Dmp early pay off?

Bedsocks01

Hi, I won't go into the exact details but I may be in a position soon to pay off my dmp. 

I only took it out last July and it stands at around £26k.

I know this is a question with no real answer but what sort of % do you think could be knocked off for early settlement. It's is spread across lots of companies from £500 up to £5000. 

Also I am currently with step change, would it be better to arrange settlement directly with the companies or let step change negotiate for me? 

My whole life's a bit up in the air at the moment so I'm trying to get everything in order for the future. 

fatbelly

Go direct to the creditors.

Start low. Maybe 25 p in the £

Adapt this

https://nationaldebtline.org/get-information/sample-letters/full-and-final-settlement-offer/

sourcrates

When you have the funds, end your DMP with Stepchange.

Once they stop receiving payments, your creditors will write to you, you can then respond with an adapted version of the National debtline settlement letter provided by fatbelly (above).

Ideally you should CCA them all first, but it sounds like the majority of your debt may still be with the original lenders, if that`s the case, I would skip that step, also the deals won`t be so rosy.

Don`t expect instant results, it takes a long time for creditors to respond, and you may have to negotiate back and forth somewhat, allow at least 6 months for this to play out.

If you allowed Stepchage to do this, you would have to pay them the lump sum upfront with no guarantee of settling everything to your satisfaction.

Bedsocks01

How long does the process usually take? I'm not gonna have the funds for at least 3 months, likely more like 5 months. But would rather get a headstart, but also not be in a position where their offer expires and have to start the process again. 

Bedsocks01

Sorry sour your reply didn't refresh here, but I see you answered my next question already 😄

fatbelly

6 months on a dmp is probably the minimum before doing f&f so a further 5 or 6 months is no bad thing.

Some of the creditors will sell the debt at a discount so you will be dealing with people who will make a profit rather than a loss on your deal

ManyWays

The longer you leave it the better as some more debts may be sold. Of course you would rather get this underway, but you want the creditors to think the DMP has settled down and will continue, the newer it is, the more uncertain. i would just leave it with StepChange for a few more months until you actually have the money