DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

nicwantstobuy

Sorry should have said I’ve spoken to first direct, not yet to Barclaycard or PayPal 

nicwantstobuy

Anyone around? My head is so full right now. What are the implications of not paying personal loan for  3 months ? Should I just dmp? I’m worried about it taking so long to pay off …

Hols2021

nicwantstobuy said:

Anyone around? My head is so full right now. What are the implications of not paying personal loan for  3 months ? Should I just dmp? I’m worried about it taking so long to pay off …

Hi, 

I’m  not sure of the implications of not paying your loan for three months, it’ll still go on your file as missed payments, you could ask for breathing space, we got 60 days but it was still reported on our file. We entered a DMP ourselves a few months ago. We didn’t want to use Stepchange as we could control how much we paid and it meant we could pay our loans more to clear them quicker and pay the smaller account less. We’ve been able to get a bit behind us to clear the £400 and £600 balances but although they’re cleared they’re still defaulted. 

I panicked about doing this and had lots of sleepless nights as I’m a worrier but everyone has been really helpful. Although this will be on our CF for 5 years now and take a lot longer to clear off we can manage to live now whereas before is was a constant daily struggle. 

I don’t know if this will help you decide but any questions about the DMP there’s lots of people on here who have really helped us out and given great advice. 

nicwantstobuy

Thank you, how did you manage it yourself?  I do think I can afford more than they suggest & am keen to pay the debts off. I feel sick with the worry of it at the moment. 

Hols2021

Honestly that’s how we felt but after reading through the forum we cancelled all our DD to our CC and loans and the money we saved from there we put behind us in an emergency fund. After a few weeks we started getting letters and some calls, but we ignored them. That was the hard bit as I was worried sick we’d have people at our door etc. This was all started last March it was only in Sept time we started to get the defaults through and then we just set our payments up directly with the collection agencies online who have so far been really helpful and understanding, we didn’t need to speak to anyone we asked for everything to be put in writing. We’ve been paying more to our loans and bigger balances which we couldn’t have done going through an organisation. We’ve had some settlement offeres too but we don’t have the money to take them yet. 

nicwantstobuy

Thank you, its really scary isn’t it! I really appreciate you sharing, thank you

nicwantstobuy

Hi if in a dmp does it show as missed payments on credit file? Im wondering if not paying my loan for 3 months will be off my file quicker than a dmp if that makes sense? I know my budget is on a knife edge getting rid of the 2 smaller debts would make a difference

April22

Hi Everyone
I haven’t posted in a while - but actually that’s a good thing - it means I haven’t been thinking about debt! 
I wanted to give you all an update on my journey to reassure anyone (who like I did) is feeling apprehensive about DMP’s.
I started last April with 104k worth of debt. Today I’m at 94k - I’m really happy with how quickly it’s going down. I had 5 credit cards and 2 loans - the credit cards have all now defaulted, and the 2 loans haven’t, but I’m hoping they will soon. 

I went through Stepchange. And the one easy payment has been a godsend for me. There was a month where I had an unexpected house expense and they just took a minimal amount that month. 

People always say this - and I never believed them - but this was the best decision I ever made. The DMP process is brilliant. 

Debt collection companies have all been very friendly and kind - and I don’t get any letters at all…. But one thing I did was communicate with my creditors when I was setting up with Stepchange. I kept them informed and so I never received calls and letters to be honest - only the standard legal letters they have to send - but nothing more.

I hope this post brings comfort to someone else.

April x 

nicwantstobuy

April22 said:

Hi Everyone
I haven’t posted in a while - but actually that’s a good thing - it means I haven’t been thinking about debt! 
I wanted to give you all an update on my journey to reassure anyone (who like I did) is feeling apprehensive about DMP’s.
I started last April with 104k worth of debt. Today I’m at 94k - I’m really happy with how quickly it’s going down. I had 5 credit cards and 2 loans - the credit cards have all now defaulted, and the 2 loans haven’t, but I’m hoping they will soon. 

I went through Stepchange. And the one easy payment has been a godsend for me. There was a month where I had an unexpected house expense and they just took a minimal amount that month. 

People always say this - and I never believed them - but this was the best decision I ever made. The DMP process is brilliant. 

Debt collection companies have all been very friendly and kind - and I don’t get any letters at all…. But one thing I did was communicate with my creditors when I was setting up with Stepchange. I kept them informed and so I never received calls and letters to be honest - only the standard legal letters they have to send - but nothing more.

I hope this post brings comfort to someone else.

April x 

Thank you that really does bring me comfort, thank you so much for posting x

Hols2021

nicwantstobuy said:

Hi if in a dmp does it show as missed payments on credit file? Im wondering if not paying my loan for 3 months will be off my file quicker than a dmp if that makes sense? I know my budget is on a knife edge getting rid of the 2 smaller debts would make a difference

The missed payments will stay on your file for 6 years also. The DMP will show up I believe as defaults and with the DCA who are dealing with the debt, that’s how our files look now. Obviously a missed payment isn’t as serious as a default, maybe you could speak to your loan provider and ask them to give you breathing space if you think that’ll help you to get on our feet a bit. We are like April above, it’s been a huge relief for us to enter into the DMP but we had a lot more debt than you and were drowning. Everyone on here esp Sourcrates has been super helpful and the DCA have also been great with us too. I hope it all works out for you.