DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

Floss

Wimbledonwomble said:

Hi everyone. New here so please be patient with me. 
I had £29,000 debt 4 years ago . With stepchange on DMP and now debt Is £2,883 .

Is it normal to be finding the last stretch very challenging? I have had to retire with a disability( had intended to carry on well into retirement but only managed till age 70) 

I have reviewed my budget twice recently.  I have state pension plus a tiny private pension . I get PIP highest rate for mobility.  

Personally I would be writing to ask for the outstanding balances to be written off, bearing in mind your age, income & health.

bcs7

Wimbledonwomble said:

Hi everyone. New here so please be patient with me. 
I had £29,000 debt 4 years ago . With stepchange on DMP and now debt Is £2,883 .

Is it normal to be finding the last stretch very challenging? I have had to retire with a disability( had intended to carry on well into retirement but only managed till age 70) 

I have reviewed my budget twice recently.  I have state pension plus a tiny private pension . I get PIP highest rate for mobility.  

I have had to reduce payments twice due to expensive dental issues which more  than wiped out my emergency fund .I now pay £340 a month to DMP. I was paying £600 and something .

On paper the budget looks do-able but everything seems so difficult. 

Quite prepared to be told its me .

I suppose the way to look at it is you’re mere months away from being debt free and then having that money yourself.

What was going to take you 5 more months to pay off is still only increasing to 9 months with the reduced payment.

sourcrates

Wimbledonwomble said:

Hi everyone. New here so please be patient with me. 
I had £29,000 debt 4 years ago . With stepchange on DMP and now debt Is £2,883 .

Is it normal to be finding the last stretch very challenging? I have had to retire with a disability( had intended to carry on well into retirement but only managed till age 70) 

I have reviewed my budget twice recently.  I have state pension plus a tiny private pension . I get PIP highest rate for mobility.  

I have had to reduce payments twice due to expensive dental issues which more  than wiped out my emergency fund .I now pay £340 a month to DMP. I was paying £600 and something .

On paper the budget looks do-able but everything seems so difficult. 

Quite prepared to be told its me .

Plan of action.

It`s you lol !!! Stop paying the DMP, you no longer need it.

Another poster has already mentioned it, and I second that advice, ask your remaining creditors to write off your balances due to your circumstances, and change of situation.

Once you stop paying, eventually they will write to you to find out what`s going on, so the perfect opportunity to engage with them, debt write off`s are more common than you would think, if they won`t do that, then there are other strategies to employ, but give that a go first, let us know how you get on, and keep us updated.

Wimbledonwomble

Spoke to 2 creditors yesterday . Emailed another . Explained situation.  Virgin money very positive and was going to call them back but friend came round and I couldn't. Will do so today.in my ignorance I thought I was tied to DMP to the bitter end. Thank you .Will update you soon .

Sly72

Dansjp said:

Hi, i've been self managing a DMP for around 6 months now. Waiting for defaults and then sending equitable distribution letter of available income to creditors once the default has been registered. 6 out 8 creditors have accepted without a problem and whilst i'm making small payments the accounts remain in default status which is what i expect. The most recent company to default me has written back and accepted my proposal but on a temporary 6 month basis whereby after that my account will revert to normal terms and conditions. It's not happened yet but i think this means they'll mark my account as an arrangement to pay rather than remaining in default status. Is there anything i can do about this please? 

hi you have said "been self managing a DMP for around 6 months now. Waiting for defaults and then sending equitable distribution letter of available income to creditors once the default has been registered"

Do you have a sample letter you can share, been following advise on this forum for over a year, but now just want things sorted out all my accounts except one have defaulted and CCA requests are in,  2 have sent CCA's but I am disputing what they have sent.

Wimbledonwomble

sourcrates said:

Wimbledonwomble said:

Hi everyone. New here so please be patient with me. 
I had £29,000 debt 4 years ago . With stepchange on DMP and now debt Is £2,883 .

Is it normal to be finding the last stretch very challenging? I have had to retire with a disability( had intended to carry on well into retirement but only managed till age 70) 

I have reviewed my budget twice recently.  I have state pension plus a tiny private pension . I get PIP highest rate for mobility.  

I have had to reduce payments twice due to expensive dental issues which more  than wiped out my emergency fund .I now pay £340 a month to DMP. I was paying £600 and something .

On paper the budget looks do-able but everything seems so difficult. 

Quite prepared to be told its me .

Plan of action.

It`s you lol !!! Stop paying the DMP, you no longer need it.

Another poster has already mentioned it, and I second that advice, ask your remaining creditors to write off your balances due to your circumstances, and change of situation.

Once you stop paying, eventually they will write to you to find out what`s going on, so the perfect opportunity to engage with them, debt write off`s are more common than you would think, if they won`t do that, then there are other strategies to employ, but give that a go first, let us know how you get on, and keep us updated.

Quick update.

One smallish debt written off. One is nearly £300 less than was on my stepchange statement ( must have been my error at a very stressful time) and a small catalogue debt is paid and they have returned £15 . Actual amount I owe is around £2400 . I have contacted link twice regarding my  debt with them. Asked that it be written off . I have twice been told they will contact me but nothing  so far.

Thank you for advice on here. I have just had a reply from stepchange as I have told them I will be self managing from now on. I am so grateful to stepchange for their help ,especially when I suffered ill health and bereavement during covid . 

Feel that I can see a way forward.

So plan to pay off 2 smaller debts ( not defaulted) in couple of months . 
 
And wait for reply from link . Anything I've missed . ? 

Thank you 

Thejourneybegins

Hi all,
I am 3 missed payments into going into a Self Managed DMP and have just hit 4 on a couple. 1, Zopa, is now showing as in Default on ClearScore. I will be dealing with each creditor as they default, so will now begin with Zopa. Can I just check that saying ‘In Default’ is now what I’m after (already passed the Notice of Default letter) and should I therefore commence with my budget and offer of payment, and if so should I do this through letter by post or will email suffice?
Thanks in advance 

sourcrates

Thejourneybegins said:

Hi all,
I am 3 missed payments into going into a Self Managed DMP and have just hit 4 on a couple. 1, Zopa, is now showing as in Default on ClearScore. I will be dealing with each creditor as they default, so will now begin with Zopa. Can I just check that saying ‘In Default’ is now what I’m after (already passed the Notice of Default letter) and should I therefore commence with my budget and offer of payment, and if so should I do this through letter by post or will email suffice?
Thanks in advance 

Creditors don`t always deal with defaulted debt for very long, its more than likely to be either sold, or assigned to a collector to manage shortly, however Zopa do have a habit of dragging things out, so you can either just pay them what you envisage, or wait until things develop.

There`s no need to send an offer of payment, pay what you are going to pay, then send a quick email to confirm.
You probably won`t be dealing with them for very long, so whether they agree or not is largely irrelevant.

lillypoo

Hi all

I stopped paying my m&s Mastercard in may. four missed payments and its on clear score etc as defaulted. 

This morning I've missed calls from what Google tells me is westcot on both my mobile and landline. They're asking me tp ring them and have provided a reference number

Am I right to say I should hold out for a written letter? Also am I obliged to provide 

them with a SOA or can I really just tell them what I can pay?

I'm slightly taken aback by the speed this is happening now. It all seemed so slow at the start.

lillypoo

Have now had letter from westcot. @sourcrates @fatbelly sorry to ask again but di I need to send a soa or can i just state what my payment will be?