cccs

leela_2

Hi ,we had our phone appointment yesterday with the CCCS and ive gone from being quite stressed out to feeling like im going to explode with the strain.Basically we have £31,000 worth of unsecured debt which we have really been struggling to pay, borrowing from here there and everywhere ,it has just turned into a vicious circle.Anyway we did our budget at home like we were told to and worked out we had over £150 a month left over to pay our creditors.Yesterday our CCCS advisor told us we had vastly underestimated what we need to live on ,redid our budget and apparently all we have left to offer our creditors is £78 a month! . Now in no way am i complaining about the CCCS they provide a brilliant service but the guidelines they have regarding your budget and what you need to live on are just ridiculous.Apparently paying £78 a month would take us 35 years to pay it off.Anyway we have started a DMP with them just for now.hopefully our circumstances will change and we can offer more, because its going to kick off big style when these companies realise how little they are going to get . :eek:

Hobo17

If you really feel that they have over-estimated, then you could always save the extra into an emergency fund, and (once you've built up a lump sum for any breakdowns or emergencies that might occur) wait till the extra money has built up to a reasonable amount and give it to cccs to distribute amongst your creditors. Also remember your income will probably increase in the next 35 years, and that some creditors may accept settlement of less than the full amount. But bear in mind the CCCS are probably pretty experienced in doing people's budgets, and that they have to be realistic, you can't live on value baked beans for the next 35 years. So you may find that they have it spot on, better that than not leaving you enough to live on for the month.

tattooed_lady

Totally agree with Hobo17!! That's exactly what I would have said!

I was with CCCS and we found over the years when our circumstances changed we could increase our DMP payment so the total time taken to pay it off would reduce. Don't worry, most creditors will accept the payments because they would rather get something than nothing, and also they realise that your circumstances may change later on and that you could pay more.

Scotsgirl

know exactly how you feel we got told 29 years :eek:
and with the chance of creditors still adding interest we would no doubt be well gone from this earth by the time it was paid.

System

leela wrote:

Apparently paying £78 a month would take us 35 years to pay it off.

Hi leela - sorry to hear you so stressed.

If it's any consolation, my token payments of £1 each to my 3 creditors on my £20k debt will take me 556 years to repay. :eek:

I'm hoping to increase payments eventually though , and they're welcome to my gold fillings when I leave the planet!

Joking aside, I'd go with what the CCCS have advised. If your creditors think the CCCS have been overly cautious, then no doubt they'll shout about it. I imagine if you have some spare cash at the month end, and are really eager to repay the debt sooner, then you could pro-rata it out to each creditor and send it off. But then they'd probably wonder why your budget resulted in a surplus and ask you for more every month.

Probably best to see how the budget works for about 6 months or a year. You can bet you'll have forgotten something, and it's always best to have a bit of leeway in any budget.

Something I'm doing - and don't know if everyone would agree with this - is taking out a fixed amount in cash every week from the bank. That's my budget for food and housekeeping. I've been realistic but possibly too cautious. So far - and I've only been doing this 3 weeks - I've been comfortably spending less than my budget. Rather than re-invest every penny back into the current a/c, I've carried the surplus forwards and kept this as a cash "slush" fund at home.

My reasons are quite simple:-

1) I think regularly taking out a set amount gives validity to your budget figure if a creditor ever wanted to dispute it (not that they'd see my bank statements unless I showed them of course)

2) I've lived so long on credit cards, as opposed to cash, that I wanted to build in a little bit of a buffer just in case an emergency crops up.

Now, as I say, that's just my opinion, but I feel happier being extra-cautious.

Keep your chin up, Leela.

leela_2

Hi, Thanks guys you have have all made me feel quite a lot more positive about this nightmare situation.Now ive just got to convince my partner as hes in a worse state than me.Hopefully our situation will change in the near future and in the meantime at least our kids arent going to have to do without this christmas which was a real possibility if i hadnt got help.Cheers again for the advice, you are all stars. :T