DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

jwil · 26 October 2018 at 3:56PM

Moveslikeagger wrote: »

Thanks Jwil.

So you basically said your husband earns less than he really does. Only put his income as much as he contributes towards priority debts and household expenses?

Sorry for the delay, but yes, exactly that.

jwil · 26 October 2018 at 3:59PM

motivated wrote: »

Hi all

I've not been posting on here for a while. Just slowly plodding along n the background. I do read regularly and well done to all who have taken the plunge into DMP land. It really has saved me

Anyway have been paying BC token payments on 2 accounts for a while now and today received 2 letters one for DH and one for me. Both letters state that due to them not treating us correctly when we informed them of our financial difficulties they will be refunding £12 to our smallest BC and £75 to our bigger one. Also they are repaying us £75 EACH back to our bank account for any stress caused. :eek:

It says that the £75 each cannot be taken from our BC accounts and MUST be paid directly to us.

I have no idea how they didn't treat us fairly as they have been very accommodating with us all the way along. Not that I'm complaining because £150 straight to our bank account is not to be sniffed at.

Has anyone else received letters like this?
M

I had this, just shy of £200 credited to my bc account. I didn't get any compensation to my bank account though *sulks*

Knitqueen · 26 October 2018 at 4:30PM

Hi Again
I had some useful advice about possibly starting a DMP the other day but have another question which I know others can’t tell me what to do, but I would appreciate thoughts.

I haven’t defaulted anything yet - I am only making the minimum payments on all my Credit Cards (all my debt is credit cards). Some are on special 0% or low % interest but these will end soon and my payments will go up.
At the end of each month I struggle massively to make payments and always use cards for essential expenses - I am now virtually up to my limit on all.

So I know within a few months I won’t be able to make the payments and it’s keeping me awake at night.

I did the Stepchange forms and they advise a DMP which would take 3 and half years to pay off.

My struggle is my husband. He also has debts but they are all separate so we are making our own choices. He is hoping to get a new job with a significant pay rise within a few months. This is a big ‘maybe’ - nothing is guaranteed.
He wants us to wait until we know about the job and if he gets it, to simply put all the extra salary towards the debts in order to pay them off.
Doing it this way, assuming we had no other major expenses or emergencies would take probably 7 years, although obviously it would get better over time as the debts lowered.
He thinks this is a better option because we are both in our 40s and after divorces and poor life choices, have no assets to speak of. We would like to get a mortgage in the next 5 years and he thinks the DMP would stop that completely. My argument is that with all this debt we can’t save a deposit anyway or get a mortgage. But if we pay it off in the 3.5 years, we can start saving a deposit for when the defaults fall off our file.

I am worried about his idea of waiting to hear about the job for a couple of reasons.
1. The job is not guaranteed - and if I wait a few months to see, I could be in a very much worse position by then.
2. A DMP would (hopefully) mean interest is frozen so it’s all paid off quicker. Do people have advice on how likely it is that interest would be frozen?
3. I think realistically we won’t end up throwing all the extra salary at the debt no matter how careful we are because the temptation to have a holiday or for some of it to be swallowed up by daily expenses will be high. I feel the DMP would be more structured and simple.

I would appreciate any advice on these points from anyone, and perhaps from someone who has had similar issues?

Finally, I have worked out that with the payments recommended by Stepchange, some of my creditors would actually get more than I currently pay (due to the low % rates). Would this not seem odd to them if I write saying I’m in financial difficulty and then pay more? Would this mean I wouldn’t be defaulting on those? What might other creditors think.

So sorry for masses of questions in one post but I hope someone could advise on some of it!
Thank you

mb73 · 27 October 2018 at 8:56AM

@Knitqueen, my personal feeling is, do what you're feeling is the right thing. It seems like your finances are separate from your partner's. If this is the case, I personally would be setting up the DMP for my own debts. There are no guarantees in life, so waiting on a job that may or may not happen seems a bit shaky. My DMP had no effect on my credit file. All my old debts have fallen off it, and I'm now getting offers of credit again. In my stuation, I'm hoping for an improvement in my finances, but also now self-managing a DMP at the same time.

@Suseka97, thanks for your excellent advice. I will send the letters and see what happens.

[Deleted User] · 27 October 2018 at 1:10PM

After reading of other posters' experiences in receiving money back from Barclays I thought I'd mention something similar that happened to me fairly recently with Lloyds. It was totally unsolicited and apparently the big banks are reviewing their past actions. The letter said it was because they had not treated me fairly when I was in difficulties and they sent me some of the refund in the form of a cheque. I think it was the interest part of it which they have to refund directly. The bigger part of it they used as repayment towards the debt I still have with them. Then, more recently, I had another letter from them in relation to another account telling me they had refunded £52, which they'd paid towards the debt. Thanks, Lloyds:T

Although I'd have liked all the refunds in my hands rather than coming off the debt it was very welcome:j.

I also see people on here mentioning Santander in glowing terms. I had a lot of issues with them, most recently when I had months worth of problems getting the SAR information I asked for even though they'd acknowledged receiving the request months before. After having such scathing thoughts of them I'm eating humble pie now after I'd contacted them re PPI on a couple of storecards from yonks ago that they had taken over responsibility for. I had a letter yesterday to say they had upheld one, an old BHS card from about 1992 which I barely used, certainly not after 2000. They said they had awarded me £500 and I should receive it shortly:j. They went on to say they are still investigating the other two but I thought I only had another one. Great to see that they are actively searching for PPI on a card I didn't know I had and hadn't sought redress for:eek:. If I receive even the same amount for them as the BHS one I'll be very chuffed as every little helps. I'm mentioning it on here as it will go straight into my F&F fund ready to be offered to my DMP creditors as soon as it arrives.

lulabelle01 · 27 October 2018 at 2:30PM

I sent my holding letters off to MBNA and RBS on Monday. I’ve not heard from RBS yet but today I received a letter from MBNA saying they’ve been trying to contact me and asking me to phone them. My payment is due Monday (or not because I can’t pay). Should I call them? Or leave it? I did put on my letters that I wanted to be contacted by letter only

January2015 · 27 October 2018 at 2:42PM

lulabelle01 wrote: »

I sent my holding letters off to MBNA and RBS on Monday. I’ve not heard from RBS yet but today I received a letter from MBNA saying they’ve been trying to contact me and asking me to phone them. My payment is due Monday (or not because I can’t pay). Should I call them? Or leave it? I did put on my letters that I wanted to be contacted by letter only

It's up to you. If you've asked for contact in writing only they should honour that request.

I will say that out of all my creditors MBNA were the most helpful and immediately stopped all interest and charges as soon as I told them I was entering a DMP. They defaulted my account promptly. They were really supportive. I did phone them initially but also used the online messaging system they had on my account with them (although I think this facility doesn't exist anymore - from what others with MBNA accounts have said).

sourcrates · 27 October 2018 at 2:51PM

lulabelle01 wrote: »

I sent my holding letters off to MBNA and RBS on Monday. I’ve not heard from RBS yet but today I received a letter from MBNA saying they’ve been trying to contact me and asking me to phone them. My payment is due Monday (or not because I can’t pay). Should I call them? Or leave it? I did put on my letters that I wanted to be contacted by letter only

You must bear in mind creditors go through a series of computer generated letters if payment is not made on time, sounds like that`s what you have received this time.

If they don`t respond to your original letters within the next 14 days, send them a reminder to prompt them.

lulabelle01 · 27 October 2018 at 3:00PM

I plucked up the courage and called not really sure what they wanted. The guy told me they posted out a letter today regarding an agreement so I’m assuming that’s them placing the account on hold as he told me there was now a restriction on my account

Jwatson · 29 October 2018 at 1:35PM

Hello all I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience that they could share.
We have just entered the DMP and had a few months to make an emergency fund.
We have spoken to a mortgage broker as we want to move and said this would be possible if we can get our credit cards below their limit. I need to find out which cards we are over on, this was only caused by making an emergency fund. Some cards have defaulted us, can these be back dated to when we first informed them when we were entering a DMP? I'm trying to work out the quickest way to get the cards below their limit. Does anyone have any advice?

DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!

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