DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 4)

Yummy-mummy

Toffee_Penny wrote: »

Evening all! Been soooo busy at work lately I haven't been on as much as I'd like but here I am!

I have a bank loan with Lloyds TSB, credit card with Capital One, overdraft with Halifax and catalogues accounts with Great Universal and Next. So far so good, I received a letter this morning from Capital One saying they will stop all interest and charges and informed me to continue with my arranged payment plan.

My DMP started this month and I think the first payment from CCCS goes to all my creditors on the 25th of each month so no more postal orders from me.
I opened a seperate bank account the other week with the Post Office and now have a grand total of £20 saved I've yet to decide whether to book that flight to Salou for a much needed holiday or to just keep saving, decisions decisions eh? :rotfl:

I want to say a big 'hi' to all who have just joined this brilliant forum, you don't realise how nice it is to read how others are getting on.

I'm only just starting out on my DMP adventure, I don't know whether it is going to get worse or will continue to be ok for me but one thing's for sure I have learnt that no amount of worrying over my debtors will take away the fact that my children come first, food on the table and clean clothes are more important than worrying over any bill.

Seriously what is the worst they can do? give you a CCJ? From what I have read sometimes this is a godsend, it will stop the charges, interest and hassle. The debtors know they haven't a leg to stand on and prey on people's naiviety about these kinds of things. When people hear of going to court for a CCJ they think it is about men in wigs asking you demeaning questions about your lifestyle NOT TRUE, it's all done by post and on paper.

The only time you may get in a mess is if you have blatantly refused to pay a debt, default on a CCJ or get behind with priority debts e.g Council Tax - now you don't want to mess with these people because they can order Baliffs and they mean business.

Debtors can't take what I don't have, they don't give a hoot about me, I am just another number to them so please please don't let it get you down. Your family and loved ones come first. Amen.

Hi Toffee Penny

I'm just starting out on the DMP "adventure" as well and just wanted to say that I totally agree with everything you said - especially the bit about family and loved ones coming first. We've spent years burying our heads in the sand but since our LBM and setting up the DMP with Payplan, we are less stressed out as parents and our kids are a lot happier. We still can't afford to buy them everything they want but I hope that as they see us budgeting, they will grow up learning the value of money too and not end up debt like we did.

YM

lmw1977

Yummy-mummy wrote: »

Hi Toffee Penny

I'm just starting out on the DMP "adventure" as well and just wanted to say that I totally agree with everything you said - especially the bit about family and loved ones coming first. We've spent years burying our heads in the sand but since our LBM and setting up the DMP with Payplan, we are less stressed out as parents and our kids are a lot happier. We still can't afford to buy them everything they want but I hope that as they see us budgeting, they will grow up learning the value of money too and not end up debt like we did.

YM

Here, here, I agree totally too - although sometimes I do have to have a moan and am guilty of me down days.

Can I just say given my experience: my kids (4 and 2 yrs) are now starting to be introduced into the world of money I'm not talking "You haven't got enough? well you're not eating then!" I'm talking 100 of these makes 1 of those, that magazine costs 240 of those which is a lot more than you have, let's pick something else (then somehow I managed to find 240 shiny pennies later in the week) etc. etc.

I don't want to sound obsessed, but I'm determined to drive me kids down a different path to mine as far as money is concerned! also I really think that these credit companies need to start taking note of their actions - whilst I appreciate we all signed and agreed to those credit agreements all of those companies knew what's on file and yet sometimes they still keep chucking money at you of course until you find yourself on the slide down!!!!

Toffee_Penny

Hey it's good to moan about something other than the weather!! Only in hindsight do I realise I would have had more money and been more happier without the credit I was allowed to have.

I was stuck in a rut, sat here on my laptop looking at Great Universal and Next sites feeling down because I may have had a rubbish day at work and would order £100s of pounds of clothes at the click of a button. I would order clothes for the sake of them looking good on screen not actually thinking whether I needed that skirt or top that cost £40+.

Great Universal would let me order and pay at a later date, a great deal when you don't have money to spend or feel a little down with day to day life, when the bill came in every month I would pay then would be skint and feel depressed about not being able to shop in town when the sales were on etc because I would be paying £250+ a month on catalogue bills, I was trapped, stuck in a vicious circle (all by my own doing of course).

If I had the cash to go into town and buy a top I wouldn't have spent £40 on one, no way, I like a bargain so would try and get one cheaper and have money to spend on something else too. But you know the worst thing about me shopping from the catalogues? I ordered and paid for clothes I have never even worn, so stupid I know but I realise what a fool I was and how trapped I had become.

There are thousands of people like us out there and I really feel for the poor souls who haven't found this place and realise there is a way out of their debt. I just hope when my children are older they will be a lot wiser than me as for the credit companies, well with the way this country is going e.g job losses, price hikes I think they will have a lot more customers struggling to meet their demands for payments. I know they are a business and a money making one at that but the amount of interest some charge over the time of the debt, if you work it out you have already paid your bill back ten fold.

newlywed

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

Every day is a battle to get through and i cant remeber the last time that i had fun or felt completely happy. The DMP will last for 18 years more if they dont stop interest. What saddens me the most is that my kids suffer the most not because of the lack of ,things/ experiences they will have but a miserable home to live in with a miserable mum !

Any chance - get out somewhere, anywhere, cheap or free. Pack a picnic and take the kids to the park/beach where ever you can.

We had been feeling so much like that but honestly, just an afternoon out playing football etc in the park makes such a huge difference (although you can't see how big a difference, till after you've tried it).


I'm struggling on my DMP too -petrol now costs me £50 more a month - without any "trips" or days out, than a year ago so my "extra" I factored in is actually £20 short. Food is the same, I'm struggling. Plus bills have gone up £5 a month here, £5 a week there - when you're on a strict budget it makes a huge difference overall.

But if I keep up my currently payments I should be done in just over 4 years. But I want to enjoy life just a little bit and can't cope with 4 years of wondering if there's enough petrol to get to work.

I've stuffed up by getting into that much debt but if the creditors want me to carry on paying it all back without getting so depressed that I quit my job, then they will have to cut me a little bit of slack. I'm not bargaining asking for an IVA to only pay back 30% of the debt (I wouldn't qualify anyway), I'm trying to pay it ALL back, I want to pay it all back - just it's gonna take me a little bit longer than I'd hoped!!

rayday2

Mogminnie wrote: »

Hi Rayday
Now that Lloyds have accepted and interest is frozen I too would like to reclaim charges on the account. What did you say in your letter?

I had a lot of things to complain about the service I had received and the way I had been treated so my letter was a formal complaint and within that I demanded interest and charges refunded. Which they did.

It depends if you think you have grounds to complain. When you get chance look through this http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf you have plenty of time if they broke some of the guidelines, state how and the bit they broke and at the end put down your demands. In my letter I did like a statement of all the token payments I had sent, monthly payments and there charges.

If you have no real complaints about Lloyds - well done how did you manage that :T and then use the template charges letter bit and add bits. I think thats found on the bank recharges bit of the forum someone will point you there.

pinksparkle_2

Nicki_Sue wrote: »

I have had 7 defaults recently all saying pretty much exactly the same and no heavies on my door step, solicitors letters etc. A defauly basically is them ended the credit agreement you make with them because you arent fulfilling your end of the bargain ie minimum pyaments. I really wouldnt worry.
Speak to your advisor at cccs on Monday but I'm sure he/she will say the same.

Hiya

So let me get this right, its normal to recieve a default for each creditor, as you are not fulfilling the original agreement, how quickly they do this depends, really the quicker the better..???

Do you only recieve one default per creditor???

Pinksparkle

pinksparkle_2

carlos700 wrote: »

I dont know whether im coming or going with Lloyds

I have just rang them to explain that there is no way of paying the arrears i am giving them all i have through CCCS so why take me to court .The lady said she can confirm that my DMP has been accepted and they will not take me to court .

Why do they send me a letter saying they will then?Lloyds always send me these worrying letters on Saturday morning just so i can worry all weekend .

Im Confused.com

So if they accept your offer of the DMP, they wont take you to court???

Pinksparkle

rayday2

Someone who worked within Lloyds last year talked about there "pretend solicitors" the grey paper ones who were really just another department within Lloyds the name made up of several people. To their knowledge they couldn't think of any cases where people had proposed payment plans that Lloyds took them to court. Now he left the company a year ago.

Wish I could remember the topic title now.

newlywed

pinksparkle wrote: »

Hiya

So let me get this right, its normal to recieve a default for each creditor, as you are not fulfilling the original agreement, how quickly they do this depends, really the quicker the better..???

Do you only recieve one default per creditor???

Pinksparkle

One default per account (so if you have a loan and a credit card with the same company, you could get two).

Some default, some don't. I have only had 2 defaults, on 5 debts (so far). Some only stop interest after the default notice.

It does seem to depend on the weather :rolleyes: as to when they issue it - Mint credit card issued it after 4 months on the DMP. But Mint Loans took about 8 months to issue one. The others haven't issued one yet - but they still could do later on if they wanted to.

It stays on your credit rating for 6 years from the date of the default notice - which is why the sooner the better

plop_2

Hi, just thought I would give details of my DMP, as it may help others.

I had debts with :-

Cahoot Loan = 13k
Cahoot Credit Card = 3k
Cahoot Overdraft = 1k
Amex = 6.5k
Egg Loan = 12k


In February 2006 I defaulted on the Egg Loan, and it went to DLC for collection. I had never had any experience of dealing with Debt Collectors before, and stupidly I believed their threats. I agreed to pay them £250 per month, which was the same amount I used to pay Egg. Obviously this was a bad idea. If I couldn't afford to pay the amount to Egg, why would I be able to pay DLC? I managed to keep up the repayments for 6 months, mostly at the expense of the other creditors. I thought I was just about coping, but after 6 months DLC wanted to review the situation and squeeze me for another £50. I'd had enough and contacted Payplan. This has pretty much turned my life around. At first I was nervous about loosing a line of credit, but it hasn't really changed things.

I now make payments of £241 every month and I think I will be debt free by 2019. However I do plan to clear this earlier.

I now have a Basic Lloyds Bank Account, it is slightly annoying that you have to use their own ATM machines, but I find it helps - I'm less likely to draw out money if I have to go to the effort of getting it. I've also signed up for a Savers account with Llloyds which comes with an ATM card that can be used anywhere. You can link your current account to the savings account online, and transfer money instantly. Therefore I always make sure I keep £100 in my savers account for emergencies.


Cahoot
=====

Not quite sure what is going on at Cahoot. I missed nearly 8 payments in a row on my loan before they even sent me a letter. The DMP has been running nearly 4 months, but Cahoot still claim they have not received any paperwork from Payplan. Payplan have now sent the documentation twice and also faxed it. Cahoot have told me that when they receive the documentation they will agree to remove interest and charges and backdate for the last 4 months. Payplan advised me from the offset that Cahoot are very slow, but usually agree.

American Express
=============

I phoned them to notify of my decision to enter a DMP. Within a week, a default notice came through the post. I was then contacted by a department within Amex asking if they could help with my financial situation. I wrote to them saying my financial situation was already being handled by Payplan. I have not had any further correspondence from them.


Egg/DLC

Have gone very quiet, they contacted Payplan 4 months ago saying they had received my paperwork - but nothing since.

/plop