DMP Graduates- Questions

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone...

DH and I have been in DMP for 9 mos now, with 40 to go!

Quesitons about life along the way in a DMP and life afterwards...

Did you see your scores increase as debt was paid down?

When graduated from DMP, did CR still show DMP participation for any accounts?

How long, on average, does it take for late payments from life before DMP to not show on CR?

I would love to hear any feedback (positive or negative) about your credit scores, obstacles, triumphs along the way.

Both DH and I have learned our lesson with spending and saving.

We have an above average income for our area, but put most of what we have into paying off our current debt (reasonable mortgage, 1 car payment,  DMP HUGE payment) and childcare. There is not much left to save at the end of the month.

We do know, however, that there may be a time in the future (will hold off as long as possible) that we will have to think about taking out some kind of  loan for a car or major home repairs... I just would like to know what we have to look forward to. 

Thank you in advance.

Kelly

[marty56]

I graduated (4.5 years) Debt Free Christian (Harbour) in November.  I got a National City Mortgage Visa last month and a Bill Me Later account as well.

Tips while in the porgram:

Do not apply for new credit while in the program  BofA droped me from the DMP which cause 90+ lates on my credit report.

You must monitor your CC statements to make sure the the accounts are being paid on time and that they were not marked as late.  During my stay in the DMP, I had to pay Discover twice bause the DMP's payment wouldnt reach them in time.  At the first sign of any problem, contact the DMP and the CCC.

I dont remeber what my scores were prior to the DMP but I am sure they were fairly low.  You can see my scores now.  As far as TL being in my CR, I will assume that they will be in my credit report until the account drops off.  They have had not adverse affect on my account credit as far as I can tell.  Mortgage compaines and auto loans cannot be placed into a DMP so I dont think they would care about the DMP as long as you dont have any negative information that they do care about.  We will see what happens next Fall when I apply for a new car loan.

Keep in mind that the most of the CCC closes your account after it is PIF in the DMP and I dont know how this affects your FICO score.  I did not place all my CCC accounts into the program and I have auto loans that are PIF that still show up on my CR.

As far as late information on your CR goes prior to DMP, I dont know since I didnt have any.  My lates with BofA happend after I was in the program and BofA had no interest in removing it.  I only called them and didnt do a GW letter.

Summary:

1.  There is Life after DMP

2.  Monitor your CC account statements and be preapared to act at the first sign of trouble.  be extra carefull of BofA.  They are the worst.

3.  Dont apply for any credit while in the program.

4.  Never miss a DMP payment.

[demi]

Hi, I haven't graduated yet, about 8 months to go.  I started 3 years 2 months ago.  I have no idea what my score was (I would have died before I would have checked it), but about 2 1/2 years ago I had a major move (career and distance) and for the first time the possibility of buying a house was a reality...so I took a deep breadth and checked...can't remember exactly, but I believe it was somewhere in 460's.   Today they are all in the 680-690 range.  I have paid over 45,000 dollars.

Absolutely do not apply for credit.  I don't know if this was stressed or not, but my plan (Take Charge America) said many of the creditors would drop me if I did.  Amazingly enough, the only mistakes on my credit report were minor, everything was reported, although on account on one agency they listed all payments (after a charge-off) as 90 day late, so I have 30 or so payments over 90 days....still working on that issue.  The DMP calls every so often asking for copies of any account about to be paid off, every six months I send copies of all statements.  Its been an amazing process to watch, very interesting now as things are getting paid off fairly rapidly.  If I call the plan, I get a little "good job" lecture, and advice.

So, what else, I have prequalified for a house, waiting for it to start construction.   Never was late on any of the DMP payments (automatically withdrawn).  Learned to live without credit cards (although car rentals were difficult, but fortuneately I do have a work credit card for traveling for work).

Wish I had done it sooner.  The absolute best part....knowing the phone call is not a creditor.

[marty56]

It was such a great feeling when I made my last DMP payment in November.   As you near your last payment, make sure that the DMP company has the most up to date balances.  rember they dont see your statements.

Some CCC I had a credit by the end of the program and so I owed a few dollars.  The funniest thing was when I went to JC pennies and paid a 47 cent payment to 0 balance the account.  Watching the person trying to hide thier shock at the amount I was paying was quite funny.

The not so funny part as when the account rep at Citibank told me not to worry about the 9 cents I  owed them, they Citibank would just "ignore" or "let it go" .  I  then called back and made a $1 payment from my debit card to them.  I still show a credit on the account.  Even someone like me can learn their lesson I suppose.