DMP - at what point to lenders register default?

Clouters

Hi all,
I've registered for some advice - my gf has around £16k of debt across 4 credit cards and 2 loans.  All the free interest periods have expired and no other lender will touch her to consolidate the debts.  All the advice we've been given (Stepchange, Payplan etc) is pointing us towards a DMP spread across 5 years.

What I'm most concerned about is a lender registering a default on her debts towards the end of the DMP which will trigger 6 years of bad credit.  On top of the 5 year repayment plan this could total 11 years of poor credit, which obviously is a very long time when thinking about joint mortgages etc.
Do lenders normally register a default in a DMP, and if so at what time?  Do they also register an underpayment every month for 5 years?

I've struggled to find info on the particulars of how exactly this could affect her credit score over the years so any advice would be really appreciated!

Suseka97

Okay, firstly its good news that she wasn't able to get a consolidation - that never works out in the long run.  

Unfortunately there is no set timeframe for defaults to be applied, each creditor has their own set of rules and every situation is different.  There are guidelines for creditors that indicate a default should be applied after 3 months of non-payment, but they don't have to.  With that said, most creditors will default fairly quickly and those that don't you just have to chase and keep chasing.  

sourcrates

There’s nothing to stop you writing to the creditors and asking them to default the accounts.

In debt management, the sooner you are defaulted, the better.

fatbelly

It's good practice to stop paying completely for a period, save an emergency fund and get the defaults.
Then start the dmp
Guidance says they should default after 3-6 missed payments