DMP -have I done the right thing?

TommyTBFC

Hi,

I’m new here. I’m sure you have seen hundreds of posts before about DMPs however I want to get things off my chest with experienced people, so apologies for being repetitive.

In layman’s terms, aged 18 I made stupid financial decisions (overdraft, credit cards etc) that I maxed out. However I managed to manage them correctly and they soon vanished (I kept the cards mistake number 1)

Skip forwards 8 years, house bought with my partner and very happy. But understandably quite skint after a house move. I returned to my credit (which the limit had almost doubled. Mistake 2) long story short. All cards and overdraft maxed out. But still needed to pay bills. I turned to high interest loans (mistake 3) it got to a point where I was getting paid and within hours of being paid I had £0 left and still had car insurance, phone bill et. To come out. I spiralled with anxiety and got myself in a tight mess, and with Xmas around the corner I didn’t know where to turn. No lender would look at me anymore either! And my partner didn’t know any of this or my family.

A few Saturdays ago I stumbled on StepChange. I rang 4 times and put the phone down every time. The 5th time I spoke to someone after 10 minutes I was in floods of tears because the Penney has dropped for me. They recommend a DMP and they said in 3 years I could become debt free and I have to pay £200 per month to them and then to all my creditors. I’m paid £1500pm so it’s easily affordable leaving me with actual money for the month (for the first time in a long time)

I came out to my girlfriend (who’s been so supportive) my boss and my family who have also been brilliant and understood.

I want to know if this is the correct path, I understand my credit file will be ruined but I did that to myself well before this! All letters, phone calls and emails from creditors have stopped (finally) however I want to know what may lie next. As someone once said if it’s too good to be true... it probably is.


Apologies the the list post.

I’m a 26 year old male too if anyone was wondering :D

sourcrates

Hi,

The long answer is yes, you have done the right thing.

The short answer is the same.

heartbreak_star

You have absolutely done the right thing and well done for being strong.

You got this

HBS x

NeverendingDMP

Hiya. I would say definitely yes. You had zero money within hours of being paid and now you're paying back your debts and can afford day to day bills. Its worrying when you first sign up but don't worry you will be okay. The trick is to keep the penny dropped and not access any more credit from anywhere including friends and family.
Onwards and upwards now. Or onwards and downwards as people say to the debts.

TommyTBFC

Thank you all for your input and kindness! I juat wanted to reassure myself. And I WILL NOT more credit from friends, family or anywhere else, as it could impact my DMP. And in the words of Graham Taylor “I got myself in this mess. Now I’ll get myself out of it”

MottledDebt

You have done the right thing. I realised this when I made the first payment and realised I was going to have enough money to see out the rest of the month.

Also, since you already have a house, the impact on your credit might not affect you as much as someone who was still looking to buy

destroy the cards if you havent already

misterbarlow

Definitely YES DO IT!!!

My wife & I were drowning in debt about 6/7yrs ago, we had built up not far off £50k in cards & loans between us over ten years or so since we met.. the minimum payments alone began to leave us with no money to actually live on, so we had to live on, yep, more cards!!

We tried to fight on as one big loan we had only had 2yrs left, but I was getting depressed and drinking a lot, and there was strain on our marriage and the kids etc from never having any money, and in the end in about 2012 we accepted defeat and started a DMP through Stepchange who were great...

Best decision we could have made!

Went from paying well over a grand a month just on loans and min payments, and not bringing many balances down, to £450pm to start with, suddenly having nearly a grand a month to live on again took away so much stress, but we have dropped that a few times over the years, now its on £300pm...

Plus within the first year nearly all our creditors fished out the balances to debt agencies, meaning almost all the interest stopped piling on!

Six years or so later the balance is now down to just over £20k, and now 5 or 6 of our smaller ones are in the low hundreds, so we can hopefully start saving to pay them off early so more money can go towards the bigger ones.

I am hoping to get debt free by my 50th in 5yrs!!

MandyT1970

I'm just feeling my way around this forum so apologies if this comes up at the wrong place.
To the OP I just wanted to say I'm in a very similar boat and I wanted to congratulate you for facing up to everything! I need to follow in your footsteps.
To misterbarlow I just wanted to ask you a question about Stepchange. Did creditors still contact you? My husband does not know of the mess I'm in, it would kill him. I have to do this without him.
Thanks for your help.

MottledDebt

It seems to depend on the creditor. Unlike an IVA, creditors can still contact you/continue charging interest on a DMP.

Most of mine (I had TWELVE in total) stopped contacting me after I had made 2 or 3 payments through StepChange

TommyTBFC

Hi Mandy,

Thank you for your kind words. It’s very difficult at first and not too sound too cliche but if I can do it anyone can!

I cannot answer for Misterbarlow, however. I was swamped with demanding letters from all kinds of creditors this time 3 weeks ago. I spoke to step change. Sent them everything they wanted, and since then all letters, phone calls and emails have stopped!

Good luck with it all, Plus I know how hard it can be to come out to your partner too! If you need to chat about things with StepChange etc my Inbox is open.

I understand what you’re going through

tealady

Hi
Speaking from experience the worst part is admitting you are in debt and cannot cope.
The 2nd best part is admitting you are in debt , cannot cope and getting good advice.
The best part is paying off your debts (however long it takes)
Good luck, my only regret is finding this site after I had battled for years with debt.