Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

lily333

hello - would you be able to look at my earlier thread please? starting with "help - debts gone haywire! 1st time poster and SOA"

I'd contacted the CCCS earlier today but only filled in the debt remedy admin on behalf of myself rather than my partner and myself. If I go back to the site and re-do the statement then presumably if we don't have enough to cover the unsecured debts then as long as we can pay £200 back a month we would qualify for a DMP??? am so confused....

lilly x

CCCS_Alan

katkins2 wrote: »

Hi CCCS Councellors,

I have been stung by LLoyds TSB helping themselves to my LLoyds bank account this weekend. I am in the process of setting up a new account for all my bills etc but until this is sorted I need to pay money into my LLoyds account to pay all my priority bills. I had paid money in to cover my mortgage etc which is due tomorrow, as they have taken £275 they have left me short. I have had to increase my overdraft so that my mortgage gets paid. How will this affect my DMP? I have not yet set up the DMP, I have had the initial letter from yourselves and am posting the info you need back to you in the morning. My overdraft will now be more than what I originally stated on the debt remedy because of this and I realise that I have actually taken on more debt which I am not supposed to do. Will I still be able to continue with the DMP?

Thanks for any advice you can give;)

Hi Katkins2

When you send in your paperwork for that particular debt it will obviously show a different figure to what was originally stated on your plan. If this affects your advice or throws up a question with your plan you would be contacted to discuss this. If you explain, as you have done on your post I am sure that it would not be a problem.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

CWSG wrote: »

Help! I've done something really stupid and need some advice on how to fix it. This is the first month of my DMP and I have been sorting out all my direct debits for my new bank account and cancelling with my previous account. One of my creditors is a personal loan and I had taken out payment protection on it. Obviously that is now invalidated so a CCCS counsellor advised me to cancel it which will hopefully reduce my debt. However when I phoned the company they said I'd need to phone another number on Monday but started talking about my new payment and asked how I was paying going forward. I got myself all confused and said Direct Debit completely forgetting that of course it all goes through CCCS now! He talked about payment dates and said a DD couldn't be set up in time for this month so I should make a manual payment now and stupidly I did!!! I've only just realised what I've done 36 hours later! I know I can cancel the DD but is there anything I can do about getting the payment back? If not, I will be £153 short this month - I'm worried that the company will say it covers the payment I missed last month while setting up my DMP.

Sorry this is so long but I'm in a bit of a flap! Is there anything I can do?

Thanks

Hi CWSG

If you have made a card payment over the phone I unfortunately don’t think that you can do anything to reclaim that. You can ask the company if they will refund this but it is unlikely they would.

Do make sure that you cancel the DD as well to avoid any further problems. If you think the payment you have made is going to affect you plan though, call the number on your letter so we can discuss what to do about the situation.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

tim104 wrote: »

We're currently in debt turmoil and have been in touch with CCCS, but we're just getting more and more confused. I'm self-employed, so my income is unpredictable and obviously to start working out a Debt Management Plan I need to be able to give CCCS figures for my Net Income. The problem is here that I obviously only have a figure for my net income at the end of the financial year, and there's really no way I can give net income figures for say the last three months, which I understand is what's needed. Obviously I know what my turnover for past months is, but that has little to with how much of that turnover was profit or income. Obviously if I quote turnover figures, that really makes it seem that we have far more income than we truly have, and there are also business expenses which I need to maintain.
It seems that because I can't give CCCS net income figures for the last few months, we need to have a meeting with a CCCS "Self-employment" counsellor, which apparently can't take place until September. I really don't understand what this is for, or how I can give any definite figures for recent income. Nor do I know what we do about the debts we can't manage in the meantime.
If anyone could help or clarify the procedure here I would be very grateful, as we're getting really desperate and this situation really is making me ill. Also, what exactly should we be doing about our debts at this moment, do I write to all the creditors and make them a token offer?
As a couple, we have a lot of debts which we simply cannot manage, and I've just had to borrow over a thousand pound from my Father to pay my Payment On Account for Income Tax, as I really desperately don't want to get in trouble with HMRC.
Can anyone help please?
Kind regards to all,
Tim

Hi Tim104

The specialist team of Self Employed Counsellors deal with situations like yours all the time. They will go through your details and provide you with the advice appropriate to your situation. Unfortunately the demand is very high for this service which is why the waiting times are long.

For the moment you need to offer the creditors what ever you can afford as a token gesture, be it £1 if that’s all you have as it just depends what you can afford. What ever amount you pay don’t feel pressured into paying any more as your creditors are likely to try and get more money out of you.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CWSG

CCCS_Alan wrote: »

Hi CWSG

If you have made a card payment over the phone I unfortunately don’t think that you can do anything to reclaim that. You can ask the company if they will refund this but it is unlikely they would.

Do make sure that you cancel the DD as well to avoid any further problems. If you think the payment you have made is going to affect you plan though, call the number on your letter so we can discuss what to do about the situation.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

Thanks Alan. I spoke to one of your counsellors last night and they have resolved it for me by refunding my DMP payment for this month and I'll pay my creditors directly. I can then start my DMP officially next month. I'll get that DD cancelled ASAP.

When I do things like this it's really not surprising that I've ended up in the mess I'm in is it?!

CCCS_Alan

alth wrote: »

I have received my letter from you with the agreement and letter to photocopy and send to my creditors, but on that it asks for the date when the DMP is to start, how do I know when this will be when I havent had a welcome pack etc from you yet?

I get paid on 15th August and will hold back money to send to you as the initial payment, I will cancel the direct debits to my creditors which are due around this date too - so, should I tell the creditors that the DMP starts in August or will it be September by the time things are set up with them?

Please advise as soon as possible so that I can get the letters sent out.

Many Thanks!

Hi Alth

Your DMP start date would be at earliest September now as long as you can get your information to us before the end of this month. If not you would probably have to wait another month and continue making token payments to your creditors until the plan begins. Once we have all your information that is when we send you out the welcome pack to start the plan.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

want2bfree84

Just wondering if CCCS can help me on here

I am so gutted, was going to do a Debt Relief Order, but just found out that my pension that I started in Jan, is worth £345!!!! I honestly am so upset I don't know what to do with myself.....I just spoke to Barclays on the phone who are SO NASTY it's unbelievable:mad:, and will no accept my payments to them to pay off overdraft, despite me telling them my very difficult and personal circumstances

Would it be considered fraud to cash in my pension, throw it at my debts and then apply for a DRO? I only started my pension to try and better myself:mad:

CCCS_Amanda

alth wrote: »

Can someone please tell me what the main differences are between a Debt Management plan and an IVA

Thanks

Hi alth,

A DMP is an offer of payment made to your creditors. The payment offered is based on your budget and the hope is that over a longer period of time you pay off the outstanding debt in full. If your creditors are unhappy with the offer that you make they are free to start the collection process, this could include default notices, debt collection agencies, and ultimately they could apply for a CCJ. There is also no guarantee as far as interest in concerned, as some creditors will stop interest and charges and some will not.

An IVA is an Individual Voluntary Agreement. Basically, an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) draws up a proposal and submits the proposal to your creditors. The proposal would include a pence on the pound offer of payment, usually over a period of 5 years. They proposal would also include any significant assets you have so there may be a requirement to re-mortgage to realise capital in a property or to sell other assets. Creditors agree to the offer so there are not usually any phone calls or letters from creditors and there is no risk that they will keep adding interest.

This is quite basic but outlines the differences.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

KATTY wrote: »

I have contacted ccs and payplan ccs advised I could take out a DMP with £103 extra a month and CCS the same with £179
CCS sent me all the paper work right away.
Payplan are really pressurising me to do an IVA which I don't feel comfortable about. I feel a little uncomfortable about the company and awaiting for a case manger to phone me next week anthor week gone by

Don't know who to use for the best now. I have £12,300 of debts and my mortgage and other bills up to date. Want to pay extra off the amount when I can so that I can get back on track again.

Hi KATTY,

The decision is always yours and if you have any questions on either budget I would recommend you to get back in touch with us and we will be able to answer any questions that you have.

You can contact the client support team and the number should be on the correspondence that we sent to you.

Kind regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Sue

lily333 wrote: »

hello - would you be able to look at my earlier thread please? starting with "help - debts gone haywire! 1st time poster and SOA"

I'd contacted the CCCS earlier today but only filled in the debt remedy admin on behalf of myself rather than my partner and myself. If I go back to the site and re-do the statement then presumably if we don't have enough to cover the unsecured debts then as long as we can pay £200 back a month we would qualify for a DMP??? am so confused....

lilly x

Hi Lilly and thank you for your message

Without knowing your full financial details, I cannot advise whether a DMP is suitable for your situation.

I looked at your earlier threads as you suggested, and, if you have managed to make the cutbacks as suggested in the earlier threads, and you have a reasonable surplus then it could be one of the possible options

You now need to put all your updated details into the Debt Remedy facility online and you will then be given the best option tailored to your situation.


If you would like to discuss this in more detail with a counsellor, then you could ring for an appointment on our free helpline 0800 138 1111.
The counsellor will be able to look at your outgoings in more detail and discuss them with you.

Regards
CCCS_Sue