Help with self managed dmp 80k CC and loans

wobbhjelly

ManyWays said:

Have all your debts actually defaulted, with a default date showing on your credit record?
I am asking because sometimes people use the phrase "defaulted" to just mean they stopped paying, but it is a great help if a default date shows on your credit reports, so could you check? 

The following SOA lines all look implausibly low, you want a budget you can actually live on:

Clothing................................ 10

Other child related expenses............ 20

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

Haircuts................................ 5

Entertainment........................... 0

My first thought is that if the debts have defaulted, and if you update the SOA to have more likely numbers, then a debt management plan through Stepchange could be a good for you, relieving a lot of stress and making it much less likely any of your creditors will go to court. 

And my second thought is that you should send affordability complaints to all of your lenders (not the current debt collectors), it may be hard to predict which you will win so dont waste time but just send these off. These complaints become harder to win the further back the lending decisions were so kick these off now. 

Would you recommend using step change and not self managing ? Also as I’ve agreed payment plans with creditors already for 3 months would it be worth trying to save then contacting step change after to have some sort of emergency fund .

I’ll start to put in affordability complaints today . 

As for the defaults some are showing in my credit file some are not . I’ve received letters for these in the post tho . Is it worth waiting till these show up on my file before contacting step change 

thanks 

foxgloves

The lines in your SOA which someone has already flagged up as looking 'implausibly low'.....you could free up a more realistic amount of money for these areas by looking at your grocery expenditure which is high. You may be surprised at the savings that can be made there without compromising on what you like to eat. This could easily net you an extra £200 - £250 per month to reallocate to other parts of your budget, to an emergency fund or to debt repayments.

wobbhjelly

foxgloves said:

The lines in your SOA which someone has already flagged up as looking 'implausibly low'.....you could free up a more realistic amount of money for these areas by looking at your grocery expenditure which is high. You may be surprised at the savings that can be made there without compromising on what you like to eat. This could easily net you an extra £200 - £250 per month to reallocate to other parts of your budget, to an emergency fund or to debt repayments.

I will look to try and reduce the groceries bill to try and allocate the money for other areas. I guess I’m just preparing to live on the breadline for the next 6 years

Grumpelstiltskin

You don't have to live on the breadline, you just need to know what to buy, where to buy it and what time of day to get reduced items in which shop.

You need to be a savvy shopper, not to be taken in by big brands etc.

Go over to this forum and you will get help with shopping.

Old style MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Brie

wobbhjelly said:

ManyWays said:

Have all your debts actually defaulted, with a default date showing on your credit record?
I am asking because sometimes people use the phrase "defaulted" to just mean they stopped paying, but it is a great help if a default date shows on your credit reports, so could you check? 

The following SOA lines all look implausibly low, you want a budget you can actually live on:

Clothing................................ 10

Other child related expenses............ 20

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

Haircuts................................ 5

Entertainment........................... 0

My first thought is that if the debts have defaulted, and if you update the SOA to have more likely numbers, then a debt management plan through Stepchange could be a good for you, relieving a lot of stress and making it much less likely any of your creditors will go to court. 

And my second thought is that you should send affordability complaints to all of your lenders (not the current debt collectors), it may be hard to predict which you will win so dont waste time but just send these off. These complaints become harder to win the further back the lending decisions were so kick these off now. 

Would you recommend using step change and not self managing ? Also as I’ve agreed payment plans with creditors already for 3 months would it be worth trying to save then contacting step change after to have some sort of emergency fund .

I’ll start to put in affordability complaints today . 

As for the defaults some are showing in my credit file some are not . I’ve received letters for these in the post tho . Is it worth waiting till these show up on my file before contacting step change 

thanks 

The positive about using an debt adviser such as StepChange or NationalDebtline is that they will do a lot of the initial leg work for you.  Likewise so will some Citizen's Advice, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Community Money Advice (CMA).  The difference with the latter 3 is that they, for the most part, don't do DMPs but will get you to the point where you can self manage.  CAP & CMA also seem to be more holistic about their approach rather than just talking about the money.  A negative about StepChange is that they have started to have a tendency to push people into a DMP before debts have defaulted which isn't always 100% helpful.  The other negative about any of them is that they are very busy so you may have to wait to actually become a client of any of them.  

So it's really down to you. Maybe actually dealing with this yourself is helpful to you in more ways than just monetary ones.  It's you taking control.  And that's a good thing.  But getting others to help you through a tough time is good too.

As for food - check out alternatives to the supermarkets.  Community Fridges, To Good To Go, etc.  Your council is likely to have a website to direct people to the various ones.   Food Banks are also available but usually need a referral from your Dr's surgery, Citizen's Advice etc.   There's also community gardens where you & your wife might be able to plant veg in the spring time to use and share with others. 

wobbhjelly

Brie said:

wobbhjelly said:

ManyWays said:

Have all your debts actually defaulted, with a default date showing on your credit record?
I am asking because sometimes people use the phrase "defaulted" to just mean they stopped paying, but it is a great help if a default date shows on your credit reports, so could you check? 

The following SOA lines all look implausibly low, you want a budget you can actually live on:

Clothing................................ 10

Other child related expenses............ 20

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

Haircuts................................ 5

Entertainment........................... 0

My first thought is that if the debts have defaulted, and if you update the SOA to have more likely numbers, then a debt management plan through Stepchange could be a good for you, relieving a lot of stress and making it much less likely any of your creditors will go to court. 

And my second thought is that you should send affordability complaints to all of your lenders (not the current debt collectors), it may be hard to predict which you will win so dont waste time but just send these off. These complaints become harder to win the further back the lending decisions were so kick these off now. 

Would you recommend using step change and not self managing ? Also as I’ve agreed payment plans with creditors already for 3 months would it be worth trying to save then contacting step change after to have some sort of emergency fund .

I’ll start to put in affordability complaints today . 

As for the defaults some are showing in my credit file some are not . I’ve received letters for these in the post tho . Is it worth waiting till these show up on my file before contacting step change 

thanks 

The positive about using an debt adviser such as StepChange or NationalDebtline is that they will do a lot of the initial leg work for you.  Likewise so will some Citizen's Advice, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Community Money Advice (CMA).  The difference with the latter 3 is that they, for the most part, don't do DMPs but will get you to the point where you can self manage.  CAP & CMA also seem to be more holistic about their approach rather than just talking about the money.  A negative about StepChange is that they have started to have a tendency to push people into a DMP before debts have defaulted which isn't always 100% helpful.  The other negative about any of them is that they are very busy so you may have to wait to actually become a client of any of them.  

So it's really down to you. Maybe actually dealing with this yourself is helpful to you in more ways than just monetary ones.  It's you taking control.  And that's a good thing.  But getting others to help you through a tough time is good too.

As for food - check out alternatives to the supermarkets.  Community Fridges, To Good To Go, etc.  Your council is likely to have a website to direct people to the various ones.   Food Banks are also available but usually need a referral from your Dr's surgery, Citizen's Advice etc.   There's also community gardens where you & your wife might be able to plant veg in the spring time to use and share with others. 

Thank you for the advice for now I think I’ll manage my self . Do you think it’s worth continuing with low payments and trying to save some money up and then make settlement offers . I’m presuming creditors just can’t try to make you bankrupt or take you to court they have to engage with you first . If they got aggressive about the low payments then I could offer more to keep them off my case 

Brie

wobbhjelly said:

Thank you for the advice for now I think I’ll manage my self . Do you think it’s worth continuing with low payments and trying to save some money up and then make settlement offers . I’m presuming creditors just can’t try to make you bankrupt or take you to court they have to engage with you first . If they got aggressive about the low payments then I could offer more to keep them off my case 

I'd not pay any anything if they have not defaulted.  When they have defaulted start paying £1 a month to show willing and if they enquire say you are putting togethering an income and expenditure statement (like your SOA but simpler) and when that is ready you will provide a copy.  It's at that point that you set up pro rata payments to each creditor.  As things stand now your SOA is a work in progress and shouldn't be rushed.

But no - they won't be taking you to court and no, they won't be bankrupting you.  It's not in their interest financially and certainly won't do them any favours if you went to the press.  Just imagine the headline - "Grieving father being bankrupted by nasty bank!"  It's the sort of headline that financial organisations use as an example of what happens when customer service goes wrong.  

But this is also why getting the debt and mental health forms done would be helpful.  It shows creditors that they must not get too aggressive or overstep the mark.  

Meanwhile, stay calm and try to take one day at a time.  You'll be fine.

wobbhjelly

Brie said:

wobbhjelly said:

Thank you for the advice for now I think I’ll manage my self . Do you think it’s worth continuing with low payments and trying to save some money up and then make settlement offers . I’m presuming creditors just can’t try to make you bankrupt or take you to court they have to engage with you first . If they got aggressive about the low payments then I could offer more to keep them off my case 

I'd not pay any anything if they have not defaulted.  When they have defaulted start paying £1 a month to show willing and if they enquire say you are putting togethering an income and expenditure statement (like your SOA but simpler) and when that is ready you will provide a copy.  It's at that point that you set up pro rata payments to each creditor.  As things stand now your SOA is a work in progress and shouldn't be rushed.

But no - they won't be taking you to court and no, they won't be bankrupting you.  It's not in their interest financially and certainly won't do them any favours if you went to the press.  Just imagine the headline - "Grieving father being bankrupted by nasty bank!"  It's the sort of headline that financial organisations use as an example of what happens when customer service goes wrong.  

But this is also why getting the debt and mental health forms done would be helpful.  It shows creditors that they must not get too aggressive or overstep the mark.  

Meanwhile, stay calm and try to take one day at a time.  You'll be fine.

Many thanks for yours and everyone’s help .

i think my next plan of action is to wait all debts to default then offer token payments whilst I do a proper SOA. Just a question a few of my creditors that have defaulted have emailed me to say that as long as I stick To the token payment plan they’ve agreed all collection action will be suspended . I presume this means court aswell ? 

I will also get the mental health forms done and send them to each individual creditor, I’ve told most of them over the phone but I think sending it to them in writing is best .

i will start affordability complaints aswell .

one other question my vanquis card which has been defaulted has been passed to Lowell already . Do you think it’s worth doing a CCA request . I’ve had this card for over 15 years .

thanks all