DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part Three)

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Welcome rugby6ft8 - I'm a newbie too - there's loads of us joining up this month - it looks like a DMP is a fashion statement - oooohh always fancied a bit of bling, but thought I was a bit old! Gonna wear mine with pride!

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

I've the house to myself tomorrow so am gonna crack on with my I&E stuff sent by CCCS. Can I ask a couple of questions before I do it please?

1. Do CCCS ask for paperwork to back-up what you put down? The reason I ask is, my darling dog died on Tuesday so obviously I no longer have to buy food for him however, I would like to buy another one within the next 12 months and that's when the costs will increase again. Should I anticipate this and put it down in the budget now or leave it out and contact CCCS at a future date?

2. Again, my hours are pretty constant but there is a chance I may be able to up them having spoken to my boss. Do they request payslips?

3. My kids have school dinners at £17 per week. I don't have receipts to back this up - do they check?

4. I've not had contents insurance since March (when A&L cocked up my new account and didn't transfer the D/D) however, now I am likely to have a few pounds to spare I would like to put something in place again. Can I anticipate a figure of say £10 and again, do they need evidence.

See, rambling again :rotfl:

Basically - what do they check? Why didn't I just say that in the first instance?:rolleyes:

smilealot

Hi again TMD!

Payplan haven't asked to see any of my documentation to prove my figures, so I assume CCCS would be the same, but perhaps some of the others can confirm that tomorrow. I've heard someone recently saying they were asked to send their payslip in because they were asking to reduce their payments due to reduction in salary, but that's further down the line. Sorry to hear about your dog, sad news. I'm starting to question my response about overriding the BR advice, but I'm sure you can. I think it's different if your creditors force you into BR, but others will be more knowledgeable on this subject. As I said earlier, I was advised to go with IVA but chose DMP instead.

I decided to have a quiet night in tonight to catch up with myself after a hectic week but regretting it now. So bored I've even started to do housework - disaster!

Whoopie - hope the egg and snowball was a good combination

Bye for now, smilealot :rolleyes2

hampsterpoo

thanks smile alot - in a few weeks its 5 years :beer: :eek: and boy does that seem like a loooooooooong time :eek: :eek: :eek: , I've tried ebaying a few things but even at 99p it
seems I only have ...rubbish/c*ap to sell.:cool: :eek: :mad: :mad:

"trulymadlydeeply_in debt - loving the username!!" :j :j :j
so do I
to the moon & bk .,, that was our wedding;) :T :A :rolleyes: song :j :j :j :j and yes we were in debt at the time but more then than now , only then we hadnt faced the fact we were.:eek: :rotfl:


and yes I did the letter to MS to ask about charges, its in the car waiting to be posted in the moring when I go to work, hopefully I'll get some tips tommorow and be able to add that to my extra payment fund pot.

smilealot

Ha ha, I'm loving the smilies hamsterpoo!! It's good to hear from someone who has been doing the DMP thing for a while, reassuring that it is possible to stick with it in the long run. Good luck with the charges.

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

That's all folks! Gonna hit the pillow - it's cheaper than the bottle and I need a clear head tomorrow to do my I&E form. Now where did I put that pencil and eraser - gonna need it to make the numbers stack up lol!

Can anybody tell me if there is a minimum/maximum amount you need to do a DMP? I've seen figures of £100 surplus and £200 surplus so a bit confused

That really is all for tonight - I mean it!

Sweet dreams

TMD xx

tara66_2

Hi Truly,

I've just set my DMP up with CCCS and the only 'evidence' I provided was a payslip. I haven't been asked for proof of my outgoings. Not sure about what surplus is required with CCCS, as I had more than £200 anyway (lot of debts though).

Really sorry to hear about your dog, others might not agree but I would keep in the budget for the dog. It is important to have some inbuilt slack in the budget, as you don't want to keep renegotiating the DMP everytime you make a change in your life. Hope all goes well.
Tara x

hampsterpoo

yep Smilealot we're in for the long haul :eek: , its just seems like today that its one step forward two steps back :mad: ,

MS havent been in contact with us for many many months and we havent missed a payment
then kerpoww!! :mad: :eek: :eek:
we get called by cabot today and it seems we have to start over again as MS have sold the debt.:mad: :mad:

Luckly :beer: I have one bag of chocolate buttons :j :j :j left to see me throught till Arnie kills all the baddies (again) :T and then its of to bed .....oh hang on :smileyheaMariahs :smileyhea:smileyheaon CH4 :kisses: :smileyhea ........I might stay up a few minutes longer and see if shes also on CH4+1.;) :j :T :smileyhea:rotfl: :rotfl:

moneysavingmumofone

Hello all, just wondered if anyone could help!
We thought we were getting on ok paying things but so many creditors keep saying they'll accept a certain amount each month then the next time we speak to them they say theyve got nothing on record Its just all getting on top of us now, me and oh keep arguing because we never have any money. First, we just wanted to plough every penny into paying things off things keep cropping up and interest and charges keep being added and we're getting nowhere. To top it off ohs p60 has arrived and based on those details, on the entitledto.co.uk website it says we're only entitled to £16 a week tax credits but we get £42 a week so im guessing we're going to owe them money But it also works out he's bringing home £1380 a month but its £1230/£1260 most months
Could someone please explain what exactly a dmp is and what it entails? I have a vague idea but not 100% clear.
When you're on a dmp can you save up any spare money you have each month and pay off the debts when youve got enough money saved?
Once youve added up rent, food etc is the amount left over ALL split between creditors? Say you were left with £268 would every penny be gone?
Thankyou

smilealot

Hi moneysavingmumofone - welcome to our thread!

Firstly, take a deep breath... what you are feeling just now is hopefully the worst it is ever going to be, as once you've decided to do something about it, it gets better.

I'm going to edit this post to answer your questions, but thought I'd reply quickly so you know there is someone here! Back in a couple of mins with some info.

A DMP is a Debt Management Plan, which means that you pay back all of your debt, but over a longer period of time. It involves you working out how much money you have left from your income after you pay out essentials such as rent, council tax, petrol, food etc then divides up what remains to pay your creditors to clear your debts. This ensures that you never fall behind on your priority payments. The creditor payments are split according to how big each debt is, i.e. the largest creditor will get the biggest share of the money and vice versa. Your creditors will see your income and expediture breakdown and how their payment has been calculated, so it's transparent and fair.

Now, there are three ways you can start a DMP. You can go it alone, go through a fee-charging company or approach either Payplan or CCCS (I'd recommend this option). Payplan are a not-for-profit company and CCCS are a charity who help people with debt issues. The bottom line is that both are extremely helpful, on your side, recognised by creditors, trusted and best of all - their services are free. They will go through your income and expediture details with you and help you decide if a DMP is the best option, or if an IVA or bankruptcy is more appropriate.

The hope is that by starting a DMP, your creditors will recognise that you are having difficulties but are trying your very best to repay the debt and as a result will stop all interest and charges being added. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will happen, but most people find the majority of creditors agree to it. This gives you a chance to pay off the actual debt and not be chasing your tail by paying interest and charges all the time.

To answer your other question, yes, you can save up extra money you raise, perhaps through overtime (only regular income is used to calculate your DMP payment) or Ebay sales etc and either use it as a rainy day fund or to make a full and final settlement offer, which means the creditor may be willing to accept a reducing amount lump sum to end the debt.

An important point to raise though is that if you enter a DMP, you agree to stop using credit of any kind after that date, so the plastic must be cut up. I'd say that this is the best part for me - I was reliant on my cards for years and now I've forced myself to live within my means and it feels great!

Unlike an IVA or bankruptcy, it's an informal arrangement between you and your creditors, so it's not a legal affair. Your credit rating will be affected, but not as badly as if you went for one of the other options.

Most creditors respect DMPs, in fact, one of the folks on here was advised to contact Payplan by a creditor this week to get some help!

To give you an idea of what Payplan will ask you to budget for (and you might consider adding a small "comfort margin" into your figures to help you build up an emergency pot of money, but I didn't tell you that!), I've pasted the expediture list below for you. Think of some figures (don't be too frugal - remember you can't rely on credit so they need to be realistic) and subtract the total away from your regular income figure to find out how much you have to pay your creditors each month. If this is enough to make MORE than minimum payments to your creditors (as minimum payments only really pay off the interest each month) then you might not need to take action, but if it's not enough, you should look up www.cccs.co.uk or www.payplan.com and check out a DMP .

Payplan's expediture budget list:
Rent/mortgage
Council tax
Buildings insurance
Union fees
Hire purchase (e.g. Car)
TV Licence
Telephone
Mobile phone
Road tax/MOT
Car insurance
Petrol/diesel
Car maintenance
Breakdown cover
Food
Clothing/footwear
Dentist/prescriptions/glasses
Hairdressing

P.S. CCCS seem to build in a few extra items like digital TV.

Hope this helps. Keep in touch and let us know how you get on. Remember to ask if you have any more questions - that's what we are here for!

smilealot :rolleyes2