www.iva.co.uk

After battling for 6 months trying to manage we have decided that we have no choice but to go into a DMP via CCCS. I'm scared stiff about the creditors hassling and threatening court action and really don't know how bad the long term effect on credit status will be but we've no other option really with 4 children and unsecured debts approaching £45k (all through careless spending I'm ashamed to say)

Looking for some advice on creditors, how bad is it likely to get please?

Why have you chosen a DMP over an IVA Dougie, and how much will you be paying into the plan on a monthly basis from your disposable income?

You will get loads of hassle from them, there's no denying it.

Hopefully they will all accept your offer and it will go through ok. Most of them seem to be ok with DMP's as they will get their money back.

I was advised by you last Autumn Melanie that a DMP should be used initially as some of the debts are fairly recent. The aim being to switch to an IVA after 12 months. We have around £320 left each month to pay unsecured debt which on the DMP alone would take 11 years to clear!

It might be worth looking at the IVA at an earlier stage now. Does the DMP provider you are using do IVAs as well?

Any reason why you have have decided to go with CCCS Dougie?

CCCS seemed a good option as they don't charge any fee for the DMP. I believe they now offer IVA's too as there is an option on their website. I haven't signed yet so if there better DMP/IVA solutions out there please let me know ASAP

Payplan also do fee free DMP's.

However, I believe that even if you use one of these 'free' firms, the creditors get back roughly the same as they would if you used a fee paying firm as it is the creditors who pay their fees, so they pay some of your money back across.

You could phone one or two of the other firms on www.iva.com as they do come highly recommended. The advice is free and you have nothing to lose by doing so.

It is interesting and it does not cost the debtor any more money whether choosing the so called "free advice sector" - it is not just CCCS and Payplan that offer free advice but all commercial organisations offer free advice up to and including setting up a DMP. They even continue giving free advice ongoing!

With a commercial organisation and depending how long the DMP is for the banks get paid in full. With CCCS and Payplan (subject to rates of I think 13% they get back from the banks) the banks will only ever receive 87%.

In either case it does not cost the debtor anything above his agreed monthly contribution.

Ok thanks, I'll take a look at what else is on offer before comitting.

One question, as I am likely to get a bad credit score for several years to come I would like to get a newish car now to replace my old one while I can get the credit. If it is a Hire Purchase I guess it can sit outside of the DMP/IVA. Would that be looked on badly as I know that I am going to not pay the other creditors the full amount?

I don't know how it would be viewed if you got one now knowing that you are going to be doing some sort of debt solution.

One of the professionals will advise.

It does seem a little unfair but I need to make sure that long term I am OK. It's a tough place to be in right now

You may be ok, I really don't know.

Hi Dougie

I have just started a dmp with Vincent Bonds. Like you we needed a newish car and we weRe told that as long as we got the car before the dmp started we would be ok. Talk to the person who is setting up your DMP.

Hi Doug

I have just been reading this thread and I wanted to say. Please dont worry about the creditors at this stage. What you must focus on is you are addressing the problem and youre going in fully informed, which is something to be very proud of. Some creditors will reject IVA's for a debt taken out less than 12 months ago which is probably why they have advised a DMP for a temporary period. I know its a dark place to be right now but once you have your head round it all you can hold your head up high. Its so easy to get in to debt, its such a heavy weight to carry and its easy to feel less than human when you have creditors making you feel that way. Whatever happens remember youre doing the right thing.

The thing to remember is the people that call you are asking for payment because its their job to extract as much money they can from you, they dont really care about anything else. They work for call centres and in my experience dont really have much knowledge about debt. Its very unlikely that they would be able to take any court action against you when clearly youre doing all you can to repay what you borrowed. A court wouldnt ask for any more than that. Call centre staff will threaten anything to secure a payment, they want to reach their target for the day and nothing else matters to them, just tell them calmly, I am doing all I can and hang up. Eventually they will give up, or is that a pig in the sky flying over there? They dont have any real power if your doing all you can, dont forget that. It.s the wont pays that end up going to court.

Good luck now and take care.