DMP for £60k worth of debt...ready to tackle this!

exponential

bravo4_5 said:

Just an update - Barclays have sold my debt to PRA Group and I have set up a £20p/m payment (for now) just to keep them satisfied.

I’m just waiting for all the other debts to default and get sold on now, once I’m in a position where all debts are defaulted and with DCA’s I’ll ramp up the total payments to what I’ve budgeted to be going towards my self managed DMP….in the meantime I’m still going to tuck away as much as I can into my emergency fund.

Hopefully the rest are as plain-sailing as Barclays have been.

Again, thank you to this community for all advice and knowledge.

Hi.

You are in the exact same position as me except you're past the default stage and I'm just at the beginning.
I've got to be honest, allowing my debts to just default and waiting it out for 3 months or so (which incidentally will land right on Christmas) is a very unnerving prospect.

I am £50k in debt and have never missed a single payment on any of these debts regardless of monthly cost. 
My issues got significantly worse when I started doing money transfers to pay the monthly payments and keep the mortgage paid. Most months, I managed to squeeze through by the skin of my teeth. 

This was never sustainable though and has now caught up with me.

What was your personal experience of just allowing your debts to go unpaid?
Were you nervous at all or were you actually relieved ? I'm bricking it if I'm honest. I'm nearly 50 and not a nervous person by nature but this situation is something different entirely.

I'll be honest and say that the thought of not having to worry about struggling to find £2k a month is a big big weight off my shoulders.
The sleepless nights I've had have been awful on not only me but my wife and children as I've become a wee bit snappy.

Well done for sticking to the plan though, I hope it all works out for you. Be sure to keep this thread updated as I'm using it as inspiration.

bravo4_5

freshstart2023 said:

Maybe something else to consider…my Barclaycard debt was sold to PRA, I did a CCA request straight away last January and I am still waiting so still haven’t paid anything 

Hi mate, thank you for the advice… credit card was taken out in 2023 so I know there’ll be a proper CCA. I’m happy to keep this ticking over at £20 for now!

Will probably do this for the rest until they all default then will start hammering down on the payments.

bravo4_5

Hi.

You are in the exact same position as me except you're past the default stage and I'm just at the beginning.
I've got to be honest, allowing my debts to just default and waiting it out for 3 months or so (which incidentally will land right on Christmas) is a very unnerving prospect.

I am £50k in debt and have never missed a single payment on any of these debts regardless of monthly cost. 
My issues got significantly worse when I started doing money transfers to pay the monthly payments and keep the mortgage paid. Most months, I managed to squeeze through by the skin of my teeth. 

This was never sustainable though and has now caught up with me.

What was your personal experience of just allowing your debts to go unpaid?
Were you nervous at all or were you actually relieved ? I'm bricking it if I'm honest. I'm nearly 50 and not a nervous person by nature but this situation is something different entirely.

I'll be honest and say that the thought of not having to worry about struggling to find £2k a month is a big big weight off my shoulders.
The sleepless nights I've had have been awful on not only me but my wife and children as I've become a wee bit snappy.

Well done for sticking to the plan though, I hope it all works out for you. Be sure to keep this thread updated as I'm using it as inspiration.

Hi mate,

Firstly - Apologies I must have missed your post!!

So at first I was the same as you, I really didn’t feel comfortable missing payments and getting defaults, being someone that has never had adverse credit history etc.

I was at a point where there was no other way out apart from going for this “self-destruct” mode as I like to think of it lol. I was at a stage where my INs vs Outs for the month were in a big negative.

So at first when the calls/emails/letters started coming I was so nervous and uneasy. But I had read in so many places and had seen on YouTube that a lot of these things are scare tactics to get you to start paying before the creditor defaults you. And evidently that has been the case. I’ve blocked the numbers so all I get is voicemails, emails are easy to delete… As for the letters create a file and have a section for each creditor and keep EVERY letter no matter how irrelevant they may be…you never know when you may have to refer back to one for dates.

What really is amazing is the amount I’ve been able to save into an emergency fund and the money I get from working my 2nd self-employed job I’m actually putting away too instead of dropping money into a black hole of debt where you see no benefit. Make sure you put a decent amount away because you won’t be able to obtain credit for a long long time!

As posted above a big milestone for me was when Barclays defaulted me, shifted the debt to a DCA and I arranged a £20 a month payment with the DCA without them even complaining. This was a milestone because it made me realise how easy the process of missing my first payment to default to DCA actually is. I really hope the rest are as easy as that but as always I’m mentally prepared for the worst too which is that dreaded letter before action, which I’ve heard very rarely happens if you start communicating after default stage.

I’m really glad this thread has been a massive help, I started it really to document my experience from the start not only for myself to keep track of things and the dates that certain stages of the process occurred but to also allow others like yourself to read the “story” from start to finish….

As always I’m so so thankful for the advice given on this forum. I wouldn’t have been able to take the leap without the likes of sourcrates and fatbelly and their prompt responses of advice.

bravo4_5

PS it’s just human nature to worry and be snappy towards the ones you love during uncertain times. Keep a positive mindset and things will work out! 

bravo4_5

Hi Guys,

So I’ve received a letter from Westcot again but this time in relation to my Tesco CC (previous have been in regards to fluid CC).

Tesco have also sent me a letter saying they’re “now passing the management of the account to a DCA called Westcot”

My credit file shows that Tesco have defaulted me but I’ve had no formal letter from them notifiying me of this? 

The difference this time from the fluid situation and Tesco situation is that Westcot have sent me a text with a link letting me setup a payment plan which hasn’t happened with Fluid.

My question is do I agree to the payment plan with Westcot acting on behalf of Tesco? 

As from looking Westcot up it says on their site “These organisations employ us to recover debts owed to them by their customers – we don’t own the debts ourselves.”

Surely this means they haven’t bought Tesco debt and Tesco still own it therefore if I arrange a payment plan I’ll get AP markers?

Thank you

RAS

You can only get one default per debt. If the creditor sells it, then your account with them gets set to zero and the new owner sets up a new record, with the same default date.

If your credit record indicates a default with Tesco, Westcot could'nt add AP markers now if they owned the account. And since they don't own it, they can't add a new record. So you are safe to start paying. 

bravo4_5

Thank you! 

Just find it strange how I’ve not received any formal letter from Tesco saying the account is now defaulted…just one saying Westcot will be managing (not bought) the account now.

Have just double checked and credit karma is definitely saying account status as “default”

bravo4_5

Sorry again for the bombardment of questions…

Updraft have appointed ACI as their DCA. They haven’t defaulted me yet but ACI are saying the balance outstanding is £17,000.

I took this loan out for £10,000 in April 2024 6 months ago at a an APR of 24.9%… how is the amount owed already at £17,000? The app shows the total I would have paid from start to finish would be £21,000.

Is there something I’m missing? I didn’t think I would have owed near the total of the repayments? Or is this the case normally for every loan?

Thank you.

fatbelly

You took out a contract saying you would pay them 21k and you haven't paid.

Somewhere down the line you may force them to show you their workings, but for now stick with the plan

bravo4_5

Ok understood.

I can definitely go for irresponsible lending with updraft, is it worth doing this now? I presume the amount with the DCA would also change if successful?