnie82 wrote: »

… Our defualts are due to start falling off at the turn of the year as some defaulted us straight away, a couple I'm concerned about though, my DH Barclaycard, one RBS joint account and my Next account didn't default us for quite a while (my barclaycard defaulted me straight away which seems odd and another 3 RBS accounts also defaulted straight away but 1 didn't) I'm wondering if its worth getting in touch with them myself to see if they will backdate, should I do this at the end? Any thoughts appreciated.

Firstly, well done on making such good inroads into paying down your debts so quickly.

Secondly, as far as the defaults are concerned. There is ICO guidelines that say that an account should be defaulted when it is 3-6 months in arrears. It is only guidance however, and creditors are not compelled to comply. They must however have due diligence to the guidance. So why not ask your troublesome creditors to comply with the guidance. The feedback regarding this is fairly positive, but success is not guaranteed. With that in mind, take a look at the thread linked below. Pay particular attention to post #4.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5598629/punished-for-dmp

Willing2Learn

Jo842002 wrote: »

Our cc payments come out throughout the month - do I cancel them all and then send the holding letters once they are missed? Or send the letters once the dd's have been cancelled but before any missed payments?

The holding letter templates generally only ask for breathing space for a month - however in order to save up an EF plus the first payment to either SC or PP (my partner is paid weekly) we would ideally like to start a repayment plan in July/August. I am aware of people asking for CCA's - is this done further down the line?

Once the holding letters have been sent - do we then follow up with a further request in a months time? Do we start the dmp once we have missed payments or before?

Hi,

Just simply cancel the DDs for the CCs and simultaneously send out the holding letters so that your CC creditors are kept appraised of the situation.

We try and encourage folks to delay the official start date of their DMP payments for six months. This is so that you can put together a reasonable EF. An EF is such an important component of any successful budget. An EF is vital to stop you from being tempted to spend on credit for when the unexpected happens and things are going pear-shaped.