I have missed my dmp payment

[Inapickle]

I am in a DMP and have missed my last month’s payment. What is likely to happen. Will the arrangement fail? Thanks for any advice.

[Geraldine]

Hi Inapickle and welcome to the forum

I do not think you should worry too much, as long as you make your payment on time next month you should be OK. Are you managing the plan yourself or working with a management company? If you are with a company you should speak to them and explain the problem.

[Andrew Graveson]

Hello inapickle,

Any agreements in place with lenders to accept reduced payments and possibly to freeze interest are conditional upon your making the monthly payment on time.

As these agreements have been broken the lenders may start to charge interest again and may consider escalating their collections procedures.

There may be a very good reason why you were unable to make the payment. From time to time our clients experience events that make a monthly payment impossible. So long as we're made aware of the reason, and the reason is effectively conveyed to the lenders, they will often allow the existing arrangement to continue without the negatives I previously mentioned.

If there is a good reason for the missed payment I'd strongly advise that the creditors are made aware of it as soon as possible.

[Hayden]

Hi there Inapickle

As Andrew has said, it is not a good idea to miss a debt management payment. Your creditors may well start charging interest again. My advice is to call them asap and explain the situation and let them know that it is just a temporary problem. Are you managing the DMP yourself or using a debt management company?

[Inapickle]

Thank you for you advice everyone. I am working with a debt management company and called them to explain the situation. They were actually quite helpful and told me to try to make sure I pay on time next (this) month which I am going to do.

Luckily I have not heard much from the creditors so I am hope everything will be OK on that front.

[Steve Jackson]

Great news Inapickle.

My advice is keep an eye on any statements you receive from your creditors over the next couple of months to make sure that no interest or charges have started again. If you see anything like that, let you debt management company know so that they can try to get these stopped.

[Andrew Graveson]

Steve is right inapickle (as always!).

Things happen, and creditors know that a payment might be missed from time to time.

They have automated systems though which can cancel arrangements and start charges and interest again.

Monitor your statements carefully for a couple of months and keep your debt management plan company aware of any issues.

[Geraldine]

Hi Inapickle

Glad to hear you spoke to your debt management company and al seems well.
As Andrew and Steve have said, it is really important to monitor your statements from now on as some of your creditors could well have started to add charges again. If this is the case, I am sure the DMC will get on to their case for you.

[Steve Jackson]

I am not sure I am always right Andrew but many thanks for the comment and thank you for your contributions

The power and usefulness of this forum is based on the fact that the advice we give is unbias and aimed at resolving people's debt problems. I am very pleased to be able to contribute and know that we are giving real help and support to a lot of people.

[Andrew Graveson]

I guess that another benefit of forums like this is that a number of people from different backgrounds and with different experience contribute.

That adds up to something really useful (as well as providing some coverage to correct any little mistakes that we make from time to time ).