DMP Dilemmas

Kirby91

Hi all,

a littlw background - i was in a very unhappy marriage woth someone who thought it was okay to just ip and leave a job and leave me to foot the bill to run a house on my single wage. 

This lead to me having around 9000 in debt in my name and 5000 in her name. We set-up a joint dmp at the time as tht was the only way i could see of getting a hold on things.
i am currently in a dmp with stepchange now on my own, and this has taken me to around 7500 outstanding.
upon delving a little more into my debts, an argos card stood out to me.. turns out when splitting the stepchange joint dmp, i kept the wrong argos card so have pid some money towards ex prtners debt..

I have lost all faith in stepchange and wonder if anyone has gone it alone and done their own dmp of sorts direct with creditors?the only issue i have is that some of then ie pounds to pocket have gone bust so dont know who to contact?!

any advice you supportive lot?

cornwallpauley

Hi Kirby91,
I am no expert, many people on the board are far more clued up then I am. Anyway, cut a long story short I have spent the last 6 weeks whilst off with long (ish) covid sorting out my own self-managed DMP. I did speak to Stepchange and I fully understand the benefits of using such a charity, but I decided to do the leg work myself. I wrote to all my creditors (personal loan x 2 and credit cards) with  information on my earnings, budget and how much I have left to pay towards debts. (Roughly half of the minimum payments - I had been robbing Peter to pay Paul and reached breaking point, my lightbulb moment). Anyway, after some correspondance going backwards and forwards, they have all agreed with my proposal, have stopped interest and charges and set a review for December 2021. So, I am hoping by then with a significant pay increase in September, I can either increase my offer to each, or get payments back to the required amount. 
I think it is worth trying to do it yourself, but it takes time, many letters, a very accurate budget and patience!

sourcrates

Lots of folk do self managed DMP`s, its so simple to set up and run.

Step one

Write to the creditors you have details for, those you haven`t details for will soon write when stepchange payment stops.
Explain what your doing, ask for there payment details.

Step two

Work out an affordable budget, decide how you will split the payments, write again telling them how much they will get and when.

Step three

Input creditor payment details to your online banking, so every month all you need do is click through each payment.

That`s it, its that simple, job done.

Any creditor who doesn't get the message, or who sells on your debt, well you will need to deal with them on a case by case basis, but basically you become the administrator of your own arrangement.