DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

Suseka97 · 4 July 2017 at 7:51PM

Hey Julie67
Seems like things are moving along nicely - so well done you. As for those who haven't responded - my thoughts are that you should not chase. You've said they've acknowledged and put the accounts on hold - that gives you breathing space and you do not need to make any more payments to them until they respond. If they come back enforceable, then you carry on as you would have - if not, that opens doors. But until then you just keep saving those payments up for either an emergency fund, or to go towards F&Fs.
Just my views -others may offer different advice of course.

motivated · 4 July 2017 at 9:08PM

Hi all
So today I have printed off 2 more letters from the NEDCAB site to Halifax. I added in some info that January2015 said to use, such as requesting they default etc and how I will contact them if and when our situation changes and I'm sending these ones to the collection centre as this is where my latest letters have come from. ( I hope this is right)

I am enclosing another I&E statement in them and will see what happens now. Although they have previously had all of this information I just want to keep them updated on our situation. I wonder what their next move will be. :think:
M

[Deleted User] · 5 July 2017 at 8:32AM

Suseka97 wrote: »

Hey Julie67
Seems like things are moving along nicely - so well done you. As for those who haven't responded - my thoughts are that you should not chase. You've said they've acknowledged and put the accounts on hold - that gives you breathing space and you do not need to make any more payments to them until they respond. If they come back enforceable, then you carry on as you would have - if not, that opens doors. But until then you just keep saving those payments up for either an emergency fund, or to go towards F&Fs.
Just my views -others may offer different advice of course.

That's what I think too, Suseka:T

I'm still waiting for one of mine and it's been 9 weeks since my original CCA request:eek:. I know they received it as they wrote to tell me that the original creditor who they are collecting for was having problems supplying the information I asked for and said they'd get back to me in due course. Nobody has done so far.

I'm a big believer in 'no news is good news' and I have no intention of chasing them up for an update. As you say, the account is currently 'on hold' and I am saving the money I would normally have paid so it's win-win as far as I'm concerned:j

The only problem is if there was absolutely no response from the creditor after the initial CCA request. Julie, have you received anything at all from the slow responders? If there's been absolutely no acknowledgement of your request how do you know they ever got the CCA request letter, unless it was sent 'signed for'? If you paid by postal order rather than cheque you won't know if it's been received and cashed. Not sure what I'd do if I'd had absolutely no contact from a creditor so many weeks after making a CCA request. At least mine has told me they're working on it;)

Julie67 · 5 July 2017 at 8:45AM

Hi Suzeka, carbootcrazy thanks for the replies
I have had 2 come back unenforceable as they can't currently supply what i requested, another three have acknowledged and cashed the cheques and put the accounts on hold but I have had nothing since and then just one , Nationwide who stupidly knocked the cheque off the outstanding debt and ignored the request! I'm currently repeating the request to them.
Off the 2 who have said unenforceable I have heard nothing since, the 3 who are working on it , I have heard nothing since the acknowledgement.
I know some advice says to follow up with a reminder but I tend to agree that no news is good news

[Deleted User] · 5 July 2017 at 9:03AM

Julie67 wrote: »

Hi Suzeka, carbootcrazy thanks for the replies
I have had 2 come back unenforceable as they can't currently supply what i requested, another three have acknowledged and cashed the cheques and put the accounts on hold but I have had nothing since and then just one , Nationwide who stupidly knocked the cheque off the outstanding debt and ignored the request! I'm currently repeating the request to them.
Off the 2 who have said unenforceable I have heard nothing since, the 3 who are working on it , I have heard nothing since the acknowledgement.
I know some advice says to follow up with a reminder but I tend to agree that no news is good news

Thanks, I'm sorry I hadn't read your original posts carefully enough:o

I think I'd just leave things as they are for now. I haven't contacted my one 'unenforceable' since they told me it was. Not too sure what I'll do about that one. In the meantime I'm not paying them anything but may eventually try a really crazy 10% F&F to get rid of it for good. I think that's what January did with one of hers. I know people like sourcrates say to just walk away from such unenforceable debts but I'm such a wimp it worries me:o. Might have to contact them sometime down the line to at least tell them what I'm doing about it.

As for the ones who are still working on finding the paperwork, I think if I were you I'd leave things be, as I am doing. They'll be in touch soon enough when they start worrying that you aren't paying them anything;). Just leave things 'on hold' until they tell you something different.

Good Luck:beer:

Rebeccadougherty · 5 July 2017 at 9:10AM

Hi again all
Thanks for all the support.

I called step change today but I had a rather unsympathetic woman tell me I can only do two more reduced payments at most. Fair enough I guess- it will be more saved than if I didn't do it. But she said no they will not contact creditors for me as I had asked if they could and i really don't want to call all seven again. I might as well go it alone really after all, as I seem to be the one having to deal with horrible creditors and not stepchange. Can anyone advise a letter template I could write to my seven creditors informing them that I'll be paying less for a further two months? I am unsure what to say, or where to look. I'm a tad worried what'll happen when we move if I can't find another job straight away as well. Maybe I could sell a kidney?? paha.

Please- don't be harsh on me. I'm trying to snap out of my scared way of thinking but it's hard- I haven't told anyone in real life and am finding it hard to tell people. We all deal with things differently and right now I don't need harsh words as I am already at a pretty low point. I do appreciate all the help I honestly do.

StopIt · 5 July 2017 at 9:32AM

Rebeccadougherty wrote: »

Hi again all
Thanks for all the support.

I called step change today but I had a rather unsympathetic woman tell me I can only do two more reduced payments at most. Fair enough I guess- it will be more saved than if I didn't do it. But she said no they will not contact creditors for me as I had asked if they could and i really don't want to call all seven again. I might as well go it alone really after all, as I seem to be the one having to deal with horrible creditors and not stepchange. Can anyone advise a letter template I could write to my seven creditors informing them that I'll be paying less for a further two months? I am unsure what to say, or where to look. I'm a tad worried what'll happen when we move if I can't find another job straight away as well. Maybe I could sell a kidney?? paha.

Please- don't be harsh on me. I'm trying to snap out of my scared way of thinking but it's hard- I haven't told anyone in real life and am finding it hard to tell people. We all deal with things differently and right now I don't need harsh words as I am already at a pretty low point. I do appreciate all the help I honestly do.

Nobody here is being harsh on you, trust me.

That's part of the problem of debt, and mental health in general. Any help, positive or not that isn't affirmation is seen as hostility. Trust me when I say I understand completely and nobody here is against you or trying to make you feel bad. In fact the opposite.

You've ground yourself down with this debt and the best way to deal with it is to separate you from it mentally. It's literally just a figure on a spreadsheet and all your feelings of guilt, towards others, creditors and family is all created by you. Which means only you can fix that, with support yes, but you need to be the one to turn around and say "I wont let debt affect my health" and move from there.

If you read this thread you'll see lots of references to NEDCAB, they have all sorts of template letters and help for dealing with your creditors. Get to the site and it'll help you craft letters to fire off to them.

If at any time however you need help, just ask. Don't hide away, don't think we wont help, we will.

If you move and have a period between jobs, you simply move to token payments for any period of time with no job income coming in. Again SC can advise on this, but remember you can talk to the CAB, the National Debtline, and other charities at any point for advice you're not locked to SC just because you have a DMP with them. it's an informal arrangement and you have the right to seek help from any source.

Again, good luck and I hope you can get through this your way, but remembering that everyone here are there to support you and never judge you.

sourcrates · 5 July 2017 at 9:43AM

As this thread has become more and more popular, I have decided to make it a sticky, so it's more easily accessed, and everyone can see where it is.

It's now pinned to the top of the forum.

Keezing · 5 July 2017 at 9:45AM

I've been paying Creation £1 per month since December, praying that they will default and send my account to a DCA, but this is what they have been reporting to the CRAs:

Do we think they are incompetent or is it possible they could purposely be providing incorrect data to delay the default and extend my record of poor credit management? I suspect they are just incompetent to be honest.

[Deleted User] · 5 July 2017 at 9:53AM

Rebeccadougherty wrote: »

Hi again all
Thanks for all the support.

I called step change today but I had a rather unsympathetic woman tell me I can only do two more reduced payments at most. Fair enough I guess- it will be more saved than if I didn't do it. But she said no they will not contact creditors for me as I had asked if they could and i really don't want to call all seven again. I might as well go it alone really after all, as I seem to be the one having to deal with horrible creditors and not stepchange. Can anyone advise a letter template I could write to my seven creditors informing them that I'll be paying less for a further two months? I am unsure what to say, or where to look. I'm a tad worried what'll happen when we move if I can't find another job straight away as well. Maybe I could sell a kidney?? paha.

Please- don't be harsh on me. I'm trying to snap out of my scared way of thinking but it's hard- I haven't told anyone in real life and am finding it hard to tell people. We all deal with things differently and right now I don't need harsh words as I am already at a pretty low point. I do appreciate all the help I honestly do.

I'm sorry you had to deal with someone who you felt was unsympathetic at Stepchange. It's hit and miss who answers your call, there are a lot of people working there. I never seemed to get the same person twice and some are a lot more 'approachable' than others. I also tend to think that, although they probably all adhere to the same guidelines, some advisors interpret things slightly differently;). I do recall though that when I had to drop to token payments last year for 3 months I never contacted my creditors myself about it. Whether Stepchange did or not I don't know. I assumed they did but maybe no one did! Nothing horrible happened as a result though.

If you don't feel able/confident enough to go self-managed right now (and it's a reasonably simple and hassle-free process, even I managed to do it:rotfl:) why not cancel Stepchange and try Payplan, one of the other free debt management companies? I'm not sure of the full protocol of doing this but I expect someone who has done it already will come along and advise.

Look, Rebecca, please don't keep apologising to us about how scared you feel. I know I certainly felt terrified at the start, I still sometimes have a panicky wobble from time to time, and being anxious about this sort of thing is in my DNA:eek:. Other posters don't intend to treat you harshly I'm sure, there is so much support and good-will on this thread:A which has seen a lot of people, me included, through some very black times. If anyone posts anything that seems less than sympathetic it is only because they can see that you need to try to make a real effort to snap out of constantly beating yourself up about your financial problems. There's a new 'mind set' that you must try to get into, for your own good. None of us have been good managers of money, that's mainly why we're all here talking on this thread in the first place. The only people who know about my debts are the people on MSE, I have managed to keep it all totally hidden to everyone in real life and I know in the early days it must have taken a massive toll on my mental well-being.

Sending virtual hugs your way:kisses3:. Looks like you need them at the moment. Take care.

DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

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