My DMP diary - 2026 (year 1)

Dakota_Rose

That’s a great outcome and goes to show it’s really worth putting in the affordability complaints!

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020044#Comment_82020044

Absolutely! I am thrilled. I have realised today that this provider has ignored the original affordability complaint which was regarding the much much larger loan I have with them and focussed on the credit card instead. So I have had to contact them today about that too - unsure whether I will have to make a new affordability complaint or not. Hopefully will be able to update later on this week.

Chocolatefund

That's amazing news. Keep up the amazing work. :-) 💪

ArtyJ931

Week 11 check in

Debt things:

• Still thrilled about my affordability complaint result. Just over £1000 knocked off my total at some point. Well, about £900 as that includes recently added charges.
• New affordability complaint gone in to final credit card
• Checked other possible credit cards which have no balance but as they were opened 10+ years ago I've decided not to put in affordability complaints as likelihood is low of success AND they had low limits.
• 2 letters asking me to pay as I haven't paid for 2 months.
• A couple of emails saying much the same.
• 2 missed calls from an unknown number. (Have googled it and it’s my 4 loans and a credit card bank - blocked)🚫
• As mentioned earlier in the thread the affordability win was with a provider that I also have a far more significant loan with (£25k+ initially though now 'only' owe just under £10,000 having paid £25,000 off) and they had 'accidentally' misread my initial email and investigated the credit card instead. Waiting to hear more about this and whether I need to put in a new affordability complaint.

Other things:

Nothing of note.

ArtyJ931

Already an update from the email regarding the “forgotten” loan affordability complaint. They have considered it and outlined why they think it was responsible lending.

Spent a fair while putting in the application with the FOS this evening so that’s all of the outstanding complaints now with the ombudsman. 😬

ArtyJ931

Week 12 check in

Debt things:

• Quite a few letters and emails this week along the usual lines.
• Ombudsman has responded to let me know they have received the latest case and what will happen. Asked for the original credit agreement which I don't have so I've let them know that.
• Couple of calls auto-ignored on Monday.
• Executive malfunction caused me to go over budget this week by about £40 ish. Need to revisit my budget now I am a few months in as I have miscalculated low for some things and high for others so it needs recalibrating.

Other things

• Very busy week at work + awry hormones = random spends on convenience/comfort food.

ArtyJ931

Week 13 check in

Debt things:

• Not much to report this week. An email from a CC asking me to pay and advising that the promotional interest rate has been removed.
• A handful of letters from various creditors.
• Some more calls I guess but don't know the numbers so unsure.
• Seems like despite being 3 months in to not paying none of my debts are anywhere near defaulting so I continue to save into my emergency fund.

Other money things:

• Re-did my budget and went through 3 months of bank statements to make an accurate one. Rejigged some amounts going into different pots etc. Useful exercise.
• Had severely blocked drains and I won't go into detail but the week has been an absolute horror show. Got quotes (well, estimates really) for clearing (blockage in pipes on my property and not joint with anyone else) which were minimum £140 but with a lot of dodgy sounding caveats about 'depending what happens'. Ended up getting a long stick and cleared it myself. It was disgusting but saved a lot of money. Then bought a special hair unblocking thing to clear the last bit of blockage in the shower and it actually worked so that was a surprise. Horrendous week generally doing all that but good in terms of not spending.
• Gone over budget again by about £10 but may need to double check that I allocated money properly out of correct pots to be sure.

Edit: £25 over budget for the week. 😩

edit number 2: didn’t allocate out of pots properly and forgot some payments were split and settled by my partner - am actually £6 under for the week! Which is exactly what I put into my savings pot so I was on the money in the first place 😂

Catscoffeecake

Some creditors seem to take a while to default which can be frustrating when thats what you are waiting for. but use the time to get your budget fully sorted, keep tweaking it as things crop up.

DancingInTheRain

Great save on the DIY drain unblocking, well done 👍

ArtyJ931

Week 14 check in

Debt things:

• Another CC irresponsible lending has gone to the ombudsman this evening. This was following advice from the main board as I received an utterly confusing final response from this lender that it was responsible because I had declared a household income of £120k. I know for a fact I never have declared that, and also I have never lived in a household with that income. So it threw me, I was totally confused and I was unsure what to do for a week or so.
• I got a response saying 2 out of 10 complaints of this type are upheld which was a bit disheartening, but anyway it's done now.
• I got an email from the FOS today asking for clarification on who the CC debt was with as I had put the wrong code in. Sigh.
• A couple of letters and a few emails this week. No phone calls.

Other things

• Ran out of a few things today that had to be bought today I had to do a small shop which meant that as I had only a couple of pounds of my weekly budget I was over by about £15. Annoyingly. I'm due next week's money tomorrow but I'm not going to take this £15 out of next week's. My main issue is storage - I don't have enough freezer space for bulk buying for the week and then I forget I'll need a top up and bam. Over budget. I need to get better at this. Hopefully I will. Maybe I need to get a bigger freezer.
• Thank GOD I have a small air con mobile unit that has seen us through this week because it has been horrific. I cannot cope in this heat and it has been a saviour once again. (had it for years). Keeping an eye on the electricity as I get paid Monday so don't normally top up til then. Fingers crossed it lasts.

10pm edit: woohoo - £14.48 has just cleared and been withdrawn from Vinted so I am pretty much square again 🎉