DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

January2015 · 14 September 2018 at 1:36PM

Billy12345 wrote: »

Hi all

Quick question about my DMP. Most of my creditors have defaulted and I'm currently with SC. Really, really thinking of self managing and wondering if creditors will accept token payments for a few months, could do with re-building my EF as it's been used for, yes you guessed it, an emergency and almost wiped it out, but I don't know if the creditors will accept token payments once a default has been registered. I'm sure January2015 did a similar thing and if she's out there any advice would be awesome or if anyone else has experience of this advice would be great. :beer:

Hi :wave:

Yes, when I went self managed I wrote to all my creditors and advised them I would be paying £1 per month until xx/xx/xxxx, and subsequently would be paying £xx.xx from xx/xx/xxxx.

Essentially, I sent them an income and expenditure statement which showed them what I could afford to pay, but told them I would be paying £1 a month for the first 3 months and would start full DMP payments after that. I didn't ask, I just told them this is what would be happening.

I didn't show a shortfall which meant I could only afford £1 each - the I&E statement showed what I could actually afford. I didn't mention an emergency fund - I let them work out for themselves why I was only going to pay £1 per month.

I did take the opportunity when going self managed to really re-visit my budget. I almost halved what I had been paying through SC. Not one creditor queried why there was such a drop in the available funds.

All were fine with it. Go for it :beer:

jools1985 · 14 September 2018 at 2:48PM

Many many thanks to carbootcrazy and W2L. I've sent the letter along with the £1 postal order.

Hopefully they won't find my original agreement.

January2015 · 14 September 2018 at 3:17PM

jools1985 wrote: »

Many many thanks to carbootcrazy and W2L. I've sent the letter along with the £1 postal order.

Hopefully they won't find my original agreement.

Keep the receipt for the postal order. Many companies send them back and comply without cashing the postal order.

Once you have written a payee on the postal order, the only way the post office will refund you is if you have the original receipt.

doodle55 · 14 September 2018 at 3:38PM

Good afternoon folks,

Been reading through posts for a while now. You guys are very supportive. I have been struggling for a while now with my money situation

its really starting to get to me.

Currently - £16k in debt

Made up off loans, credit cards, store cards, car finance & overdraft.

I have never looked for help or advice iv just let it build up over time but i think its time to seek help. Iv a young family with two kids (2) & (5).

I have been reading about StepChange - has anyone any dealings with them?

Thanks

jools1985 · 14 September 2018 at 3:48PM

doodle55 wrote: »

Good afternoon folks,

Been reading through posts for a while now. You guys are very supportive. I have been struggling for a while now with my money situation its really starting to get to me.

Currently - £16k in debt

Made up off loans, credit cards, store cards, car finance & overdraft.

I have never looked for help or advice iv just let it build up over time but i think its time to seek help. Iv a young family with two kids (2) & (5).

I have been reading about StepChange - has anyone any dealings with them?

Thanks

Hi Doodle - yes lots of us here have had dealings with StepChange. I'm in the very early stages of my DMP journey and thanks to StepChange and the very helpful folks on this forum I'm in a far better place emotionally than I was a few weeks ago. I've found StepChange very easy to deal with, their telephone advisers are very friendly and helpful. Maybe you can start by having a look on their website and filling out their Debt remedy form. You'll receive good advice and a starting point.

[Deleted User] · 14 September 2018 at 4:05PM

jools1985 wrote: »

Many many thanks to carbootcrazy and W2L. I've sent the letter along with the £1 postal order.

Hopefully they won't find my original agreement.

Well done:beer:

They should comply within a certain time frame (although I can't remember what it is:o). One of my creditors took about a year to produce any documentation:eek: although they did acknowledge receipt of my request and kept writing to me every couple of months saying that they were still waiting for their client (they were managing the account on behalf of the original creditor) to locate the information I'd asked for.

Not all creditors will acknowledge receipt of CCA requests, the first you'll hear is when they actually send the information. It's often a waiting game. As soon as they receive your request all collection of the debt will be on hold until they provide the information you asked for. It's sometimes a good thing if they take forever to send anything:j. The trouble with sending a PO rather than a cheque (and most of us do it) is that you'll have no idea if it's been cashed until the creditor communicates with you.

[Deleted User] · 14 September 2018 at 4:15PM

jools1985 wrote: »

Hi Doodle - yes lots of us here have had dealings with StepChange. I'm in the very early stages of my DMP journey and thanks to StepChange and the very helpful folks on this forum I'm in a far better place emotionally than I was a few weeks ago. I've found StepChange very easy to deal with, their telephone advisers are very friendly and helpful. Maybe you can start by having a look on their website and filling out their Debt remedy form. You'll receive good advice and a starting point.

Hi, Doodle:wave:
I was with SC for over 4 years, I couldn't have coped without them in the early days and then it seemed easier to stay with them. I second what jools said, the telephone advisors were so helpful and understanding:j. The only reason I eventually went self-managed was to get a bit more flexibility in my payments (well, making none or just tokens anyway) so I could build up to making Full and Final settlements once I'd saved up enough to do it with. There's no reason why you shouldn't start off with SC and then self-manage when you feel more confident about dealing with your debts. A lot of us took that route. SC don't mind, they're used to people doing it.

I agree with Jools' recommendation that you go onto the SC website and use the Debt Remedy tool. It doesn't commit you to anything at all and you may decide that a DMP with SC or someone similar isn't for you. Whatever you do though, don't opt for letting a company that charges fees manage your DMP when you can get probably a better service totally free from one of the debt charities like SC.

Keep posting your questions and worries and we'll try to help you.

Good luck:beer:

kram · 14 September 2018 at 4:40PM

Red_Athena wrote: »

What services are people using to check their credit reports? I have Noddle, should I use anything else too?

I use noddle & mse credit club.

It's worth signing up for more than 1 as they snapshot your accounts at different times in the month ie: one might show up a default before the other or vice versa.

[Deleted User] · 14 September 2018 at 5:01PM

kram wrote: »

I use noddle & mse credit club.

It's worth signing up for more than 1 as they snapshot your accounts at different times in the month ie: one might show up a default before the other or vice versa.

I use Clearscore and Noddle but frequently find discrepancies between them not related to time of reporting:eek:. They don't both list and report on all my accounts, for instance.

Willing2Learn · 14 September 2018 at 5:04PM

That is why you should check all three CRA files regularly. As an account may just appear on one but not the other two files. Checking with all three CRAs is also key to reducing the risk of becoming a victim of fraud

DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

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