Stop council and creditors sending bailiffs to vulnerable persons

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Comes to the same thing: they could have paid their debts, but didn't and hoped their problems would go away at other people's expense.

Sometimes the lack of empathy from fellow humans, still amazes me.

Of course it's not the same thing.

Someone is struggling to pay their bills for whatever reason (and while there's always those who abuse the system, many haven't got the latest gadgets or big TVs etc).

And usually someone in this situation will find 90% of companies they owe money to, to be very considerate of their current situation.

But there's always one or two whose decisions wreck all hope they have, and the council are one of the worst for this.

For example, someone offers their creditors a repayment plan, but the council demands put those plans in compete jeopardy. Now rather than them being able to pay off their creditors a small amount each month, the councils actions means they cant afford to pay their creditors anything, hence debt collectors and then bailiffs come in.

Most of these people who find themselves in these sorts of debts, find these situations almost suicidal (and sadly far too many do kill themselves over their debts)

The idea that they could have paid their debts but didn't is simply completely wrong.

if my son or daughter phoned me up and said they were in debt (when perfectly well, just overspending), I would give them advice on how to get out of it, how to set up a debt management plan, how to reign in their spending etc etc etc.

I would not offer them the money to clear their debts because if I did, it wouldn't be long before they were back ion the same situation (that said, if I could afford it, once they had been on the DMP for a year or so, and shown they had reigned in their spending, I would clear their debts).

On the other hand, if they phoned me up in tears, saying there's bailiffs at their door and unless they pay £500 now, their furniture or whatever is being removed, I would pay it in an instance, even though I would be going into more debt myself by doing so.

Likewise, I'm on a debt management plan due to long term illness, and while it will take about 25 years at my current rate to pay off, I wouldn't dream of asking the few very good friends of mine for financial help. But I would do so if the bailiffs were at the door and I know they would help.

Completely different situations.

pogofish wrote: »

Then why has the competence of CAB debt "advice" been found wanting time and time again on here alone..? The Parking Forum for example, where we very often see people arriving in desperation after CAB have badly advised them and simply told them to pay-up.

A number of reasons I think

I suspect that you have to differentiate between dedicated debt advisers and debt advice given by generalist volunteers. At our branch we are totally overwhelmed and it is not possible for the debt adviser to see everyone with debts. Advice should be given by reference to information sources.

As I say we are incredibly busy and volunteers have to give information on various subjects often under time pressure (an initial interview is likely to be no more than ten minutes) The parking board here, which I don’t look at much to be honest, appears to have some posters who have gained a lot of knowledge over the years and have the time to keep coming back to posters who have further queries etc. CAB cannot run like that

Unbelievably, some clients actually don’t give us all the relevant facts!. You can only advise you on what you are told. They slant the story. And what they say on here that they were told by CAB may well be a misunderstanding or whatever.
We don’t normally tell clients to do something,. We give them the information they need and their choices and then, it is up to them to decide the course of action. I’ve had clients who have paid a parkng ticket because they just want it out of the way.

I’ve seen things on here where posters say CAB said that and I know it’s not so. Interestingly the OP here has amended their post to take out any reference to CAB

And some (a lot) of the advice on here on the boards I look at is plain wrong, too (there are some excellent posters btw but people often don’t like the advice they do give because it’s not what they want to here). Personally, I stay away from offering detailed advice on anything on a forum.

And you don’t get people coming on to forums much to say how well they’ve been helped. At our branch, anyway, we don’t see that many clients with parking issues. They should be advised using the public site. This is what it has to say on parking.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/parking-tickets/

I’m not a debt specialist so I can’t say how they would advise if the case was referred to them and taken deeper. Each case is going to be individual anyway

And, it’s worth saying that folks can have a comeback against the CAB for incorrect advice. They know where we are and who they saw. There is no comeback against an anonymous poster on a forum who gives them incorrect advice

Look. I don’t doubt that some people come away from CAB with perhaps the wrong way forward. Equally, an awful lot of folk get the help and support they require which, given the increasing number of clients and the fact that many branches are mainly staffed by volunteers, is pretty damn good. In our area we are pretty much the only advice centre (no Shelter for example) and have to deal with all sorts of people with a huge diversity of issues and problems. We have a few paid staff (Including a debt adviser) ) but we aren’t going to have the specialist knowledge in certain areas (I’d say parking is a good example of that) that certain individuals can gain through their job, their interest in the subject etc

Blimey. I got a bit carried away there!

NeilCr wrote: »

A number of reasons I think

I suspect that you have to differentiate between dedicated debt advisers and debt advice given by generalist volunteers. At our branch we are totally overwhelmed and it is not possible for the debt adviser to see everyone with debts. Advice should be given by reference to information sources.

As I say we are incredibly busy and volunteers have to give information on various subjects often under time pressure (an initial interview is likely to be no more than ten minutes) The parking board here, which I don’t look at much to be honest, appears to have some posters who have gained a lot of knowledge over the years and have the time to keep coming back to posters who have further queries etc. CAB cannot run like that

Unbelievably, some clients actually don’t give us all the relevant facts!. You can only advise you on what you are told. They slant the story. And what they say on here that they were told by CAB may well be a misunderstanding or whatever.
We don’t normally tell clients to do something,. We give them the information they need and their choices and then, it is up to them to decide the course of action. I’ve had clients who have paid a parkng ticket because they just want it out of the way.

I’ve seen things on here where posters say CAB said that and I know it’s not so. Interestingly the OP here has amended their post to take out any reference to CAB

And some (a lot) of the advice on here on the boards I look at is plain wrong, too (there are some excellent posters btw but people often don’t like the advice they do give because it’s not what they want to here). Personally, I stay away from offering detailed advice on anything on a forum.

And you don’t get people coming on to forums much to say how well they’ve been helped. At our branch, anyway, we don’t see that many clients with parking issues. They should be advised using the public site. This is what it has to say on parking.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/parking-tickets/

I’m not a debt specialist so I can’t say how they would advise if the case was referred to them and taken deeper. Each case is going to be individual anyway

And, it’s worth saying that folks can have a comeback against the CAB for incorrect advice. They know where we are and who they saw. There is no comeback against an anonymous poster on a forum who gives them incorrect advice

Look. I don’t doubt that some people come away from CAB with perhaps the wrong way forward. Equally, an awful lot of folk get the help and support they require which, given the increasing number of clients and the fact that many branches are mainly staffed by volunteers, is pretty damn good. In our area we are pretty much the only advice centre (no Shelter for example) and have to deal with all sorts of people with a huge diversity of issues and problems. We have a few paid staff (Including a debt adviser) ) but we aren’t going to have the specialist knowledge in certain areas (I’d say parking is a good example of that) that certain individuals can gain through their job, their interest in the subject etc

Blimey. I got a bit carried away there!

Not only in branches, we saw it time and time again on the professionally staffed forum they ran here for a couple of years. Woefully incompetent advice, on a regular basis and they would rather have the threads deleted than actually take some proper advice and make use of it.