DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Hi all
I’ve nearly paid 3,00 now, via my step change DMP -yay it feels so good. But my savings don’t seem to be going up, there always seems to be something coming up ie vet bills etc and my boyfriend and I will be moving to Northampton in the summer because of his job. I don’t want to tell him about my debt as I am quite ashamed of it.
What I want to ask is..... I’ve read about people going self managed, paying as little as possible. What I don’t get though is surely they will see you have more money spare and could continue paying the step change amount. I just don’t understand how you do it. I don’t know if that makes sense.... sorry!

Just asking what are CCA and I&E ? I'm ok with F&F now I've worked out it's not Florence and Fred from Tesco's

January2015 wrote: »

Hi

My diary hasn't been updated for.... well since forever!

Biggest tips I can give are to go self managed, to pay as little as possible to creditors to enable you to save for F&Fs, to chase down CCA agreements (only one paid off for us, but that was almost £11k off our debt balance in one hit).

Finally, don't fall into the trap of thinking you can live a life with spare money - make sure you save that money for F&Fs. I have to admit for a few months we made use of every penny and didn't save for F&Fs, but in our defence we had family issues to deal with and it was just nice to be able to have funds immediately available when we needed them - we weren't deliberately using money we should have saved for F&Fs but it showed me how easy it would be to just fall off the wagon and spend money again

Hopefully family now sorted and we can get on with debt busting with a vengeance :T

Thanks for the tips, I was considering the self manged route & cca's etc but the only thing that is stopping me is that I'm due to renew my mortgage next year & did not want to cause any problems with the renewal. Am I being over cautious about this.

K

Hi just after a bit of reassurance we started our dmp with sc in May last year it has ran pretty smoothly just a few hiccups with wescot which got finally sorted last week - now this week next have sent a letter saying we have finished our 6 month reduced payment plan and terms resume back to normal - they have added interest again and I’m getting emails and texts about paying them the full minimum payment - I think sc have recently sent a letter to everyone reaffrirming our situation should I wait a week and see what happens or should I search for an email address for next and contact them directly - I thought things were finally all settled and going well then another spanner is thrown in the works!

Hi

Well I've sat down and really hammered my budget (the actual budget and not the one I send through to creditors ).

I reckon we can live off food in the freezer for at least two months. So grocery budget is just £60 p/mth for January and February. That's for basics like bread and milk etc. I was going to try for £50 p/mth but I think I will need the extra tenner for the fruit and veg. I will be pleased if I achieve that target

Unfortunately our gas and electric has gone up. We renewed through the MSE energy club just before Christmas, but I guess energy costs are increasing and I will just have to live with that.

Other increases include house insurance and car insurance. So frustrating. It would be nice if they came down in cost after yet another year of not making a claim (well house insurance did cover the boiler replacement last summer so I guess I accept that one would increase).

We changed vehicles last summer and the new (er.... not new but replacement) car is only £20 a year on vehicle tax - *R*E*S*U*L*T* - so that's a lovely saving (which I haven't told creditors about )

Overall we are doing okay and have long since learnt to live within our budget - why, oh why couldn't I have learnt this 30 years ago