In a DMP, can i only make decent token payments for months, then make offers.

Rob5342

stu12345_2 said:

Rob5342 said:

stu12345_2 said:

don't like standing orders.too used to paying via a DD with stepchsnge.so maybe just see what systems the creditors prefer.i know some have a phone number to make a payment and a number to arrange a payment plan. dd.
tbh.the whole plan is to max out expenses on my budget plan in order to put away savings so in the future say 6 to 9 months plus.

Standing orders are much easier as you can just change them in your banking app whenever you want to. Other methods will involve contacting the creditor to change the amount which will be far more hassle.

I think you are missing my point about your budget. Your budget should be about managing your own affairs to make sure you have money for everything without getting short or needing further credit. It's not something to fiddle to try and convince the creditors of anything, you can tell them anything you want or nothing at all. It's the same with any F and F offers you might make, you simply say I've got £x.xx I can give you to clear the debt, do you want it or shall I offer it to someone else?

I always was told it is impossible to stop a standing order.not want to fiddle.justvwant to try and save as much as possible  to eventually make F and F offers and at the same time make some sort of payment to creditors whilst I give myself some quality of life

I'm not sure what you are thinking of but a standing order is just an arrangement you set up with your bank to pay a regular amount to another bank account. You can stop and change it whenever you want.

The point I was making is that you should have a sustainable budget that you can live on, and then work out what you can do with what's left over. From what you were saying I took it to.meam that you were inflating expenses to justify a reduced amount to your creditors. I apologize if I misunderstood.

stu12345_2

I think my dmp was always unrealistic with stepchange.that is why my new budget should allow for higher expenses plus more for savings emergency  fund.etc.the stepchange one only suggested £50 a month max savings emergency fund.i want to really raise it so I can make F and F payments at some point.
 my fear was if the creditors want SAO and it showed how much I was putting aside. Much more than £50 is my plan
plus if I put down say £300 for food for both of us and sometimes we only use £230. I will use the difference towards savings.i will not pay extra some months to creditors.
.they may object.but from posts here.it seems I don't need to fill in a SAO at all for them. even tho they seems to want one

they will have to accept my monthly offer without  SAO forms sent to them.
plus I've read other threads on here about living on a shoestring to clear debts fast. I don't want to live on beans and toast for yrs.i want a better existence than I've done with current dmp.so I want to up expenses but at same time make more savings reserves via paying very little to my creditors.then hit them with F and F offers for as low as possible that they agree on taking.
I actually ran out of petrol and food on Wednesday and Thursday last week.got paid on Friday. once a month.never again do I want that to happen.my SAO budget must allow for better standard of living.
have you ever had a physical employment without food for 2 days.thus my monthly stepchange DMP was wrong.figures far too tight
I didn't want an iva.stepchange wanted DMP to last under 6 years which would  avoid an iva( if my budget was doable).yes.i had 3 years 4 months to go.been on it for 19 months.

Grumpelstiltskin

Stu. Please forget any SOA at the moment.

Offering anything is way down the line, just don't bother about it.

With the cheques just put the reference number of the debt on the back and either Stu X or Mrs Stu X

You are overthinking again, don't.

Rob5342

stu12345_2 said:

no.it was a mutual agreement with wife.plus can I ask when I write cheques for the FCA search do I use one cheque per search even if I have different debts per creditor.eg moorcroft.
    and do I write my debt reference number on back of cheque.plus if I write a cheque for my wife's debt searches.she has no cheque book.
   do I write her name under my signature and debt ref number on back.or have I got it wrong.hsvrnt wrote a cheque in 10 yrs.

I'd send one cheque per request, it saves any "misunderstandings" on their part. They wont care about what's written on the cheque, and half of the time they'll just send them back to you anyway.

sourcrates

Its a "CCA Request" stu, nothing to do with the FCA, and its not a search, you are simply asking for a copy of your original credit agreement for each account, treat each account/debt individually, even if with same creditor.

Please try to stop overthinking your SOA, I can imagine your thought process whizzing around 100 mph, try and relax, your plan is a good one, your payment was obviously unaffordable with stepchange.

Not wanting to speak ill of them, as they do help a lot of people, and I know they will read this, but it can be a case of there way or the highway where they are concerned.

Rob5342

sourcrates said:

Not wanting to speak ill of them, as they do help a lot of people, and I know they will read this, but it can be a case of there way or the highway where they are concerned.

I used them initially and they were very good and really helped me, however they are funded by the creditors and as such the approach they follow is get the whole balance back for the creditor rather than suggesting options that would be more beneficial to the person in debt.

I got an £11,000 Nationwide debt cleared by making an affordability complaint, I have a £7000 Barclaycard debt that I'm not paying because it's unenforceable. I also have an £8000 Virgin debt that's with  a DCA as I stopped paying, and as such at some point I'll be able to clear it with a full and final offer. If I had followed Stepchange's approach then I.would  have paid out something like £22,000 I needn't have.

stu12345_2

didn't know stepchange read these threads.yes first thing is write email to stepchange today saying I'm going it alone.eould like to ask them to send the addresses of the creditors I owe whom they correspond with.
then I write CCA requests to creditors.i make no payment what so ever during the searches.
then if enforceable.i make payment offers monthly of my choice at my affordability based on my budget.the creditors will not get a SAO from me no matter how much they demand one.

if I went alone 18 months ago I could have asked for CCA requests.stepchanged never ever mentioned it. I could have also made my own budget based on my own guidelines.as stepchange try to create one that the creditors will approve.cos stepchange always said to me we have sent your budget to creditors for approval and hopefully they accept and also stop interest which is isn't guaranteed.
ps what is a DCA

stu12345_2

two reasons stepchange suggested using them .as one they deal with creditors.so no contact needed from me direct to them.
and two they said they work closely with creditors and usually the relationship they have stops interest and charges.which I thought brilliant as I assumed I didn't have the power or the relationship.i would say it was the interest on credit cards that did the majority of my debt situation.not so much the min monthly payments.cos the balance hardly moved due to the interest.

Grumpelstiltskin

Stu Unless you have told Stepchange your name is Stu 12345_2 how do you think they are going to link this thread to you?

Stop overthinking please you are doing yourself no good with all of this.

1 Cancel Stepchange payment
2 Tell them you are not continuing with your DMP
3 Send CCA requests ASAP

stu12345_2

I didn't mean stepchange can find individuals on these threads.i meant stepchange could read and say to themselves hey we are making mistakes as a debt company or perhaps we should do things a different way