DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part Three)

rayday2

You do honestly - oh another one of those - file away. This was me when I was dealing with it without the help of a big charity. So you will get there but until you do get the confidence you need from the CCCS, that is what they are there for.

Sadly in this day and age so many letters are mechanical throw outs from computers. If you get a proper signature you get excited!

rayday2

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Hi can someone help me again, i want to claim back my credit card fee's that they have charged me since i have been with them. can i still do this when im on dmp with cccs? or just about to go with them..sent letters off etcnow

You can do yes several people did last year I believe. Only thing is that some companies if you won insisted on it being used to reduce your debt. So do it with that in mind rather than a little lump sum and you won't get too excited!

smilealot

Hi guys, hope you are well.

Need some advice... my review is next week. I was worried about not being able to stick to my budget when I decided it last year so padded out the figures a little, meaning I wasn't having to scrimp as much. I know it's bad, but at that point, it was all I could do to get me through it. So I ended up paying approx £155 when I could maybe have paid say £200. Anyway, my salary has gone up a bit, so the REAL figures say that I could pay £310, by sticking to the budget. I would be able to get tutoring every so often to take the edge off at say £20 per week. So my dilemma is:

- do I put the real figures in and scrimp but reduce my payment time by half (ie 7 years nopt 14 - woo hoo!)
- inflate my expenditure again to be on the safe side but set up a standing order to put the excess into an ISA and save that for a final settlement? The risk of that is of course that I spend the savings!

Any ideas? What should I do?

Thanks v muchly in advance, smile :rolleyes2

P.S. One more thing, does it make your credit score better if you have fewer unsettled defaults? I'm hoping to trying and buy a house via joint mortgage at some point in future but worried from another post that it takes 6 years after they've all been paid, i.e waiting for AT LEAST 13 years!! I was hoping that if I start paying off some of my smaller debts through final settlements I'd only have 3 instead of 6 defaults making my credit score better?

rayday2

Easy one first its 6 years from when the defaults were ISSUED not when the account is settled.

Its tricky with the uneasy financial climet I would try to inflate my figures a little, every time I see the news they say fuel is going to keep going up along with everything else. It really depends on how you feel I tend to pay as littles as I can get away with as I think the damage is already done and I want a "lifestyle" as such back.

With regard to mortgages - I have just remortgaged with a mainstream building society and we complete on Thursday - there attitude was so long as you were tackling debts and no longer taking more credit out it was "responsible". Obviously no one can see into the future but what we do know is that if this "recession" (although no one dare use the word!) continues then the cost of credit is going to soar for everyone so more people will be in our situation so companies will have to take chances on people with less than perfect credit histories as they need to borrow the money to someone to make money. If that makes sense.

So basically yes its down to you to decide lol! Depends if you want to be debt free or fairly comfortable - not helpful at all am I!

cloudnine_2

Hi Everyone. Got a call yesterday from a respresentative of one my creditors who want to deliver a Stat demand next Thursday. From what I can see on the web, Stat demands preceed a Stat Petition. The initial demand is often used a 'frightener.' The petition means they are definitely going to take you to court to apply for bankrupcy proceedings. Has anyone been at my stage, ie: about to be served the Stat demand. I'm also in dispute over the charges levied on the loan, so I can apply for a set aside I guess? I'm being pushed by this creditor and quite mercilessly..quite against Office of fair trading recommendations. So perhaps something to pursue there? Thanks for any advice.

WhoopieDoodle

Good morning everyone. The sun is shining but it is extremely cold! Brrrr ....

Firstly, can I apologise for some of my posts. I hope I haven't been causing undue worry regarding interest etc not being frozen. It will be frozen (Nat West did tell us last week it would stop once the account was passed to the in-house collectors) ... I write these little posts to try and make people smile and try (perhaps not successfully) to see the funny side of things.

Anyhoo, I wanted to agree with rayday's post regarding paying off debt (which is undoubtedly extremely important) but also having some sort of life.

I do believe that if we don't allow ourselves a little bit of extra (for emergency savings, etc) there is a good chance we would fall off the wagon!

So, I don't agree in putting every spare penny towards the debt. If we did this, we would get bored, frustrated and extremely unhappy and if something urgent came up one month we may find ourselves not paying the debt.

Also, with the ever increasing cost of petrol and utility bills, you have to allow extra in the budget to cover those otherwise, once again, it would eat into your debt payment.

It's a case of juggling the finances so the debt is being paid off, but you are able to have a little spare cash.

I hope that makes sense!

rayday2

Cloudnine - I would start a new topic with regard to your statutory thing because you may get more help - maybe even go into the bankrupcy board and ask around there, they are a nice bunch and quite read up on things.

WhoopieDoodle! - What you said about setting some aside is spot on. Sometimes I feel on the main DFW board a bit out of place, they are all about nailing things down going without - but for them its a temporary thing few months, couple of year max and they will be debt free. Us here are a bit "special" we need to keep buying say like clothes little and often because there is not a chance you can suddenly think - ouch little Johnny has grown and needs a whole new wardrobe - that is just one poor example I gave there.

rayday2

Cloudnine - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/ not sure if these people will be anymore help either. Sorry I don't have any personal experience but I would like to make sure someone can help you out. Also even though you are not dealing with them the National Debt Helpline or CAB can help you and I know Payplan or the CCCS sometimes refer you to them for legal issues.

ailsajayne27

I agree with what people are saying about keeping a bit aside... I know I need to pay this all back and it will take me at least five years... but if I had just the £5 set aside in my DMP soa for going out or whatever I think I would go mad.. so I have also overdone a couple of things to allow myself the times I want to ahve some fun!!! Even if it's just for mates birthdays... I tried saying nope can't come got no money... or not drinking but my lovely, supportive and well meaning friends end up offering me money or drinks and it makes me feel uncomfortable (they are good ataccepting if I don't have cash and coming over to see me instead of meeting in pub!)I think we all need that balance!! It's no good getting your debts down but having no life at all

cloudnine_2

Thanks Rayday for your fast response. I agree, this is a grey area and it seems rare that creditors actually go this far. What I have found out, is that the Stat demand is really a warning shot. Its the petition that says more about the creditors intent to go for the jugular. Still scary... Out of nine creditors and £76K owing, I anticipated at least two of them to have a go. Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted as my experience might help others in the future.