My Options - Advice Please

sourcrates

As long as it does not confuse the issue, nothing in the rules forbids it.

Matthew_P

sourcrates wrote: »

As long as it does not confuse the issue, nothing in the rules forbids it.

Yeah, I prefer to keep the two separate. It is ironic for me because although I know a lot about how the system works, hence I have been helping here since August 2017, I have done things the complete opposite myself and landed into this situation.

I feel like a hypocrite sometimes for advising other people on how to do things right and if I could turn back the clock to early 2017 knowing what I know now, I would never have gotten into so much debt. I suppose its better I learn this lesson at 19 than 29 though.

Can I have your thoughts on what I was saying about the negatives on DMP?

sourcrates

Matthew_P wrote: »

Can I have your thoughts on what I was saying about the negatives on DMP?

Well they have to give you the “worst case scenario” case don’t they.

In reality, most creditors are compliant, and as long as payments are maintained no further action gets taken.

We have posters on the DMP mutual support thread on debt management plans, who owe in excess of £100,000 pounds, and they are tootling along quiet nicely, some making only £1 token payments, and creditors are ok with this as their budget shows it’s all they can currently afford.

They cannot take what you do not have.

Matthew_P

sourcrates wrote: »

Well they have to give you the “worst case scenario” case don’t they.

In reality, most creditors are compliant, and as long as payments are maintained no further action gets taken.

We have posters on the DMP mutual support thread on debt management plans, who owe in excess of £100,000 pounds, and they are tootling along quiet nicely, some making only £1 token payments, and creditors are ok with this as their budget shows it’s all they can currently afford.

They cannot take what you do not have.

The problem I have is; I live with my parents and pay them rent which covers everything, so I have no bills whatsoever in that regard. My whole expenses consist of groceries, debt and personal purchases. That is all. My income is from an online business which I run, but I can't consider myself to be self-employed because HMRC have told me otherwise when I submitted my self assessment. The positive thing about that, is pretty much 95% of my monthly income can be dedicated to the DMP and therefore the payments will not be rock bottom, in fact most likely near the same as they are, but under one massive bulk to StepChange instead of paying it out separate.

I started my experience in credit with Vanquis and then the debt went on from there. Credit cards are not the main issue here, since they are all £1000 and below, with affordable monthly payments, but because I have taken on so much loan debt, which requite a fixed sum on a fixed date, sometimes I have a fear that I won't have the money on the due date, which so far, has not happened, because I've either been lucky and ended up with the money in time or taken out another loan to boost my intake and pay my repayments on time. It is such a complex situation but something needs to change - whether that means going ahead with a DMP or simply continuing as I am but having more self-discipline and boosting how much I make a month, as its not a fixed amount like with an employer, I earn as much as I capacity such. I am the kind of person that would rather take out another loan to meet a creditor's due date on-time than simply default and that has been the ruining of me.

I have always advised people on here, especially when seeing young people like myself talking about loans, to avoid them at all costs, as I don't want other people getting into the same boat as I am now. Not a day goes past where I don't think about it and the thought of having no debt again is bliss.

sourcrates

Well myself and others can only point out your options here, it’s up to you what you do with that advice, you cannot keep borrowing to repay existing borrowing forever, eventually you will run out of credit and the inevitable will happen.

Much better to draw a line in the sand, admit you are in trouble, and do something positive about it, unless you can increase your income, or restructure your payments, there’s little else you can do.

Matthew_P

sourcrates wrote: »

Well myself and others can only point out your options here, it’s up to you what you do with that advice, you cannot keep borrowing to repay existing borrowing forever, eventually you will run out of credit and the inevitable will happen.

Much better to draw a line in the sand, admit you are in trouble, and do something positive about it, unless you can increase your income, or restructure your payments, there’s little else you can do.

That is the harsh reality. If I was to do this DMP and accept I have failed at being a responsible borrower, will this have an impact on anyone else at my address from being able to obtain credit? I have not seen anything about this, but cannot do anything that would impact someone else living here. Are you added to the insolvency register for a DMP?

sourcrates

Matthew_P wrote: »

That is the harsh reality. If I was to do this DMP and accept I have failed at being a responsible borrower, will this have an impact on anyone else at my address from being able to obtain credit? I have not seen anything about this, but cannot do anything that would impact someone else living here. Are you added to the insolvency register for a DMP?

No you are not added to any register, it’s an informal arrangement and will impact you alone, debt belongs to the named person, not the address, and certainly not anyone else at your home address unless you have a joint financial product with them.

Don’t beat yourself up about it, can happen to anyone.

Kitten868

Just wanted to add as I don't think you're convinced, that a pay day loan on your file is as bad as a default to lenders as it shows poor money management. You don't have much to lose at this point. I reckon a DMP with reasonable payments you'll only be paying for a year, maybe 18 months. Totally stress free.

fatbelly

Good advice, so not much to add.

Alternatives to stepchange are payplan and d-I-y, maybe using nedcab resources

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

and support from on here.

CMA centres can also be very good but there are fewer of them. For some individuals, CAP works well.

buythedip

You live at home and are making decent money under your own steam. Suck it up for 6 months and it’ll be sorted!