Car Repairs so cant pay

Floopy2009

Hi there,

Had a dreaded car repair bill which has messed up my finances this month. Have been paying a monthly payment plan with Moorcroft and Wescott.

This is the first time i will not be able to pay them. I have emailed them and explained this situation and said payments will continue as normal next month

Just not sure what will happen, anyone had experience missing a payment ?

Thanks

Willing2Learn

Hi,

I am assuming you are on a DMP, which is an informal payment arrangement. There is no problem suspending payments for a month or two when an unexpected expense crops up. You have done the right thing and informed them, so don't worry.

Floopy2009

I am not with any company i did it myself with them budget outgoings and what i could afford to pay, i presume it falls under the DMP category ?

Willing2Learn

It sounds like a self-managed DMP to me. But that does not really matter. You have informed your creditors, in writing, of the temporary change of circumstances. An unexpected expense will always crop up every now and then. As long as you keep your creditors 'in the loop', there should not be a problem.

Have you thought about suspending payments for say three to six months, to allow you time to build up an Emergency Fund (EF)? An EF is a vital component of any successful monthly budget.

Floopy2009

Thanks for clearing it up. To be honest this has been a right blip of a month things should be fine next month. I don't think i will need to stop it for numerous months currently, but thanks for the advice regarding for break clause if necessary.

sourcrates

Floopy2009 wrote: »

Just not sure what will happen, anyone had experience missing a payment ?

Thanks

Nothing will happen floppy.


Both collection agencies are just managing your debts, so are not the owners of your debts, just caretakers so to speak.


Your debts remain the property of the original creditors, who, have passsed all day to day running of your accounts to the DCA`s, who,.................are just managing your debts, so dont own them, so cant do anything, so there is no problem.


You just need to look at things in logical order.

leicestersq

This event shows that whatever monthly allowance you had made in your Statement of Account for car repairs wasnt large enough. I would change that amount and inform your creditors, it should reduce the amount that they require you to pay.

EssexHebridean

Definitely a good plan to review things a bit I'd suggest - how much do you currently budget each month for car related expenses (other than fuel)? Have you been making sure that you set that amount aside each month so it was just that an unexpectedly large bill left you a bit short on being able to cover it?

Maybe review your SOA - if you wanted to post it in here then we'd happily take a look and see if there is anything else that could benefit from a tweak or two!