Thinking of DMP with Step Change

Firefly10

hi , I’ve completed a full assessment with Step Change as I just can’t carry on with a substantial amount of debt 70K accumulated over a few years due to some serious health issues husband and myself and erratic income. So far I have maintained all repayments but have used all of my savings. We are both in our 70s and I just can’t worry any more nor can I share this with my husband as it would kill him. My question is if I go ahead with the proposed DMP am I likely to have lots of aggressive contact from my creditors , all main stream lenders . I’m going out of mind and feel ill with worry. Can anyone share their experiences of what contact to expect from creditors once they get notification of Step change being involved

RAS

By law, any important document, like legal action, has to be posted, snail mail. So you need to receive post to avoid that. And meantime letters could be several times a week? Can you manage that?

If so, remove your phone and email details from your existing accounts or set up a "burner" email account just for creditors.

But you are going to have to tell your husband sometime because he's going to spot the change in your behaviour.

Having said that, at you age, please, pretty please, talk to a debt charity about the background to your debt and write off or affordability claims.

ManyWays

Do you own your house?
how much do stepchange you would pay a month in a DMP?

Firefly10

yes we own our house in equal shares but selling isnt an option at the moment because of health. Step change are suggesting a monthly payment of £1049

fatbelly

Is that affordable to you?

It sounds very high to me for someone your age

Firefly10

thank you I plan to review with step change again.

ManyWays

My advice for a Stepchange budget is make sure it is VERY comfortable. You have to be able to manage on it for a year without using credit, so it has to include monthly amounts for annual/erratic bills divided by 12 eg Christmas, car costs, medical costs.

Like @fatbelly I think that looks astonishingly high. What is your income each month? What does your half of the household bills come to?

Could we see a list of the debts please? Lender name, very rough balance.

sourcrates

Quote "My question is if I go ahead with the proposed DMP am I likely to have lots of aggressive contact from my creditors , all main stream lenders . I’m going out of mind and feel ill with worry. Can anyone share their experiences of what contact to expect from creditors once they get notification of Step change being involved"

No, the whole idea of debt management is to get you on a plan straight away, and that`s what Stepchange do best.

You have to understand how these things work, Stepchange is a creditor funded debt charity, and they provide this service for those who can no longer afford their contractual credit debts, the big banks pay them fee`s under a Government arrangement to provide debt help, they all drink at the same well, so to speak.

There won`t be a tirade of letters or calls, once up and running, you won`t even know you are in an arrangement, and affordability is key to everything these days, aggressive debt collection is mainly a thing of the past as most people can see straight though it, and ignore it, so its nothing to worry about.

At your time of life, you don`t want any extra hassle, as long as you can comfortably afford what they are asking you to pay, I`d just let them get on with it.

Firefly10

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81865161#Comment_81865161

RAS , thank you for your information, I’m not sure what you mean about writing off debt but will speak to step change again

Firefly10

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81865161#Comment_81865161

thank you so much this is very reassuring, i have completed a more detailed assessment which has calculated monthly payment of £540 which is much more affordable

Firefly10

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81865161#Comment_81865161

I haven’t missed any payments to any creditor as yet and would hope my DMP is in plan before I do but I’m Still very worried about having a debt collector call at my home, is this likely