DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Broke_Bear

Well letters all sent off today, no going back now!

Cheesephetamine

Thanks! Will try to relax. It does feel like the world will end. Never missed a payment. I feel like people in the streets will look at me and KNOW. XD

Suseka97

Cheesephetamine wrote: »

Thanks! Will try to relax. It does feel like the world will end. Never missed a payment. I feel like people in the streets will look at me and KNOW. XD

Seriously try to stop beating yourself up about this.

As sourcrates has already advised - nothing much will happen and no-one else needs to know about your financial situation, unless you choose to tell them. It's good you've opened up to your partner and I'm sure he'll be there for moral support along the way

You can expect to get a few standard computer generated letters, once your creditor's late / no payment systems kick in. They do have to send you letters advising of the implications of non payment, but they also tend to send those accompanied by blurb giving advice for you to contact one of the debt charities (which you have already done).

So, sit back and just let things run their course.

Suseka97

DogFace wrote: »

.........I’ve been on a DMP with Step Change for a few years now. I had never considered the possibility of managing my own. What are the advantages of that/disadvantages of using Step Change?

It's really personal choice.

The advantages for many are that SC take away all that initial worry and handle all the communications with your creditors. Once the DMP is up and running - and all your creditors are on board with it, you then just sit back and let things run along.

The disadvantage - depending on how well (or not) your creditors behave - is that you have no control over the payment allocation. By that I mean if, for instance, a creditor refuses to stop charging you interest, or refuses to default you and puts those AP or AR markers on your file - then you have no way of forcing their hand by holding back payment. One of ours (Barclaycard) initially stop charging interest, but when their monthly payment eventually went just a few £s over what was then the min. payment threshold - they reintroduced interest charges. When I spoke with SC to ask them to reduce the BC payment so that it was below that threshold, they said they couldn't/wouldn't, so for a while the balance started to go up, rather than down. That's what prompted me to go down the SM route.

Cheesephetamine

If you have a DMP with SC, can you still top up payments to your creditor accounts say by debit card or transfer if you manage to save a bunch of cash? i was hoping to snowball my debts on my side with whatever is left in my account the day before payday, monthly, along with the standalone payment i will make to SS... that way i was hoping to clear the debts sooner. can you not do that? do the completely cut off your access to your creditors?

Suseka97

Cheesephetamine wrote: »

If you have a DMP with SC, can you still top up payments to your creditor accounts say by debit card or transfer if you manage to save a bunch of cash? i was hoping to snowball my debts on my side with whatever is left in my account the day before payday, monthly, along with the standalone payment i will make to SS... that way i was hoping to clear the debts sooner. can you not do that? do the completely cut off your access to your creditors?

You'd be better off setting that extra money aside in a savings account and then, maybe further down the line you could find yourself able to offer F&Fs. A DMP is an informal arrangement and SC are simply your intermediary - so you can of course stay in contact with your creditors. You should know that SC will not be in favour of your intention to snowball your debts.

Jambobabi

Cheesephetamine wrote: »

If you have a DMP with SC, can you still top up payments to your creditor accounts say by debit card or transfer if you manage to save a bunch of cash? i was hoping to snowball my debts on my side with whatever is left in my account the day before payday, monthly, along with the standalone payment i will make to SS... that way i was hoping to clear the debts sooner. can you not do that? do the completely cut off your access to your creditors?

Hi Cheesephetamine

I am currently with SC but have also been making additional payments to one of the creditors which hasn't defaulted. Once this is paid in full I will be going self managed. SC have been very useful, but they want you to treat all creditors fairly. Whilst I totally understand this, you should still have the right to accept any partially settlements you may get offered, and try to clear the debts as quickly as possible

Willing2Learn

Cheesephetamine wrote: »

If you have a DMP with SC, can you still top up payments to your creditor accounts say by debit card or transfer if you manage to save a bunch of cash? i was hoping to snowball my debts on my side with whatever is left in my account the day before payday, monthly, along with the standalone payment i will make to SS... that way i was hoping to clear the debts sooner. can you not do that? do the completely cut off your access to your creditors?

With StepChange, it is important to treat your creditors fairly. An SC DMP will pro rata the money you give them so that all creditors will get proportional payments. If you then start to overpay one debt only, then SC may consider this to be a preferential payment and may want to terminate the DMP. If you want to snowball your debt, as described in both your blog and this thread, then I think you need to consider self-managing your DMP.

Have a read of the NEDCAB website. It is an invaluable resource for anyone thinking about a SM DMP. Maybe just save up your first snowball payment until September when you can switch from an SC DMP to a SM DMP. By that point you will have been on your honeymoon, settled in to university life and will be in a good position to decide whether to SM or not.

And while I'm here, I was really pleased to read that you have found YNAB (free for a year woohoo). It really tuned things around for me and hopefully it will for you too. Just in case you hadn't noticed, YNAB do web-based seminars to teach newbies the method, which will come in really handy if things start to get confused.

Cheesephetamine

Thanks for the info! i only mention the snowball cos I really don´t know what I am doing but if SC and you guys think is not the right thing to do i will save that extra money (if i get any that's it) and a year down the line when SC re asses my case then we'll see what it can be done, i would like to have an emergency fund to avoid getting more debt if i have an unexpected expense. thanks !

Mike1006

Hi, I’ve been on to StepChange today and filled out the form. They have suggested a dmp. I will send them the stuff tomorrow. Most off my payments come out on Friday (28th of June) I’m struggling as it is and won’t be able to pay all. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do. Should I pay what a can and then leave it to StepChange ?

Also as I am new to this and everything is a bit much for me, does anyone have any advice on what will happen and the steps that will be taken and time it will take to sort out?

Wouldn’t mind hearing from someone who has been/going through it to put my mind at ease