What to do while we set up your debt management plan (DMP)

If you sent your financial information to us in the last few weeks, we may still be looking through it. It takes a while to look through all of it.

We will email you once we have checked everything. In the email we will say if your plan has been set up or if you should send more information to help us.

If you have not received this email yet you don’t need to do anything or send anything for now.

While you wait, it is worth reminding yourself how your DMP will help.

You probably found it was difficult to repay your debts each month. A DMP helps to change this.

Once you start your DMP, you will continue to pay back what you owe but at a lower rate. This should help you to take control of your finances.

Many of our clients have said that a DMP has helped reduce the stress of dealing with their debt. All being well, your DMP will be set up soon so you can also experience this.

Three things to do while you wait for us to set up your DMP

There are three things we recommend you do while you wait for us to contact you about the information your submitted. Doing these will make things a bit easier when setting up your DMP.

1. Read your personal action plan

At the end of your debt advice session, you chose a DMP as your preferred solution. You then downloaded, or we sent you, a personal action plan. This detailed your situation and what to do next.

It is important you understand what we have advised you to do. For example, if there is court action to deal with, or if you need to bring a priority payment up to date, then the quicker you deal with these, the better.

2. Tell your creditors you are setting up a DMP with us

If you are waiting for us to check through the information you sent, please contact your creditors.

• Ask them for time to deal with your debts
• Tell them you have had debt advice from StepChange Debt Charity and we are setting up your DMP
• Give them your client reference number or a copy of the budget from your personal action plan. This will show them your financial position and help them understand why you are setting up a DMP
• Ask them to pause debt repayments or legal action in the meantime

This means you are asking your creditors to hold back from forcing you to pay your debt, or taking further legal action.

They will usually:

• Stop their collection process
• Give you time to set up your debt solution
• Leave you alone for 30 days after you tell them you are getting help

Give them a call or send them an email. There is a template in the 'Your next steps' section of your Personal Action Plan.

If you have already applied for Breathing Space or a moratorium, then your creditors will have been alerted.

3. See if we advised you to set up a new bank account

When you went through debt advice, we asked you for a list of your debts. If your current bank account was included in that list, it is important that you now set up a new bank account and have any income paid into there.

We ask you to do this as you will need to use a different bank account for the Direct Debit for the DMP repayments. This new account can be either a separate account with the same bank or a new basic account with a new bank.

If you don't do this, there might not be enough money in your account to collect the money for your monthly DMP repayments.

There is also a chance your money will be taken from your account by your bank to pay your debts off. This is called “right of set off”. It is rare that this happens, but this could affect your ability to pay your essential household and living costs.