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DMPs are available throughout the UK.

A debt management plan (DMP) helps you to manage your debts and pay them off at a more affordable rate by making reduced monthly payments. DMPs from StepChange Debt Charity are fee-free.

We'll work with you to establish a budget that meets your household's needs. If a DMP's right for you we’ll help you set up and manage it, at no cost to you.

Many debt management companies provide DMPs, but most charge a fee. Our DMPs have no set-up charges or monthly fees.

Benefits of a DMP

  • Our DMPs are fee-free - most companies charge a fee for their DMPs
  • You’ll only pay what you can afford to your creditors after we've put together a monthly household budget
  • If you’ve fallen behind with your household bills you can add the arrears to your DMP to help get your accounts back up to date. You'll still need to make your regular ongoing monthly payments.
  • You'll make one monthly payment to us and we'll manage the payments to your creditors for you
  • We’ll review your DMP regularly to make sure you’re paying what you can afford

Risks of a DMP

  • Some of your creditors may still contact you
  • Most creditors will agree to reduce or stop interest and charges, but they don’t have to
  • If creditors continue adding interest and charges, this could increase the total amount you currently owe
  • Your creditors don’t have to agree to your reduced payments, but we’ll still send your payments anyway
  • Your creditors may still take further court action against you, such as a County Court judgment (CCJ)

How to apply for a DMP

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Find out if a DMP is the right debt solution for you. Use our online debt advice tool or speak to one of our expert advisors.

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If we recommend a DMP we’ll give you a 'personal action plan' with information about getting it set up and support you during this process.

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Once we have the all information we need, we'll contact your creditors and you start making payments to them through your DMP.

Video: What is a DMP?

Common DMP questions

A DMP may be a suitable debt solution if you have some surplus money available each month once you’ve paid your priority costs such as rent or mortgage, food, accommodation and utility bills.

We’ll work with you to work out a budget that meets your household’s needs. Any money left over will go to your creditors. The easiest way to find out whether a DMP is your best option is to use our free, confidential online debt advice tool.

A debt management plan will almost always affect your credit file and score. This is because you usually pay less than the minimum repayment amount you agreed to when you initially took the debts out.

A DMP isn’t specifically registered on your credit file but the reduced payments could impact on a few different areas of your credit file. Details of court action, defaults or missed payments will be removed six years from the date it happened, even if the debt hasn’t been fully repaid.

Read more about how a DMP affects your credit score here.

If you've fallen behind with your priority household bills (such as your utility bills, rent or mortgage) and built up arrears then we can add these onto your DMP and include them in your monthly DMP payment.

If you add these arrears onto your DMP we'll help you clear them as quickly as possible. Once your arrears start to clear the amount that's being paid towards your unsecured debts will increase.

This makes repaying your arrears easy and stress free as it's all included in the single monthly payment you make to us. All you need to do is make sure you continue to make the normal monthly payment towards your priority household bills.

If you already have a DMP some of your monthly payment may be going as fees to your debt management company. Switching to a free StepChange DMP means that all of your monthly payment goes towards repaying your debt – so you could repay them more quickly.

Several debt management firms have closed recently due to not meeting the required standards set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). If you’ve been affected by these closures, you can switch as well.

The first step to switching your DMP is for us to learn more about your debts and your household budget so that we can recommend the right debt solution for you.

Debt consolidation involves taking out a loan to repay all unsecured debts you may have. Usually the loan would be paid back over a longer period than the debts it was taken out to repay, therefore lowering the monthly payments. However, interest is usually charged.

A debt management plan doesn't involve taking further credit. Instead, new payment terms are agreed with your creditor, based on what you can afford to pay. Use our free, confidential online debt advice tool to see if a DMP is your best option.


Find out more about DMPs

If you’re thinking about starting a debt management plan (DMP) you may have questions about how it affects you. As with any debt solution, it’s important to get the facts before making a decision on how to deal with your debts. Our DMP guide has useful advice about the entire process.