DMP Starting Advice First Default Zopa

DFWBNewbie

I'm in the first stages of self managing my own DMP. I owe to
Zopa
Nouvuna 
HSBC Bounce Back Loan
Very 
Aqua credit card - Passed to wescott to support collections but not yet defaulted 

Original amount to Zopa 25000 but due spiralling debt I can no longer afford the £568 per month payments. 
I've had this letter from Zopa, I stopped payments to them in February 2025 and have now missed 4 payment dates. My credit file doesn't reflect a default yet. 

My question is do I now start engaging with them to set up a payment plan? 

Second question, My bounce back Loan is also going to form part of my DMP but I'm confused as to whether the process would be any different from normal unsecured debt. Any help would be appreciated! 

DankVielen

How you proceed depends on your plan
You basically have three choices
1. Care about your credit record so find a way to pay.
2. Don't care about your credit record and so self managed DMP and wait for all to default
then look at offers
3. Don't care about your credit record and wait for all to default then go off radar for 6 to 12 years.

You said you owe ZOPA but the letter seems to suggest you owed a lender who then defaulted and sold the debt to a debt management company, who then appoint Debt Collectors. Not sure if that is what happened here or whether ZOPA are the Debt Manager or Debt Collector?

Currently you have the first default CONGRATULATIONS!

So file it in a lever arch file with dividers for each debt, then sort by date within each section. I say this because there will be a lot of letters that you will ignore but want to keep, if nothing else to show they had plenty of time to carry out enforcement..

Debts are sold for pennies in the pound, soon enough and you will then go through a selection of Debt Collectors for each debt who each get 3 to 6 months to use their techniques, tactics and letter writing skills to scare you into paying. Personally I took option 3 so operated a DO NOT ENGAGE policy.

There is nothing to be gained from engaging with them, you will need to develop a tough skin, not be impacted by their letters and just wait to decide your plan.

As part of the DMP plan on the sticky on this site you should be putting what you would have paid into an emergency fund. Make sure you do this, that way you will be in a position to accept a 60% discount as and when they make it or else wait it out for six years. At the beginning that sounds like a lot but it passes pretty quickly.

Rob5342

Personally I would wait for the default to show on your credit report before paying anything. It looks like it will but it's better to err on the safe side. 

tigergambit

@DFWBNewbie, Congrats on your first default.

Keep a level arch file as suggested. You may also find a summary spreadsheet listing contacts and dates useful, just so that you can tell where you are with each creditor at a glance.

It's now up to you how to proceed as described by @DankVielen. You should wait for confirmation of default on your credit report and if you wish set up a payment then. Make sure you only pay a proportion relevant to overall debt as you will have other creditors to pay as they default.

DV's scorched earth option 3 is really only suitable if you have no assets and very little income imo. In which case you could probably get a DRO anyway - much too high risk for me, although it would probably work as debt collectors are working with many thousands of accounts.

Just be prepared for everything to take much longer than you would think. 

PS: yes, process for your loan is much the same, wait for default.

ManyWays

The Zopa debt is about 13k, how large are the other debts, roughly? No tax debts?
Do you have any assets to protect, eg a house with equity or a car worth over 4k?

The Bounce Back Loan - is this business still going, if it is, is it your main source of income?