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8 questions every DMP client asks
What’s your question?
A debt management plan (DMP) is an informal arrangement between you and your creditors. We manage these plans free of charge so that everything you pay into the plan goes towards clearing your debts.
When you’re a client of StepChange, reviews are held regularly to make sure you’re staying on track – and giving you the chance to ask any questions you might have.
Our debt advisors are always just a phone call away to answer any question, but here are the 8 questions we get asked the most, with answers, to save you a call if possible!
Debt management plan questions we’re asked the most
1. Are my creditors still adding interest and charges?
The best way to find out is to check your monthly statements from your creditors. In many cases, creditors do stop adding interest and charges, but it doesn’t always happen immediately.
2. Have creditors accepted my offer?
Creditors will sometimes write to us to say that your offer of payment has been accepted. Sometimes they’ll write directly to you. And sometimes creditors don’t make any contact, yes, it can be confusing!
If interest and charges have been suspended it looks like creditors are happy with the revised amounts being paid.
3. Creditors have rejected my payment offer, what do I do?
As above, you might get a letter from a creditor saying they have rejected your offer of payment. In reality this makes no difference to your DMP. You carry on paying us and we will distribute the same amount to the creditor. We do this whether they reject the arrangement or not.
4. Why am I still being charged interest?
Contractually a creditor can continue to add interest and charges if they wish. Once you break the original terms of your contract creditors can enforce penalties. Details are in the original terms of the credit agreement you signed or agreed to.
5. Can StepChange Debt Charity stop interest and charges?
Creditors understand that by using StepChange Debt Charity you’re not paying a fee and so you have the chance to pay off your debt quicker.
We do have a team that works on creditor relationships. We constantly strive to make our service the best for you and your creditors.
However, despite this there is nothing we, or any other company, can do to guarantee 100% that interest and charges will stop.
It is likely though.
6. I’m paying less. Will my creditors be angry?
If, at your annual StepChange review, your payment, you might worry about creditors changing their mind about accepting what you’re paying them.
Creditors can change their minds and add interest and charges if they wish. But if your budget shows you’re paying what you can afford they’re unlikely to do so. At the end of the day you can only pay what you can pay.
7. How have StepChange Debt Charity worked out my monthly income?
We work income out monthly. If you get paid weekly this will be your wage per week x 52 and then divided by 12.
If you get paid 4-weekly you get 13 pay cheques per year. We work this out as your monthly pay x 13 divided by 12 to equal a monthly income.
If you get paid every 2 weeks we work this out as your fortnightly wage x 26 wages per year, divided by 12 months.
This ensures that your income and expenditure are worked out using the same timescale.
8. Why haven’t StepChange Debt Charity paid my creditors?
You pay us on the 1st or 10th of the month and we distribute money to all creditors within 5 working days. We pay most creditors by electronic transfer. Normally the payment will be applied to your account with them the same day.
Some creditors ask us to pay them by cheque. Because they have to processes these manually, the payment won’t be applied until a few days after we’ve sent it.
If you’re a StepChange Debt Charity client and have a question for us, contact our Customer Services team. Log in to your OnlineDMP account for more details.
If you’re a DMP client with another organisation and want to come to StepChange Debt Charity read our article on switching your DMP.
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