DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

vicki84

Hi thank you for all of the support so far I am with StepChange and I am wondering what happens when the final payment to a debt is made the amount of money paid is more then the remaining debt?

Thanks

Cat9980

Hi
I've been on a DMP with srep change for nearly a year. I have just had a letter from lowell offering to settle a £2600debt for £780. It would be marked as partialy settled.

Is there a drawback to this? Would it cause any issues with step change as I know they tend to want extra payments shared out between debts.

It is one if my smaller debts the others are 11k , 8k, and 2k and my DMP is set to run for 10 years.

Thanks.

Is

Time_To_Change

I think my question may have been missed before so I have posted below if anyone could advise? Do you also stop payments while waiting to hear back oor carry on paying?

"Hi everyone not posted for a while but plodding along and paid off £3000 from my very large debt over the last 10 months. My barclaycard debt was sold to PRA 6 months ago and I have just had a 6 month review. Would this now be a good time to CCA this debt? It is likely to be enforceable as was taken out in 2009 but I do find it a bit strange that barclaycard sold this 14k debt on after only 3 months into my payment plan. Not sure if this is normal or maybe they knew it was unenforceable so decided to get rid of it quickly? Just wondering what other peoples thoughts are on this. Thanks all."

Willing2Learn

Time_To_Change wrote: »

I think my question may have been missed before so I have posted below if anyone could advise? Do you also stop payments while waiting to hear back oor carry on paying?

"Hi everyone not posted for a while but plodding along and paid off £3000 from my very large debt over the last 10 months. My barclaycard debt was sold to PRA 6 months ago and I have just had a 6 month review. Would this now be a good time to CCA this debt? It is likely to be enforceable as was taken out in 2009 but I do find it a bit strange that barclaycard sold this 14k debt on after only 3 months into my payment plan. Not sure if this is normal or maybe they knew it was unenforceable so decided to get rid of it quickly? Just wondering what other peoples thoughts are on this. Thanks all."

Yes, submitting a CCA request is a good idea. The account would then become unenforceable until PRA can provide you with a 'true copy' of your agreement.

Willing2Learn

Cat9980 wrote: »

I've been on a DMP with srep change for nearly a year. I have just had a letter from lowell offering to settle a £2600debt for £780. It would be marked as partialy settled.

Is there a drawback to this? Would it cause any issues with step change as I know they tend to want extra payments shared out between debts.

This would not be compatible with how StepChange administer a DMP. I believe that StepChange would expect you to offer similar settlements (with the same percentage reduction) to all your creditors. Why not ring up StepChange Monday morning to see what they say though? As I could be wrong about how the pro rata thing is administered by StepChange.

vicki84 wrote: »

...thank you for all of the support so far I am with StepChange and I am wondering what happens when the final payment to a debt is made the amount of money paid is more then the remaining debt?

If it were me, I would either contact the applicable creditor or StepChange, asking that they refund the overpayment.

wood_for_the_trees

Hi - not posted here before, but I'm looking into organising a DMP for myself, possibly through Step change.

Quick rundown - Four main creditors, mix of store cards, high-interest credit cards and a loan, coming to around £8,500 in total. I'm meeting minimums but it's a constant struggle with no appreciable difference made to the balances, and I'm not managing to budget for things like emergency repairs or haircuts, dentist visits, prescriptions, seeing friends, etc. Administrative stuff like needing to renew my driving licence screws with me. Stress and isolation for me tend to lead to more impulsive financial decisions and poor nutrition.

My main concern right now is that, while my contracted salary is £1229 pm, I've been working a *lot* of overtime (anything up to 40 hours, on top of a standard 37.5 hour week) in order to try and stay ahead, and my most recent payslips reflect this. However, working this much is exhausting, and ultimately detrimental to my mental and physical health. It's not sustainable, and if I'm getting help with my debt I'd like to cut down for the sake of my sanity, without the feeling of guilt that I currently get when I don't take all the hours going. Also, in my job there are periods when overtime dries up completely, and without warning.

I know Stepchange asks for your most recent wage slip/bank statement as proof of income. Would it be beneficial for me to go a month without taking any overtime at all before contacting them, so that I'm not artificially inflating their expectations of how much I can earn? How often do they review your income once the DMP starts? I may be able to do a few hours here and there when I know I've got the energy and there's a one-off payment coming up that I'll need to cover, but if possible I don't want the DMP predicated on the idea that I can always do that.

Also, I've been concerned to read elsewhere that Stepchange don't always manage to get interest and charges frozen, and that I might have more success in this if I organise a DMP myself. Ack... the biggest attraction of Stepchange was being able to outsource the whole process and not risk forgetting or procrastinating anything (a real issue with me). How much I should be worried about this?

Thanks for any reassurance you can give me.

Willing2Learn

wood_for_the_trees wrote: »

...My main concern right now is that, while my contracted salary is £1229 pm, I've been working a *lot* of overtime (anything up to 40 hours, on top of a standard 37.5 hour week) in order to try and stay ahead, and my most recent payslips reflect this. However, working this much is exhausting, and ultimately detrimental to my mental and physical health. It's not sustainable, and if I'm getting help with my debt I'd like to cut down for the sake of my sanity, without the feeling of guilt that I currently get when I don't take all the hours going. Also, in my job there are periods when overtime dries up completely, and without warning.

I know Stepchange asks for your most recent wage slip/bank statement as proof of income. Would it be beneficial for me to go a month without taking any overtime at all before contacting them, so that I'm not artificially inflating their expectations of how much I can earn? How often do they review your income once the DMP starts? I may be able to do a few hours here and there when I know I've got the energy and there's a one-off payment coming up that I'll need to cover, but if possible I don't want the DMP predicated on the idea that I can always do that...

Hi wood_for_the_trees and welcome to the forum

I never used StepChange, so I'm not sure if they ask for payslips or not. But either way, advise them that your income is 37.5 hours/week and that your current 40 hours/week overtime is unsustainable due to resulting physical and psychological stress. You are their client. Instruct them to work out your disposable income using only your standard hours worked.

wood_for_the_trees wrote: »

...Also, I've been concerned to read elsewhere that Stepchange don't always manage to get interest and charges frozen, and that I might have more success in this if I organise a DMP myself. Ack... the biggest attraction of Stepchange was being able to outsource the whole process and not risk forgetting or procrastinating anything (a real issue with me). How much I should be worried about this?

If it were me, I would write to each creditor asking that they freeze your account for either 3 or 6 months. This often results in the accounts being defaulted, which is a good thing. A defaulted account has interest and fees frozen, and a defaulted account is removed from your credit file sooner. The other reason to put your accounts on hold is that it allows you some breathing space to build an emergency fund (EF). An EF will cover you against the unknown expenses that occur from time to time. So if your car breaks down, or your boiler needs repairing, then you will have funds available.

KSW1981

Hi all, I am trying to set up a support group on Facebook, I am currently on a DMP and have always had lots of questions but never find the answer.
Please join my group so we can help each other and support each other.
My group is called
Debt Management Plan support group (DMP) I look forward to hearing off you. Kelly

jupitercrash

Hi, more questions!

So far most of my creditors have agreed to a 30 day hold on my accounts - I have since sent another round of letters after this period to remind them that I still require the six months I originally asked for & that they will hear from my chosen DMP provider in January.

In response, both MBNA and Creation have sent me an income & expenditure form to complete, saying that they can't arrange any further holds or solutions until they have this. They've also asked for payslips.

The thing is, I don't want to give them this information & have them potentially pressure me into starting a payment plan independently. I have recently received a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and feel like I need the support of an organisation such as StepChange to help me manage this process once my EF reaches a decent level. Can I refuse to give them this information?

Also, Fluid continue to send me letters asking me to call them, and have recently started calling me three or four times a day - even at weekends - despite me clearly stating in writing that I am only comfortable communicating in writing. Can I just block their number? Someone a little while ago mentioned threatening them with the ICO when Creation were harrassing me, which I will do.

Suseka97

wood_for_the_trees wrote: »

........My main concern right now is that, while my contracted salary is £1229 pm, I've been working a *lot* of overtime (anything up to 40 hours, on top of a standard 37.5 hour week) in order to try and stay ahead, and my most recent payslips reflect this. However, working this much is exhausting, and ultimately detrimental to my mental and physical health. It's not sustainable, and if I'm getting help with my debt I'd like to cut down for the sake of my sanity, without the feeling of guilt that I currently get when I don't take all the hours going. Also, in my job there are periods when overtime dries up completely, and without warning. I know Stepchange asks for your most recent wage slip/bank statement as proof of income. Would it be beneficial for me to go a month without taking any overtime at all before contacting them, so that I'm not artificially inflating their expectations of how much I can earn? How often do they review your income once the DMP starts?

If StepChange handle DMPs much the same as they did when I was on one then I don't think it will be an issue. My partner received varying OT payments at the time we were setting ours up and SC only took into account his basic pay - accepting that OT varied and was not contractually guaranteed. Also, SC will ask you to complete an annual review of your financial position and this is usually done online and takes about 10 minutes - so its very straightforward and painless!

As for getting interest and charges stopped - you can never tell really. But a way to make that happen is to delay actually setting up your DMP for a few months, but write to your creditors to explain your financial predicament and tell them you are working with one of teh debt charities to come up with a solution. That will buy you some time and you shoudl be looking at delaying that for 3 months as a minimum. In the interim you should put the money you would have been paying your creditors aside and save that all important emergency fund.