About to begin a DMP with £53k of debt.

fatbelly

It's best to move bank if you have any debt with them that is going to be in a debt management plan. That is to avoid them using the right of set-off, where they help themselves to your income

Rob5342

If you owe money to a bank then they are entitled to take money from other accounts you have with them to cover that debt. In that situation it's a good idea to open an account with a different bank so they can't take the money. If you don't owe any money to the banks you have accounts with then you can just carry on using them

Martico

In terms of phone or broadband credit, it's my understanding that those are more lenient than other credit deals, simply because if you fail to pay they can just shut off the service. Perhaps different if the actual phone is part of the deal

wildstyle2019

Wow you lot are super helpful, thank you. 

Ok so just a few more queries before I bite the bullet. 

After the 6 year period from when the default is placed on your file, does it disappear even if you haven't finished paying?

I'm definitely leaning towards managing it myself so after the accounts have defaulted how do I go about contacting them and deciding on how much to pay? I presume I just pay what I can afford? Do you just set up a standing order? 

Can you limit the amount of contact? Could you just communicate via email for example? 

Are there template letters? 

Thank you again in advance for all your guidance. 

sourcrates

Defaults are automatically removed after six years regardless of the actions you may take.

They will write to you.

You pay what you can afford to pay, all debt collectors have various payment details on their websites, paying by bank transfer is simplest, and they can`t take money they are not supposed too.

Under the General Data Protection Regulations, you can limit how a company contacts you, you must tell them in writing how they are to get in touch with you, be it by phone/text/email or in writing.

What template letter do you want? 

We have various ones in the stickie thread on this board, also National Debtline has various resources available to download on their website.

Rob5342

The account with the default will always disappear from your credit report 6 years after the default was applied, no matter what you do or don't pay. The debt will still exist if it hasn't been paid off but won't be reported.

You just need to work out a budget for yourself to determine what you can afford towards debt repayments, and then decide on a strategy on how you will use that money to cover your debts. You might want to split it proportionally so everything is paid off directly in x years, you mght want to pay less and save the difference for settlement offers later, you might want to pay more towards the smaller ones to get rid of a few to give yourself a mental boost. It's all up to you - just keep on eye on it and make sure you are putting enough aside to cover irregular expenses like care services. Paying with standing orders is best as you are in total control then and can change everything at the drop of a hat.

Yes you can just email them, that's all I've done. Sometimes they try and phone you but you can just block the number, you can get letters as well but just file them appropriately. 

Sly72

I stopped paying 10 debts in oct 22 all my accounts had defaulted by August 23, hard as it is to do ignore phonecalls, emails and letters, Just keep an eye out for the dealut notice letters and keep these. 

Currently paying one that has been sold on as they have provided the credit agreement from 2013 following a CCA request which is £10 a month i just setup a payment plan via website did not speak to anyone.

Hope this helps.

magpies79

One thing you do need to be aware of and hopefully this is right in what I’m saying if not I’m sure others can correct me but things can go on longer then 6 years with regards your credit file.

what happened to me was defaulted on a loan so awarded default on file 3 later so 3 years to go but then they applied and won a ccj so that was another 6 years on file which was a ccj.

like they may never try and go for ccj but they were never interested in excepting any of my offers they just wanted there money all at once 

 in all fairness it stopped me from obtaining credit which was what got me in the situation in the first place.

wildstyle2019

Was the default applied 3 months or 3 years later? That is strange - did you make any payments to them? Did it not go to a collections company? I thought only the debt owner can apply for a CCJ? 

magpies79

6 months after falling behind my agreed payment's was then issued with a default 
then went on the make agreed payments of £100 which was lower then my loan agreement debt finally passed to debt collections after a year or 2 of still making payments they wanted to up my payments couldn’t afford it issued me with a ccj ended up paying instalments of £50 a month through a ccj which was less then what I was paying them in the first place lol.