D(MP) Day! 1st July 2025

djdebt_bosh

Hi everyone,

First of all, a massive thank you to:

• Everyone who has shared their experiences with debt – it’s incredibly reassuring to know I’m not alone.
• Everyone who offers advice and support – this forum has been a godsend.

I’m currently dealing with around 46k of unsecured debt:

• MBNA Credit Card – £17,000
• Barclaycard Credit Card – £10,900
• Virgin Credit Card – £6,000
• Halifax Unsecured Loan – £12,000

July 1st was the first time I’ve ever intentionally missed a payment. After making payments at the start of June, I realised I wouldn’t be able to cover July’s bills using my usual juggling act. Cue two weeks of extreme stress. I’ve now cancelled all debt payments and opened a new Monzo account where I received my most recent salary.

One thing I want to echo from others here: don’t rush into a DMP. I was about to go with StepChange but held off – and I’m glad I did. Even though I’ve tracked my spending for two years and know my avarge monthly spend on things like groceries, home maintenance etc it doesn't mean I could just jump straight into the DMP. For example, in just the first week of July, I had to pay for boiler maintenance – a one-off cost I hadn’t previously budgeted for. I also have a bi-annual residents’ fee due in three months, so need to effectively double up on what would be the 'normal' monthly amount in my budget for these next few months. If I’d jumped straight into a DMP, I’d already be strapped for cash!

I do have one question that I'd appreciate any responses to. The Halifax loan was agreed in March this year, after they put me on a 6-month payment plan to “test affordability.” I went through a budget with them over the phone, and at the time it seemed like a no-brainer: I was paying around £300/month on a credit card and £50–60 a month on an overdraft, and the new consolidate loan was £251/month. But now, with a clearer mindset (thanks to this forum), I’m frustrated that Halifax offered me the loan at all. I had around £43k debt at the time – they would have seen that I was up to my eyeballs in debt, that my debt levels ahd been increasing and that I had only been making minimum payments for an extended period and yet their solution was to give me another loan - tagging on interest of course. Is there any ground here for an affordability complaint? Will they just dismiss it because I only signed it 3 months ago and they went through a perfunctory budget on the phone? A follow up question is if it is worth doing one, should I do it now or might that hold up the defaulting process as they investigate? Any thoughts on this would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks again to everyone here – honestly, I can’t believe how calm and relaxed I feel now compared to a few weeks back. My mindset has completely shifted from one of paying creditors 'their money' at any cost to my own personal health and well-being to me with 'my debt' in the best way for ME!

ManyWays

they put me on a 6-month payment plan to “test affordability.” 
I dont think I have heard of this before, and Im not sure how this worked? What were you paying for 6 months?

djdebt_bosh

ManyWays said:

they put me on a 6-month payment plan to “test affordability.” 
I dont think I have heard of this before, and Im not sure how this worked? What were you paying for 6 months?

So I rang then to say I was struggling to keep up with the minimum CC payments (300/month). They said if I could consolidate CC and O/D into a consolidation loan. Paid 251/month for 6 months before the loan was formalised. 

sourcrates

djdebt_bosh said:

ManyWays said:

they put me on a 6-month payment plan to “test affordability.” 
I dont think I have heard of this before, and Im not sure how this worked? What were you paying for 6 months?

So I rang then to say I was struggling to keep up with the minimum CC payments (300/month). They said if I could consolidate CC and O/D into a consolidation loan. Paid 251/month for 6 months before the loan was formalised. 

That would have been a terrible thing to do.

Keep in mind that banks do not offer debt advice, they want to keep you in debt so you remain a customer.

Glad you have had your "lightbulb moment".

djdebt_bosh

sourcrates said:

djdebt_bosh said:

ManyWays said:

they put me on a 6-month payment plan to “test affordability.” 
I dont think I have heard of this before, and Im not sure how this worked? What were you paying for 6 months?

So I rang then to say I was struggling to keep up with the minimum CC payments (300/month). They said if I could consolidate CC and O/D into a consolidation loan. Paid 251/month for 6 months before the loan was formalised. 

That would have been a terrible thing to do.

Keep in mind that banks do not offer debt advice, they want to keep you in debt so you remain a customer.

Glad you have had your "lightbulb moment".

Is it best to let the accounts default first before following up with any affordability complaints? Might it hold up the process if I submit now?

sourcrates

djdebt_bosh said:.

Is it best to let the accounts default first before following up with any affordability complaints? Might it hold up the process if I submit now?

One has no bearing on the other.

katsu

If the overdraft and credit card were charging you interest and the new loan was not for more money, it doesn't seem that the bank were trying to make the situation worse. They and you were focused on monthly costs from the sound of it. 

If they had you pay regular payments for 6 months first, did things change after the six months or were you still getting into debt during the six months? 

You don't have to answer us here but it might help you to think about those questions to help you make sure your future budgeting covers your costs. 

Good luck. 

djdebt_bosh

Hi everyone,

I haven’t been updating this thread because not much has happened since my initial post. However, I have still been reading other people’s posts and taking a lot of comfort and reassurance from other people’s experiences, so thank you to everyone who shares their journeys.

The reason I’m posting now is because I finally do have something to report! Most of the defaults came in around Christmas, and the holiday period appeared to slow the whole process down quite a bit. I received letters dated mid-December that didn’t actually arrive until January, and a lot of the setting up of the various accounts seemed delayed because of that.

Honestly, I'm amazed at how incredibly straightforward this process has been. Dealing with uncertainty is inevitably stressful, but in practical terms it’s all been much simpler than I imagined. I haven’t spoken to anybody on the phone. I’ve sent a few letters where necessary, mainly CCA requests, and that’s about it. I have had to block quite a few phone numbers, but once you block them, they’re gone and I simply don't answer unrecognised numbers and carry on with life.

The biggest thing for me has probably been the breathing space. My last payment towards the debts was on 1st June last year, and I didn’t make another payment until setting up my first payment plan on 1st May this year. That’s almost an entire calendar year without making any payments or taking out any new credit, and the change in my mindset, and stress levels has honestly been so positive.

Summary of current status below:

Halifax Loan [def. Oct 2025]: £11,759 now with Link Financial

The first account to default was Halifax. That was in October and the account is now with Link. I sent them a CCA request, and they provided a copy of the agreement. This was expected as I'd only set up the loan a few months earlier. Very quick and easy to access site and agreed a monthly repayment amount using the automated service (again not speaking to anybody) and I'll just make monthly bank transfers (no direct debits!).

MBNA Credit Card [def. Jan 2026]: £18,093 now with PRA Group

This account defaulted in January this year and is now with PRA. I requested a CCA from them and they did provide what appears to be the original agreement. However, the first page - which I think is the agreement itself - was so incredibly small it's almost impossible to read. I understand they are obligated to provide something that is 'clear and easy to read' so I’ve requested that they resend it in a legible format. They also said they 'can' provide the statement of account but they seemingly chose not to in what they sent me so asked them to comply fully with the request. I imagine this will be relatively straightforward as I understand it is just a copy of the current account status that is required (?) and not any historical ones(?). A little disappointed as this was my oldest debt so was kinda hoping they'd not be able to find it! lol

Barclaycard Credit Card [def. Nov 2025]: £12,102 now with PRA Group

This one defaulted in November and is also now with PRA. Although the account defaulted in November, I didn’t actually receive notification that it had been sold until after Christmas. So far, I haven’t received any response to the CCA request, but I did get a letter the other day offering a 10% discount if I can start making payments now and pay the full balance over 6 months. I’m curious whether from other people’s experiences that’s just a standard attempt to get payments flowing, or whether it might suggest they’re struggling to provide the CCA documentation? Either way, I'll not be responding to anything from them until the CCA shows up.

Virgin Credit Card [def Jan 2026]: £6,869 now with Lowell

This was the last one to show up as a default. Even though it defaulted in January, it didn't show up on my report till last month (April). The account is now with Lowell and I’ve also sent them a CCA request which they've acknowledged, so we’ll see how that progresses.

But to be honest the main reason I wanted to post is really for anybody else who might be considering going down this route and is feeling apprehensive about getting started, because I know I was! The people on this forum and those sharing their journeys have been an absolute godsend - THANK YOU

Rob5342

Thanks for reporting back, it's good for other people to see how things pan out once you get started. When you've been in debt for years and have been pulling every trick you can think of to meet the minimum payment it can be hard to believe just how simple and straighfoward a DMP is until you start doing one.

I don't think you can read too much into PRAs offer, debt collectors make offers for lots of different reasons so just wait and see how it pans out. They'd be laughing if you paid 90% for a debt they paid 10% for.

burgervanman

If you don't mind me asking, why the significant pause between defaults and payments? 5-6 month for 3?

Was it awaiting debt to be sold on?

Just curious as all mine are starting to default now after a 3-4 month wait.

Whilst I want to repay, a few more months for emergency fund saving would be nice. I don't want to risk ccj correspondence though.

djdebt_bosh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81996922#Comment_81996922

Hi @Rob5342 , thanks for this. I did think this very much felt like them trying their luck. And to be fair why wouldn't they want to maximise their return? But my understanding (i.e. Google) is that debts may be purchased for around 3-20p per pound owed so 90% is far off what I'm hoping for as a final balance of account.

My strategy is to first start with as low a monthly payment as possible till I can be sure of making regular payments. Don't want to start the same death loop of struggling to keep up with payments again! Longer term (maybe 3-5yrs), it's possible if not likely, that I'll relocate overseas (my wife is a foreign national) so I'd be interested to hear if anybody else has experience of managing debt from overseas?