Is a DMP my best option? UPDATE: 2 years on - what now?

sourcrates

Your very early into the collection process, at least wait until they have written to you a couple of times, then send a copy of your budget showing them what you can pay.

Token payments are only a short term strategy, what`s the plan for the end game ?

SBS_88

sourcrates said:

Your very early into the collection process, at least wait until they have written to you a couple of times, then send a copy of your budget showing them what you can pay.

Token payments are only a short term strategy, what`s the plan for the end game ?

Can I ask why I wait until they have written a few times before sending them my budget? I thought that I just needed to wait until defaults had appeared before doing this? 

In terms of a long term plan, I'm really worried about this and I don't have one at the moment except looking for a better paid or second job to give me some spare cash. I thought it might be a good idea to try to pay more than token amounts towards the small debts to get them paid off then worry about the big ones but I don't know if I'm allowed to do this. 

fatbelly

A possible strategy is token offers. Save on the side. Do full & final settlements.

Token offers are OK as a short term plan for a homeowner.

sourcrates

SBS_88 said:

sourcrates said:

Your very early into the collection process, at least wait until they have written to you a couple of times, then send a copy of your budget showing them what you can pay.

Token payments are only a short term strategy, what`s the plan for the end game ?

Can I ask why I wait until they have written a few times before sending them my budget? I thought that I just needed to wait until defaults had appeared before doing this? 

If your only making token payments, don`t be too keen to be Facebook friends is all I`m saying.

Your not going to make much of an inroad into your debts, so get that emergency fund saved up first.

Your creditors will most likely off load your accounts pretty quickly, or engage collectors to do the dirty work instead.

Debt collectors follow a set strategy of various template letters, which evolve as they go along, you can expect this honeymoon period to last a good 6-8 months or more, so there is no rush to fill there copper jar.

SBS_88

I don't want to sound too sorry for myself but I'm starting to panic and lose sleep over my debts again. 

I thought if I started a DMP and offered what I could then that would be enough to keep them off my back but by the sounds of it, it's just going to annoy the creditors and they're going to pass my debt on to more forceful debt collectors. I'm feeling nervous about having my parents visiting or being out on the front garden in case they come to my home. 

Have I done the wrong thing? Should I ask StepChange to manage things for me? 

I don't have any spare income otherwise I'd be paying more than token payments. If I make even more cut backs I think I could maybe afford to pay them all £20 a month but it's still not a lot when looking at the amount owing.  

fatbelly

You should not be panicking and losing sleep. Have you seen your GP recently?

No-one's going to visit you. Bailiffs are only allowed on a defaulted court order and your debts will probably never see court.

In your situation token offers are fine for now

Hols2021

SBS_88 said:

I don't want to sound too sorry for myself but I'm starting to panic and lose sleep over my debts again. 

I thought if I started a DMP and offered what I could then that would be enough to keep them off my back but by the sounds of it, it's just going to annoy the creditors and they're going to pass my debt on to more forceful debt collectors. I'm feeling nervous about having my parents visiting or being out on the front garden in case they come to my home. 

Have I done the wrong thing? Should I ask StepChange to manage things for me? 

I don't have any spare income otherwise I'd be paying more than token payments. If I make even more cut backs I think I could maybe afford to pay them all £20 a month but it's still not a lot when looking at the amount owing.  

Hi SBS_88

We are feeling the same about the whole process although we are just at the start and have not been issued defaults yet, from what i have read once the debts default then they are more or less always sent to a DCA to follow up and make the payments to them but i am also feeling very stressed about it all. Can i ask how MBNA were to deal with? i have a card with them but my husband has two with a very large balances on them and i have read some comments on here saying they are very difficult to deal with. This is making me very nervous although Sourcrates has given us some excellent advice and i can see he has replied to some of your posts also. I hope everything works out for you.

sourcrates

SBS_88 said:

I don't want to sound too sorry for myself but I'm starting to panic and lose sleep over my debts again. 

I thought if I started a DMP and offered what I could then that would be enough to keep them off my back but by the sounds of it, it's just going to annoy the creditors and they're going to pass my debt on to more forceful debt collectors. I'm feeling nervous about having my parents visiting or being out on the front garden in case they come to my home. 

Have I done the wrong thing? Should I ask StepChange to manage things for me? 

I don't have any spare income otherwise I'd be paying more than token payments. If I make even more cut backs I think I could maybe afford to pay them all £20 a month but it's still not a lot when looking at the amount owing.  

Look, a bit of clarity is needed here, your creditors may or may not sell your debts on, they may choose just to use a collection agency or a mixture of both, debt collectors these days have to take affordability into account as a number one priority, now they haven`t always been like this, but after an FCA crackdown in recent years they all now have to tow the line.

This means they will be more than nice with you, you won`t be asked to pay more than what you have available, most DCA`s are pretty compliant these days and will accept whatever your budget shows you can afford.

No one is coming to your home, I know this is stressful for you but please educate yourself on the debt collection process, you are worrying over nothing, debt collectors are these days easier to deal with than your original creditors were, its a simple business arrangement you will have with them, nothing more, nothing to panic or have sleepless nights over.

They won`t even ask you to pay anything if your budget shows you cannot afford it, debt collection has come a long way in recent years, they have had to improve there customer service skills or face harsh financial penalties, so you have nothing to worry about.

Rob5342

Hols2021 said:

SBS_88 said:

I don't want to sound too sorry for myself but I'm starting to panic and lose sleep over my debts again. 

I thought if I started a DMP and offered what I could then that would be enough to keep them off my back but by the sounds of it, it's just going to annoy the creditors and they're going to pass my debt on to more forceful debt collectors. I'm feeling nervous about having my parents visiting or being out on the front garden in case they come to my home. 

Have I done the wrong thing? Should I ask StepChange to manage things for me? 

I don't have any spare income otherwise I'd be paying more than token payments. If I make even more cut backs I think I could maybe afford to pay them all £20 a month but it's still not a lot when looking at the amount owing.  

Hi SBS_88

We are feeling the same about the whole process although we are just at the start and have not been issued defaults yet, from what i have read once the debts default then they are more or less always sent to a DCA to follow up and make the payments to them but i am also feeling very stressed about it all. Can i ask how MBNA were to deal with? i have a card with them but my husband has two with a very large balances on them and i have read some comments on here saying they are very difficult to deal with. This is making me very nervous although Sourcrates has given us some excellent advice and i can see he has replied to some of your posts also. I hope everything works out for you.

I've had two debts sold to DCAs and it hasn't been a problem at all, I just carried on making the same payments and that was that. I was very apprehensive about starting a DMP but I've been on it for a year now and it's all gone very smoothly, All interest has been frozen, and the only correspondence I've had has been default notices or letters to say debts have been sold.

kimwp

sourcrates said:

SBS_88 said:

I don't want to sound too sorry for myself but I'm starting to panic and lose sleep over my debts again. 

I thought if I started a DMP and offered what I could then that would be enough to keep them off my back but by the sounds of it, it's just going to annoy the creditors and they're going to pass my debt on to more forceful debt collectors. I'm feeling nervous about having my parents visiting or being out on the front garden in case they come to my home. 

Have I done the wrong thing? Should I ask StepChange to manage things for me? 

I don't have any spare income otherwise I'd be paying more than token payments. If I make even more cut backs I think I could maybe afford to pay them all £20 a month but it's still not a lot when looking at the amount owing.  

Look, a bit of clarity is needed here, your creditors may or may not sell your debts on, they may choose just to use a collection agency or a mixture of both, debt collectors these days have to take affordability into account as a number one priority, now they haven`t always been like this, but after an FCA crackdown in recent years they all now have to tow the line.

This means they will be more than nice with you, you won`t be asked to pay more than what you have available, most DCA`s are pretty compliant these days and will accept whatever your budget shows you can afford.

No one is coming to your home, I know this is stressful for you but please educate yourself on the debt collection process, you are worrying over nothing, debt collectors are these days easier to deal with than your original creditors were, its a simple business arrangement you will have with them, nothing more, nothing to panic or have sleepless nights over.

They won`t even ask you to pay anything if your budget shows you cannot afford it, debt collection has come a long way in recent years, they have had to improve there customer service skills or face harsh financial penalties, so you have nothing to worry about.

Given this, (based on my experience of being bullied by a manager), it's really about what home you give the issue in your head. If you think about it all the time, it will become the most important thing, crowding out other (probably more) important things.

So you need to find some way of only giving the issue the home in your head it deserves - one that means you do all the practical things to sort it out, but beyond that, you put it away and don't worry about it.

This could mean visualising the issue getting smaller until it fits into a little box, it could mean remembering to think about other things (researching and planning free/cheap days out for example), it could even mean re-naming parts of the process eg any debt related letters become "love notes" from the agencies "to show they still care".