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Ask a CCCS counsellor a question
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CCCS_Matthew are you able to help me at all?Official DFW Nerd number 227
Proud to be dealing with my debts!!!!0 -
Hi Sarah
Wondered if you could offer some advice.
Did the online debt remedy, recommend a DMP so OH is awaiting his pack and info in the post. We are going to cancel DD's and open a new account for him this week.
In the meantime we are a little confused about 2 of his creditors.- One is The Money Shop, cash advances. If we do not pay the £15 extension fee per cheque they will lodge them. There will be no money in the bank for them, but he does have a cheque guarantee card so they will be cashed and then he will owe the bank. Is there a way round this, like going into the Money Shop and explaining about the DMP etc?
- The other is Orange. Currently OH owes the around £80 in arrears, but contract is for £35 a month which he will not be able to pay in the future. We have added them to our list of creditors for the £80 plus the remaining months of his contract adding up to £220. Is that the right thing to have done?
Hi there, thanks for getting in touch.- The first port of call is to perhaps speak to the Moneyshop and explain the situation, and that you are coming on to a DMP. Your OH will recieve his welcome pack through the post soon which will contain a letter called "Notification of a Debt Management Plan" which can be used to show that he's coming on to a plan. They may therefore agree to give him back the cheques which will stop them from automatically taking the money.
Alternatively, he could contact his bank and ask them to cancel a cheque. Although there is normally a fee of about £25 to do this, it will ensure that Moneyshop cannot take the money leaving him with a forced overdraft. As a result Moneyshop will only get their money back via the DMP.- As far as the Orange contract is concerned, what you've done is spot on. We will get an up to date balance once we get in contact with them, but to assume the balance is based on how many months is left on the contract is fine.
Matthew.I am a Debt Counsellor that works for the CCCS and have specific permission from Martin, to post on these boards to try and help those in debt. Read more information on the CCCS and what it does in the Debt Problems: What to do and where to get help article.
CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for any of the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.0 -
Sorry Sarah, another wee question.
- He has a loan with Welcome Finance for £3000. However the interest is 61%! He has made 6 months worth of payments off this loan so far, the loan term is 36 months. I wasn't sure what to put on his list of creditors/debt on the debt remedy, so I put £3k minus the 6 months worth of payments. Would that be right? Or should I have put a different amount? Can he change this over the phone if we ring you guys with our web ref number?
Don't worry too much about the balance. Once we get in contact with them once we've recieved his documents we will get an up to date balance.
Matthew.I am a Debt Counsellor that works for the CCCS and have specific permission from Martin, to post on these boards to try and help those in debt. Read more information on the CCCS and what it does in the Debt Problems: What to do and where to get help article.
CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for any of the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.0 -
Hi Sarah,
I owe £4,600 to Littlewoods Credit Card and despite numerous attempts at negotiating a reduced payment they sent me to a credit agency called Mercers.
I contacted them and they agreed to accept my reduced payment of £46 per month but wouldn't accept unless I paid an initial payment of £160.00 which I agreed too, but he said that payment needed to come from debit card right away, so I gave him the details over the phone of my debit card. The payment hasn't gone out of my account yet, however, I'm worried he will take more than that amount OR take that amount each month instead of the agreed £46 (which I am supposed to set up a standing order for) - a dreaded recurrcing payment. As my wages go into that account, I'm understandable worried.
Should I be worried? Or is thia normal practice?
Thank you for any advice you can give me,
Sibbie.
Hi Sibbie.
It's natrual to feel a bit anxious with something such as this due to the many horror stories you hear from people in relation to DCA's. If you've only made an agreement to pay £xxx on that day only, they have absolutely no authority to take any more money on another date. With that in mind you shouldn't need to worry about the arrangement you've made, as the Standing Order will ensure they only recieve what you can afford to pay (unlike a Direct Debit).
If you find that they do take money from the debit card at a later date, you will need to lodge an immediate complaint and report them to the Ombudsman as they would be breaking the law.
Hopefully you'll be fine!
Matthew.I am a Debt Counsellor that works for the CCCS and have specific permission from Martin, to post on these boards to try and help those in debt. Read more information on the CCCS and what it does in the Debt Problems: What to do and where to get help article.
CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for any of the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.0 -
misscutiepie1984 wrote: »They are yet again returning payments, don't seem to be having much luck with Barclaycard at all they keep giving me the run around.
I've spoke to Sarah and she mentions she asked you to PM her a while back with your client reference details so she can try and look into this further for you. If you could send a PM to her with this on we can try and get on the case for you.
Matthew.I am a Debt Counsellor that works for the CCCS and have specific permission from Martin, to post on these boards to try and help those in debt. Read more information on the CCCS and what it does in the Debt Problems: What to do and where to get help article.
CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for any of the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.0 -
CCCS_Matthew wrote: »I've spoke to Sarah and she mentions she asked you to PM her a while back with your client reference details so she can try and look into this further for you. If you could send a PM to her with this on we can try and get on the case for you.
Matthew.
Oh right, sorry never noticed that.Official DFW Nerd number 227
Proud to be dealing with my debts!!!!0 -
CCCS_Matthew wrote: »Hi Sibbie.
It's natrual to feel a bit anxious with something such as this due to the many horror stories you hear from people in relation to DCA's. If you've only made an agreement to pay £xxx on that day only, they have absolutely no authority to take any more money on another date. With that in mind you shouldn't need to worry about the arrangement you've made, as the Standing Order will ensure they only recieve what you can afford to pay (unlike a Direct Debit).
If you find that they do take money from the debit card at a later date, you will need to lodge an immediate complaint and report them to the Ombudsman as they would be breaking the law.
Hopefully you'll be fine!
Matthew.
Thank you so much, Matthew. That is a huge relief off my mind.0 -
Matthew/ Sarah (CCCS),
I have completed the online debt remedy. I was advised to start a DMP. I am in the process of collecting the creditor statements and other details to post back to CCCS. I have phoned twice regarding the following concern but have been told two different things.
I have 2 Barclays accounts with overdrafts and a Barclays loan. Should I still go to my local branch and cancel my debit cards and replace them with electron cards? My wages get paid into one of the accounts every month. Initially I was told that would still be alright and Barclays would just downgrade my account, but today I was told to open a new account with a bank I am not in debt with and transfer my mortgage direct debit and wages over. i don't want to be in the situation where my wages get paid in but barclays don't let my mortgage debit out.
Also I am really nervous about cancelling my creditors direct debits. Reading this forum should I do that when I send the notification of DMP letters? What sort of token payment should I make. and how?
I am really nervous about this, but believe it is the only way my wife and kids are going to have a decent future.[STRIKE]£67000[/STRIKE] in unsecured debt at LBM June 2009:eek:
Debt free date Monday 22nd July 2013
**!* DMP mutual support thread member: 316 :wave:*!**
8 Original creditors; 7 successful F&F payments made!! :T Thank you Stepchange!0 -
Matthew/ Sarah (CCCS),
I have completed the online debt remedy. I was advised to start a DMP. I am in the process of collecting the creditor statements and other details to post back to CCCS. I have phoned twice regarding the following concern but have been told two different things.
I have 2 Barclays accounts with overdrafts and a Barclays loan. Should I still go to my local branch and cancel my debit cards and replace them with electron cards? My wages get paid into one of the accounts every month. Initially I was told that would still be alright and Barclays would just downgrade my account, but today I was told to open a new account with a bank I am not in debt with and transfer my mortgage direct debit and wages over. i don't want to be in the situation where my wages get paid in but barclays don't let my mortgage debit out.
Also I am really nervous about cancelling my creditors direct debits. Reading this forum should I do that when I send the notification of DMP letters? What sort of token payment should I make. and how?
I am really nervous about this, but believe it is the only way my wife and kids are going to have a decent future.
Hi Gaz.
We do have an agreement with Barclays that if a DMP is offered to one of their clients, that they will downgrade their current account to a basic account and disassociate the overdraft as a seperate debt to ensure they won't dip into your new account to repay the money. This is the only bank we have this agreement with, so in most cases the standard advice is to move completely away from the bank if you owe money to them.
So in answer to your question, you can choose either to ask Barclays to downgrade the account, or move away completely. The choice is yours!
As far as your DD's are concerned, you are probably best to cancel them when you send the Notification of a DMP letter comes (unless you have any payments coming out in the next few days). To make the token payments, you can either send a cheque, postal order, or use transcash/giro slips on the bottom of your bills.
Hope this helps, and good luck with the DMP
Matthew.I am a Debt Counsellor that works for the CCCS and have specific permission from Martin, to post on these boards to try and help those in debt. Read more information on the CCCS and what it does in the Debt Problems: What to do and where to get help article.
CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for any of the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and their possible implications but not make them for you.0 -
hi there, iam really considering a DRO but i was wondering what kind of debts cant be inculeded? (can back dated rent). Also if you have/had a DMP can you still apply for a DRO?0
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