DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

andrar

This sounds like a really silly question I know... what does a default look like on your credit report? For example my MSE Experian credit report says ‘1 month late’ - not a default? Will it say ‘default’ when it’s registered one? I just want to make sure the accounts default before starting my DMP
Thanks! 

Cosmic-bee

ditty1234 said:

Cosmic-bee said:

Hi It's been a long time since my DMP started -2016
Barclaycard cleared, PRA & Wescott have taken over two others, however Virgin Money Credit Card is still with Virgin at over £11k. Total overall debt is £21K
Virgin havnt sold the debt is it still possible to negioate a F&F with them or will they give No to any offers.
Or do I push to get them sell to 3rd party. I know due to my disabilities and health they moved me to a different dept.
Thanks in advance.

Hi Cosmic, just checking that your Virgin Money CC is actually defaulted? Have you checked that, do you do credit score checks? You could just start paying less, and put the money aside for f and f instead? Well done with ringing debt down. 

Thanks dirty1234 I will check....it's regogged my brain in action, with kind regards & appreciation xx

sourcrates

andrar said:

This sounds like a really silly question I know... what does a default look like on your credit report? For example my MSE Experian credit report says ‘1 month late’ - not a default? Will it say ‘default’ when it’s registered one? I just want to make sure the accounts default before starting my DMP
Thanks! 

A big red "D" will appear, alongside the word "default" and the date it defaulted.

Weimsrock

Hi there I’ve been on DMP for just over 2 years and am starting to think about going self managed. My question is how would my creditors likely take it if I offered smaller payments under a self managed DMP in order to snowball my debts and build up F&F balances? My current DMP is forecast to last another 5 years but I’d like to shorten this by snowballing and encouraging some F&F offers. All debts are defaulted with balances of circa £350, £1,700, 2 x £4,000 and 2 x £7,000. My main concern is not instigating court action if I suddenly halve my payments to the two largest debts in order to clear the smaller ones quickly. 

Blackberrypie_3

Mapage said:

OK, Newbie here!

I won't bore you too much with the back-story but have been dealing with debt for more than 20 years. COVID, plus 2 very sick parents has pushed me to be more proactive about managing the debt. I have read so much on here (DMP mutual support 12 and 13 mainly) and you guys are amazing! Genuine inspiration.

I have 3x kids and a mortgage with about £120k of equity. Between me and my Mrs, we have £90k of debt across 2x PLs, 8x credit cards and 1 OD. My Mrs is aware of the situation but struggles with anxiety. If the personal life wasn't so bonkers, I would be going self-managed. But I just don't think I can take it currently. Hopefully in a couple of years though, as I am quite confident at least a couple of the debts will be UE.

We've been through the SC budgeting process and we are ready to start a DMP, giving about £1,200 per month to the unsecured creditors. 6 years and 1 month is the predicted duration.

So I have some questions, that I am hoping you guys can help with. Sorry if some of these sound silly, but forgive me and remember I'm new!!

1. SC keep saying I am eligible for breathing space. I know this is new, but has anyone gone on it? I am particularly interested in knowing what I 'have' to pay towards unsecured debt whilst in breathing space. I have no EF and I am thinking about going on breathing space for 60 days, paying nothing, building up some EF then starting the DMP with SC in about 55 days. Any experiences of breathing space would be appreciated!
2. My current account is with TSB and I have 1x CC and 2x PLs with TSB totaling about £30k. I want to change current account to Lloyds as we already have a joint account with them that the Mrs is familiar and comfortable with. But, we also have an MBNA CC with about £14k outstanding and Lloyds Group owns MBNA. Does anyone have any experience of an offset claim situation between Lloyds Bank and MBNA? I don't want to go through the hassle of switching to Lloyds only later to find them taking my wages to pay off MBNA.   
3. If not Lloyds, does anyone have any positive experiences to share about Starling Bank?! They are my potential back-up.

Thanks in advance guys. Even if all goes according to plan, I expect I will need more help over the coming months and years!!!

Cheers
Chris

PS - What on earth does :beer: mean??!!

Hello @Mapage

Sorry I am a bit late to your post but I just came on here to do a bit of a catch up and saw your questions. Thought I might be able to help as I am a few months on from you. 

As a background, I have about £27k in CCs, overdrafts and a loan. It got to the stage where I was just getting further and further in as I couldn't keep up with the interest, minimum payments and fees. A lot of sleepless nights, panic etc. and just not being able to see a way to fix it. I found this amazing forum and all the helpful people and decided to take the leap into sorting it once and for all. 

The first thing I did was cancel my direct debits to stop my payments going out to my creditors and causing myself more issues. I also opened a Starling account (which I think is great. If you are also on the budgeting adventure, I recommend it for the alerts every time you spend - definitely holds you accountable. Also was recommended the YNAB website/app by someone on here and it has honestly changed my life). I transferred over my priority payments such as rent, utilities, phone etc. to Starling and asked my work to pay the new account. This is pretty crucial  as you don't want all your money to disappear into your debts when you need it for the essentials.  

I then wrote to each one of my creditors asking them to put a hold on the accounts as I was in the process of talking to SC. I also asked that I only be contacted by post. This gave me breathing space (that I know is now more of an "official" thing) allowing me to put all the money I would have been paying my creditors into an emergency fund. Starling allows you to create "pots" so I could keep this money separate from my main bills. What is good about a self-managed breathing space is, as Sourcrates mentioned, it can be as long as you can make it. I filled in all the forms etc with SC but I didn't send them off to them until 5 months after I stopped my direct debits. The world didn't explode like I thought it would, the bailiffs didn't turn up and everything was surprisingly ok. I obviously had the banks calling me but, as they only had my mobile number, I was able to block the calls and just pick up the voicemails. I also had the standard letters but, with all respect to my creditors, there was nothing hideous or threatening.

I have now ben with SC for 3 months and it is just ticking along for now. 5 of the 7 accounts have defaulted and I will address the ones that haven't in a few months if need be. If I hadn't found this forum and all the great advice and guidance, I would have been in a really hideous mess (even more of one than I already was). Now I feel so much more in control. It is a relief to know that I am on the upward trajectory with it rather than just spiralling down. Although it isn't a quick process getting out of it, I know that I WILL get out of it. You will too - just trust the process. 

Absolutely give yourself some breathing space before you start with SC. 3-6 months if possible. Definitely, definitely, definitely build up an EF. You won't be applying for credit after you start with SC so it is essential to have that safety net there that you usually would have had with a loan or credit card. And definitely use Starling as your basic bank account. I have nothing but positive things to say about it. Hope that helps! 

alxofn1

Hi all, I've just got a question for any experienced posters please. It's to do with bailiffs. I've been on a DMP now for six or so months. Some of my debts have been passed to PRA/Moorcroft whilst the others remain with the original creditors presently (though I received the default letters, it hasn't been passed on to another agency as of yet). I am just wondering how these debt agencies debt to initiate CCJs? I make my regular payments to StepChange, who in turn disburse the payments to the agencies but I wonder how it gets to the point that they would start CCJ proceedings? I haven't had any communication from these agencies as of yet saying they want me to pay more, or that I am not paying enough as of yet. But I also keep dreading the idea of a letter coming through some time soon from Northampton County Court or the like on behalf of, say, MoorCroft. 

sourcrates

alxofn1 said:

Hi all, I've just got a question for any experienced posters please. It's to do with bailiffs. I've been on a DMP now for six or so months. Some of my debts have been passed to PRA/Moorcroft whilst the others remain with the original creditors presently (though I received the default letters, it hasn't been passed on to another agency as of yet). I am just wondering how these debt agencies debt to initiate CCJs? I make my regular payments to StepChange, who in turn disburse the payments to the agencies but I wonder how it gets to the point that they would start CCJ proceedings? I haven't had any communication from these agencies as of yet saying they want me to pay more, or that I am not paying enough as of yet. But I also keep dreading the idea of a letter coming through some time soon from Northampton County Court or the like on behalf of, say, MoorCroft. 

First off, there is a distinction between debt collectors, and bailiffs, debt collectors have no more power than you or I do.

Bailiffs on the other hand act under warrant from the court, this is not something you will readily encounter if your debts are all consumer credit act related, so you can forget action by bailiffs.

Legal action by debt purchasing companies is actually quite rare, less than 2 in 10 debts ever get as far as court, there is a process to follow when instigating legal action for debt, its outlined in the civil procedure rules, you first get an LBA in the post, (LBA - Letter Before Action) this is a questionnaire type document, that allows you to make payment arrangements with the creditor, without the need to proceed to court, it gives you a 30 day response time.

As you are already paying the debts via a DMP, then the LBA has already been satisfied, so what`s the point of legal action ?
There is no benefit to anyone to take the matter further.

Legal action is usually reserved for those who continue to ignore all correspondence from creditors, despite repeated warnings.

alioops78

Hi oh wise ones

I'm trying to help my husband sort out his debt and I feel like a DMP is going to be the best option for him.

He's about £18k in debt and only earning £9,200 pa.

He's comfortable going with Stepchange or PayPlan however I am aware we could do it ourselves.

I'm wondering if him entering into a DMP will affect my credit rating at all? We don't have joint accounts and the last joint finance we had was a loan taken out in 2015 that was paid off by 2018.

Thanks for any assistance you can give 

sourcrates

alioops78 said:

Hi oh wise ones

I'm trying to help my husband sort out his debt and I feel like a DMP is going to be the best option for him.

He's about £18k in debt and only earning £9,200 pa.

He's comfortable going with Stepchange or PayPlan however I am aware we could do it ourselves.

I'm wondering if him entering into a DMP will affect my credit rating at all? We don't have joint accounts and the last joint finance we had was a loan taken out in 2015 that was paid off by 2018.

Thanks for any assistance you can give 

It won`t affect you at all unless, you have a joint financial product, such as a bank account/credit card/loan or mortgage.

DMP_Lurker

Hi, on my credit file it shows the original creditors of each default account and default dates, but also the DCAs that took over the debts with sometimes different default dates.  This means it is showing as 7 default accounts, but really there were only 4 and 3 are duplicates as they are from the DCAs records.  Is this correct or can I ask for some of them to be removed?  Which ones should I ask to be removed if this is the case?

TIA