Stepchange Review in deficit

Dom135246

Hi I have a joint DMP with my wife.

She did the annual review and it showed a deficit and she couldn’t continue with reducing the monthly payment so left it in progress. Stepchange have noticed this and suspended the direct debit for August and its due on the first of the month, because it’s not their policy to take money which I understand.

I was thinking of going self managed.

I’m just wondering should we pay the creditors on the DMP the amount we’d agreed and is accepted by them for this month via BACS (approx £5 each) and write and offer a token payment or payment suspension or should we just not pay because we’ve been advised to go into a payment suspension for everything for 6 months while we get our arrears sorted and work out what to do and offer no payment for six months, becasue they’ve already defaulted would I be best keeping tokens going or agreed figure going until they agree with new offer.

I’m wondering how important it is to continue with the DMP agreement that’s in place when they have already defaulted. Should I at least pay it next month so as to not break the agreement, while writing to them and waiting for a reply is happening. 

I’m not sure what to do.

Also, I am struggling to find email addresses for creditors, is it as good to use their messaging system in the app to communicate or if an email isn’t available best to write a letter?  Do you ever send the content of a letter via the chat. I’m just confused becasue the other day I emailed but their reply came via the chat in the app so I found myself chatting to them rather than it being email communications. Just wondered what others have done?

Also, on looking I’ve noticed some have the wrong address for us although Stepchange have the new address, should I just update the address in the online account hub or is it best to do it via email or letter. My mail is redirected.

Thank you

sourcrates

Hi,

Are you a homeowner or do you rent ?

Debt management is a very informal way of repaying your debts, creditors/debt purchasers will simply put your account on hold if you have insufficient disposable income just now, its quite a flexible way of doing things.

You can write/message/email doesn't matter, if its not affordable, then tell then, likewise if you want payment details, ask them, affordability is the key thing these days.

The agreement doesn`t matter, accounts will be held, or sold, or whatever, just keep them informed of your situation, that`s all you have to do, pay or don`t pay, they really don`t care if payments are missed, its expected, non payment without telling them will just cause collection activity to re-start, so if its not affordable, tell them so.

Dom135246

@sourcrates

We’re a homeowner and own it outright.

Thanks for the information, that’s good to know, I wasn’t sure at all what to do next. 

RAS

Dom, you've hinted in other threads that your wife has been unwell? 

No need to go into details here; but it may be prudent to explain the basic situation to your creditors. If they understand that your income has dropped for reasons you could not control, some may even eventually write the debt off or decide it's not worth pursuing.

Dom135246

@RAS

Thank you RAS, I appreciate the help, yes she’s unwell, if we explain the situation and inform the creditors so they’re aware that’s a good idea thank you.

RAS

 Dom,

If you are employed and have health problems, your employer is expected to make reasonable adjustments. But only if you tell them. If you don't, you lose that right.

Your creditors will be aware that your payments have dropped, and maybe that health rather than the pandemic are behind the situation, but they need enough information to make an informed decision about the reasonableness of your limited  payments.

Just " Wife diagnosed with xxxx, receiving treatment (on-going?), hoping to see specialist (when plus allow for re-scheduling)." 

RAS

Do, this any use to you for one month?

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