Finally sent the letters

Extended_tether

£26k in credit card debt and have been transferring balances around for years to little avail. Paid £7000 in repayments 2019 but my overall debt balance has come down at a snails pace. Frustrating and soul destroying.
Started to affect my health and well-being never mind my quality of life.
Lurking around this site for years and several debt plans completed on the fantastic free debt management charities , but never had the courage to actually start the process.
Today I cancelled all my Direct debits , wrote my letters and sent them off first class. I am currently working with Step Change.
After dropping them in a Post box I had a smile on my face and butterflies in my stomach .
The guys in this forum offer fantastic first hand advice so I will keep posting any progress over the next couple of months and beyond so that others in a similar position might find some of it useful.

jbkmum

Good luck

Extended_tether

One week on from DD cancellation.

Had a few text messages from each of the banks telling me that my direct debit had been cancelled and I needed to find some other way to pay.
Sent another letter to the C/C companies telling them I’m in financial difficulties, and am unable to meet my financial commitments
Also that I was taking advice from Step change, and also authorised the C/C companies to release my account details to them if requested.
Have not sent back my Step change documents as I have incurred a few unexpected hefty bills and need to deal with them first.
Also asked them to stop all interest and charges .
Also told them to contact me in writing to my home address only.

From sending the letters to now, everything has been very quiet .
Still quietly building my emergency fund.

Can anyone advise on whether it is better to pay nothing and default quicker, or to send token payments ????
All advice genuinely appreciated.

SuperFrank88

Hi,

I am in the same situation as you. I’m now starting to get the texts/emails to say I’ve missed the payment for this month.

My plan is to pay nothing until the accounts default and then I will get in touch with Stepchange to set up my DMP. Hopefully this won’t take long because morally it doesn’t feel right plowing money into my EF when I’ve got all this debt sitting there.

Good luck and I look forward to following your journey with you, I’ve subscribed

Debtfreeat50

Good luck. I didn't read up so have ploughed straight in with no EF. Luckily the plan I am on is pretty flexible

SuperFrank88

Have you set up a plan with Stepchange? How is it flexible?