Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

jen_cam_har

Hi,

I am struggling to pay all bills, credit cards and loans. I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer afford my car. I bought it 2 and a half years ago and still have 2 and half years to go. What I am wondering is - what happens if I no longer pay it. Will I still owe them the money if they take my car?

Paloma_2

Hi, I am on a CCCS payment plan and have recently been reviewing all my outstanding balances. I have two overdrafts with Natwest and IF where the payment I am making through my CCCS plan isn't covering the interest that is still being charged, and therefore the outstanding amount is gradually creeping up rather than down. If I write to these two creditors asking them again to freeze the interest and stating how committed I am to clearing my debts asap, do you think they are likely to be receptive or will it be a waste of my time?

oneday_3

Hi,

I am in a debt management plan and all has been well for sometime now, This morning i received a letter from A&L telling me they were applying for a charging order on my property. I called My DMP manager and he then contacted A&L, the order is to go ahead unless i can give them an extra £125 a month, well this is not possible.

I am now worried sick, will i have to go to court, do i lose my house, will officials appear at my door to serve me papers. I am so worried i feel sick. I have not missed any of my payments since entering into the plan so this has come as a complete shock!!

Can anyone give me any advice or info.

I live in scotland so reading other posts on here i pressume it will change from a charging order to a IO but is this better or worse

Lynne

CCCS_Amanda

leebarton wrote: »

Hi

One of the CC companies requested that I telephone with my details. When I did they said that they couldn't put me on a reduced payment plan because I had spent £2000 on the car after my maternity leave had started and I knew that my income would be reduced.

The other CC company seems to have completely ignored the fact that I wrote to them and are carrying on regardless.

Any advice please CCCS?

Hi leebarton,

Each individual creditor has their own ‘rules’ if you like about accepting reduced payments. If the CC Company will not accept your reduced offer of payment then you should continue to send it to them as promised. They will eventually pass the debt to a collector and you will have another opportunity to negotiate the payment.

If the CC Company totally ignore your correspondence then you could either send another copy to them (possibly send it recorded delivery), or you could pay as promised. They may have accepted the payment but just not confirmed in writing to you.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

rachaelfleur wrote: »

I received my cover letter pack from the CCCS and I'm currently filling out my agreement to them. I have a list of 8 creditors in total, 3 credit cards, 2 overdrafts, 2 personal loans and a payday loan. I have account numbers for everything except for the payday loan, they don't issue you with an account number, what do I do? I also need to send my token payments, should I ask them to send me current statements in return?

Hi rachelfleur,

All you need to do is to send some proof of the debt. This could be in the form of a statement, letter, book, etc. If there is no account number that is ok as long as you can send us the proof.

If you are sending token payments to your creditors then you could ask for a statement but as you may be waiting a while for these it could delay your DMP. If you have a recent statement (say within 3 months or so), then that would be ok. For your loans you can send your original loan agreement or a copy of it.

Regards,
Amanda

oneday_3

oneday wrote: »

Hi,

I am in a debt management plan and all has been well for sometime now, This morning i received a letter from A&L telling me they were applying for a charging order on my property. I called My DMP manager and he then contacted A&L, the order is to go ahead unless i can give them an extra £125 a month, well this is not possible.

I am now worried sick, will i have to go to court, do i lose my house, will officials appear at my door to serve me papers. I am so worried i feel sick. I have not missed any of my payments since entering into the plan so this has come as a complete shock!!

Can anyone give me any advice or info.

I live in scotland so reading other posts on here i pressume it will change from a charging order to a IO but is this better or worse

Lynne

just bumping up

jmorrissey290

Hi there - I just posted this note on a DMP thread, but knew there was a CCCS on-line service here, and just found it. [I have tried phoning CCCS and CAB many times, but can never get connected or stay on hold long enough to get through - you guys must be so busy at the moment]

Anyway, we found out just before Christmas that my father had run up quite significant debt – a £120k mortgage from one of those punitive double-digit rate companies, which he had been drawing down on over a number of years and latterly servicing with credit card debt, to the extent he now owes c£30k (roughly even over Capital One, MBNA and Barclaycard)

Last month, we have managed to get him a proper mortgage with a decent rate, slashing the payment down to £600/month. But this and utility/insurance/oil etc eats up the £800 pension he gets, meaning we still have to contribute food and some living costs, but at least it’s better than it was and manageable for us in the long run.

I have also been corresponding and conversing with the credit card companies, and have managed to get the MBNA and Capital One accounts frozen. [Barclaycard are insisting it needs to be done through a debt management company, but I have been trying both the CCCS and CAB almost daily but can’t get through and am loath to pay as we need all the funds we can to help. At one point they told me they had frozen the account on the phone, but when they next bill came in, they hadn’t in reality. I have also recently sent in an extract from CCCS advice on-line re the self-administration option, in the hope that will spur them into action.]. We continue to make token £5 payments each month, but it is not enough to prevent default and debt being passed on.

I can spare c£200/month to contribute to a payment plan, but at that rate it would take over 12 years to pay off the debt, and cannot commit to that length of time. Ideally what I would like is to make a lump sum payment to clear the debt now, and be done with it all.

I originally offered a total of £7,500 (26% of debt) – refused by all – but lower loan rates now mean for £205 I could get a 5yr loan of £10k (35% of total debt) so I recently offered that as a lump sum (or said they could take the £200/month themselves for 5 years and get £12k, 42% of the debt, but over a longer period). I have yet to hear back.

MBNA and Capital One have alluded to the fact that they will accept short payment as settlement, but won’t say at what level. MBNA suggested 95% to preserve his rating, but that is out of the question (besides, I am not worried about my dad’s rating – if never gets credit again, it would be a good thing). I think that realistically if I remortgaged I could get raise £20k (70% of debt), but I would need acceptance first before I began proceedings, and a couple of months to complete (assuming I could get the extra– I could afford the extra payments, but in current climate possibly not the funds)

We don’t want to go down the bankruptcy route, and my mum (miraculously) is unaware of this all and it would send her over the edge if she found out. Surely this would net them more than if they sold the debt onto a third party, be quicker than a drawn out payment plan, and help me solve the problem quickly – a win, win situation all round?

From rather a long post, in summary I would like advice as to how I can:
a) get Barclaycard to freeze the account, and
b) negotiate a lump sum short settlement, so that I know what total I’m dealing with and go about obtaining the funds

Any help most appreciated

jmorrissey290

PS - I did try on-line remedy and it recommended IVA, which is not a route we wish to go down, especially if my mum and dad are forced to sell up and move or something like that – it really would tip her over the edge. Other options were debt management plan or self administration, using the lump sum (then £7,500) to reduce the debt

However, the £200 I quoted in the survey is needed to fund the £7,500, and in a scenario I entered with only £10 spare it recommended Bankruptcy, which again is not a route we wish to go down.

I am fortunate compared to many in that I could currently afford to contribute about £200 to my dad to help pay off the debt, but basically I cannot shoulder that burden for 12 years, especially in these uncertain times and with my own young family to think about, therefore F&F is by far my preferred option

As far as I can tell, they sell off the debt quite cheaply and my dad literally has nothing in terms of free cash, so F&F appears to be a good option for them to get a decent sum of money back (and quickly) – which should suit the credit card companies better too, surely?

Thanks again in advance for your advice

spinningsheep

Hi, I have just spoken with the CCCS and have been given a reference number and a call back on the 7th April, which is fine, but in the meantime, how can I pay my creditors? I have spoken to a couple of them who have quite matter of factly stated they will not accept a token payment from me at all. I feel better now that I have started on the road to finally address my debt problem, but what do I do in the meantime? One of my creditors, real personal finance, have said that although I am only 1 month in arrears (march) they will start collection proceedings which will include charged visits to my house. I have told them that they will be wasting their time as I am not discussing my account with anyone on the doorstep but they took no notice! Help, im really stressed out again!

jon25new

Hello

I am looking for advise of 2 bits of information.

I have recently found out I have a CCJ logged against me by Capital One since 03/07/06. I went to my local court today and they have provided evidence that this Judgement debt was paid on the same day. How do I go about getting the CCJ removed. (Yes I understand its nearly 3 yrs late)

Also I have a default for another amount on my file from Capital one for £997 but when calling them they tell me the debt has been passed to Bryan Carter but the only information I can find about them is they ceased trading at the begining of March. How do I get this all cleared - any help and advice would be great?

Thanks