Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sue

Goodtimesahead wrote: »

Thanks Sue but two further questions

1. How can the information be on his credit file as any agreement pre 1994 would have required his written consent to share his data with CRA's, this wouldn't of happened upon signing the original agreement as there was no such clause at the time.

2. Where does it state in law that data has to be held for 6 years, I have not seen any law and the CRA's tell me they just state that but they couldn't provide any reference in law? The only data that has to remain for 6years are CCJ's Bankrupcy IVA data etc but not defaults or late payment history.

Interested to hear from you on these points?

Hi Goodtimesahead

This is something we are unable to help you with.
I suggest you contact the Information Commissioners office for further advice.I have attached a link for you
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Regards
CCCS_Sue

DrGonzo1977

Hi

I am just starting a DMP and have informed all my creditors. I still get calls off most of them but MBNA is persaistent calling sometimes about 10 times a day. Is there anyway to stop them harrasing me? Its all getting very depressing.

Thanks in advance.

CCCS_Sue

katkins2 wrote: »

My husband and I have hit a brick wall financially and have decided to opt for a DMP with CCCS but I haven't yet set this up. We have a loan of 16k, a credit card with a balance of 14K along with an overdraft of £550. I have just set up a new bank account for us both to have our salaries paid into but all my direct debits for mortgage, bills etc is with LLoyds TSB who we have the 550 overdraft with. The idea of the new account was an attempt to manage our money better and I have set up a standing order from this account to the LLoyds account to cover the bills on a monthly basis. As we plan to enter into a DMP, I am worried that LLoyds may just take this money I transfer for my bills to settle the overdraft in one go once they become aware of our financial situation. Would they be able to do this? The date they say my overdraft is due for review is Feb 2010.
I would rather not transfer my bills to my new account in an attempt to keep a closer eye on living expenses and sticking to a budget.We would be completely snookered if LLoyds were to use my 'mortgage money' to settle the overdraft.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks Katkins2

Hi Katkins2

I have answered your PM regarding this question.
Let us know if you require more help

Regards
CCCS_Sue

CCCS_Alan

jaybag wrote: »

Hi
Wondering if you can help me,I am in a DMP with payplan at the moment and have send 2 x CCA resuests to MBNA and Abbey for loans I have taken out.
They havent sent them to me whithin the 12 days and then I also sent an account in dispute letter.I heard back from Abbey who said they were sorry to hear of my complaint and will be in touch(delay tatic I think) but no CCA-I would like to know where I go from here-Payplan have told me that they do not get involved in unenforcable CCA's and that I would have to research it myself!!

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated

Hi Jaybag


We would only suggest requesting a copy of a signed agreement if you did not sign the agreement and you were disputing that fact, as you would not have used the credit in question.

Alternatively if you are trying to have a consumer credit debt written off, it’s worth noting that this is only possible if there is clear evidence that the creditor in question has breached the guidelines set within the Consumer Credit Act.

If you are in a position where you think your creditors have taken unnecessary action which breaches the CCA and have evidence that proves so, then you could consider going down the route of disputing the debt through County Court. I would be very careful of any organisation offering such services, especially when they are charging substantial fees with no guarantee of success, when it’s something that you could do for yourself.

My advice would be that if you do feel you have a case where you feel your creditors have breached the CCA, speak to someone who can offer free independent advice, such as the Office of Fair Trading.

More information can be found on the Office of Fair Trading website:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2008/consumeralert.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

Crisp_£_note

Hi

I have recently set up some regular payments from my bank account for £1 token payment to some of my creditors as advised by CCCS.

I want to write a letter to the creditors to confirm I have done this as I said I would in a letter to them last month, rather than paying by Postal Order. What do I write?


Some of the bank information about the accounts held with my creditors I have not had details sent to me yet so I cant set up regular payments.

However I have noticed that on most of the giro slips they have sent me have what looks like a sort code and account number on them, would I be safe to set up a regular payment to those details with my credit account number as the 'reference'?

Do you think it is safe to proceed with these numbers and set up regular payments? I am assumung the numbers on the giro slips near my credit account numbers are the numbers relating to the creditors bank details?

Thanks

CCCS_Sue

rachaelfleur wrote: »

Hi

I'm currently on a DMP with CCCS which I've only just started. My second payment is due on the 1st August. I have a huge problem, my boiler just packed in and I don't have hot water or heating at the moment (although my heating's not really required just now). The trouble is I've had someone in the look at it and basically I need to replace my boiler. I've had a few quotes for this and everyone has quoted well over £1000. Unfortunately I don't have any insurance for this and my house insurance doesn't cover it. What do I do apart from curl up in a corner and cry? Is it possible to seriously reduce my DMP payments for a few months so that I'm able to replace it? My only other option would be to take a credit plan with british gas, although I'll probably be refused this due to my bad credit rating. I can't ask a family member to help out as my sister's getting married soon and everyone's payed out alot of money for that. Oh god, I really don't know what to do, any advise would be appreciated.

Hi rachaelfleur and thank you for your message

As this is a priority, then it needs to be dealt with first, as you cannot manage without heating and hot water.

It may mean that you have to make token payments to your creditors until you have got the money together and paid for the boiler.

Ring our client support team and explain the situation and they will tell you what to do next.

Regards
CCCS_Sue

CCCS_Alan

littlegirllost wrote: »

Hi

Your company sent out my DMP offers to my creditors last week and they
are now calling me asking for a copy of my incomings and outgoing. Is
this normal, do I provide them with that information?
Thanks in advance

Hi Littlegirllost

The creditor proposals do not go out instantly unfortunately. Once your plan has been activated and you have received your welcome pack the proposals will be requested at the same time. Proposals are sent out in bulk either in paper format or electronic format dependant on the creditor. The proposal includes your budget, list of creditors and a letter with details of the offer of payment towards the debt. This all takes time and also when creditors receive the offers they also have to process them at their end.

If creditors call and your plan has been activated and you have had your welcome pack, you can advise them they should be informed soon, so you do not need to send a copy. If you want to check that they have been requested call the client support number on your welcome pack to check this.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Sue

alth wrote: »

I have around £21,000 of debt which means around £540 per month in payments. At the moment I am only able to pay this as I live on credit (I have £450 money available after paying my household bills, mortgage etc) but if I take some money for general spending, food etc it would leave about 250 - so the shortfall is added to my cards. I have been offered the IVA route but am not sure about that. Should I get in touch with my 5 creditors first or do you think it would be better to go straight with the IVA ?? and cancel the direct debits that I have? Any advice would be appreciated. thanks

Hi alth and thank you for your message

An IVA is a legally binding contract and if you decide to go ahead with it, you need to make sure that you can afford the payments for the term of the IVA, which is normally 5 years. If you are unsure about anything regarding your IVA, then speak to your insolvency practitioner. He should be able to answer any queries you have before you go ahead with the arrangement.

Regards
CCCS_Sue

blondie4281

Hello there, any advice would be much appreciated.

My brother is 30 and lives with my dad. In the last 12 years, he has built up a lot of debt and is currently in a minimum wage job, resulting in the need for my dad to pay many of his debts each month. Usually my dad pays about £600 -£800 worth of bills for him each month. This is damaging their relationship.
My brother starts a new job late September which will pay more and will nearly cover all his outgoings. Nearly. It will be touch and go, and that is based on only paying his minimum credit card payments. He and I have put together an expenditure sheet and there is nowhere he can cut back any further. This is without paying any rent, or money towards the household bills / food etc - on the assumption my dad will continue not to expect money from him for these things.

My question is - with a loan (£425 a month for another 3 years), £6500 in total on credit cards, and a £1000 overdraft, where can he go from here? The contract for the job he is going into specifies that he must not enter into any agreement with creditors (which I assume covers IVA's), but he can't carry on knowing that he will never be able to move out of home, or have any future. He is on anti-depressants and has talked of suicide through sheer worry. He can't sleep, and is sick through nerves. He feels trapped by his debts. He can't risk losing this new job by going against the terms of his contract.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Prior to starting his new job, should he consider token payments to creditors rather than the full lot in order to stop having to go to our dad? It would have a knock on effect on his credit rating I assume, which we don't know at the moment how bad it is....

salousue

After much soul searching my husband and I bit the bullet and decided to take control of our finances with a debt management plan through CCCS.We started the process back in May but I have just found out that out of 7 creditors only 2 have replied to CCCS and they both rejected our offer.We are bombarded with phone calls every day - so much so that our phone is unplugged most of the time.I am so disappointed after the effort it took to take this step and I dont know where to go from here.In the last 18 months we have had to battle serious illness,redundancy and unemployment and up until May we managed to keep everything going by living on credit cards in the hope that our income would increase.It all feels absolutely hopeless now.