Help, my DMP is eating me alive! (need to save up some money while on DMP)

MoneyLosingExpertt

Hello everyone and thank you for all your activity here. Thanks to you I’ve found out that I don’t have to sell my body organs to pay my debts back.

So here is my situation:

I am a Polish citizen, who had a nasty last few years. Been working full time, but had to take care of my mother who got sick and that meant getting into a lot of debt. It was well worth it and would do it again in a heartbeat, but I knew the time will come to face the financial consequences. Not to mention the company I was working for went bankrupt and my new job pays few hundred pounds less a month. As you can see in the screenshot below, my total debt stands at well over 40k now, mostly loans and a few CCs. My monthly payment with StepChange is around 600 pounds a month now. 

Chose to take the DMP route straight away without defaulting, because I was afraid it would affect my naturalisation process (applied for citizenship few months ago, few weeks before setting up a DMP). I think that was a mistake as people with CCJs are getting accepted and at this moment I really need an emergency fund.

There is another twist. I got offered a job overseas (US) that includes a green card sponsorship. Doing the same job for twice the money, that was a no-brainer to me. The process started few years ago and now I am at the last step (my eb3 visa final action date became current some time ago), so probably a few good months away from leaving the UK, probably right after obtaining a British Passport (planning to come back here after my contract ends and Poland is way too close to Russia).

Anyway, after spending all my savings and investments, plus getting into debt I don’t have enough money to support myself after arriving in the US and in the first month my income will be miniscule, not enough to cover the rent, buying a cheapest car possible, food, meds for my mother let alone that 600 pound DMP payment.

I have some money under the mattress but it might not be enough, therefore I need to drastically lower my payments for as long as possible and/or stop paying until all my debts get defaulted. Preferably I’d like to default them, then self manage my DMP with as low as possible payments and save that money for first and final offers. But is it even possible given that I just started my DMP with SC two months ago?

Should I cancel my agreement with SC and simply stop paying or is it too late to do so? I intend to settle it all, but be as opportunistic as possible at the same time.

TL;dr I need to stop paying my debts in order to pay back the money sooner

sourcrates

You are in the US now then?

If that is the case, stopping payments to these debts won`t be much of an issue, the debts will stay within the UK, they will initially be chased, and possibly sold on, they will attempt to find you, but with no trace of the debtor in the UK, they will either be sold again, written off or just put on the back burner and forgotten about.

That`s not to condone any specific course of action, just an honest assessment of what is likely to happen.

elsien

No, the OP says that they are a few months away from moving to the US and need to spend  those months saving up money for when they get there.
And they will be planning to return to the UK in the future. 

gwynlas

You should update Stepchange  of your change  of circumstances as they are in contact with your debtors and it will keep them off your back. Even if you stop your payments £600 per month is not going to add a lot to your emergency fund.Once you are sure of your position moving forwards decide whether or not to continue with DMP and inform Stepchange. Good luck with your planned move to USA but do not fall into the lifestyle there of living on credit/

MoneyLosingExpertt

sourcrates said:

You are in the US now then?

If that is the case, stopping payments to these debts won`t be much of an issue, the debts will stay within the UK, they will initially be chased, and possibly sold on, they will attempt to find you, but with no trace of the debtor in the UK, they will either be sold again, written off or just put on the back burner and forgotten about.

That`s not to condone any specific course of action, just an honest assessment of what is likely to happen.

I'm still in the UK and wondering if I can just cancel my DMP with SC, go to square one and wait for my debts to default. This would enable me to save some money (600p for a couple of months is a rental deposit and possibly a first months rent and thats not a trivial sum for me atm). Then think about the next step. 

sourcrates

You should do whatever you see fit, as I said, UK debts remain UK debts, it won`t affect your potential new life in the US.

If/when you come back, deal with any residual fallout then, depending how long that may be, the longer the better for you.