DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Bluscope

Hi Thank you for the reply, I think my considering bankruptcy is a bit of an anxiety kneejerk, I'm just impatiently for the creditors to reply to the DMP letter from Payplan so I know if they agree or not, and get the payments underway.


Just want to take responsibility for my previous poor financial choices and get my life on track.

Bluscope

Apologies, I don't know how to quote reply on mobile.. haha.


Thanks also Sourcrates for the reply with payplan I worked out in my i&e's that I can pay £200 a month towards the DMP, which is a significant reduction from the £600 I've been struggling to pay each month.


Not sure how I would go about qualifying for a DRO but I'll look into it.

Julie2601

Hi

Newbie here and after reading through these threads and boards for a couple of months I've stopped burying my head in the sand and decided a DMP is the way forward for me.
I have filled in the information on stepchange who also recommend a DMP as I cannot meet my monthly payments, currently owe £36000 to cards and £17000 family loan.

As recommended on these forums I am going to stop paying and save an emergency fund for at least 3 months my question is where do you keep this do I need to open a savings account? If stepchange ask for bank statements will they question the emergency fund?
With regards to the family loan which stepchange recommend paying £120 per month , will they need proof of this loan or look for proof of paying it back?
I have nothing in writing and do not really want to alert the family member that I'm on a dmp.

Thanks for all your help.

Fo19nz

Hello,
I posted on here once many many months ago and then bottled accepting the help and buried my head in the sand - and things got progressively worse. I haven't slept properly in months and it's like there is a rock in my chest all the time. But this morning I have FINALLY sat myself down and filled in all my information with Step Change, they recommended a DMP so I have applied for the pack.
I understand now that I need to write to my creditors and send a token payment - how much detail should I give in this letter? A lot of the debt has spiralled due to a divorce and an exhusband who left me in a hell of a mess - I know that they won't be interested in this but is any background necessary or just literally a case of the fact that I've taken advice from Stepchange etc? I'm worried, ashamed and a whole lot more - but I'm trying to see this as Day 1 of a new start.
Also, how soon will my pack arrive from Stepchange and is it then that I can set a start date for repayment or will they do all that?

I hope it's okay to post - I'm here for the long haul now.

jools1985

Julie2601 wrote: »

Hi

Newbie here and after reading through these threads and boards for a couple of months I've stopped burying my head in the sand and decided a DMP is the way forward for me.
I have filled in the information on stepchange who also recommend a DMP as I cannot meet my monthly payments, currently owe £36000 to cards and £17000 family loan.

As recommended on these forums I am going to stop paying and save an emergency fund for at least 3 months my question is where do you keep this do I need to open a savings account? If stepchange ask for bank statements will they question the emergency fund?
With regards to the family loan which stepchange recommend paying £120 per month , will they need proof of this loan or look for proof of paying it back?
I have nothing in writing and do not really want to alert the family member that I'm on a dmp.

Thanks for all your help.

I had a 'spare' current account which is not connected to any of my debts. I just save my emergency fund in there. It's a TSB one which also pays me a bit of interest each month too - it all helps the fund to grow. No reason why it can't be a savings account though. Just make sure you don't have any debt with whichever organisation you save your EF with.


I've been with Stepchange for a year now and they have never asked for sight of any bank statements or any statements -credit card statements etc. It's all on trusting what you tell them.


Good luck in dealing with your debts. You've made a great positive start by addressing them

Suseka97

Fo19nz wrote: »

............this morning I have FINALLY sat myself down and filled in all my information with Step Change, they recommended a DMP so I have applied for the pack.
I understand now that I need to write to my creditors and send a token payment - how much detail should I give in this letter? A lot of the debt has spiralled due to a divorce and an exhusband who left me in a hell of a mess - I know that they won't be interested in this but is any background necessary or just literally a case of the fact that I've taken advice from Stepchange etc? I'm worried, ashamed and a whole lot more - but I'm trying to see this as Day 1 of a new start.
Also, how soon will my pack arrive from Stepchange and is it then that I can set a start date for repayment or will they do all that?

Hello (again) and welcome. It's good to hear you are now in a place where you can start to resolve your financial situation and before you know it you'll be looking forward to a brighter debt free future.

To answer your question about the next steps - all you need to do is write to your creditors and keep it simple. Just tell them that you are in financial difficulty and that you are in discussions with StepChange who has recommended a DMP and that they will be in touch with them in due course. Don't specify any sort of timeframe at this point. I know SC may have suggested making token payments -but in reality they are not necessary. The main thing is to keep creditors informed. When you write, include your SC reference and also use that as an opportunity to also give them permission to provide SC with any account details when approached.

Do you have any debts with your current bank account provider? If you do, then you'll need to set up a new bank account with a provider that has no finanical links to any of your debts. Do that before you let them know about your plans to set up a DMP.

Also, don't rush in to the DMP just yet - give yourself some headspace and time to put some money aside for the inevitable unforeseen expense that may come your way once the DMP is up and running. This isn't a race - so take your time. Again, SC do not advise anyone to set up an emergency fund and encourage people to get the DMP up and running swiftly - but trust me (and most of us who are long haul DMPers) that having an emergency fund is fundamental to successful budget management.

If you take a little time to read back on this thread you'll read lots of posts with helpful hints and tips and advice for new DMPers such as yourself. You are now a member of the DMP family here - so good luck with it

Bluscope

Little update, I've now sent all info required and Payplan are writing to my creditors to advise them of my DMP starting in October. I was planning to struggle through and make my normal payments in September as I was worried about consequences of missing payments, but have come to the conclusion that this will not be possible.

Emailed PP and they advised me that creditors should put a hold on my accounts for 30 days upon receipt of their letter anyway, hoping that means I can just cancel direct debits/payments for September and if I get any emails or calls refer them to PP. Waiting for PP to advise me on going ahead and cancelling debits but they're shut till tomorrow.

Really would be a massive weight off my mind not to have to phone 10 creditors and ask them for breathing space or have to try and find money to struggle through with payments. I did advise 2 creditors that I was planning on paying manually in September after requesting that they cancel CPA arrangements, but hoping the PP letter will supersede this.

Just really eager to lift this mammoth weight of debt off my mind and start living a sensible life within my means, with no more credit!

Suseka97

Bluscope wrote: »

.......Emailed PP and they advised me that creditors should put a hold on my accounts for 30 days upon receipt of their letter anyway, hoping that means I can just cancel direct debits/payments for September and if I get any emails or calls refer them to PP. Waiting for PP to advise me on going ahead and cancelling debits but they're shut till tomorrow.
Really would be a massive weight off my mind not to have to phone 10 creditors and ask them for breathing space or have to try and find money to struggle through with payments. I did advise 2 creditors that I was planning on paying manually in September after requesting that they cancel CPA arrangements, but hoping the PP letter will supersede this.

There's no need to wait, appreciating that you are not keen on contacting your creditors. Although we tend to advise folks to contact creditors from the outset, and to do so in writing, to say you are struggling financially and that you are working with x or y (in your case, PP) to resolve the situation. The norm is that creditors will put your account on hold for 30 days - and I think that's about to change (by way of legislation) to a longer period. Which is good news.

Do you have debts associated with your bank account? If so, have you set up a new and separate bank account. I ask, because most people do tend to have debts with their bank (loans, CCs, overdrafts etc.) and it's therefore important to get that new bank account up and running as soon as possible, and not to use any sort of 'switching' service so that any overdraft doesn't transfer across. All this should, hopefully, have been explained to you by PP.

If you don't need a new bank account - then get those non priority debt DDs cancelled now. If you do have to set up a new bank account, then just cancel the DDs associated with any other creditor that isn't linked to it. Either way you can then start saving those funds towards the all important emergency fund.

Everything will then follow on through the process.

jupitercrash

Hi, me again!

So I'm one month into my 6 month 'breathing space' to build an EF. Not heard a peep from any of my creditors apart from one - Fluid, who I have a CC with.

They've sent me a letter that basically says:

Thanks for getting in touch with us recently. Your concerns are important to us and we'd like to discuss them with you personally. We'd appreciate it if you could call us on....

As explained in previous posts, I suffer with an anxiety disorder that is heavily triggered by financial stuff - even making the decision to tackle my debt in this way is a huge step for me. So the idea of calling them & having to explain myself is making me feel quite sick.

Has anyone had anything like this before? Can anyone take an educated guess at what they might want to say?

Bluscope

Hi, yes set up a separate bank account. I've spoken to Payplan today and cancelled all payments for September onwards through bank as advised by payplan. They've actually been fantastic at settling my worries.



Any letters or phone calls I recieve I just have to refer to Payplan. Now looking forward to starting the DMP in October