Help!!!!!!

rayday2

If you don't think you can live on the budget Payplan set tell them on a DMP you need it to be manageable.

Horace

tasha999 wrote: »

Well... i just got off the phone with payplan and they advise a DMP, it sounds ok but i'm a little worried about the amount to pay back. They suggested a monthly payment of £620 which leaves around £140 a week after paying essential bills. I still need to pay for shopping, petrol, road tax, driving lessons, childcare, clothes, dentist bills etc, dinner money, haircuts, days out! (a luxury I know but I've got two kids that deserve a life), lottery (i need to dream!) and any other emergencies.

I'm just wondering what other people think about this and should I mention this to payplan?

Kids can have cheap days out - take them to museums as they are free and can be fun especially as a lot of them run quizzes for the youngsters to find things as they look round. You could also take them for a walk and take a picnic with you. They don't need fancy stuff on the TV when all they really need is your time. I think that you can probably stop paying dinner money and make sandwiches instead. Doing the lottery isnt necessary either so dont do it - do it when you have the money to do it and not whilst you are in debt. Clothes can be bought reasonably cheaply in Primark and on Ebay and in charity shops. Dentist bills are a different matter, however, if you could afford to pay into something like the Birmingham Hospital Saturday fund each month you would be able to claim some fees back when you send receipts. For example, I recently parted with £50 at my local dentist (he only sees private patients) and I submitted my receipts and got £36 back - it all helps.

You could try making some free money by participating in some of the challenges on here e.g. make £10 a day challenge.

Hope this helps.

tasha999

Some good points Horace, but I'll be in the DMP for a minimum of seven years, I could easily give up many things for a short time (like holidays etc) but this is my kids childhood. It makes me sick that they suffer for the mistakes i've made. I already shop at Primark, Ebay and Aldi, which I really don't mind. (I love getting a bargain!) Hopefully I'll be out of this mess before my eldest is a teenager and wanting the latest fads!

misspoppy

Hi

Its really not easy when you realise you can't afford things that you'd like to give your family, however, you really can't afford the lifestyle that you'd like. Kids don't need sky tv and there have been many good ideas of free or cheap days out, kids always love the cheapest thing they get at christmas. The reality is that you don't have the money to do any of those things right now.

If you don't do something you could be loosing your home surely cutting back for a few years is better than that?

poppyg_2

Tasha, I do think that if you don't think that amount is realistic to pay each month (and lets face it with kids you do need to have a life as well as pay your debts back) then I think you should tell them, maybe you could have a DMP for longer and offer to pay £500 per month if that seems more reasonable for you?

My brother is on a DMP with Payplan and he told them he likes to go the pub once a week and they have allowed him to have this as they understand being a single bloke he'll want a bit of a social life and so they basically altered some of his other figures (petrol, food etc) so that the creditors wouldn't know about the pub and they just think he spends more than he actually does on essentials. Some people might not agree with Payplan doing this for him but he's still paying all his debts off and he understands it's going to take longer with wanting to keep a few luxuries but as far as he's concerned if he was stuck in every single night he'd so stir crazy

I think it's important that you still have a decent life despite these debts and maybe in the future if you can pay more (like if you get a pay rise) then the DMP payments could then be increased

I agree that ebay is great for selling some old stuff. Try survey sites too to earn a few extra pounds, some are well worth it

tasha999

Well said Poppyg! I didn't mean to sound like I want the best of both worlds!! I don't consider wanting £30 extra a week an extravagant lifestyle! Plus the way I see it is, it'll just take me longer to pay! which is fine by me for now.

I've joined the lightspeed Panel and earned 260 points, i'm quite excited really (sad!!!) they're worth £2 through paypal, not much but its a start!

poppyg_2

Tasha - a good survey site I think is www.valuedopinions.co.uk, they pay approx £1 for every survey they send out, don't bombard you with surveys and it doesn't take too long to get to the £10 you need to exchange for a gift voucher (you can choose gift voucher from choice of stores including M&S, Tesco, Amazon) so good for buying something for yourself or to use as presents for Birthday etc x

poppyg_2

Anyway Tasha, any update on your situation, have you had a word with Payplan about the amount you can pay off each month?

RAS

Tasha

A number of posters here are of the opinion that CCCS are a bit more generous with their budgetting that Payplan, so why not ask them what it would mean.

The budget is supposed to be a realistic indication of your needs, with enough wriggle room to allow for small emergencies, not a straight jacket.

Why not post it up here?

On the other hand, if you are on a reduced income, you have to lve within your means.

poppyg_2

Maybe try the online thing on www.cccs.co.uk and put in a bigger amount for emergencies and some other bits to make it so you're left with approx £500 for debt repayments and see how many years that makes it look like you're going to be paying the debt off for?

Obviously this might decrease as you start to do stuff and you could review and pay more each month in maybe 6 months or a year if you're in a better position