DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 4)

rayday2

I like the CCCS remedy thing it said I should have hairdressers and all sorts of goodies, that means I don't need to let my hubby near me with scissors again and I can say the CCCS told me

Lodge - you sussed our your action plan now what you are going to do/offer?

WhoopieDoodle

YM, good to hear you sounding more positive today. I would say take control! It's the best thing I have done and I feel really happy doing it myself. The good folk on this board have helped me so much and given me confidence too, so you know where you can come if you need any help.

It's so important to get the right balance between debts and life and I really don't see the point in living on the breadline if you don't have to. Okay, some people may disagree as to them paying the debt off is priority and yes, it is important, hugely so, but if we can't have some sort of life whilst doing it, it will prove to be very difficult, depressing and demoralising. And we may then fall off the wagon at a later date.

Don't get me wrong, we do have a budget and we stick to it religiously, saving where we can with anything leftover going into an emergency fund. I refuse to live hand to mouth however as it is too stressful. Okay, the debts will take longer to pay off, but they will be paid off and in the meantime, we can try and live with some normality.

Sorry, I'm rambling!

Oh, and I would suggest to those of you that have a company acting on your behalf on a DMP, please reply to any letters creditors send before forwarding these to your case worker. I did this from the start and I really believe it has helped regarding interest etc. Payplan etc are very good, but I don't agree with leaving everything to them to deal with. Hearing from you too looks good and shows your seriousness about the situation.

Right, that's enough from me!

newlywed

rayday2 wrote: »

GE Money now referred onto CL FInance have been my best

Same here. Rang to say I had to make a reduced payment one month it was fine and never had any hassle from them at all.

I'm half tempted to just carry on with my A&L account and see whether CL will just carry as they are without taking any money to "offset".

I like my A&L account with online banking and withdrawing money at the post office

Anyone know the other banks you can withdraw at post office? (can't have HSBC, RBS/Natwest or Abbey accounts)

Gemmzie

They won't give us a quote, self employed. Although National Debtline were lovely and helpful in the beginning. Once I'd convinced them they were speaking to me and not my mum - trying to convince them I was 18 was hard!

Not DMP related really but I'm so !!!!ed off with G E - I had a colleague card where I used to work and instead of switching it to a standard account - they've closed it! Surely that's gonna look bad on my credit history?
But they've just let me open another card with a £500 limit (This is for a student with no income! :eek:)

WhoopieDoodle

newlywed, we think we may need to change our bank account at some stage (we are also with A&L) and we were going to do it last week. However, we have now decided to wait and see. When the takeover happens, they will need to send new terms and conditions, so we can take it from there.

The only thing I did do was remove our bit of savings from A&L to another account but we are keeping the current account for the time being.

rayday2

Well we are going to apply for a CO-OP account just not use it and hubby has a Yorkshire account with a cheque book so that is our back up plan but for now I am sitting tight! Eek!

Salazar_2

I'm in my second month of a DMP and although only one of my three creditors, namely MBNA, has so far agreed to freeze interest it amounted to around £75 per month so this is a weight off my mind. There would be little incentive to pay £40 per month only to see the total balance increase by £35 a week later.

Whatever happens I'm in a better position financially despite the fact that I won't be debt-free for 10 years and the strange thing is that I feel a certain pleasure in living off what I earn and spending what's actually mine, rather than using credit cards all the time.

yellowmonkey

Think I have decided which way to go but not yet. Early next year but a few people to get on board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1097439

ym

mummum2

Whoopie,

If it OK with you, will be using your letter to Lloyds about taking off interest on my account. Have been on DMP since Sept '07 and although they do not call me all statements have huge amount of interest added each month, so technically not reducing the debt at all. All other creditors have suspended interest.

Thanks for putting the letter up.
MM2

newlywed

yellowmonkey wrote: »

Think I have decided which way to go but not yet. Early next year but a few people to get on board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1097439

ym

ym - hope all goes well with your OH. I'm sure that once you have made a definite decision and have a date to start the ball rolling, you will feel a bit better about an end being in sight.