DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part Three)

Lovella

Hello everyone,

Hope you're getting to enjoy some of the sunshine today. I was just wondering if anyone could help me. I've been on a DMP with PayPlan for nearly two years now and have paid a fair chunk of my debt off (well done me! - I have to say that as apart from you lot no-one else knows about the debt or about me getting to grips with it).

The DMP is due to finish in 18 months and I really wanted to cut back in other areas so that I could pay more and be debt-free much quicker. So I emailed PP to ask exactly what the outstanding debt was as they always say the final balance is just an estimate. I'm thinking that the balance that I'm working towards is actually higher than the reality, if that makes any sense. Reason being that I've managed to reclaim a few hundred quid here and there on unfair credit card charges which have gones straight towards paying the debts.

PP wrote back to say that they won't know what the actual figure is on the outstanding balance until I come to the end of my DMP, and then they will find out and try to write off any remaining debt. T

hat seems like a convoluted way of doing it to me. I would rather know exactly, if another reclaim I'm doing on a credit card comes through then I reckon it would siginificantly reduce the time I need to pay everything off - I'm probably wishful thinking here but I'm imagining that actually overpaying could be a possibility!?? Has anyone else thought of this or had a similar situation?

Thanks for reading!

WhoopieDoodle

Hello folks. I've not been online in days and days as I've been really busy with work (not sunbathing, sadly) and family life.

We did a car boot yesterday and took £115! After petrol to get there and the pitch fee, we cleared £92 and only had a few bits left which OH is taking to the charity shop today after work. It was a huge amount of fun and a great way of raising some extra pennies. And, I was incredibly disciplined and didn't spend a penny there as I was determined not to sell our rubbish then buy some more to take home!

On the creditor front, we are still battling with Nasty West and Lloyds, sigh. However, MBNA have agreed to freeze interest etc although they are still demanding more money a month.

We did seriously consider an IVA last week, but decided that it was not worth doing as we will be in a position to pay off the debts in full in 5 years time. We just need to keep everyone happy in the meantime.

RayDay, we noticed too that Tesco was cheaper than Lidl and Aldi. The value range is cheaper and there were loads of items for a quid. Plus we get the points at Tesco that we are saving for Christmas.

Anyway, back to work I suppose. Take care all and keep smiling

rayday2

Lovella - can't really help but have you considered taking over your DMP? That way you can get real balances and finish it off yourself - just an idea maybe someone else can come up with something a bit better!

Whoopie - I wonder if I could handle Tesco with some discipline - see Sainsburys petrify me so I daren't put much in the trolley - Tesco is a bit better than Sainsburys so I fill my boots if you like!

Tigert

Hi everyone,

Hope you had a good weekend and are enjoying the weather - Mine was spoilt a bit by a nasty letter from Lloyds, despite me phoning them.

So I decided to have another go at them this morning and was prepared for a fight - I'm in a bit of shock now as I got through to an Indian Lady who was really polite and best of all really helpful. Obviously I'm yet to receive the confirmation in writing, but she sorted everything out, said she'd freeze interest and charges for 3 months and said I was obviously doing my best to sort things and she wished me well.

Made such a nice change from the usual rude arrogant people I normally get from Lloyds collections.

Let's hope that ones sorted so just 2 more creditors out of 15 to go.

WhoopieDoodle

rayday, I do have to be careful when there are lots of offers as I want to fill the trolley. But, so far I've been good and stuck to my list (with a couple of bits if my budget allows). Generally, I'm okay but I do sort of miss the days of filling the trolley without a care in the world. However, we do actually eat better than we used to as I am batch cooking from scratch and there is always cake/muffins/biscuits in tins for OH to munch his way through.

I do get a bit bored trying to write my shopping list each week and providing variety within a budget, but the birthday fund is starting to build up now so we can actually buy the family decent presents with good old fashioned cash, not stick it on credit cards as we did before.

I am seriously considering leaving the DMP with PayPlan later on in the year. We will give it a few months then decide. The main reason is I don't like the inflexibility of it and I do lots of correspondence with the creditors anyway. Don't get me wrong, PayPlan are fantastic and I cannot fault them in any way at all BUT it would be nice to throw some extra money at the debts now and again, maybe even clearing the smaller ones. With the DMP we can't do this which I find a tad frustrating.

Right, tea break over, so I must get on. Boo!

yellowmonkey

Tigert wrote: »

I'm in a bit of shock now as I got through to an Indian Lady who was really polite and best of all really helpful.

.

Are they not normally then

Tigert

yellowmonkey wrote: »

Are they not normally then

Not at Lloyds - usually if you get a foreign call centre you get people that just go round in circles with their script insisting you must pay and being quite rude.

If you get uk staff they are much worse :mad:

My experience with Lloyds has been the worst of all my creditors especially last Friday when they told me they wouldn't accept my DMP as Payplan had made the last 2 payments on different days (1 day apart due to bank holiday).

But fairplay, my faith in foreign call centres has been partially restored. This lady this morning was brilliant - Just hope I get a letter confirming it all now.

Summer1969

sam89 wrote: »

Are you sure you really want to sell your house? Is that what CCCS advise you to do? Not risking losing our house was one of the things that made us go the DMP route.

Before our LBM, we already decided that we wanted to sell, there is equity which will help pay towards the debt and we are in a one bed flat with no garden, and the amount of mortgage we are paying, (due to remortgaging several times...) we could rent a small house with a garden, so it is something we want to do anyway.

I suppose it is the amount (£63k), we would be paying that off forever on a DMP, though I do know an IVA is more severe, so I just want to be sure. I will definitely ring the CCCS again.

Thanks.

Summer1969

WhoopieDoodle wrote: »

I am seriously considering leaving the DMP with PayPlan later on in the year. We will give it a few months then decide. The main reason is I don't like the inflexibility of it and I do lots of correspondence with the creditors anyway. Don't get me wrong, PayPlan are fantastic and I cannot fault them in any way at all BUT it would be nice to throw some extra money at the debts now and again, maybe even clearing the smaller ones. With the DMP we can't do this which I find a tad frustrating.

That's confused me. CCCS told me that the DMP is flexible and we could make overpayments some months if we found we had some extra money to throw at one or more of the debts.

Miss_Marple_2

Summer1969 wrote: »

That's confused me. CCCS told me that the DMP is flexible and we could make overpayments some months if we found we had some extra money to throw at one or more of the debts.

Payplan will take extra money and distribute it, no problem. However they (and I think CCCS) will always distribute all cash from you on a pro rata basis to your creditors, which means that they will not allow you to clear a specific debt by paying extra towards it. If you pay extra, a bit goes to each of your creditors. A DMP cannot favour any particular creditor

It's the same reason that I am thinking of coming out of my DMP with Payplan - now that I am paying over the minimum amounts for each creditor, it makes sense to snowball, I think.