DMP freedom in 15 months!

charhen19

Afternoon all! I have been in my DMP agreement for over 8 years now and according to projections have another 32 months to go. Well, I've had enough of it now - it has to go!

I'm aiming for the end of July 2020 so that when my August birthday hits I can say I'm DMP free!

More details to follow as I get time and as I remember stuff.

I'm not expecting anyone to follow, this is more for me, I have to write it down to make it more real but all are welcome to join in and read my ramblings if they can bare it :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Good luck xx

charhen19

Some more details:

My OH and I have mainly separate finances due to me having the DMP before I met him (and him having minimal debt and a great credit score) but we mostly go halves on everything and it works for us.

I'm currently up to date with my penny a day challenge and £1 a week challenge which will both come off the DMP once completed at the end of the year - I try to stay a little ahead on both of these so as to not make December a total disaster.

After this and my monthly payments I'll need to find around £80 a month extra in order to make my target deadline.

My budget is pretty tight already (as it should be on a DMP, I'm not complaining) so looking at making savings straight away - I'll be cancelling my gym membership @ £46.95 per month. I know, I know - it was an expensive luxury to begin with but it is only the council gym not a fancy one and meant I could go in my lunch break to one branch and at weekends to my local one BUT, no more. I shall pound the streets for exercise instead and do you tube classes at home.

So around £33.05 per month to find/save whilst keeping up with my regular savings and payments.

charhen19

Ok so it doesn't sound like much £33.05 a month but it's the "whilst keeping up with my regular savings and payments" bit that will be tough I think. And that's providing life doesn't throw a spanner in the works!

My plan:

Packed lunches and more importantly drinks - we are terrible for grabbing something (usually rip-off expensive) on the go when we have a houseful of stuff indoors. My plan is to take breakfasts and lunches every day to work. When we are out and about at the weekends (very busy time for us as we run a sports club on top of working full time mon-fri) make sure I have a supply of made up squash bottles in the fridge at home to grab as we are rushing out of the door.

Using up everything indoors - I plan to use up all the strange tins and jars in the cupboards, empty the freezer (and finally defrost it - long overdue) and then see where we are at. Will need fresh bits, meat, veg and milk along the way but I want to see those cupboards empty! I plan to put the breadmaker to use too.

This includes toiletries/cleaning products too - I'm ashamed to say when I did a challenge at the end of 2018 I found over 5 liters of shower gel in our house - not including the bottle we were each currently using at the time. NO MORE - I need to monitor this to make sure it doesn't happen again!

NeverendingDMP

Hello. Good to see you back on the forums. Hows it going. Im certain you can find the extra you need. You are very focusedx
Your target sounds a sensible one. Are you planning to pay up everything to everyone you owe or offer settlements to reduce the cost. Just a thought? If your saving up the penny and pound a day challenge you could use that to make offers and see if you can get debt free quicker.

charhen19

Any money earned doing surveys (onepoll etc) will go towards the DMP plus I plan to spend next weekend (bank holiday) blitzing the house and creating a pile to go to the charity shop, a pile for the tip and one to be ebayed. I'm sure the OH has plenty he's hoarding too which he can ebay too to put against his tiny debt/towards savings.

charhen19

NeverendingDMP wrote: »

Hello. Good to see you back on the forums. Hows it going. Im certain you can find the extra you need. You are very focusedx
Your target sounds a sensible one. Are you planning to pay up everything to everyone you owe or offer settlements to reduce the cost. Just a thought? If your saving up the penny and pound a day challenge you could use that to make offers and see if you can get debt free quicker.

Thanks neverending - I don't know how I feel about settlements. I've never been offered one by any of my creditors and wouldn't know where to start offering one myself. Also, how would that effect my credit rating? I've just been granted 0% finance on some furniture (didn't need the finance but thought I'd try to see if I got offered) so I think it must be good at the moment - would this see it take a backwards step?

NeverendingDMP

Have you checked your credit files. After 8 years these defaults/debts may not even be showing anymore. It would be recorded as partially settled but if they are no longer on your credit files it might not make a difference how they are paid.

Do the original people still own the debts or did they get sold on. I didnt know about settlement offers till i read about them on the forums. I know theres a moral question but ive done 3 settlements now as my income is less than half what it used to be and it seems the best way of me getting my dmp to be less than 20 years. Ive settled at 60% of the debt 61% of the debt and 44% of the debt i owed.

Theres a full and final settlement thread and a dmp support thread that will give better info/have posters who understand it far better than me. They will explain the pros and cons. In essence you write or email using a template letter -without prejudice, , you explain you have been kindly offered a gift to pay your debts and can offer x amount which you would pay within so many days if your debt is marked as partially settled. The forums ive mentioned will have a link in somewhere. You offer say 30% of the amount owed. They say no and ask for whatever % they would like. You say i cant pay that but i could pay something higher than your original offer and then if you get lucky you meet somewhere in the middle.
Have a read or post a question on one of the other forums just to check if it would affect your credit. Mines shot at so i wasnt fussed but if its worth a read to see what you think. They will also have info about cca requests but thats another story.

charhen19

Thanks for the info - I will deffo look into that.

NeverendingDMP

Your welcome. Im not the best person to ask so have a look. Enjoy your bank holiday blitz! Keep us all posted

charhen19

How do I check my credit files? I've done an experian report and get 999 which is why I assume I got the 0% on the furniture (I'm overpaying on this with no penalty to try to keep my experian score up).