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Hello strangers - update from me
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January2015
Posts: 2,369 Forumite
Hi everyone
I disappeared from the forum a couple of years back. Difficult health circumstances (not me this time but my hubby) meant life interrupted. Anyway, I thought I would do an update to let you know we have persevered with our self managed DMP. Having started in January 2015 with just under £95k of unsecured debt across 12 creditors, we will be debt free in the next month. We are just finalising final settlements with the last of our creditors.
Without breaking down each individual creditor, we have paid off (in monthly payments and settlements) just under £29k - which works out at an average settlement of each debt of approx 34% of the original balance at the point we entered our DMP. Some were settled as low as 10% (non enforceable CCAs), and the highest percentage we have paid to any single debt has been 42% (B'card who were the hardest to deal with and who never transferred the debt to a collection agency).
Six years and six months after we started the DMP we are now seeing all those accounts with defaults drop off our credit reports. Nice to see they are no longer there but to be honest it makes no difference to us whatsoever as we never want credit ever again. If we don't have the funds for something... we don't have it. By the end of 2021 our credit reference files will be squeaky clean.
Without the DMP we would not have been in a position to deal with the significant health issues life has thrown us over the last six years. We haven't lived a luxurious life on our DMP but we have been comfortable and we have been very happy. We have always had money available to cover emergency repairs to home or vehicle. We have definitely not gone without and we have been able to save (ok so I didn't tell my creditors exact financial income/expenditure figures).
I just wanted to drop in and wish everyone well and let anyone new to DMP land or thinking of entering some sort of plan to deal with their debts..... don't ever consolidate (we did that more than once and they were the biggest mistakes we ever made), you can do this and it might feel hard at first but you can do it. Going self managed was the biggest change for us (after a year with StepChange to get us started). That gave us more control over what we paid each month and reducing to £1 per month payments for a long time.
Our creditors have all been fantastic. The debts were passed from original creditor to debt collection agencies, but again they have all been supportive and helpful. I honestly can't fault them. We wrote immediately and said we did not give them permission to telephone us and they never have. When we've reduced payments to £1 they've accepted and understood. Always keep in contact with creditors/debt agencies and get everything in writing and I have found they are very supportive. I found once debts were transferred to collection agencies it was easier to deal with the agency than the original creditor, they were more supportive and understanding and easier to negotiate settlements with.
I discovered DMPs from this forum and I can honestly say it changed our lives for the better. I remember, as a newbie to the forum back in January 2015, reading other people posting they were debt free and feeling like if I ever got there it would years and years away. It may have taken six years but they've flown by. I dread to think where we would be now if we hadn't discovered it. Because of ill health we have both been able to retire and look to the future positively and without any financial worries. If you had said to me back in Decemver 2014 that in summer 2021 I could retire and be debt free I would never have believed it.
Wishing everyone in DMPland and on this forum the very best now and for the future.... stay safe and stick at it. If we can do with a massive starting debit of almost £95k..... anyone can do it.
I disappeared from the forum a couple of years back. Difficult health circumstances (not me this time but my hubby) meant life interrupted. Anyway, I thought I would do an update to let you know we have persevered with our self managed DMP. Having started in January 2015 with just under £95k of unsecured debt across 12 creditors, we will be debt free in the next month. We are just finalising final settlements with the last of our creditors.
Without breaking down each individual creditor, we have paid off (in monthly payments and settlements) just under £29k - which works out at an average settlement of each debt of approx 34% of the original balance at the point we entered our DMP. Some were settled as low as 10% (non enforceable CCAs), and the highest percentage we have paid to any single debt has been 42% (B'card who were the hardest to deal with and who never transferred the debt to a collection agency).
Six years and six months after we started the DMP we are now seeing all those accounts with defaults drop off our credit reports. Nice to see they are no longer there but to be honest it makes no difference to us whatsoever as we never want credit ever again. If we don't have the funds for something... we don't have it. By the end of 2021 our credit reference files will be squeaky clean.
Without the DMP we would not have been in a position to deal with the significant health issues life has thrown us over the last six years. We haven't lived a luxurious life on our DMP but we have been comfortable and we have been very happy. We have always had money available to cover emergency repairs to home or vehicle. We have definitely not gone without and we have been able to save (ok so I didn't tell my creditors exact financial income/expenditure figures).
I just wanted to drop in and wish everyone well and let anyone new to DMP land or thinking of entering some sort of plan to deal with their debts..... don't ever consolidate (we did that more than once and they were the biggest mistakes we ever made), you can do this and it might feel hard at first but you can do it. Going self managed was the biggest change for us (after a year with StepChange to get us started). That gave us more control over what we paid each month and reducing to £1 per month payments for a long time.
Our creditors have all been fantastic. The debts were passed from original creditor to debt collection agencies, but again they have all been supportive and helpful. I honestly can't fault them. We wrote immediately and said we did not give them permission to telephone us and they never have. When we've reduced payments to £1 they've accepted and understood. Always keep in contact with creditors/debt agencies and get everything in writing and I have found they are very supportive. I found once debts were transferred to collection agencies it was easier to deal with the agency than the original creditor, they were more supportive and understanding and easier to negotiate settlements with.
I discovered DMPs from this forum and I can honestly say it changed our lives for the better. I remember, as a newbie to the forum back in January 2015, reading other people posting they were debt free and feeling like if I ever got there it would years and years away. It may have taken six years but they've flown by. I dread to think where we would be now if we hadn't discovered it. Because of ill health we have both been able to retire and look to the future positively and without any financial worries. If you had said to me back in Decemver 2014 that in summer 2021 I could retire and be debt free I would never have believed it.
Wishing everyone in DMPland and on this forum the very best now and for the future.... stay safe and stick at it. If we can do with a massive starting debit of almost £95k..... anyone can do it.
DFW Nerd No. 1484 LBM 07/01/15 Debt was £95k :eek: Now debt free and happy :j
19
Comments
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Great news about the debt and i hope your hubby is well
LBM Debt Total : £48,326.50
Pay All Your Debt Off By Xmas 2023 - #50 £1,495.29 / £12,000.00
Saving For Christmas 2023 - £1 a day challenge - #6 £100/£1095.001 -
Nice to hear from you January.
Glad things are going well for you, hope the health problems are over with soon.
I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter2 -
Great to hear from you January and really pleased to hear you are now facing a worry free retirement - also hope the health issues are improving.
Our stories were very similar, except I still have a couple of UE's hanging around unsettled. They sit with the PRA Group who are being a little stubborn on the F&F front, but I'm not particularly worried about it, one day they'll be settled or will eventually be statute barred.
Due to this Covid thing we decided to take early retirement and also up sticks and relocate 300+ miles to the south west. Still settling in, but enjoying not having to do the 9 - 5 thing and doing whatever we like with our days. Like you, we live comfortably now and our credit files returned to normal a few years back when the defaults dropped off - not that I pay much attention to them now because I have no need to really.
We remortgaged with no problem and so our next mission is to be mortgage free within the next few years.
Enjoy retirement!3 -
It's great to hear from you January. You were a regular poster when I started out on my own DMP journey. You and Suseka both gave me a lot of hope for the future and made me see what can be achieved once that LBM kicks in.
it's so good to see you are so content with life as it is now.
Enjoy every day of your retirement 2 -
That is a lovely update but sorry you have had health issues to contend with. Sometimes going down the DMP route is the best way out of the situation and no bad thing to turn your back on using credit. We don't tend to use it either. Messes up my budgets
I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
The 365 Day 1p Challenge 2025 #1 £667.95/£162.90
Save £12k in 2025 #1 £12000/£70001 -
It's great to read such a good outcome. Excellent!1
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Such an uplifting post, January. Well done and thanks so much for coming back to let us enjoy your success. You and Suseka's experiences and generous giving of your time to help others were the main reasons that I stuck at it (and what a long journey it was!) and am now happily debt free myself.
Wishing you every success and happiness for your future and sending very best wishes for improving health for you and your husband xxxNew Challenge: Tilly Tidy as much as possible in 2022. Running total to 26 Feb: £183.77
Tilly Tidy to £1200+ by 31/12/2021 Challenge. Final 2021 total: £1313.37 /£1200+ Average £109.45/month
J£74.95/F£92.17/M£99.42/A£98.20/M£116.30/J£129.68/J£93.37/A£140.25/S£128.10/O£119.57/N£106.20/D:£115.161
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