Yes it is true. After some time managing my own debt management plan I have decided to use the services of StepChange Debt Charity. Why you may ask. Well the short answer is because it will be a lot easier for me.

I am constantly recommending the services of StepChange Debt Charity and Payplan as a way for others to get help with their debt and for good reason. One, they don’t charge you for a Debt Management plan and two, the advice they offer is free. It makes sense for me to use one of them and so that’s what I am doing.

If you are struggling with debt, give one of them a shout, they can help you too. Visit the Debt Help page on this blog to get started.

Why it is better for me to use StepChange Debt Charity for a Debt Management Plan

I was quite happily running my own debt management plan, except that it took a lot of my own time to administer it. Especially if I was making changes, for example when I recently changed jobs. That and doing this debt blog all takes up quite a lot of time, not that I mind. Plus work and all the other stuff you do means time is a precious commodity.

I suppose the biggest downfall was the number of debts I have, plus I also manage my partners debt too and so that equalled quite a few creditors. 26 separate standing orders can be a chore to maintain as well as the contact with the various debt collection agencies. I expect that these debt collection agencies will still contact me though, and I don’t mind as I do enjoy getting post.

If there was a lot less debts, say around 15 then things would be different but in this case they are not, so having to make only a single payment to StepChange makes things a whole lot easier.

So what is involved with setting up a Debt Management Plan with StepChange Debt Charity?

The whole process was very easy. Using their Debt Remedy Tool I was asked questions about my situation, monthly expenses and debts. I already had all this information to hand so I set about putting it into their system.

At the end Debt Remedy generated the available Debt Solutions and as I would expect, an IVA was recommended to me based on the information I had provided. However alternate debt solutions are also listed and I selected the Debt Management Plan instead of the IVA.

What happened next?

I received two e-mails. The first giving me a breakdown of the information provided. The last e-mail contained information about how I could set up the debt management plan, along with information about what I needed to provide. In this case it was: –

• Account Numbers for the Debts.
• Proof of Income (Wage Slip dated within the last three months)
• A direct debit mandate so I can set up a payment to StepChange.
• A couple of forms to sign.

I e-mailed the information back to StepChange and a couple of days later I received a phone call to confirm some details. Later that day I received an e-mail confirming that my debt management plan had been set up. I was also told that some details are being sent out in the post which will allow me to view the debt management plan online.

I then notified my creditors that I was entering into a debt management plan with StepChange and that the first payment will be made on the 1st August. I haven’t heard anything back from them yet, but I’m sure they will be in touch soon.

Using StepChange should make things a lot easier to keep on top of things, although I will no longer be able to settle debts individually. However the main aim is to get out of debt and StepChange can help achieve this aim. Time will tell.