Advised to DMP

Starfish75789

Ive been in contact with stepchange who have advised DMP.
None of my debts have defaulted - I have just missed my first payment

I panicked with Stepchange and asked for breathing space (expires on 4th August). Stepchange are asking for further details such as wage slip with address etc...so has not been setup on DMP with them yet.....

After using the last month to read through a lot on here I would like to go self managed DMP and im used the CABmoney site to do this. 
Below is my financial statement - I would be grateful if you could review and let me know if anything needs amending and what your views are

Household Details
Number of people in my household
Adults		2
Children (Under 16)		2
Income
		Monthly
Wages / Salary		£3065.84
Total Income		£3065.84
Outgoings
		Monthly
Rent		£528.00
Council Tax		£185.00
Food / Housekeeping		£600.00
Electricity		£100.00
Gas		£40.00
Water		£55.00
TV Licence / Rental		£15.00
Hire Purchase / Conditional Loan		£459.00 ( 2 cars, PCH expires in May 2025 and PCP expires in June 2027)
Clothing / Footwear		£145.00
Telephones / Internet		£90.00
Travel / Car Costs / Petrol		£450.00
School Meals		£100.00
Insurances		£70.00 (pet insurance and also have cash plan to cover glasses, dentist)
Total Outgoings		£2837.00

Money for Creditors
		Monthly
Total Income		£3065.84
Total Outgoings		£2837.00
Money for Creditors		£228.84
Priority Debts
Priority Debt	Arrears	Monthly Payments
Total Priority debts repayment		£0.00
Money For Non-Priority Debts
		Monthly
Money For Creditors		£228.84
- Total Priority Debts Repayment		£0.00
Money for Creditors		£228.84
Non-Priority Debts
Non-Priority Debt	Balance	Offer of Repayment
Sainsburys Bank Loan	£16,057.65	£73.13
Sainsburys Bank CC	£5,283.00	£24.06
American Express CC	£3,988.00	£18.16
HSBC Bank Plc CC	£6,327.00	£28.81
Santander CC	£8,228.00	£37.47
Santander Loan	£7,041.00	£32.06
Monzo Flex account	£3,326.00	£15.15
Totals	£50,250.65	£228.84

Grumpelstiltskin

OK Contact Stepchange and say you are having second thoughts and you will contact them again if you want their help.

Stop all payments of unsecured debts and save as much money as you can for your emergency fund.

Do an accurate SOA using this SOA Calculator (lemonfool.co.uk) Format for MSE and copy and paste on here.
Make sure you include interest rates.

How old are your children? Do you get Child Benefit?

Give a breakdown of your income.

Starfish75789

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2 (both under 10)

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 3065

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 3065[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 459

Rent.................................... 528

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 185

Electricity............................. 100

Gas..................................... 45

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 55

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 600

Clothing................................ 50

Petrol/diesel........................... 170

Road tax................................ 16

Car Insurance........................... 176

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 35

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 45

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 15

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50

Haircuts................................ 50

Entertainment........................... 50

Holiday................................. 50

Emergency fund.......................... 25[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2874[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 0

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 0

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 0[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7778.....(155)......0<

PCH............................3040.....(304)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 10818.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Santandar loan.................8238......186.......28.9

Santandar cc...................7041......230.......0

Sainsbury’s loan...............16057.....317.......6.9

Monzo flex.....................3326......184.......0

Amex cc........................3988......171.......22.9

HSBC cc........................6327......154.......0

Sainsbury’s cc.................5283......178.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........50260.....1420......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,065

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,874

Available for debt repayments........... 191

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,420[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,229[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 0

Total HP & Secured debt................. -10,818

Total Unsecured debt.................... -50,260[b]

Net Assets.............................. -61,078[/b]

Grumpelstiltskin

Does your partner not work?  Have you claimed Child Benefit?

You are showing £25 monthly Emergency Fund yet no cash assets so are you actually saving?

Do you never spend anything on the children?

Groceries for 2 adults and 2 children are high at £600, is there any reason?

Just a bit to start with.

Starfish75789

Yes she works.  Our finances are totally separated. No joint account.
All the debts above in my name. 

If I’m completely honest I have no idea how much she earns, debts etc…..and not really something I want to give my creditors. Do you think it’s something I’ll have to provide?

I’m not sure if its  normal but that’s how we have managed for the last 20 years. 

She will pay for children, clubs, school trips clothing etc…

No benefits as my salary too high. I normally get bonus once per year but is not guaranteed and don’t want to end up owing HMRC. 

Savings, this is my first month so the none payment I’ll build up over next 3 months and will try to get 1k emergency fund. 

Grumpelstiltskin

Problem is you are including all household bills without a contribution from your partner, that is not fair.

You really need to sit down and work out total income and expenditures, she could be earning £3000 a month and only contributing say £500 towards the expenses, yet she will be using gas, electric etc. etc.

You say all the debts are yours alone so what did you do with the money? spend it all on yourself? never on anything for your partner and children.

sourcrates

If you are doing this yourself then how you budget does not really matter, as long as the figures you use add up, it makes no odds who contributes to what as long as you yourself can make it work.

A debt charity would want to see a joint budget all nicely set out with little pots for everything, and all the boxes ticked.

When you go it alone, as long as you know what you are doing, that`s all that counts, allocate your money as you see fit.

Starfish75789

I’m still waiting for defaults as per the guide. I really did think it would move quicker than this. But using the time wisely to build up my fund….
 

Today I’ve received two letters from Amex. 

The first being a notice of variation from American Express stating they are aware of my financial difficulties due to a recent conversation and they have reduced all interest to 0% and has been passed to a special agency. I assume this has come from the breathing space as I haven’t spoken to them.  

Second letter was the Final demand for the full amount and termination of account. 

My question is about the first letter can the interest rate be amended again or shall I continue to wait until default of the account. 

As the interest is now zero I’m quite keen to start paying it down but don’t want them to start adding interest again at some point.

RAS

The second letter usually precedes issuing of a default. Once the default is registered, interest and fees cease and you can set up a payment schedule without getting arrangement to pay markers.

Starfish75789

Ive been monitoring my report since...waiting for the defaults to appear. 
This morning I had an alert on clearscore app that 6 defaults had been registered - so now I have a few questions

First question - Do I need to wait for the other credit agencies to update to default before replying to the DCA who is chasing me? Transunion and Experian are still showing as delinquent. 

Second question-For the ones which have defaulted I have only received default letters for some of these? Does it matter I don't have the default notice in writing. Im happy to carry on would just like confirmation im doing the right thing so I don't get caught out years down the line. 

Third question - I received a notice of default for one creditor yesterday, dated the 9th November giving me 14 days. Why would this default with Equifax before the letter - Just checking again this doesn't matter.

Last question - I received a letter stating that charges and interest would be stopped by Santandar - however I received a further letter the following month and the balance has increased by £150 the following month. How do I challenge this - worth it?

Starfish75789

Now im more confused. I went onto Equifax website directly rather than using clearscore (who are saying they are using Equifax) and Equifax have no defaults registered.

Ill give It a few more weeks to see if systems need to update and talk to each other.