not sure ive done the right thing

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya sweetie,

First of all hon, I want to echo the general consensus of "Speak to CCCS" They're really busy at the moment and you may have to wait a bit longer than usual for your phone appointment but its worth it.

In all the years I've been loitering around 'ere I've never known anybody be lied to by them - whereas big fibs by fee paying debt management companies are commonplace.

You can pretty much trust what CCCS tell you - their way of doing things is to give you all the info but let you make the decision.

Fee paying companies just want you to sign on the dotted line so you can start paying them - you can't really trust what they tell you.

Next, Apologies in advance if this comes across as at all harsh but I can't respond to your post without saying this: I think you should really seriously think hard about not lying to your wife any more and getting proper help with the gambling problem.

Your financial decisions affect her life too, and whatever you choose to do now is just postponing the inevitable if you continue to gamble.

There. I said it.

I also think that debt problems are much more easily solved as a team rather than one person suffering alone whilst the other one carries on in ignorance of their situation.

Big hugs sweetie, I know you're in a tough place to be right now.

Love Jacks xxx

riquelme

yes - ive stopped gambling and determined for it to stay that way

im going to GA tonight, bit worried about it tbh.

telloing my wife would mean us splitting up im 90%sure, this cant happen i love my family too much

although when the time is right and i have some control over the situation i may tell her.


our mortgage is on SVR and has been for a few years (we have been lazy about it!) we only have a small mortage £50,000 and would be looking to move in a couple of years time.


i have spoke to financial helpline again and they say that they are going to do everything what cccs will do but take away some of the !!!!! ache from me and speak to the card companies and banks etc (this appeals to me because the whole situation is scary) and obviously i will need to pay them for this privilage.

what is an SOA?

cantcope

an SOA is a statement of affairs. Incomings/Outgoings. It will help to see where you can save money on things that can easily be cut back on.

Good luck with the meeting tonight. You will be made very welcome. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the meetings. x

Merlot

Financial helpline cannot do anything the CCCS can't do, quite the opposite infact, FH only have there interest at heart, you will still get the phone calls if you go with FH, possibly more, CCCS are well known in the industry and have possibly more clout than FH, but its your decision to use FH, but I can tell you this 99% of people on these boards wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Please beware, you will affect your credit rating and it stays on your credit file for six years after the DMP has ended, you may have trouble remortgaging but as you only have £50,000 mortgage, you may well be one of the lucky ones.

Merlot.x.

Good luck with the meeting tonight.x.

Jacks_xxx

riquelme wrote: »

i have spoke to financial helpline again and they say that they are going to do everything what cccs will do but take away some of the !!!!! ache from me and speak to the card companies and banks etc (this appeals to me because the whole situation is scary) and obviously i will need to pay them for this privilage.

what is an SOA?

Honey, what Financial Helpline neglected to tell you is that CCCS will do all that and you won't have to pay for the privilege.

Neither company can prevent your creditors from contacting you, but YOU can write a letter right now stating that you only want to be contacted by letter and to remove your phone number from their records -then if they phone you they're breaking the law and one complaint via CCCS is usually enough to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I understand that Financial helpline are telling you everything you want to hear and are promising to take the burden off your shoulders right now which is very tempting but the right thing to do for your family is to wait for CCCS.

Or ring them again and tell them yoru situation is very urgent and see if they can bump you forward a little.

If you want help right now we can give it to you. Post an SOA and we'll help.

You can help yourself right now by getting all the info together ready for CCCS and you can punch all your details into their Debt Remedy Tool to see what they're likely to suggest.

https://www.cccs.co.uk/DebtRemedy/(S(c4oag245r1g0f0b55vggngzr))/Start.aspx

Whoever you go with you'll need to have all the debt info to hand and an SOA worked out - but Financial @r$ewipes won't tell you that until you've signed on their dotted line. (but it's just logical huh? How can they help you without all the info?)

We've all been where you are honey - and we know exactly how you're feeling cos we felt it too.

Love Jacks xxx

GeorgeUK

As already stated, you can go to a fee paying organisation if you wish, but there are free debt chrities that will do exactly the same thing. This means that ALL of the money you send will go to your creditors instead of a fee being taken first and anything left over will be sent to your creditors. Have they mentioned yet how much this fee is or what %?

To pay off the debt in the quickest time possible, your should be trying to get as much money to your creditors as possible. Lets call it a "value bet".

Also you may want to look into reclaiming bank charges, credit card charges, PPI on loans, missold endowments and if your house is in the correct council tax banding.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

rayday2

riquelme wrote: »

yes - ive stopped gambling and determined for it to stay that way

im going to GA tonight, bit worried about it tbh.

telloing my wife would mean us splitting up im 90%sure, this cant happen i love my family too much

although when the time is right and i have some control over the situation i may tell her.

our mortgage is on SVR and has been for a few years (we have been lazy about it!) we only have a small mortage £50,000 and would be looking to move in a couple of years time.

i have spoke to financial helpline again and they say that they are going to do everything what cccs will do but take away some of the !!!!! ache from me and speak to the card companies and banks etc (this appeals to me because the whole situation is scary) and obviously i will need to pay them for this privilage.

what is an SOA?

I hope GA went well for you.

Please don't be taken in by financial helpline they will sound convincing because some pimply kid with no life experience is probably on comission and be able to get his PS3 earlier. I know I sound cynical but they are salesmen how many times have you tried to say no to double glazing men?!

You honestly do not need to be scared the service you will get at CCCS is good I know three weeks away sounds a lot but it isin't. It will give you time to get that bank account set up, and also build a little fund up for your new account.

I can give you a template letter to send to your creditors offering them a pound until it is set up.

As for the mortgage if you have been in your own words "lazy" for a while and don't intend remortgaging then don't worry about the situation for a while. Even people with "good" credit are struggling at the moment. You have a journey sorting out your gambling and now your debts and I think it is important to take one step at a time.

I have known these debt companies tactics and they make me sick, you need to pay as little interest as possible to get things sorted and yet here they are happy to take money off you when you need it the most.

There is a big DMP support thread with over 200 members around and people on there doing there own, using payplan or CCCS and people who are dumping fee charging DMP companies because of bad service, money not going to creditors or just common sense to knock time off there debt. If you have any concerns please go in there. You are not alone and we have no vested interest apart from stopping you being ripped off and getting you to your debt free goal quicker.

Yorkshire-Lady_3

I hope things went well for you at GA.
How are you feeling today?

Y-L

riquelme

1st of all thanks for all your help and kind words

yes i did go to GA last night, i was v nervous but made to feel welcome amongst people that have been through what ive been through, i intend to keep going

as far as my decision is concerned as to what course of action well im still undecided, i spoke to FH again after receiving your messages and they came across well again, telling me what i wanted to here. they are offering what need, that is to hold my hand and help me through this scary time for me. and believe me i am very scared at the prospect of the next few weeks.

today i intend to
1. open a new bank account and to redirect my salary to the new bank account
2. change my standing orders that i intend to carry on paying (union, payment to the family joint account, car insurance etc)

ok, i can do all this without making a decision as to who i would like to go with - cccs or FH,

AM I OK SO FAR?


options available to me

1. ring cccs and ask if they could fit me in sooner as this is an emergency.
2. wait 3 weeks for the interview with cccs (this will give me time to get all my details together) - however if i do this i will default on a loan and have a £3600 overdraft accumilating interest - SO WHAT STEPS DO I TAKE HERE?
3. i can write to credit card companies asking them to delete my contact number and not to ring me (this will kep it away from my wife for a while until i feel i have things in order and happy with GA, i do intend to tell her what a flippng idiot ive been)

or

4. i can complete application form with FH and let them deal with things - at the moment to be honest his looks the most attractive because im entering unknown scary territory and if it all goes belly up then it makes telling my wife all the more difficult and the outcome could be the worst possible for me - no wife, no kids , no home, i cant face this

NickWarren_2

I know this has been said a few times already but the cccs will do all that financial helpline will do, infact more. when you pay with financial helpline they take a cut of all your payments, whereas cccs will not enabling you to pay debts off quicker. institutions like financial helpline are vultures, praying on people in weakened states. Sit it out until your cccs meeting, in the mean time only pay the DD's you can afford, change your number etc but please dont sign up with the vultures!