About to start DMP

Floss

gorskiii said:
I’ve come here for help and advice as know there are many experienced people on here.

It’s only today that I’ve cancelled the direct debits for my debts but they won’t yet default as I’ve read on here that can take several months(?).

Yes, I’ve got an emergency fund set to one side. What is this usually needed for?

Yes, I’ve done CCA requests on the debts and they are all enforceable.

Anything you might previously have put on a credit card, such as a puncture repair, new washing machine, roof repair, plumbing emergency... but not Christmas which should ideally be budgeted for.

gorskiii

Floss said:

gorskiii said:
I’ve come here for help and advice as know there are many experienced people on here.

It’s only today that I’ve cancelled the direct debits for my debts but they won’t yet default as I’ve read on here that can take several months(?).

Yes, I’ve got an emergency fund set to one side. What is this usually needed for?

Yes, I’ve done CCA requests on the debts and they are all enforceable.

Anything you might previously have put on a credit card, such as a puncture repair, new washing machine, roof repair, plumbing emergency... but not Christmas which should ideally be budgeted for.

Yeah that makes perfect sense. Had a feeling it’d be something along those lines. Cheers for the clarification.

Grumpelstiltskin

Emergency fund is for anything that happens eg. fridge / freezer not working. Your aim is to live without using credit for anything so the emergency fund is for just that.

gorskiii

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Emergency fund is for anything that happens eg. fridge / freezer not working. Your aim is to live without using credit for anything so the emergency fund is for just that.

A brand new world I’m about to enter. So I do appreciate any advice. 

I’ve just had a good read of the following thread…

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

…and found it extremely useful as we are both in a similar position. I think now I’ve cancelled all of the direct debits, requested the CCA, emergency fund in place etc I just need to decide whether to do it all myself or stick with Money Wellness. From experience which is easier?

Grumpelstiltskin

Please don't stick with Money Wellness if you want one of the charities  eg. Stepchange to run the DMP then they are there but it is advised if you can to run the DMP yourself then you have compete control of it.

gwynlas

It is relatively easy to run your own debt management plan. I refused to supply anyone with a SOA and just told them what payments I could afford. I told them I had other debts but not who these were with.Stepchange is fine but they treat all debtors as equal and spread payments around, Doing things yourself means that you could clear smaller debts  first if this would make you feel better and be able to take up settlement offers if you can afford these along the way.

2021rdsunshine

gorskii I’m at the same stage as you, about to start DMP. Doing it myself with help from all the advice on this forum. I just cancelled payments to creditors and I’ll wait for the defaults while I’ll put together the emergency fund. As I understand the emergency funds might also be useful in the future if a creditor or whoever buys the debt offer reduced payment settlements . 

gorskiii

gwynlas said:

It is relatively easy to run your own debt management plan. I refused to supply anyone with a SOA and just told them what payments I could afford. I told them I had other debts but not who these were with.Stepchange is fine but they treat all debtors as equal and spread payments around, Doing things yourself means that you could clear smaller debts  first if this would make you feel better and be able to take up settlement offers if you can afford these along the way.

Similar to what @grumplestiltskins has said. I think with it all being new and daunting I thought the best and easiest route would be to get someone to help me with a DMP and manage it on my behalf. More I’m reading on here I’m finding that many do it themselves and there’s lots of people happy to help and offer advice.

Rob5342

I agree, please don't use Money Wellness, use Stepchange or Payplan if you must but ideally just do it yourself.

I used Stepchange originally but then switched to doing it myself. Stepchange seemed like a good idea initially but I quickly found them to more of a hindrance than a help. The problem with Stepchange is that they have a very rigid approach of treating creditors fairly and splitting any money equally. Running it yourself means you have the flexibility to pay creditors different amounts, if you wanted to make a settlement offer to one, or make higher payments to another. They also advise that you start paying straight away without waiting for defaults, which can harm your credit record for longer and make your total repayment higher than it needs to be. It's easy to do it yourself, just set up a standing order to make them payment and tell the creditor what you'll be paying them, and you don't have Stepchange obstructing what you want to do.

gorskiii

2021rdsunshine said:

gorskii I’m at the same stage as you, about to start DMP. Doing it myself with help from all the advice on this forum. I just cancelled payments to creditors and I’ll wait for the defaults while I’ll put together the emergency fund. As I understand the emergency funds might also be useful in the future if a creditor or whoever buys the debt offer reduced payment settlements . 

I’m more and more inclined to do it myself the more I read on here.