DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Parkyp

alxofn1 said:

Good evening all. 

My DMP began this month, and my first direct debit went out to StepChange. One of my many creditors, an overdraft of £500 with TSB, were offered about £10.85 or so a month - an offer which they rejected. I know StepChange would still pay them even if they rejected this offer. However today I noticed a credit from StepChange (under their full title Foundation for Credit Counselling) of £10.85 which is undoubtedly the part of the DMP payment that was allocated to TSB.

What complicates things is this: TSB was my primary account for salary payments and direct debits, however as part of the DMP set-up I opened a safe account. My salary should have gone into this new account this month but payroll made a mistake at work and this salary payment went into my TSB account. As I was/am perennially overdrawn on that account I am now effectively "using" that line of credit (the overdraft) even though I know one is not supposed to use the credit they have DMPs for. I've fixed this so that future salary goes to and only to my new safe account. 

I have sent an e-mail to StepChange about this but in the meantime does anyone know (a) why a payment would be returned via StepChange back to me? and (b) how this might/would affect my ongoing plan to pay this creditor? 

Hi
It’s actually StepChange making a payment to your overdraft debt. That is the way it showed up on my bank account before my bank closed my account and defaulted me. 

alxofn1

Parkyp said:

alxofn1 said:

Good evening all. 

My DMP began this month, and my first direct debit went out to StepChange. One of my many creditors, an overdraft of £500 with TSB, were offered about £10.85 or so a month - an offer which they rejected. I know StepChange would still pay them even if they rejected this offer. However today I noticed a credit from StepChange (under their full title Foundation for Credit Counselling) of £10.85 which is undoubtedly the part of the DMP payment that was allocated to TSB.

What complicates things is this: TSB was my primary account for salary payments and direct debits, however as part of the DMP set-up I opened a safe account. My salary should have gone into this new account this month but payroll made a mistake at work and this salary payment went into my TSB account. As I was/am perennially overdrawn on that account I am now effectively "using" that line of credit (the overdraft) even though I know one is not supposed to use the credit they have DMPs for. I've fixed this so that future salary goes to and only to my new safe account. 

I have sent an e-mail to StepChange about this but in the meantime does anyone know (a) why a payment would be returned via StepChange back to me? and (b) how this might/would affect my ongoing plan to pay this creditor? 

Hi
It’s actually StepChange making a payment to your overdraft debt. That is the way it showed up on my bank account before my bank closed my account and defaulted me. 

Oh gosh of course! I'm being so dim :O - Thank you!

CAL2727

Suseka97 said:

CAL2727 said:

CAL2727 said:

Hi Everybody! Have been lurking for about a week after I first heard of a DMP and have been reading my way through this forum, has some excellent support and tips! Going by the advice of those on here I have cancelled payments for my accounts this week and hoping this will help me get defaulted quicker. I’m ashamed to say I have around £28000 of debt and have no idea how I even got to this point. I have a mortgage on a fixed rate until 2023 which has a decent follow on rate if I couldn’t get another fixed rate so I am not worried about that. Am I doing the right thing in cancelling my direct debits etc and not contacting creditors off the bat in the hope they will default? I then plan to start the DMP 6 months + down the line once I have an emergency fund / see what the creditors come back with etc. I was just looking at one of my loans and it states that if not paid it can cause a charging order against the house, I take it this is highly unlikely? I am also wondering do many people get pestered with phone calls? Can deal with the post but I’m just hoping nobody starts to call my parents house (we don’t have a landline, their landline number would’ve been associated with my main account but I have since removed it) they don’t know about the debt and would like to keep it that way! Would it be worth writing to this creditor and asking for correspondence in writing only? My partner knows and is supportive which is good. I have also set up a new bank account as old account is associated with a lot of the debt, have transferred all the money over and in the process of changing direct debits over today! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated 😀👍🏼 

Did anyone have issues with renewing car insurance during DMP? Or is it a customer retention kind of scenario? Sorry for all the qs just thinking of consequences - regardless it badly needs to happen 😬

If it were me, I would write to all my creditors to let them know I was experiencing financial difficulty and seeking advice from one of the debt charities.  At least that way they don't just assume you've decided to stop paying with no good reason.  You can then just hold them off until you are ready to start the DMP.  You should tell them that you will only deal with matters in writing and do insist they remove your parent's telephone number - be prepared that they may well still receive some calls.  

As for car insurance, you could be okay, I have to admit I don't have a car, so never had that issue but I did manage to remortgage (with existing lender) onto a more favourable fixed term and changed utility providers whilst on a DMP.  If you think about it, when it comes to insurance - if you stop paying they will stop insuring you (so they don't lose out).  I guess the only possibility is they 'might' ask you to pay upfront rather than monthly - but if you had to do that you could vary your DMP payment for one month (or two) if needed.

Thanks for the advice! Greatly appreciated. I will send the letters out at the weekend, drafted them up tonight. I am very anxious about the whole phone calls to my families home number but I will write those letters and ask for correspondence in writing ONLY and will also ask for them to remove the number as it’s not associated with me/my address and not to call under any circumstance. It was only ever on one account so the rest should be ok. I guess I will burn that bridge when I come to it anyway, if I have to tell them I have to tell them! 

CAL2727

Thanks @sourcrates. It won’t let me quote your comment for some reason. All my debts are unsecured. Great about the insurance, I have all the policy’s out I need at the minute anyway so should just be a case of renewing when the time comes. Very anxious to get started but also glad I have bit the bullet. Robbing Peter to pay Paul / not having enough money for necessity’s is no way to live! 

Suseka97

CAL2727 said:

Suseka97 said:

CAL2727 said:

CAL2727 said:

Hi Everybody! Have been lurking for about a week after I first heard of a DMP and have been reading my way through this forum, has some excellent support and tips! Going by the advice of those on here I have cancelled payments for my accounts this week and hoping this will help me get defaulted quicker. I’m ashamed to say I have around £28000 of debt and have no idea how I even got to this point. I have a mortgage on a fixed rate until 2023 which has a decent follow on rate if I couldn’t get another fixed rate so I am not worried about that. Am I doing the right thing in cancelling my direct debits etc and not contacting creditors off the bat in the hope they will default? I then plan to start the DMP 6 months + down the line once I have an emergency fund / see what the creditors come back with etc. I was just looking at one of my loans and it states that if not paid it can cause a charging order against the house, I take it this is highly unlikely? I am also wondering do many people get pestered with phone calls? Can deal with the post but I’m just hoping nobody starts to call my parents house (we don’t have a landline, their landline number would’ve been associated with my main account but I have since removed it) they don’t know about the debt and would like to keep it that way! Would it be worth writing to this creditor and asking for correspondence in writing only? My partner knows and is supportive which is good. I have also set up a new bank account as old account is associated with a lot of the debt, have transferred all the money over and in the process of changing direct debits over today! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated 😀👍🏼 

Did anyone have issues with renewing car insurance during DMP? Or is it a customer retention kind of scenario? Sorry for all the qs just thinking of consequences - regardless it badly needs to happen 😬

If it were me, I would write to all my creditors to let them know I was experiencing financial difficulty and seeking advice from one of the debt charities.  At least that way they don't just assume you've decided to stop paying with no good reason.  You can then just hold them off until you are ready to start the DMP.  You should tell them that you will only deal with matters in writing and do insist they remove your parent's telephone number - be prepared that they may well still receive some calls.  

As for car insurance, you could be okay, I have to admit I don't have a car, so never had that issue but I did manage to remortgage (with existing lender) onto a more favourable fixed term and changed utility providers whilst on a DMP.  If you think about it, when it comes to insurance - if you stop paying they will stop insuring you (so they don't lose out).  I guess the only possibility is they 'might' ask you to pay upfront rather than monthly - but if you had to do that you could vary your DMP payment for one month (or two) if needed.

Thanks for the advice! Greatly appreciated. I will send the letters out at the weekend, drafted them up tonight. I am very anxious about the whole phone calls to my families home number but I will write those letters and ask for correspondence in writing ONLY and will also ask for them to remove the number as it’s not associated with me/my address and not to call under any circumstance. It was only ever on one account so the rest should be ok. I guess I will burn that bridge when I come to it anyway, if I have to tell them I have to tell them! 

If they did call your parent's home phone, they really should just be asking to speak with you and if they were to disclose the purpose of the call they would be breaking GDPR legislation (a very bad move).  So I wouldn't overly worry if they did call and you could just tell your parent's that it was a marketing call and to ignore them.  Hopefully they'll amend the contact details quickly though. 

DebtHurricane

Did anyone have issues with renewing car insurance during DMP? Or is it a customer retention kind of scenario? Sorry for all the qs just thinking of consequences - regardless it badly needs to happen 😬

Don’t worry about this. I had a DRO on my file and switched car insurance every year with no issues paying monthly. Doing a DMP myself now and don’t anticipate any issues as a dro is much worse on your credit file than a DMP or defaults

CAL2727

DebtHurricane said:

Did anyone have issues with renewing car insurance during DMP? Or is it a customer retention kind of scenario? Sorry for all the qs just thinking of consequences - regardless it badly needs to happen 😬

Don’t worry about this. I had a DRO on my file and switched car insurance every year with no issues paying monthly. Doing a DMP myself now and don’t anticipate any issues as a dro is much worse on your credit file than a DMP or defaults

Thanks! That’s reassuring to hear. How are you finding your DMP journey?

CAL2727

Also if anyone could help - When I am sending out the initial letters to creditors and any correspondence further down the line should these all be sent by postal order? Thanks 

sourcrates

CAL2727 said:

Also if anyone could help - When I am sending out the initial letters to creditors and any correspondence further down the line should these all be sent by postal order? Thanks 

Postal order ? 

Sorry, don’t understand, do you mean by post ?

If so, then yes.

CAL2727

@sourcrates I had seen previously people talking postal orders I have probably just got my wires crossed lol (postal order is to send money / cheques). I will just send them tracked by post. Thanks. Sorry for stupid qs- very new to this as you can tell