DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

alxofn1

Hello all, and a good evening. 

I just wanted to get anyones opinions on this - especially our resident forum experts. 

I have sent an e-mail to SC to be transparent.

I've been on a DMP for 5 months now, and one of my creditors is my £500 overdraft with my old current account. Regrettably, owing to poor health and being on a clinical trial I have had to make several railway journeys to/from where I currently reside with my parents to central London to attend hospital appointments and the like. These are obviously costly, even with a railcard. In order to pay for these (given my SC budget only allowed £25 for transport per month - which would normally be fine when I am not ill) I have, when squeezed at the end of the month, borrowed the odd £10-20 pounds from the overdraft facility and then, days later, when I am paid - put the money straight back in. Technically I am using a line of credit on my DMP and for that I feel awfully bad - and not playing by the book. I've slapped myself on the wrist for it. What's really getting me worried is how likely SC are to look at this - from anyones experienced view - as grounds for cancelling the DMP plan as a breach of agreement/guidelines? 

sourcrates

alxofn1 said:

Hello all, and a good evening. 

I just wanted to get anyones opinions on this - especially our resident forum experts. 

I have sent an e-mail to SC to be transparent.

I've been on a DMP for 5 months now, and one of my creditors is my £500 overdraft with my old current account. Regrettably, owing to poor health and being on a clinical trial I have had to make several railway journeys to/from where I currently reside with my parents to central London to attend hospital appointments and the like. These are obviously costly, even with a railcard. In order to pay for these (given my SC budget only allowed £25 for transport per month - which would normally be fine when I am not ill) I have, when squeezed at the end of the month, borrowed the odd £10-20 pounds from the overdraft facility and then, days later, when I am paid - put the money straight back in. Technically I am using a line of credit on my DMP and for that I feel awfully bad - and not playing by the book. I've slapped myself on the wrist for it. What's really getting me worried is how likely SC are to look at this - from anyones experienced view - as grounds for cancelling the DMP plan as a breach of agreement/guidelines? 

I wouldn’t have worried about it to be fair, no one would have been any the wiser, but telling SC was probably not the best plan ever.

They may accept your explanation, but you may now have opened a can of worms for yourself, not wanting to alarm you unnecessarily, but this could put your whole plan at risk of withdrawal.

alxofn1

sourcrates said:

alxofn1 said:

Hello all, and a good evening. 

I just wanted to get anyones opinions on this - especially our resident forum experts. 

I have sent an e-mail to SC to be transparent.

I've been on a DMP for 5 months now, and one of my creditors is my £500 overdraft with my old current account. Regrettably, owing to poor health and being on a clinical trial I have had to make several railway journeys to/from where I currently reside with my parents to central London to attend hospital appointments and the like. These are obviously costly, even with a railcard. In order to pay for these (given my SC budget only allowed £25 for transport per month - which would normally be fine when I am not ill) I have, when squeezed at the end of the month, borrowed the odd £10-20 pounds from the overdraft facility and then, days later, when I am paid - put the money straight back in. Technically I am using a line of credit on my DMP and for that I feel awfully bad - and not playing by the book. I've slapped myself on the wrist for it. What's really getting me worried is how likely SC are to look at this - from anyones experienced view - as grounds for cancelling the DMP plan as a breach of agreement/guidelines? 

I wouldn’t have worried about it to be fair, no one would have been any the wiser, but telling SC was probably not the best plan ever.

They may accept your explanation, but you may now have opened a can of worms for yourself, not wanting to alarm you unnecessarily, but this could put your whole plan at risk of withdrawal.

Thanks Sourcrates. I guess the damage - for now - is done! If works come to worst I guess I will have to go to a self managed DMP presumably. 

Suseka97

alxofn1 said:

sourcrates said:

alxofn1 said:

Hello all, and a good evening. 

I just wanted to get anyones opinions on this - especially our resident forum experts. 

I have sent an e-mail to SC to be transparent.

I've been on a DMP for 5 months now, and one of my creditors is my £500 overdraft with my old current account. Regrettably, owing to poor health and being on a clinical trial I have had to make several railway journeys to/from where I currently reside with my parents to central London to attend hospital appointments and the like. These are obviously costly, even with a railcard. In order to pay for these (given my SC budget only allowed £25 for transport per month - which would normally be fine when I am not ill) I have, when squeezed at the end of the month, borrowed the odd £10-20 pounds from the overdraft facility and then, days later, when I am paid - put the money straight back in. Technically I am using a line of credit on my DMP and for that I feel awfully bad - and not playing by the book. I've slapped myself on the wrist for it. What's really getting me worried is how likely SC are to look at this - from anyones experienced view - as grounds for cancelling the DMP plan as a breach of agreement/guidelines? 

I wouldn’t have worried about it to be fair, no one would have been any the wiser, but telling SC was probably not the best plan ever.

They may accept your explanation, but you may now have opened a can of worms for yourself, not wanting to alarm you unnecessarily, but this could put your whole plan at risk of withdrawal.

Thanks Sourcrates. I guess the damage - for now - is done! If works come to worst I guess I will have to go to a self managed DMP presumably. 

To be honest, at this point, that's the best way to look at this and see how SC react.  Hopefully they'll just remind you of what you agreed to when you signed up to the DMP (see that as a bit of a 'slap on the wrist', so to speak).  However, if they do cancel the DMP (which would be a little extreme in my view) then you can go self-managed.  It's not as difficult as some folks believe it to be and can offer you more flexibility when things like you have described happen.  

mrjoshua88

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

Penguin_

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

For me, I was so overwhelmed with everything at the time & couldn't have possibly have dealt with so many letters etc from creditors! I am looking to go self managed now as I feel able to cope & track balances etc. 

mrjoshua88

Yeah I was in a massive state of panic at the start of looking into sorting my debts out, and was dead set on going to SC once my accounts default. But the more I read and the more I look into it, I think self-managed just seems so much more viable/flexible personally. 

sourcrates

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

Penguin_ said:

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

For me, I was so overwhelmed with everything at the time & couldn't have possibly have dealt with so many letters etc from creditors! I am looking to go self managed now as I feel able to cope & track balances etc. 

mrjoshua88 said:

Yeah I was in a massive state of panic at the start of looking into sorting my debts out, and was dead set on going to SC once my accounts default. But the more I read and the more I look into it, I think self-managed just seems so much more viable/flexible personally. 

You were self managed before you entered debt management, you've done it once, you can do it again.

Its not complicated, and you don`t need to read in detail every letter from every creditor, if they don`t like what your doing, they just sell the debt on, and you deal with the new owner instead.

Constant letter tennis trying to get agreement on payments is totally unnecessary, they either accept, or they don`t, you keep paying regardless.

Its as easy, or as complicated, as you choose to make it.

In self management`s most basic form, you write and tell everyone what you intend to do, ask for their payment details, input that information to your online banking, paying them then just becomes a click of the mouse every month.

The only letters you ever really need to take note of, are any that involve court action, very, very rare, but you should be aware of the possibility, most other stuff they write to you about is simply compliance related, for example default notices, the wording can be off putting, but again its just standard CCA related text they must send you by law, most of it is for information purposes only.

I would encourage anyone to go self managed, it gives you so much more freedom in how you run your arrangement.

Penguin_

sourcrates said:

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

Penguin_ said:

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

For me, I was so overwhelmed with everything at the time & couldn't have possibly have dealt with so many letters etc from creditors! I am looking to go self managed now as I feel able to cope & track balances etc. 

mrjoshua88 said:

Yeah I was in a massive state of panic at the start of looking into sorting my debts out, and was dead set on going to SC once my accounts default. But the more I read and the more I look into it, I think self-managed just seems so much more viable/flexible personally. 

You were self managed before you entered debt management, you've done it once, you can do it again.

Its not complicated, and you don`t need to read in detail every letter from every creditor, if they don`t like what your doing, they just sell the debt on, and you deal with the new owner instead.

Constant letter tennis trying to get agreement on payments is totally unnecessary, they either accept, or they don`t, you keep paying regardless.

Its as easy, or as complicated, as you choose to make it.

In self management`s most basic form, you write and tell everyone what you intend to do, ask for their payment details, input that information to your online banking, paying them then just becomes a click of the mouse every month.

The only letters you ever really need to take note of, are any that involve court action, very, very rare, but you should be aware of the possibility, most other stuff they write to you about is simply compliance related, for example default notices, the wording can be off putting, but again its just standard CCA related text they must send you by law, most of it is for information purposes only.

I would encourage anyone to go self managed, it gives you so much more freedom in how you run your arrangement.

Thank you Sourcrates, you're words are very helpful & incredibly reassuring. I guess being self managed makes life easier when it comes to the creditor(s) not being able to produce a CCA. If that was the case & they write saying they're not able to produce it, are you able to make a token payment (say £1 a month)?

sourcrates

Penguin_ said:

sourcrates said:

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

Penguin_ said:

mrjoshua88 said:

Just off the back of that: any thoughts why more people don’t go self-managed? From reading through the Nedcab site it seems painfully easy and allows a lot more independence. Guessing it’s just a fear of the unknown type thing? 

For me, I was so overwhelmed with everything at the time & couldn't have possibly have dealt with so many letters etc from creditors! I am looking to go self managed now as I feel able to cope & track balances etc. 

mrjoshua88 said:

Yeah I was in a massive state of panic at the start of looking into sorting my debts out, and was dead set on going to SC once my accounts default. But the more I read and the more I look into it, I think self-managed just seems so much more viable/flexible personally. 

You were self managed before you entered debt management, you've done it once, you can do it again.

Its not complicated, and you don`t need to read in detail every letter from every creditor, if they don`t like what your doing, they just sell the debt on, and you deal with the new owner instead.

Constant letter tennis trying to get agreement on payments is totally unnecessary, they either accept, or they don`t, you keep paying regardless.

Its as easy, or as complicated, as you choose to make it.

In self management`s most basic form, you write and tell everyone what you intend to do, ask for their payment details, input that information to your online banking, paying them then just becomes a click of the mouse every month.

The only letters you ever really need to take note of, are any that involve court action, very, very rare, but you should be aware of the possibility, most other stuff they write to you about is simply compliance related, for example default notices, the wording can be off putting, but again its just standard CCA related text they must send you by law, most of it is for information purposes only.

I would encourage anyone to go self managed, it gives you so much more freedom in how you run your arrangement.

Thank you Sourcrates, you're words are very helpful & incredibly reassuring. I guess being self managed makes life easier when it comes to the creditor(s) not being able to produce a CCA. If that was the case & they write saying they're not able to produce it, are you able to make a token payment (say £1 a month)?

If a debt comes back unenforceable, yet you still have debts they can provide paperwork for, then your hard earned is best spent on something that can be enforced, rather than something that can`t, its common sense really.

I`m not a fan of token payments, it just keeps acknowledging the debt, so it won`t go statute barred, and is pointless in every other conceivable way, token payments on an enforceable debt, are ok, as a short term strategy, but a waste of time if they can`t produce compliant paperwork, you may as well just walk away from it.