Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

missslc

hi i need some help!! looked into getting iva but have been told as disposable income less than £200 we cannot do. have been advised bankruptcy as house in negative equity anyway and we wont loose it. however we have been given mixed advice on car. its on finance with approx 5k o/s. car worth 4k max. we have been told they may let us keep it as we need to take son to school and i need it in order to get to work. but we have been told if they take it they will give us some money for a new one. do you know how much they allow out of interest? thanks xxxx

stonewater

Hi,

I've had a pretty good read through the forums and I have a question which I can't find answered anywhere else!

I lived in Scotland in 2002-2004. Prior to that I lived in England. When I moved to Scotland I had a few bank accounts / credit cards etc that I applied for in England.

Then in Scotland I ran up a bunch more (credit cards / unsecured personal loans etc).

Eventually it all got too much so I moved to Australia for a few years. So now, in 2009, I'm back in England ( I recommend this to anyone who wants to escape their debts - the weather is good too :-) ).

And rather neatly, my debts are all pretty much statue barred (no contact / payment etc). Good news since the nasty debt collection agencies are catching up with me again !

Anyway - my question is this.

What limit applies - 6 years or 5 years.

My assumption is that debt agreements that I signed in England are 6 years, and agreements signed in Scotland are 5 years but it's not clear!

The National Debt Hotline website says 'if you live in Scotland' etc but I assume it's not as simple as simply moving north of the border and suddenly debts incurred in England have a statue of limitations of 5 years!

Equally I guess (this wouldn't be such good news), it might just be as simple as where you live, irrespective of where you happened to be when you signed the agreement for the loan.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Pretty sure national debt helpline could assist but I guess they are pretty busy at the moment.

Cheers alll,

David

danban42

I have contacted my mobile phone company Orange stating I am in financial dire straits and said I need to cancel my 24 month contract and they said I cannot cancel for another 12 months and they said they will only cancel if I say I will pay the cancellation fees which were £396, which they would bill me. I cannot say yes I will pay this as I was found to have only a very small amount of money left over after my priority debts. I have severe health issues and I have spent over 3 hours on the phone trying to cancel my contract and I am left with the worry of it. I have stopped all direct debits now and only pay my top priority bills. I have been told by the cccs I need to cancel my mobile contract and go pay as you go. I am in a very bad anxiety state tonight. I am gonna get the forms to declare myself bankrupt tomorrow. I do need help to do all this... I do not want to end up in hospital.

cheers D.

yellowpinky

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi yellowpinky and thank you for your message

When on a DMP, it is important to make sure all the creditors get a fair share of any money you have spare after paying all your priorities. It is essential that we include all your creditors on the plan and that you do not take out extra credit once the plan has started.

If the DMP is with CCCS, and you have set a date to start the plan, then you need to contact our client support team to let them know about this extra debt.

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

Regards
CCCS_Sue

Thank you CCCS_Sue for replying.

My potential DMP will be with Payplan via Nat Debtline but I was too afraid to ask them (stupid I know). At least I know where I stand and I will contact them - I think the not knowing has been the worst thing of all! Thank you for your time, and I am so glad I found this forum

CCCS_Sarah

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

Hello,

I have copied a letter below that you could use to send to the creditor.

See how you get on with that, and if you need anything else give me a shout.

Good Luck
Sarah

Example letter – request for creditor information when creditor has failed to supply documents

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
CCCS Client No:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:

Without Prejudice

Dear Sirs
With reference to the above account
I wrote to you on (date) requesting a copy of the above agreement together with the relevant information under Section 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974. I enclosed the £1.00 fee. This letter was delivered and signed for on (date).
I have not yet received the information requested.
The Consumer Credit Act allows 12 working days for this request to be fulfilled. The 12 days ended on (date*) and you are now therefore in default of the CCA.
As you are probably aware this debt has now become unenforceable by law.
May I also remind you that until you produce the agreement and therefore show you have my authority, you cannot pass information to a credit reference agency without my permission.
This situation will remain until you either provide the requested information or a further 31 days expire. The date for this will be (date* + 31 days). At this stage you will have committed an offence and can be reported to Trading Standards.
Yours faithfully
(Print name)

CCCS_Sarah

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.

Hello,

Things like this always seem to happen at inconvenient times, try not to panic though. If you call our client support department then they will be able to look at your account and make suggestions. Their number will be on your statement. If you can’t find it, drop me a PM and I will send you it.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

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

When your creditors receive the proposals that does include a copy of your budget so you don’t need to do anything.

Good luck with your dmp

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

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

I wouldn’t be able to say if an IVA is a good option for you, as I don’t have details of your full financial situation. If you would like us to take a look at your situation, you will need to either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation. If you would like to get immediate advice on your situation, click here to go directly to Debt Remedy.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00. If you do decide to call us, please have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have all of the necessary information ready, it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

CCCS_Sarah

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 Katkins,

You would need to move all your priority bills away from the account with the overdraft as they would be able to use this money to settle any outstanding accounts.

If you find it easier to manage your money by having a ‘bills account’ then you could always open an additional account at your new bank.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

arneldlayne wrote: »

Many many thanks for that answer, looking through these boards has been a godsend. It's good to know that such a fantastic support network exists.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, we are here and all the members are fantastic and also offer great advice.