A DIY DMP after problem with StepChange

A question about : A DIY DMP after problem with StepChange

I was on a DMP with StepChange, but after talking to them today I've got no choice other than to go it alone. The amount they've been allocating to a CC creditor is so high that they're now adding interest plus a fee for not making the minimum payment, and the balance is just going to keep going up not down. The creditor was actually really helpful when I spoke to them, and explained the amount SC was paying was so high that my account would remain a 'regular' one. They recommended I pay a token amount so the account will be defaulted and interest etc frozen. I was happy with this ... but when I spoke to SC they said they can't/won't reduce the payment as the idea is pay debts as quickly as possible. Yes but thanks to them, the balance of one debt is increasing rather than the other way around.

It's a bit scary 'going it alone' with a DMP but I've been given a link by a kind person on here to some info. I just want to pay my debts off as soon as I can, and sadly that wasn't possible with SC.

Does anyone know if I could go with another debt charity and just leave off the debt that was causing the issue with SC? Or should I just do the whole thing alone?

Best answers:

• Hi mocking jays, I think all the debt charities make you put in all the debts in fairness to all the creditors. I've just started my own DMP by contacting all the creditors myself and offering them the payments recommended by the do it yourself budget on the Moneysteps part of the National Debtline website. All of them have accepted and frozen interest and charges. If you can face talking to the creditors yourself it might be the way to go.
• i had a similar problem with CAB and my Barclaycard account CAB had allocated a high amount to them that i was paying 12.9 %
  i phoned them directly and got it reduced to a more manageable amount and reduced the interest to 2%
• This happened to me the first time around when Step Change were the CCCS.
  My Personal circumstances changed and I moved in with someone. It meant that quite a lot of my income was freed up and CCCS wanted to use ALL of the freed up income on the debt - about an extra Ј600 a month. My partner wouldn't play ball since it would mean that anything over my budget she would have to pay for when it came to our life together (I should have seen the warning signs then, we're not together now)
  No matter how I argued with CCCS, they refused to budge. In the end I rang my creditors and explained the situation. They all settled for a total of Ј200 extra split between them and I told CCCS to leave me alone.
  scary as it is - your creditors can actually be more understanding than they often get credit for (pardon the pun). After all - they would prefer to get something rather than nothing.
• Hi Mockingjays
  Yes I understand your problem, my circs are not dissimilar, and I'm considering a similar option.
  I'm told that NEDCAB (North-east Debt CAB) run an easy to follow self-managed DMP scheme, many people on the DMP Mutual support thread recommend it. I hope that helps, and do call into the DMP support thread if you need more help with self managed, there are quite a few regulars on the thread who self manage too.
• I cancelled my debt management plan with Baines and Ernst over the weekend and have gone self-managed. Although I didn't have any problems with their customer service, help etc. they did charge a Ј41 management fee every month, which I now have free to put towards the debts.
  I have spoken to all my creditors and actually found them all to be really friendly and helpful, so don't be afraid! I rang them and almost all agreed on the monthly payments I suggested and could afford. One payday loan company pushed me up to a slightly higher payment but weren't too aggressive about it.
  Just make sure your income and expenditure details clearly indicate that you cannot afford a higher monthly payment than what you've suggested.
  Best of luck!
• Or just lie to stepchange and make up your budget so there is not much left. That's the way I have found to best. Give them what you can get away with (I'm currently on Ј1 a month per creditor). Save the rest up in a non related account for full and final settlements.
  Don't tell them what you can actually afford or they'll just be trying to trap you in debt for ever. Plead poverty. Talk like an idiot. Say things like 'the gas man' and 'my motor is bust and i've got my 15th grandchild on the way'. They love that sort of stuff.
  I wish I was joking. This is a game and you need to work out how to play it. Remember you are not a person to them, you are an account, with a rating.
• Thanks everyone for your responses. It's interesting to see that this is quite a common situation, but it's strange that these charities think it's ok that people's situations are made worse by the amount they pay creditors.
  It's really helpful to know that there are quite a few other self-managed DMP folk around too. I didn't know you could do your own until recently. In fact even though I've been on a DMP, I've got interest frozen on a couple of debts due to me communicating with the creditors not StepChange, so hopefully it'll be ok.
• Another one to confirm the do-it-yourself route works. I can't recall who we asked originally but the plan they had wasn't one we were happy with. Create a form letter to send, show all your income, all your outgoings and how much is allocated for unsecured debt.
  The apportion that out so the highest creditor gets the most of the available amount etc. Send that to all your creditors or call and go through the numbers but as others have said, they can be quite helpful
  We did ours in 2008, if we had taken a DMP we would probably have paid in full years ago, but in truth we have been able to get rid of all but one which is due to finish this year, take a few holidays, buy some furniture we needed in cash etc - basically we have been able to give ourselves some items a DMP would probably have prevented.
  The only problem was Mint who kindly put a default on when none of the others did and that has hindered things for years - strictly it was a default but we actually paid them back in full years ago -just be careful and don't let them put a default on if you can persuade them not to. Although I could argue that having a default has prevented us getting any easy credit since then so not compounding the problem
• I don't see defaults as a bad thing, your six years starts ticking at the point of the default then. If they mark it with AP markers your six years starts ticking at the point it is market settled, so that could well be after the DMP is finished.
  Anyway, Credit is bad, that's my new mantra. I like what somebody posted earlier we should rename it Debt rather than credit, Credit has a positive spin on it, Debt just sounds BAD
• Just checked my bank account online and see StepChange have refunded my payment for this month. It's gone in quicker than expected which is good. It gives me time to pay the usual amounts to my creditors (minus the one which was the problem, as they've put me on repayment plan) and then sort everything out in time for next month (ie budget review etc). This helps as I know council tax is going up but I haven't received notification of what I'll be paying yet.
  Feels as bit scary but I'm sure it'll be ok ...
• I was with stepchange for a while and then went to a self managed DMP and I am so glad I did. It was only when I went self managed that the creditors froze all interest and charges, and if I have any extra spare change I can throw it to the debts, whereas stepchange weren't keen on me doing that.
• Hi - enjoyed reading this post.
  A lot of people on here do very much praise SC however I think they are ok - I understand if you were suicidal etc and SC helped but I find them just ok.
  I originally went to a fee paying company and decided against it in the end which I'm glad I did however they were a lot more personal than SC are - I always spoke to the same person however SC seems like a call centre.
  I would like to do my own DMP but with a full time job and a 18month old I just wouldn't have time plus I like to sit down for at least an hour at night!! 😄
  When I phoned Halifax the other day they said they hadn't heard from SC and was pushing me to set up my own payment! So will see how it goes
  Good luck
• A few of mine have said they haven't heard from Stepchange yet, but I've been sending a copy of my budget and list of creditors from my Stepchange Pack when they told me it has started along with the token payments. I just think the more times you ram it down the creditors throats the more likely they are to freeze the interest.
  I can see me having the problem in 12 months as my payments are quite high, most around 75% if my old minimum payments. In 12 months with no interest and a few quid off each card I bet my stepchange payments will be close is not more than minimums. Will give SC a chance to start with though, it's been easy enough so far.
• I was looking at switching my DMP to StepChange, but using their online calculator it wouldn't let me put in my correct outgoings in some areas, saying that it wouldn't expect those costs to be that high for my household.
  One was the amount I spend on petrol each month... Would only let me go as high as Ј200, when my actual spend is closer to Ј300 (Yes, that's on the high side, but that's how much it costs travelling between cities every day - would be far more expensive and time-consuming on public transport too!).
  Seems a bit daft they wouldn't let me enter accurate figures.
• I'm planning to sit down this weekend and work out my budget for my self-managed DMP and get the details sent off to my creditors. So far the two I've spoken to on the phone about this have been pleasant and helpful, so I'm feeling more confident about doing it this way now.
  The bonus is that the debt that I had the problem with StepChange over will now have the interest frozen and no more charges added, so finally the debt will start to go down instead of up. (Bizarre that SC say they're neutral yet are happy for a debt to be going up and refuse to accept a repayment plan offered by a creditor that will mean the debt going down - but what do I know!) I just want to get my debts paid off and I feel I'm on the right road now to making that happen.