Repayments are greater than income - DMP?

Kauto5

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Whatever you do don't be tempted to phone your creditors, it is a total waste of time and money, you don't get to speak to anyone who has any authority.

Ok thanks, so who do you speak to when you want to agree a DMP? 

Rob5342

It can be frightening at first, but I've been on a DMP for four years with no problems at all. In those four years I've gone from having my head in the sand to starting a DMP and being very apprehensive about it, then to becoming more confident about it, and then to now where i just think of it as a trivial leftover that I'll be finishing soon. 

I'd see how it goes and run it based on whats best for you. If you hsve a good emergency fund built up and a debt defaults then you could start paying in then, but if you don't have quite as much I as you'd like in your emergency fund then there's no harm waiting for a few months more. I would start living on your budget now to see if it's sustainable and put the payments you would be making into an emergency fund instead. 

Rob5342

Kauto5 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Whatever you do don't be tempted to phone your creditors, it is a total waste of time and money, you don't get to speak to anyone who has any authority.

Ok thanks, so who do you speak to when you want to agree a DMP? 

Usually after defaulting the debt will get passed to a debt collector who will contact you. They normally have a website where you can log in and set up a payment plan without having to talk to anyone. There is nothing to agree, you work oit what you can afford beforehand and then just tell them what it is they'll be getting. 

Kauto5

Hi everyone, just a brief update on this: 

Is have set up a new bank account and manually moved all my priority direct debits to this account, as well as my wages for the end of May. 

I am not going to pay any of my creditors and will wait for them all to default (except the credit unions who I am going to contact this week to see if they'll agree reduced payments).

Would it be a good or bad idea to change my phone number to avoid getting endless calls chasing me up? I'm not going to change address or email address so I'll be contactable that way, or would changing number just cause unnecessary bother and risk?

2021rdsunshine

Kauto5 said:

Hi everyone, just a brief update on this: 

Is have set up a new bank account and manually moved all my priority direct debits to this account, as well as my wages for the end of May. 

I am not going to pay any of my creditors and will wait for them all to default (except the credit unions who I am going to contact this week to see if they'll agree reduced payments).

Would it be a good or bad idea to change my phone number to avoid getting endless calls chasing me up? I'm not going to change address or email address so I'll be contactable that way, or would changing number just cause unnecessary bother and risk?

You can certainly change your phone number but I really don’t think that is necessary. You can always ignore calls from creditors and block their numbers or you can buy a cheap burner phone and update your phone number details on creditors website. You can also write to them requesting all communication must be in writing although this might take a while to sink in. Anything that is important they have to write to you anyway so definitely no need to answer their calls at all. In my case I just chose to ignore the calls. 

tigergambit

I wouldn't bother changing phone number unless you find the calls very stressful. Simplest thing to do in my view is to answer, tell them you're at work and to remove your phone number from their records. Then block it. Just don't get into any discussions with them.