Questions about a DMP and £50k in debt

BasketballJumper90

Yes we have a CAB near us, I didn't realise they could help with that. I hadn't really considered that I'm eligible for PIP as well as my wife probably, and then my son (8) is eligible for Disability Living Allowance too. Thank you for that, I'll give them a call.

Naomim

Have a look on Twitter for Adam @autcareandshare He is an autistic parent with an adult autistic son. He started just giving helpful insights to what works for him & Ryan but is now fully employed working on EHCP and PIP. He is very generous with his time and support to people who need help, particularly checking forms. 

BasketballJumper90

Hi, a few more questions if anyone can spare the time please.

I've been told by my GP I have moderately severe depression which I'm trying to get under control, how can that factor in to debt management? In short it feels too much to self manage a dmp alongside everything else going on in our lives (you don't need my life story) but I'm concerned that if I let step change do it we won't be able to save enough for other things, and only my IKEA loans have defaulted so far. Can I tell step change to manage the dmp but wait for the rest of the defaults, or do I really have to let them all default first? I don't want arrangements to pay, which I think is what step change would do if I let them manage now?

As I said only IKEA has defaulted and is now managed by Lowell, I've started paying about £8 total via standing order (based on pro rata of my total available £210 and 53k total debt). I haven't told them my plan of what I'm paying, do I need to? Ive looked at the CAB self managed DMP and see a template on there to send, do I have to send that or not, ie can I just pay the SOs with no notification? I probably could have done that by now in typing all this out, but Lowell don't make it easy to tell them what my payment plan is unless I set up a direct debit which I don't want to do.

Also Westcot have started managing HSBC and Barclaycard debts but they haven't defaulted. I see from other posts I shouldn't engage until they default (per my plan) but they've sent me a text about a portal. I admit I'm curious about signing up, but as they haven't defaulted should I ignore signing up to that and just wait for defaults?

ManyWays

You cant ask Stepchange to start with one debts and then add more as they default.

Most debts in a DMP do eventually default (and if they dont you can complain to the lender that a default should have been added).

It isnt even certain that defaults happen much later in a DMP, certainly if you have mental health problems you may find a Stepchange DMP less stressful. You sidestep all the nedd to talk to the creditors at all.  There is a very uncertain trade off here, your mental health against the possibility of slightly earlier defaults. It is very easy for people here to say you are worrying unneccessarily and nothing bad will happen, just the uncertainty can be very stressful. 

sourcrates

Point of note, Lowell are a major debt purchasing company, and is split into three main arms:

• Lowell Portfolio I Ltd – this company buys and owns debts. (no longer FCA authorised)
• Lowell Financial Ltd – this company manages and collects those debts from customers. (This part of Lowell is still authorised and regulated by the FCA.)
• Overdales Legal Ltd – their in-house solicitors who deal with court action if debts aren’t repaid.

BasketballJumper90

ManyWays said:

You cant ask Stepchange to start with one debts and then add more as they default.

Most debts in a DMP do eventually default (and if they dont you can complain to the lender that a default should have been added).

It isnt even certain that defaults happen much later in a DMP, certainly if you have mental health problems you may find a Stepchange DMP less stressful. You sidestep all the nedd to talk to the creditors at all.  There is a very uncertain trade off here, your mental health against the possibility of slightly earlier defaults. It is very easy for people here to say you are worrying unneccessarily and nothing bad will happen, just the uncertainty can be very stressful. 

I think this is a key bit, we have so much other stuff going on that I'd like to just not have to deal with this so directly if I can, but also we really really need the safety net of emergency funds etc and the whole only being able to put £25 a month aside was putting me off. But at this point I'm beyond the point of caring and just need a win, you're right that it's easy for people to say when they're not in my shoes but if I have one less thing to deal with then that's incredibly appealing. We have savings like I mentioned above now but need to use some of it for house/car repairs as I mentioned before. 

And if the debts might default just slightly later, well then that's seriously worth considering.

sourcrates said:

Point of note, Lowell are a major debt purchasing company, and is split into three main arms:

• Lowell Portfolio I Ltd – this company buys and owns debts. (no longer FCA authorised)
• Lowell Financial Ltd – this company manages and collects those debts from customers. (This part of Lowell is still authorised and regulated by the FCA.)
• Overdales Legal Ltd – their in-house solicitors who deal with court action if debts aren’t repaid.

Thank you. Do I need to do anything with this info? I've only noticed that the standing order info is payable to Portfolio per the instruction letters and their website, so if it's not FCA authorised is that ok?