Stepchange allow a couple of missed payments per year before they review and potentially close your plan, not sure if this covers the first payment (it should do), what did they say when you spoke to them?
As you said, this plan is affordable, it’s only because you had to fork out on an emergency house expense this month that meant that it wasn’t. So future months you should be okay! They normally (or used to) allow you to make a partial payment which they will apportion across your current creditors. Use your remaining funds (if any) to do this.
Also, you can definitely review your plan at any time if your situation changes. So if you feel the plan is too much, work with Stepchange and they’ll send out adjusted offers to your creditors.
Finally, these debts are just unsecured loans. They can sell them to a debt collection agency, fine, it doesn’t change anything. If you think they’ll come hounding you at your house, that is very, very unlikely. Some of them like to use scare tactics to get you to pay more than you can afford. Don’t fall into their traps. Just manage everything through Stepchange, the creditors at this point shouldn’t really even be dealing with you personally, once you are making regular payments via Stepchange.
All the best bud, things will get better, don’t give up.
