Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

tracymcashmore

Hello
I could really do with some advice.
A credit agency or some sort of solicitors got in touch at the begining of this year and said i owed money to a mobile phone company from about 6 years ago. I had no idea i owed money but agreed to pay even though the phone company refused to deal with me and talk to me.
anyway i agered an amount a month and sorted a standing order out, but for some reason the 1st months payment didnt go out. so i reset it up again for the next month and also paid the amount missing. everymonth since they have said they havnt got it,so i sent them proof of my standing order. which they have taken no notice of and proceed to calls about 4 times aday to demand money which i cant afford to pay upfront. i cant afford this and they know this. they have been very rude to me and of no help at all. they shoutb and just demand the FULL amount even though iv paid some off already 5 months worth. though they havnt taken that off the bill. iv had another letter today saying they will send some1 around for the money or send me court. iv tried to complain about them but every time i ask to speak to management they refuse.
im getting really worried now,iv tried contacting CAB but i keep getting passed around saying its not their department or not in their catchment area.
please could you tell me where i could get help or what to do. iv tried sorting plans with them but they just say iv broken the agreement which i havnt and refuse and just say i want the full amount.
please help
many thanks
tracy x

A.J._3-2

Hi,
May i please ask a question, i have a DMP with CCCS and have been dealing with this for over 5 years (about 3 to go). for the last 6 months two of my creditors have been funny about accepting my payment neither will except that this is all i can afford despite getting a new budget and updated letter sent, one just charges me £20 a month for not making a full payment so my debt is going up and up (i pay about £8 a month to them debt was £180 but its now nearly £250). The other is saying they will sell my debt to a third party if i dont increase my payment or they want £250+ as a partial settlement but they will not try and recover the rest, so total debt will end (about £800 owed in total). What is my best course of action with these two accounts? i can not pay my rent next month and clear the second debt (i am slighlty ahead so would not put me more than two weeks behind) but i am scared they will still try and claim rest of the debt? these are my two smallest creditors but are casuing me mega hassle. The DMP was working great this is a recent thing, maybe because of the credit crunch, 1 account is G E Money the other is MBNA via A and L .
Thank you in advance:rolleyes:

AJ

OverCommitted

Thanks very much Sue.

I just got a reply back from egg about getting a statement. They directed me to an obscure corner of the web site where I had to fill in a form and print it out. I've now got to send it by post with a postal order for £2 and if I'm lucky will get the statement within 14 working days of them receiving it.
Oh well. I will do that and whilst I'm waiting, send you what I can.

OverCommitted

StepChange_Private_Messages

[/QUOTE]



Hi Tracy and thanks for your message

Your creditors should not be harassing you.
You can ask them to remove you from their telephone data base and communicate with you in writing only. I have attached a sample letter you can use to send to your creditor requesting that they communicate with you in writing only.
Send this with an up to date copy of your budget and the monthly payment offer and then make sure you pay this regularly every month even if they refuse.
Make sure you keep a record of all the payments you have made as if they do take court action, you will have proof you have been keeping up with the payments.
Keep a copy of the letter for yourself and send it recorded delivery.
I would also mention in the letter you have been making regular payments but had no acknowledgement.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to ask that you no longer contact me by telephone as your calls are causing me considerable stress due to the frequency, and that they are being made at inappropriate times. Please remove my telephone number from your database and send all future communication in writing to my home address.

I have provided the most recent copy of my income and expenditure to make you aware of my current financial situation. I will continue to make my payment of x on the x of every month and will keep you informed of any changes in my circumstances as I am keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

I understand that following this request if you continue to call I can contact the Office of Fair Trading to make a formal complaint.

Please confirm in writing that your records have been amended.

Yours sincerely

Hope this helps
CCCS_Sue

miss_bexy

Hi Sarah, Sue or Matthew, wondered if I could get a bit of advice.

OH is in the process of setting up a DMP with yourselves, we have recently sent back all of his statements, a wage slip etc and have written to all our creditors with the Notification letter and a £1 PO.

However we are having trouble with one of his creditors/debtors.
Basically its The Money Shop, a cheque advance place to whom he owes £750. We have put them on our list of creditors to offer a reduced payment to, but the cheques are due to be either cashed or extended on June 20th. To stop the cheque at his bank costs £12 per cheque, to extend a cheque costs £15. He has 8 cheques with them.
If they lodge them there will not be money in the bank to cover them and he doesn't have an overdraft. But he also cannot afford to extend them.
We went instore to explain about the DMP but were told he had to contact head office. We did so by phone and they told us to go back instore. Which we did, and were then given an address for their "Financial Difficulties Dept". So we are going to send them the letter of Notification of a DMP.

My questions are, what if they will not stop they cheques? As he has no overdraft? And what should we say alongside the notification letter? Do we ask them to destroy or stop the cheques and wait for correspondence from yourselves? Really panicking as he doesn't have the money to extend or stop these cheques, let alone cash them, and the date is approaching.

Thank you in advance, sorry for rambling!

StepChange_Private_Messages

A.J. wrote: »

Hi,
May i please ask a question, i have a DMP with CCCS and have been dealing with this for over 5 years (about 3 to go). for the last 6 months two of my creditors have been funny about accepting my payment neither will except that this is all i can afford despite getting a new budget and updated letter sent, one just charges me £20 a month for not making a full payment so my debt is going up and up (i pay about £8 a month to them debt was £180 but its now nearly £250). The other is saying they will sell my debt to a third party if i dont increase my payment or they want £250+ as a partial settlement but they will not try and recover the rest, so total debt will end (about £800 owed in total). What is my best course of action with these two accounts? i can not pay my rent next month and clear the second debt (i am slighlty ahead so would not put me more than two weeks behind) but i am scared they will still try and claim rest of the debt? these are my two smallest creditors but are casuing me mega hassle. The DMP was working great this is a recent thing, maybe because of the credit crunch, 1 account is G E Money the other is MBNA via A and L .
Thank you in advance:rolleyes:

AJ

Hi A.J and thank you for your message

Your rent is your main priority so you must not stop paying this. Do not be pressured into paying money you cannot afford!
As you are on a DMP, you need to contact our client support team about this so they can look into it for you.

If you need the telephone number, I can PM it to you.

Regards
CCCS_Sue

jaynemaria

Hi, its great that you are offering support, so on behalf of everyone thankyou.

I am on a DMP with the cccs after having to stop work due to a long term illness, I have three credit cards on the dmp, before being ill I had never missed a payment and always paid much more than the minimum.

As soon as I became ill and insurance was due to stop on card, I tried to negotiate myself, but to no avail. As things stand one CC has accepted the plan, another still charges interest, but has written and admitted that they do not have a CCA for me. The third actually told me they dont help ill people as its not their policy and are in the process of taking me to court to try and get a charging order.

I am trying to defend this as they have not sent me a CCA despite my asking many time, and also asking for all info under the DPA which they have ignored.

Question is really, what criteria do creditors look at when accepting the plans. all my debts are within a hundred pound of each other and the one that accepted without a problem was the higher one

piranhalikethat

Hi, I really hope someone can advise me what to do, don't know how much more I can take.

I'll be as brief as possible:

In Apr 08 I split from partner and stayed in the house with 100% mortgage at £75k. The bank wouldn't do a remortgage in my name so we left it in joint names and agreed I would pay the whole amount (£500/month, capital and interest).
In Jan 09 we did a voluntary hand back to the bank as i couldn't afford it in on my own, and they agreed to sell the house and we repay the deficit between us as an unsecured loan.
Found out today the bank have opened a basic account in our joint names with £33,835 overdraft, which I assume is the deficit from the house sale.

In amongst all this I have had debts from a few years ago catch up with me, and my current partner agreed to pay for them on his credit card, then balance transfer it to a 0% offer for as long as possible. I have in my own name a loan with a different bank, but no credit cards or store accounts. I am not named as a tenant in the flat I share with my partner but we split the rent and bills 50/50, and I pay the credit card.

Where do I stand with looking at DMC/IVA/bankruptcy? There's no way I can pay my half of the deficit with the charges and interest they will no doubt apply, and with hardly anything in my name in our flat I'm worried that they'll look at income, see that I have no liability in my name alone and take everything.

I really do not know which route to take. I hope someone can help please.

tracymcashmore

Hi Tracy and thanks for your message

Your creditors should not be harassing you.
You can ask them to remove you from their telephone data base and communicate with you in writing only. I have attached a sample letter you can use to send to your creditor requesting that they communicate with you in writing only.
Send this with an up to date copy of your budget and the monthly payment offer and then make sure you pay this regularly every month even if they refuse.
Make sure you keep a record of all the payments you have made as if they do take court action, you will have proof you have been keeping up with the payments.
Keep a copy of the letter for yourself and send it recorded delivery.
I would also mention in the letter you have been making regular payments but had no acknowledgement.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to ask that you no longer contact me by telephone as your calls are causing me considerable stress due to the frequency, and that they are being made at inappropriate times. Please remove my telephone number from your database and send all future communication in writing to my home address.

I have provided the most recent copy of my income and expenditure to make you aware of my current financial situation. I will continue to make my payment of x on the x of every month and will keep you informed of any changes in my circumstances as I am keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

I understand that following this request if you continue to call I can contact the Office of Fair Trading to make a formal complaint.

Please confirm in writing that your records have been amended.

Yours sincerely

Hope this helps
CCCS_Sue


[/QUOTE]

Hi Sue
thank you so much for this hoping this has some sort of an effect. disgusting how they can harrass you so much.

can i just ask if they are saying im not paying can they send any1 around to the house like they say? im scared of some1 turning up while i have my children home with me.
im not so worried about going to court cause as you say i have proof but i am worried about getting a CCJ because of it.

thank you again i actualy feel a little better

:kisses3:

A.J._3-2

CCCS_Private_Messages wrote: »

Hi A.J and thank you for your message

Your rent is your main priority so you must not stop paying this. Do not be pressured into paying money you cannot afford!
As you are on a DMP, you need to contact our client support team about this so they can look into it for you.

If you need the telephone number, I can PM it to you.

Regards
CCCS_Sue

Yes please if you can PM me with the number.
Thanks
AJ