Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

sarriep

Hi
We've been on a DMP with CCCS since November and all is beginning to settle down with most of our creditors. Both myself and my OH have debts with Barclaycard but we are being treated very differently. My account has had the interest frozen so I am seeing the debt decrease (slowly but surely!) wheras my OH is still being charged interest at double the amount he is paying so each month his debt increases. As a relult, overall our debt with Barclaycard is not reducing and our debt free date is now infinity!
Please advise us what to do.
Also HSBC have asked us to make them an offer to clear the balance owed to them. We are not in a position to do this ourselves but could possibly borrow some from a family member if the amount was significantly less than the amount we owe. Do you advise this? What would a resonable offer be on a debt of £2300?
Thanks
S x

princess80

Good Afternoon
I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice, it's quite long sorry!
I was with my ex partner for just over 3 years and we lived together in a house he bought just before he met me, I was never on the mortgage. I knew he had money issues and had borrowed money over the years we were together but to be honest i didn;t know the full extent and didn't really want to.
When we split up i left everything behind and then found out he had thousands of pounds of debt (over 50k) and that he was making himself bankrupt. I also found out that he had forged my signature on two loans secured on the property. Now the companies over 3 years ago tried to chase me for the money and i wrote a long letter explaining that i was never on the mortgage so how could something be secured against my name on something i didn't officially own?? Never heard a thing back, have since moved and got married but the house owned by me and my husband is just in his name with a deed protecting my interest, solicitors advice in case said secured loan company tried to take it off me. Today i have received a letter from the secured loan company at my present address but in my old name and also addressed to my ex partner saying that i have to start making repayments and that the aco!!!! has been passed to the local office.
Sorry that this is long winded but just wondered if anyone had any advice about this???

hheadcase

Hi,
I am waiting for my appointment with CCCS at the begining of March (been waiting since December :eek: ) I know I will need to send in proof of earnings, I can provide OH wage slips but I am full time at uni and receive a bursary - will my bursary letter (dated Jan 09) be sufficient or will I have to send in my bank statements? Do I have to send in working/child tax credits and child benefit letters or again my bank statements? Do they want proof of everything?????
Many thanks

H

caramia1812

caramia1812 wrote: »

I have another question. I see lots of responses here lately about "not enough surplus for a DMP". Can you give me an indication of what constitutes "enough"? Can someone at least give me a ballpark figure of perhaps what % of the debt:monthly payment might be? I was also refused a DMP but have been living this past year on what CCCS said could not be lived on and now I am being run ragged by letters from retail collectioin department and differing information when phoning up. I'm getting letters back which do not answer by questions and even had a letter from customer complaints department to say they are dealing with my complaint but I never made a complaint until Monday. Advice on he above would be appreciated.

Sorry but bumping for an answer to the above and an update. I received a letter today about ONE of my accounts stating that HBOS would be able to help me with reduced monthly payments and hold on interest if I used a 3rd party debt managment service. No mention/response regarding my offer to them making F&FS's to both accounts. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place now.............

Nargleblast

Is there a standard letter I can send to a creditor asking them not to contact me by phone but only in writing? I have had 5 calls this past week from one creditor even though I am on a debt Management Plan and am having an IVA proposal drafted. This creditor has been kept fully up to date with the situation yet I am being bombarded with calls, one even to my place of work ( silly me for giving them my works number 2 or 3 years ago before I got into financial difficulties). I just wondered if there was anything in the Financial Services Act that I could threaten them with?

Godiva500

Hello There
I have read all the threads and info, and I am thinking I will prob qualify for a DRO when it comes in in April.( ie low income, under £15k, no chance of repaying etc ( a pensioner) I have a couple of questions

1. When should I start to take any action - I assume its too early now?
2. My car - I need it, as although not reg disabled, I have poor mobility and would be more or less housebound if it was taken. It is valued via parkers at £510. What would be your best guess as to whether they would take it or not, and could i do anything to help the situation? Also if they decide to take it, could my husband purchase it?

When it comes to the crunch, what paperwork will I need to provide? I assume all my pension details, bank statement ( how far back), and what else?

Thanks in advance

Vron

sunshine38_2

Evening

I wonder whether someone would be able to help Maddiem? - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1490825 - I'm not even sure how you do links (or when I do they go wrong!).

Is there a best/better time for her to be able to call to speak to someone for some help? I know there is the online remedy but it may be that she needs to actually talk to someone who could help.

Right now I think she just needs to know that there is some real support (and real people) available out there for her.

I know that all we can do is offer help/support/suggestions etc and it is ultimately up to her as to what help/support she wants to accept.

I just want to try and help. Any ideas?

Thanks

Sunshine

CCCS_Sue

jaybag wrote: »

Hi,new here,
have been reading a lot of what is on here and would like to ask a bit of advice.
Myself and my partner are expecting our first child in September,he have looked into what her maternity pay will be and it is awfull,so the nuts and bolts of it are is that we will have to enter into a DMP.We spoke to our financial advisor who put us in touch (well,the same office) with Eurodebt,all seemed good with them until they said that they would charge,so will be going to CCCS.
At the moment we can just get by on what we earn and paying off debts (total £43k) but obviously when the baby comes we will only be effectivly on one salary,so will have to enter into a DMP.unfortunatly our mortgage deal is up at the end of August,is it a good idea to get the mortgage deal done before we enter in the DMP? or start the DMP first? of course if we enter into a DMP now the figures will change once her maternity pay kicks in September,will that still be ok? bit confused with it all to be honest and just want some help
Thank you

Hi jaybag and welcome to the thread!

I would recommend you have your appointment with a counsellor to see if a DMP is going to be the best option for your situation first of all.

If a DMP is the best option for you, then it is best to get it up and running and then deal with the changes in your circumstances as they arise.

Your DMP would be reviewed regularly anyway,any changes would be reflected in your budget and your monthly payment adjusted to what you can realistically afford.
So, if you were struggling to keep up with your DMP payments then your situation would be reviewed and advice given accordingly.

If you had more money to offer then the repayments could be increased to pay your debts off quicker.

A DMP is flexible and CCCS do not charge a fee.

Hope this helps!

Regards
CCCS_Sue

sandalwood_2

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi jaybag and welcome to the thread!

I would recommend you have your appointment with a counsellor to see if a DMP is going to be the best option for your situation first of all.

If a DMP is the best option for you, then it is best to get it up and running and then deal with the changes in your circumstances as they arise.

Your DMP would be reviewed regularly anyway,any changes would be reflected in your budget and your monthly payment adjusted to what you can realistically afford.
So, if you were struggling to keep up with your DMP payments then your situation would be reviewed and advice given accordingly.

If you had more money to offer then the repayments could be increased to pay your debts off quicker.

A DMP is flexible and CCCS do not charge a fee.

Hope this helps!

Regards
CCCS_Sue

We have already applied for different bank accounts out of the way of our creditors, just waiting for the confirmation to come through, then will start changing D Debits and S Orders of priority bills(as said by Euro debt)
Once it all starts, do any letters I get from creditors need to be passed on to CCCS or do I need to reply to them myself? And also, what are the chances of the creditors accepting settlement figures,
Also, if we have furniture from catalogues and from furniture village, will they be able to come and take the goods, or do we try and pay these as normal to save people knocking on the door, as all our other debts are unsecured

Sorry for the questions,just wanted to get things clear before I start putting things into action
Thank you

CCCS_Sue

jaybag wrote: »

We have already applied for different bank accounts out of the way of our creditors, just waiting for the confirmation to come through, then will start changing D Debits and S Orders of priority bills(as said by Euro debt)
Once it all starts, do any letters I get from creditors need to be passed on to CCCS or do I need to reply to them myself? And also, what are the chances of the creditors accepting settlement figures,
Also, if we have furniture from catalogues and from furniture village, will they be able to come and take the goods, or do we try and pay these as normal to save people knocking on the door, as all our other debts are unsecured

Sorry for the questions,just wanted to get things clear before I start putting things into action
Thank you

Hi

Don’t worry about asking questions……that’s what we are here for!

It is good that you have applied to change your bank account. This puts you back in charge of your finances.

Any letters you receive from creditors/collection agencies when you are on a DMP should be forwarded to us as soon as possible so that we can contact them with an offer of payment. The sooner we do this the better.
The creditors do not have to accept our offers of payment but we send them anyway. At the end of the day, you can not pay what you have not got!
However, if the budget is realistic and you are making regular payments, then the creditors are normally happy to accept any offers of payments.

With regard to furniture from catalogues/furniture village etc, you would need to include all your debts on a DMP.
The exception to this would be goods bought on Hire Purchase (HP)
With HP, the lender can repossess goods if payments are not kept up to and so any HP debt would be included on your budget as a priority.
HP is normally used for vehicle purchases but there are some stores who do use HP for furniture/white goods. It is best to check your agreement.

Let me know if you need any more help

Regards

CCCS_Sue