StepChange v Self-Managed... £85k+ Debt

Rob5342

Avante_2 said:

Rob5342 said:

Avante_2 said:

fatbelly said:

Your plans sound good. I suspect Stepchange might struggle to understand why you are prioritising the credit union but I can see the logic of that

Approaching StepChange was a good process for me as it put everything in black and white, but now I have read a lot of detail on the forums, I think self-managed is the best way to go for me anyway

That was my experience of them. Contacting them initially meant I faced up to by debts and if they hadn't have been there then it might have taken me a lot longer to start sorting things out, but I've since learnt that their approach can be detrimental in the long term compared to other options, especially their stance on defaulting.

Thanks Rob, sounds like we had a similar "start" to this. 

Do you have any tips for self-managing a DMP? I am currently using the SOA calculator and Excel spreadsheets. I tried to use the CAB website but do not find it very user friendly...

I have my income/expenditure, debts and pro rata offers on excel so think that covers it all?

My next step is to look into affordability complaints. (As an aside...whilst I was in breathing space and at 90% utilisation... Fluid credit card offered me a credit limit increase from £4500 to £7200!).

I would say concentrate on your own finances and not worry too much about what you tell your creditors. You need to be completely on top of your own finances to make sure you have all expenses completely covered and are able to pay for everything. What you tell your creditors doesn't have to be accurate, just something plausible that arrives at the final figure you want to pay and lets complete their affordability box ticking exercise. I would simply tell them what you will be paying without giving any figures, and if they start making a too much of a fuss about it then concoct something to shut them up. Ideally you want to clear the debts with settlement offers rather then paying the full amount, so it helps if you have a story to back up that narrative. You might for example pay less then you can afford and save into a settlement offer account, then at some point down the line you will have money for a settlement offer and your reduced payments might help make them think that it will take a long time to recover the money otherwise.

Remember it's all a game you need to play to your advantage. When debts are sold it's normally for something like 10% of their value so if you repay the full amount to a purchaser they make a massive profit. They will try and act like they are hard done by and aree doing you a favour by offering a 10% discount, so don't feel any guilt about playing them at their own game.

Affordability complaints can take a long time and it's very common for lenders to reject your initial complaint. Just keep at it and escalate the complaint to the FOS if it's rejected. Just to set some expectations, redress from an affordability complaint would typically be a refund of the interest you paid as a result of the credit limit increase. In my experience you are more likely to win after multiple increases from the same lender rather than on a new loan. 

ManyWays

"NewDay are behind my Fluid cc (previously had an Aqua too that I paid off and closed and will be doing an affordability complaint on), they also manage my AO account"
Then that is a single affordability complaint about all three.  
In contrast to @Rob5342, I have seen a lot more good wins against loans taken in the last 6 years, than credit cards with multiple limit increases, so my suggestion is not to self-restrict what you apply for but go after them all!

Rob5342

I can only speak from my own experience obviously. Try complaints against all of them absolutely, that's what I did, I was just giving my experience to try and give some idea of how likely success would be. Don't pin your hopes on anything, assume you'll win nothing and carry with a strategy that will clear them all, and treat any wins as a bind bonus.