Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

enaid

I rang customer services at CCCS last week on behalf of my son. He was present and gave his permission for me to speak to the CSA.
I was questioning why CCCS had started paying a DCA as the debt was in dispute and therefore couldn't be passed on.
He told me in no uncertain terms that I was wrong as the account had been defaulted and therefore the bank could sell it on.
This debt has been in dispute for over 12 months and is made up purely of charges on an O/D, so when I told him this his reply was "You can't pick and choose who you pay the debt to". That we must write to the bank and ask them to take the debt back. This I have done but have so far not received a reply.
I would just like to know who tells CCCS that the debt has gone to a DCA?
Because before the letter and a payment book was sent to us we had no idea.
Thanks in advance

supertracy

hi

i have just recieved a letter though the post addressed to The Occupier.

then further in the letter it is saying it is attempting to contact me at my address about a personal matter.

i hace googled this company and found out that they are a debet collection agency.
i have no outstanding debet (apart from one loan that was over 15 years ago) and have credit cards and loan that are paid each year.

what should i do. please can anyone offer some advise.

Dan.M_3

Hello,

I have been in contact with CCCS they have told me to send letters to my creditors regarding the Token payment.

What happens next? when am i likely to end up on a DMP? I have low income at the moment, do I pay this token payment until I have more income to pay more off my bills?

Worried,

Dan.

CCCS_Matthew

maclovinglifedfw wrote: »

Hello

I have an American Express Credit Card with a balance of £7500. It has recently been passed to RMA Collections due to three months of late/non payment.

RMA Collections have contacted me requesting that I seek alternative credit and look at equity in my property in order to repay the full balance of the card. Once I highlighted to the collection agency that this is a slim possibility they requested a payment of £450.00 per month for the next three months with an review due on the account after this time. They highlighted that if I fail to comply legal action would be taken with an addition cost to me of £1200.

Due to being a self employed bricklayer in the current climate I obviously can not guarantee my income for the next three months and also have other outgoings.

I do not understand what going legal means and the agency was reluctant to explain. Please can you advise as they are now pushing for my bank details.

Thank You

Maclovinlifedfw

Hi there,

I think we sent you a PM regarding an answer to this early this week.

Regards,
Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

Bunnyinthelights wrote: »

Good morning!
I am in a position where I am able to possibly do a F&F IVA. My debts are around £40k and I have around £15k possibly (all very up in the air!)

My question is, how long does a F&F IVA take to finalise and what are the likely hoods of it being accepted?

If you need any more info I will be around today.

Thanks for your help!

Hi there,

Sorry to take so long to get back to you, we're really busy at the moment!

It's difficult to say how long it would take to set up a lump sum IVA, as it would really depend on how busy the Insolvency Practitioner is. Generally it would take a couple of months, as the process of drawing up the the proposal as well as waiting for the creditors meeting can be quite lengthy.

Again I'm going to have to sit on the fence with this one, but it's impossible to say whether it would be accepted by the creditors. Is the lump sum IVA something you've been advised to consider, or is this something you've decided to do you yourself?

Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

bigyin1760 wrote: »

Hi there can somebody give me some advice , i am in scotland and i had a flat rented out away back in 1999that i sold on years ago. But now i have been hit with a council tax bill from 1999 for the year this flat was rented out to a guy. They said they cant trace him and as i was the owner of the flat then i have to pay over £900. This was in his lease that he was responsible for the council tax.But ive never heard anything from the council until past few weeks now they have put this to a sherriff officer with some sort of they are telling me that they are filing for my seqestrian in about 14 days.Am not sure what to do and am i held responsible for this tax. Hope someone can help or advsise me thanks.:mad: .Can somebody offer me advice please.

Hi there,

I think you sent a PM with this question which we have responded to, have you received it?

Regards,
Matthew.

CCCS_Sarah

caramia1812 wrote: »

I posted here earlier but have an update and need advice. I have two cc with HBOS and they agreed to suspend interest and charges for a year if I paid them 1% of the balances back monthly. My arrangement is up on 29th January. I wrote on 6th January to the customer services department (they helped me out last year) and didn't get a response. I wrote again two weeks after the 6th with copy of my first letter and sent it recorded delivery. No-one has got in touch with me yet.

When I rang to make my last-of-the-arrangment month payment on 20th January I told the assistant about my letters and he said "not to worry" they were getting inundated with calls, communications etc.

Shall I wait and hope they contact me? I can't bring myself to call them as I feel physically sick when I have to speak to them about this. Every month is the same when I make the call to make my payment, it really disturbs me and I get very stressed out.

I am worried to death that they start adding interest again - last time it took four months for them to come to an arrangement with me and the accounts accrued £1200 in interest during that period (I think in my earlier post I said £900).

Just another thing, how can it be right that they can put up interest rates and apply them to money you have already "borrowed". HBOS cc's are now at 26% and 24% APR.

Edited today (28.01.09). I am at my wits end at work and have just faxed another letter, practically begging them for contact.

I would advise you to continue making the reduced payments as previously agreed.

Creditors are under no obligation to stop the interest and charges as this is at their discretion. As you have already wrote to them informing them of your situation, you have done everything within your means so I would recommend that you wait until they contact you.

If they do decide to start charging you again, then you may need to seek advice from an independent organisation such as CCCS, CAB or National Debtline as other options may better suit your situation.

The creditors will note the interest rates on your original agreement. If you believe the rates are wrong, double check your agreement and then we can look into it further for you.

CCCS_Sarah

jacquie3167 wrote: »

Hi,
I have a debt with Capital One (Credit Card). I have not used the card in years and had an arrangement with them to pay a certain amount on 11th of every month (since Oct 2008).
Today I received a letter from a Debt Recovery Company saying that my debt has been sold to them. They say it was sold to them because I defaulted on my payment arrangement (Lie). They also say the figure is £628.40 (Lie). The actual amount owed is £589.52 The Debt Recovery Company are not willing to accept the payment arrangement which was made with Capital One and being a single mother of three on Income Support I cannot pay the amount they're asking for.
Capital One are refusing to discuss the matter with me and just keep quoting " I am sorry I am unable to discuss this matter as the debt has now been passed on". They did, however confirm that the last payment they received was on 11/01/09 (meaning I have NOT defaulted).
Can someone please advise me of what I can do. The Debt Company are threatening to increase the debt by adding charges (even if I continue to make the payments with Capital One arranged every month).

Hi Jacquie,

Thank you for your message.

When they say ‘defaulted’ they mean on the original agreement, as you have been offering reduced payments this is still classed as the account been in default.

I would recommend that you double check the balances though to see why they are chasing a different amount. They may have added some type of charge to you account to transfer the debt.

With regards the collection agency, they don’t have anymore power than Capital One, so I would advise you to stick to the reduced amount if that’s all you can afford. The best way of making the payments is by standing order or payment book NOT direct debit – this is so you always have control of your payments.

Hope this helps

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Andrew_G wrote: »

Hi There,
I was made redundant in November of 08, I have four main credit (2egg, one Virgin, one Barclaycard)cards with a total debt of £25,000, they are all protected for unemployment, however I am going to go Self employed and I can not afford the minimum repayments at the moment as I now have zero income, I will have some start up costs, which will take up all of my savings (an Isa at £3600)

Advice/guidance greatly appreciated.

Andrew.

I believe once you start the business this will stop your PPI as you will be classed as earning.

If you are unable to meet the contractual payments, you will be able to offer a reduced amount based on your budget so this will always be an affordable amount.

If you were to offer reduced payments, generally this will invalidate your policy. If this was the case, you may as well cancel it as there is no point paying out for something you are unable to claim on. Double check your policy for this!

CCCS_Sarah

siobhanbrunton wrote: »

Hi there

I've just been on the CCCS website and filled in the debt remedy questionnaire but because I'm self employed it says I have to call - excuse my ignorance - but why is that?

Siobhan

Hello,

Sometimes self employed budgets can be more complex, and a counsellor has to separate business costs from the personal budget, allow for tax and NI etc

We now have a specific team that only deal with self employed clients to make sure the budgets are accurate.