DMP Mutual Support Thread - Part 12

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  • Steff90
    Steff90 Posts: 26 Forumite
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    Coolcait thank you :D
    Made me laugh about the German :rotfl: I can imagine!

    Yes helpful advice as always! I think it's the better option for me. Although a trust deed is quicker it is only 7 months quicker and putting into perspective the amount of time I've been in debt this isn't a huge difference for me!

    I'll have a look on the advanced search and see what I can come across. The girl from Payplan is calling me back on Thursday to see what I want to do. It's all very mind boggling! Never getting myself into this position again!!! :rotfl:
    Around 20K starting point :eek::eek::eek::eek: Will get there eventually :T
  • biker_rob
    biker_rob Posts: 25 Forumite
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    Hi all

    Firstly can I thank all of the knowledgeable and supportive people on this thread already. I started reading through the thread last week and it inspired me to face up to my debt problem head on and deal with it now. All my unsecured debt has been taken out since 2016 after divorce, depression, losing job then winning job back again. Things are steady and constant now although being behind on non secured debt is keeping me up at night and causing me anxiety again. I need to face this challenge head on and try to reduce my fears.

    Yesterday, I took the step of contacting Step Change who were brilliant I have to say. Their recommendations in order were:

    IVA
    Bankruptcy
    DMP

    I chose DMP as I felt it would allow me more flexibility over IVA and bankruptcy. Also, I would prefer to pay back the money I owe rather than write it off.

    Now the facts. I currently owe £22,579 to 5 creditors:

    1 personal loan
    2 credit cards
    1 overdraft
    1 payday loan

    I have £97 available a month to pay into a DMP. The projection to clear this is 19 years and 5 months to pay this off. This will drop to 16 years and 11 months in March 19 as I will have brought council tax arrears up to date.

    I will be looking for better deals on energy, phone/broadband etc and when my mobile phone contract expires in April 19 I will be going sim only, saving further money and of course all extra funds will go into a DMP. This will reduce the projected date even further.

    The most beneficial thing I have is the ability to work extra shifts at work. There is no guarantee to how many I could do a month but any extra money from these would go into a DMP to further reduce the time paying back.

    With that in mind do the experts here think it's worthwhile or should I consider going with the IVA or bankruptcy options as recommended?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    LBM: August 2018
    Self-managed DMP started: Jan 2019
    Original Debt Jan 2019: £22,469
    Current (April 2024) Debt: £11,562
  • Billy12345
    Billy12345 Posts: 105 Forumite
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    biker_rob wrote: »
    Hi all

    With that in mind do the experts here think it's worthwhile or should I consider going with the IVA or bankruptcy options as recommended?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


    Hi biker_rob and welcome to this forum. :wave:


    I'm not an expert by any means and no doubt some of the others will offer advice too but well done to facing up to your debts, that's a major milestone and shows you are tackling the problem.


    My DMP won't finish for about 19 years either but its a marathon not a sprint so don't worry about the time it'll take. Its a personal choice to go IVA, bankruptcy or DMP but you'll find a lot of people on here who really like their DMP's and are continuing with their lives.


    Don't worry about how much you owe to your creditors, the most important thing when starting out is to build up an Emergency Fund as you'll no longer have access to credit and give a manageable figure to Stepchange when completing your I&E statement.


    Most of us on here started far too high and from time and experience we are now at a more comfortable level. Don't be tempted to pay high amounts straight off as you'll only have difficulty a few months along the line and have to go back and amend your I&E statement. Feel free to have a look at my diary and others too as they really do help.


    You are the most stressful time now but don't worry it'll pass, everyone feels really anxious at the start but you won't get knocks at the door as the debt recovery process takes a long time. I'm two years into my DMP and never had a knock.


    Got to dash now but good luck on your journey and feel free to ask any questions no matter how silly they may seem, we've all been there and done it and will help as best we can. :beer:
  • Takealeap
    Takealeap Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Hi. Still working my way through this forum trying to read all the posts and pick out what I need at the moment.

    Had a couple of basic questions if that's ok? Ran through the Step change remedy tool to get an initial bit of advice/recommendations. Should it only be filled in with my share of household bills, or the full amount? My wife and i share all the household bills with me paying slightly more due to my slightly higher wage. I put in the full amounts to begin with and it gave me a figure of £149 for 19 years (I am currently paying around 800 a month to my CC bills). I then realised I should probably only put in my share of the household bills. When I changed it like that, I got a figure of £700 for around 4.5 years. The first figure seems far too low, but the second leaves me in much the same position as I am now, because I've been using the credit cards for about 300 a month to cover costs!
    I want to make sure I'm filling this out correctly so that I dont completely mislead myself. It would be the same for the stoozing SOA tool as well - I want to get that posted in a new thread soon, as per the advice you guys have already given.
    Thanks again for your advice and time :-)
  • make_the_change
    make_the_change Posts: 430 Forumite
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    I have a debt with Capital One and they have not contacted me for over 18 months for it. Is this normal?
    DMP Started June 2016
  • Willing2Learn
    Willing2Learn Posts: 6,294 Forumite
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    make_the_change wrote: »
    I have a debt with Capital One and they have not contacted me for over 18 months for it. Is this normal?
    Your signature says you are currently on a DMP. Is the CapitalOne debt included in the DMP or are you saying this debt has somehow fallen through the cracks?

    Takealeap wrote: »
    Had a couple of basic questions if that's ok? Ran through the Step change remedy tool to get an initial bit of advice/recommendations. Should it only be filled in with my share of household bills, or the full amount? My wife and i share all the household bills with me paying slightly more due to my slightly higher wage. I put in the full amounts to begin with and it gave me a figure of £149 for 19 years (I am currently paying around 800 a month to my CC bills). I then realised I should probably only put in my share of the household bills. When I changed it like that, I got a figure of £700 for around 4.5 years. The first figure seems far too low, but the second leaves me in much the same position as I am now, because I've been using the credit cards for about 300 a month to cover costs!
    I want to make sure I'm filling this out correctly so that I dont completely mislead myself. It would be the same for the stoozing SOA tool as well - I want to get that posted in a new thread soon, as per the advice you guys have already given.
    I would want to be using combined totals for both of you. That would be with the StepChange Remedy Tool and the SOA. :)
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

    :smiley:
  • Willing2Learn
    Willing2Learn Posts: 6,294 Forumite
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    biker_rob wrote: »
    Yesterday, I took the step of contacting Step Change who were brilliant I have to say. Their recommendations in order were:

    IVA
    Bankruptcy
    DMP

    I chose DMP as I felt it would allow me more flexibility over IVA and bankruptcy. Also, I would prefer to pay back the money I owe rather than write it off.

    Now the facts. I currently owe £22,579 to 5 creditors:

    1 personal loan
    2 credit cards
    1 overdraft
    1 payday loan

    I have £97 available a month to pay into a DMP. The projection to clear this is 19 years and 5 months to pay this off. This will drop to 16 years and 11 months in March 19 as I will have brought council tax arrears up to date.

    I will be looking for better deals on energy, phone/broadband etc and when my mobile phone contract expires in April 19 I will be going sim only, saving further money and of course all extra funds will go into a DMP. This will reduce the projected date even further.

    The most beneficial thing I have is the ability to work extra shifts at work. There is no guarantee to how many I could do a month but any extra money from these would go into a DMP to further reduce the time paying back.

    With that in mind do the experts here think it's worthwhile or should I consider going with the IVA or bankruptcy options as recommended?
    Hi,

    Your question is impossible to answer without having all the fact and figures. I recommend starting a new thread, citing your questions, with a completed SOA (Statement of Affairs) included :)

    http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

    :smiley:
  • make_the_change
    make_the_change Posts: 430 Forumite
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    Hi Willing2Learn I am self managed but never heard from Capital One and never set anything up for them. Have had no contact from them either.

    My signature is a bit out of date as things started and stopped and then re started again so please ignore that.
    DMP Started June 2016
  • Willing2Learn
    Willing2Learn Posts: 6,294 Forumite
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    Oh, make_the_change, you've asked a really awkward question and I'm finding it really difficult to answer. If I was doing a self-managed DMP again, I would really want to ensure that all my creditors are included. I would also ensure that the debts were defaulted, back-dated to when I was 3-6 months in arrears. If it was me, I would probably contact CapitalOne to include the debt in my DMP.

    But I would also be tempted to see whether I had been forgotten about. So I don't know what the answer is...
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

    :smiley:
  • Larz07
    Larz07 Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Hi, I have recently started a debt management plan and my biggest debt is with a credit union , that previously took repayment direct from my salary (they are not my employer) . They agreed to stop the payments from my salary whilst they review my debt management plan. However, they are now saying that they do not accept the debt management plan and will be starting up the repayments from my salary again. Is there anything I can do about this , as it is over £300 a month and I can not afford this . Any advice greatly appreciated
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