DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Suseka97

vicki84 wrote: »

Hi
I have had a letter to say Lloyds have sold on my account to PRA group. I am abit confused now it has been sold on will I have to pay interest to PRA? or will I just be paying of the amount Lloyds sold on.Thanks

The is normal practice after a period of time. PRA are debt purchasers and what will happen now is you should receive a letter from them letting you know the debt has been assigned to them and they will likely ask you to contact them to arrange payment. All you need to do is just set up a standing order and pay to them whatever it was you were paying to Lloyds,. If the account has been defaulted, then all interest and charges should have stopped and PRA will not/cannot reinstate them. If it hasn't been defaulted, make a fuss.

sourcrates

lobbyludd wrote: »

Hi folks,

After a really difficult year with both my children having different but severe health issues, that meant I had to take lots of leave and slash my working hours to support them, as well as pay for private counselling and tutoring I still pay £50 month for counselling - this is down from over 250 a month at its max, is on a halved rate from the counsellor and should reduce to nothing over the next year, but right now the youngest needs this. There's nowhere on the I&E for stepchange for me to put this in, but it is a necessary expenditure. Would stepchange add a line for this or should I just hide it in other budgets (I can reduce our food, not have haircuts etc)?

Hi,

You are overthinking this a bit, your budget is your budget, no one has the right to take you to task over it, not stepchange or anyone else, only in insolvency is your budget tightly governed by law, a DMP is an informal arrangement and is not subject to those restrictions.

You insert it where you see fit, if they mention this to you, feel free to tell them it is an essential need right now, and thats final, and non negotiable.

There are times when you must put your foot down, and stand up for yourself.

User_060921

Well i was very happy with myself for getting a near £2000 emergency fund, but three days before my first dmp payment goes out....its virtually been wiped out.

Essential boiler and lap top repairs, plus some half wit slashing the wife's tyres on her car.

Little bit worried

Willing2Learn

Fusterclucker wrote: »

Well i was very happy with myself for getting a near £2000 emergency fund, but three days before my first dmp payment goes out....its virtually been wiped out.

Essential boiler and lap top repairs, plus some half wit slashing the wife's tyres on her car.

Little bit worried

How much EF do you have left? For how many months have you already had your accounts put on hold / frozen?

User_060921

Never had the accounts put on hold before...so zero months on hold.

I have £700 left

Willing2Learn

Fusterclucker wrote: »

Never had the accounts put on hold before...so zero months on hold.

I have £700 left

If you have never had the accounts frozen, then I would write to all your creditors. Advise them, in writing, that you have unexpected boiler, laptop and car maintenance costs. Advise them that as a result of these unavoidable costs, you need to have your accounts frozen for 3-4 months so that you can pay all your bills on time.

If I read your diary correctly, your DMP payments will be £335/month. A three month hold on your accounts will rebuild your EF back up to £1,700 or a four month hold will mean an EF of just over £2,000.

I would also add a line to the letters advising them that your new DMP start date will be DD/MM/YYYY. That should keep them fully appraised.

(Obviously, you will also have to phone SC to let them know your circumstances have changed and that you need to delay the start of your DMP).

vicki84

Suseka97 wrote: »

The is normal practice after a period of time. PRA are debt purchasers and what will happen now is you should receive a letter from them letting you know the debt has been assigned to them and they will likely ask you to contact them to arrange payment. All you need to do is just set up a standing order and pay to them whatever it was you were paying to Lloyds,. If the account has been defaulted, then all interest and charges should have stopped and PRA will not/cannot reinstate them. If it hasn't been defaulted, make a fuss.

Great thanks it was only defaulted about two months ago so was surprised it was sold on so quickly

Lou2010

Hi Everyone,

I started a DMP with Stepchange in July and it’s the best thing I did. I am no longer stressed about money and it is no longer on my mind 24/7.

Today I have been given an annual pay increase at work which increases my salary by about £130. My question is do I need to tell Stepchange about this now or just mention that my salary has increased on my first annual review in July 2020??

Thanks

User_060921

Willing2Learn wrote: »

If you have never had the accounts frozen, then I would write to all your creditors. Advise them, in writing, that you have unexpected boiler, laptop and car maintenance costs. Advise them that as a result of these unavoidable costs, you need to have your accounts frozen for 3-4 months so that you can pay all your bills on time.

If I read your diary correctly, your DMP payments will be £335/month. A three month hold on your accounts will rebuild your EF back up to £1,700 or a four month hold will mean an EF of just over £2,000.

I would also add a line to the letters advising them that your new DMP start date will be DD/MM/YYYY. That should keep them fully appraised.

(Obviously, you will also have to phone SC to let them know your circumstances have changed and that you need to delay the start of your DMP).

I will ring Step Change tomorrow

Suseka97

Lou2010 wrote: »

................Today I have been given an annual pay increase at work which increases my salary by about £130. My question is do I need to tell Stepchange about this now or just mention that my salary has increased on my first annual review in July 2020?? Thanks

Just update them at the next annual review, although I have to admit I didn't update mine with pay increases, I just added that to my EF.