Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sarah

gemma.da wrote: »

I currently have a debt management plan with DFH, I was working full time and paying the £170 per month, with £40 per month going to themselves to pay for their services.
Since June I have now reduced my hours at work to part time due to having a small child at home, I have been continuing to pay £170 per month to DFH but I am now starting to struggle with the full payment, I have spoken to DFH and they have advised they cannot reduce my payment to them, and I am not sure what I can do about this do you have any advice?

It’s difficult to give you detailed advice on your options as we don’t have your full financial details. However you can visit our online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy would assist you in completing a financial statement and you would be provided with tailored advice on the best way to deal with your situation. Click here to go directly to Debt Remedy.

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. It would be helpful that when you call you have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have this information ready it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor if one is available, otherwise we will arrange a time that is convenient for you to be called back for an appointment.

CCCS_Sarah

gemma.da wrote: »

i really need help!!!!!




I currently have a debt management plan with DFH, I was working full time and paying the £170 per month, with £40 per month going to themselves to pay for their services.
Since June I have now reduced my hours at work to part time due to having a small child at home, I have been continuing to pay £170 per month to DFH but I am now starting to struggle with the full payment, I have spoken to DFH and they have advised they cannot reduce my payment to them, and I am not sure what I can do about this do you have any advice?

Hi Gemma,

Just answered your other post, we answer all the questions in order so it does take some time to get through the questions.

Regards

gemma.da

CCCS_Sarah wrote: »

It’s difficult to give you detailed advice on your options as we don’t have your full financial details. However you can visit our online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy would assist you in completing a financial statement and you would be provided with tailored advice on the best way to deal with your situation. Click to go directly to Debt Remedy.

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. It would be helpful that when you call you have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have this information ready it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor if one is available, otherwise we will arrange a time that is convenient for you to be called back for an appointment.

Thankyou for your help i need to call i think x :T

CCCS_Sarah

londonfraggle wrote: »

Hi - I wonder if a CCCS lovely person can help me with a question - I've been trying to phone the CCCS but just don't ever seem to get through!

I am in the process of setting my DMP up. I have written to (most) of my creditors alerting them and sending them token payments. The ones I haven't alerted are those that I am not yet behind with, or who are connected to my current bank account.

I am waiting for confirmation that my salary will be paid into my new account at the end of this month before I alert my bank (overdraft and personal loan with).

My questions are as follows:
1) I have missed the personal loan repayment. They don't seem to have yet taken the money from my current account to pay for this, but they are chasing for payment. Should I take my chances and let them know about the DMP and send token payment anyway? My worry is that the overdraft will be suddently removed once my bank know about the DMP and until I know for sure my salary is going elsewhere that's a worry. Any advice?! Shall I just keep stalling them for as long as I can (i.e. ignoring them!).

You could alert them and give your bank manager a letter explaining that you are requesting your first right of appropriation. I have added a letter below that you could use, it explains about it in detail as well.



2) One of my creditors has already issued me with a default - despite the fact that I am only one payment of £13 in arrears and made a token £10! Is this normal? Should I be worried.

A default is usually issued after a couple of missed payments; however a default is anything that goes against the terms of your agreement. If you are entering into a dmp then the chances are that your account will be defaulted at some point anyway.



3) Another creditor (Citi Financial) is really hounding me - letters, phone calls etc. I keep telling them that CCCS are dealing with it and will make an offer as soon as everything is in place but they want to know exactly when that will be and have scared me by saying that the longer I leave it after notifying them the less likely it is that they will accept a DMP. Again, is this true?

They are just using scare tactics, try not too worry. Have you written them a letter asking for your number to be removed from their database?



4) I really want to set my DMP up from 1 October - as creditors are starting to hound me now, but I have had a bit of an unfortunate set back in my personal life - my old flat mate is moving out or our (jointly shared) rented flat. Another friend is moving in but not for a couple of weeks so I need to cover the rent/bills on my own for a couple of weeks. This situation will be resolved by the end of October of course when new flatmate moves in, so I wondered what your thoughts were on starting on 1 November instead? How will creditors react?

Don’t worry about the creditors, they cant have what you have not got to give them. If the plan needs to start from the 1st of November you need to let the CCCS know and make your creditors another token payment for October.

Example letter – first right of appropriation

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
CCCS Client No:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:
Dear Sir/Madam
Account Number: First Right of Appropriation
A payment of £(amount) will be paid into the above account on this date (date). The account is currently overdrawn; however I need the money to meet my living expenses, utilities and rent payments over the next week.
I am writing to give notice that I intend to use my ‘first right of appropriation’ to earmark the £(amount) for this purpose and will withdraw the sum of £(amount) on this date (date) in order to do so.
I will contact you separately to make arrangements to repay my accounts which remain with you.
Yours faithfully
(Signature)
(Print name)



I would really appreciate some advice on this - I have tried to call the CCCS many many times over the last week but it's always so busy!

Thank you very much in advance!

Fraggle x

Hope this helps

cheesedoffwithdebt

CCCS_Sarah wrote: »

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

The letters you have been receiving are standard system generated letters, so even though you have spoken to an advisor they properly don’t have the authority to stop the letters. Unfortunately creditors are within their rights to send these.

Whilst on a debt management plan the creditors are under no obligation to stop the interest and charges.

Sarah

Sarah

Yes I can see what they are doing- but computers only send out letters one a human's instructions!!
The OFT guidelines make specific reference to "refusing to deal with appointed third parties" for instance- in addition if their computer is just churning out any old rubbish, it could easily churn out a letter instructing a solicitor when there is no need?

I consider their stance to be one of harrassment,however I've taken that up independently with Trading Standards via the OFT. Pressure and harrassment are also specifically mentioned in the OFT guidelines as well.

So I am afraid I cannot accept your response apart from you giving out information- you appear to have missed the point which is that if they are receiving payments and have had numerous replies to letters they can't actually carry on bullying and harrassing through the mail. I would really have thought you would have known this!

CCCS_Sarah

cheesedoffwithdebt wrote: »

Sarah

Yes I can see what they are doing- but computers only send out letters one a human's instructions!!
The OFT guidelines make specific reference to "refusing to deal with appointed third parties" for instance- in addition if their computer is just churning out any old rubbish, it could easily churn out a letter instructing a solicitor when there is no need?

I consider their stance to be one of harrassment,however I've taken that up independently with Trading Standards via the OFT. Pressure and harrassment are also specifically mentioned in the OFT guidelines as well.

So I am afraid I cannot accept your response apart from you giving out information- you appear to have missed the point which is that if they are receiving payments and have had numerous replies to letters they can't actually carry on bullying and harrassing through the mail. I would really have thought you would have known this!

A creditor is still able to send collection letters while an individual is dealing with a third party as long as these are not misleading and giving false information. As well as being able to do this they can also take further action i.e. issuing default notices and pursuing the debt via the county court. A debt management plan is an informal agreement between an individual and the creditor therefore a creditor does not have to accept the offer.

In the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines when it refers ‘refusing to deal with third parties’, are they refusing to deal with Payplan or not accepting the offer and still pursing the debt?

You have done the right thing by contacting the OFT if you feel that you have been mistreated, but the creditor can still send the letters. If you are also receiving phone calls, you can stop these by writing to them asking for your number to be removed from their systems.

Apologies if my last answer did not come across clear. I hope that you get this matter resolved.

Sarah

Brandy29

Hi counsellors,
we're on a dmp with you and seen a house we'd like to buy which is less than the value of the house we own at the moment. In order to buy this new house we would need to use the equity in our current house to pay the fees, deposit and the leftover sum to update the house new house as it is really rather shabby.
In theory would this be acceptable?
Thankyou

graduategeo

CCCS_Matthew wrote: »

Hi there,

Was the debt taken out in UK or Canada?

Matthew.

Hi Matthew. The loan was taken out in the UK.

scruffypet

At the moment I am managing my owm DMP with the help of the CAB.Iwroteto all my creditors last nov explaining the situation, i enclosed all the appropiate paperwork ( SOA) as well as my pro rata offer. Overthe next couple of months all agreed to my payment plan with the exception of Cahoot. I have written to them every month explaining my situation and asking them to reconsider my offer, i have also been paying the amount i offered each month. They have continually refused my offer and have continued to put interest and charges on my account. I wanted to know if this is a situation where I could contact the Financial Ombudsman as Cahoot do not appear to want to try and help me.

junispy

Hiya,

Technically your mother in responsible and what she will need to do is contact the customers and explain that they goods need to be paid for and then get them to also contact the catalogue company to state that it is there debt.