Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

babymunf

hello,
we dont know what to do,we have been to two advice centres in person but they say they cant help us in this situation,the council have placed an attachment of earnings order on my husbands wages,and we had no prior knowledge of this until last month,they are taking a huge ammount from us to the tune of £600 per month,my husbands pay is £1600pm,from this we pay £890pm for our rent/arrears,then the ovrdraeft of £600pm,this has left us severley in distress,since this all began on the 31st of august 2009 we have had only £1o family credit and £20 child benefit to live on per week,this is for gas electric shopping and bus fares for my husband to get to work,most days i will not eat and my husband and daughter are having beans on toast nearly every single day,friends have been very kind and have been helping us whenever possible,but we cant go on living like this,i would like to know if there is any way possible that the ammount they are taking each month could be re calculated,so we can at least manage to live and eat properly,for my husband this has been very demeaning,and ive got to say that i feel like giving up,if it wasnt for the fact that my daughter is keeping us both going,i just dont know where this is going to end.please please any advice you could offer would be most appreciated,thank you,

JoRob_2

Hi, I have just received a phone call from Aktive Capital asking me to pay a figure £1,656.08 which I apparently owe to Halifax over 10 years ago, I do remember an overdraft outstanding but it was no way near the amount I am being asked, they said if I can pay £400 now then the debt is clear, I can not afford this and I have told them I will call back at the end of the week with an offer of monthly payment, a couple of Q's

I honestly forgot about this and as I did forget do I have the right to know the amount I actually was overdrawn I estimate this was in the region of £150 - £200 about 10 years ago.

I have my mortgage with the Halifax so why wasnt this raised by them at this point.

I will offer £20 a month as I can not afford any higher, I have a wife and 4 children to support and that is on my 1 income. If I offer £20 is this legal and enough to offer or is there a standard rate?

I asked for coorespondance by post and they refused?

I can not beleive they would reduce a debt of £1656 to £400 if I pay now, how can they make this offer?

Thanks

tiddler79

I wonder if someone can give me some advice please. My husband has a debt of 9k with a car company from about 6 yrs ago, payments were made for about a year and then the car was repossessed. My husband offered a payment but it was rejected and they chose to put an order on his flat instead. He gave his flat up for voluntary repossession last yr and we have just had a letter delivered asking him to go to court for questioning. We can only oresume his flat has been sold with negative equity but haven't been informed by the mortgage provider of the sale. What should we do now? Is there any way to make an offer now without it having to go to court? or any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

Thanks

edinjac

Hi

I am in the process of setting up a DMP with CCCS and was just wanting to know how will this affect my credit rating in the future?

davidlouis

I have tried several times to contact Debt Counselors but failed....
Your 1st option is good let me try that also.

CanaryAds

Hi there.

Background story. I have been out of work for a couple of months but have accepted a offer and am due to start back to work next Monday (Hooray!!!) on a Salary of £18000pa. I have managed to keep up my commitments but am flat broke now. I have £150ish to pay on credit cards (min payments) this month which I should find, but that will leave me with nothing.

The penny has dropped that I have really been carrying more debt that I should have and now I have taken a paycut and having carried out the online assessment the DMP suggests that I pay £323 on a combined debt of £11703.

I am seriously considering a DMP with CCCS but have a few questions.

1st - what effect does this have on my credit and how long does it take to rebuild.

2nd - could I increase the monthly payment easily if i was able to afford to. ie if I had say £50 extra in the month could I make a additional payment?

3rd - I am a personal licence holder and this is vital for my job. Does a DMP affect this? I have heard a few scare stories!!!

4th - I hold current accounts with Barclays and Lloyds TSB. I am planning on setting up a basic account with CO-OP. Will the Barclays and LloydsTSB accounts close and will this affect my CO-OP account?

5th I have a mobile contact with Orange which is paid for with DD. Will this be affected of will the cancel the contract? Would I still owe the balance of the term?, and would I be able to continue using a contract phone. Again its important for my work.

This is all very scary for me. Ideally I would like to be in the clear in 3 years as I have ambitions to open my own business etc. I like to get the DMP and pay as quickly as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Ads

CCCS_Sue

babymunf wrote: »

hello,
we dont know what to do,we have been to two advice centres in person but they say they cant help us in this situation,the council have placed an attachment of earnings order on my husbands wages,and we had no prior knowledge of this until last month,they are taking a huge ammount from us to the tune of £600 per month,my husbands pay is £1600pm,from this we pay £890pm for our rent/arrears,then the ovrdraeft of £600pm,this has left us severley in distress,since this all began on the 31st of august 2009 we have had only £1o family credit and £20 child benefit to live on per week,this is for gas electric shopping and bus fares for my husband to get to work,most days i will not eat and my husband and daughter are having beans on toast nearly every single day,friends have been very kind and have been helping us whenever possible,but we cant go on living like this,i would like to know if there is any way possible that the ammount they are taking each month could be re calculated,so we can at least manage to live and eat properly,for my husband this has been very demeaning,and ive got to say that i feel like giving up,if it wasnt for the fact that my daughter is keeping us both going,i just dont know where this is going to end.please please any advice you could offer would be most appreciated,thank you,

Hi babymunf and thank you for your message

Your council tax is a priority debt and when working out the repayment on an attachment of earnings, they work on a set percentage.

With regard to the high amount you are repaying to your overdraft, you need to get a basic bank account elsewhere, where you have no debts.
This puts you back in charge of your finances and enables you to pay back any overdraft outstanding at an amount you can afford.
Put together a budget showing your income and all your priority expenditure.
Whatever surplus is left is the amount you can offer to pay any overdrafts, loans, credit cards, catalogues etc. These are known as non priority debts.
If there is no surplus, then offer a £1 token payment as a goodwill gesture until your circumstances change.

I would recommend that you call us for an appointment to discuss your situation with one of our counsellors. They will look at all the options available for your situation, including the council tax, and help you to prepare a budget.
To book an appointment with one of our trained counsellors you would need to contact 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.

Regards
CCCS Sue

2005lisaj

Hi,

I moved out of my home 3 months ago,due to huge debts and deciding to rent a property before i apply for bankruptcy.

Now im not sure whether to hand the keys back to my morgtage company or wait for re-possesion to take place.

Any help on this subject ?

Many Thanks

pandababies

we are currently with payplan our original debt was approx £60K which we have paid off £9000 over the last 15 months @ £600. I was quite shocked that the debt which is my husbands debt will be paid off over 10yrs and the total is £72K. I would rather use that extra money to pay off the original debt sooner, I think it's quite shocking that we are paying that much extra but at the time he was desperate to get sorted out.

help !!

manicboy

Hi have not posted for a while due to massive panic attacks now on top of my manic depression and have not been out of the house in eight weeks. Most of the time i just want to curl in ball and sleep as when im sleeping i dont have to worry...

Ok this is as far as I have got so far and right now think that its unlikely Im going to find a way out of this mess. As bills keep mounting.

I phoned the CCCS and they had a nice man who advised me to change my bank account straight away which i did and transfer my incapacity benefit to it, and any bills like my dent plan. I was given a letter to take to the bank about my bank charges, and B*******s then sent me a letter some twelve days later saying as they are in court right now fighting this and think that its ok charging that they would not be giving me the charges back until the case was over and that was unlikely even then.
I was sent a pack in the post which I read and still do not understand fully even after ringing them and talking with them. It was sudgested I get a DRO but have no idea even were to start as when I try I can never get through i have spent days trying .
I have a letter in the pack Im supposed send and make a payment to the creditors but after what happened the other week when, I tried to get the charges dropped Im not to frightened as I do not know what they would do.
I still cant figure out why all the years i paid insurance on my credit card that Im know out of the £100 they are taking at B********Card that they instead split the money only taking £50 for the payment and the other £50 in insurance so what did I pay Insurance for.

Now I have opened a new bank account as advised by cccs and they have said to make sure my money goes in there, so got a flexi account with N***********e, but know im starting to worry as i what will happen to my old account it will still be overdrawn and the payments still have to be made for the bank charges and credit card, Now i have followed the advice Im not sure a sits looking worse as know no money will go into my B**********s account this month.
Its a mess I have tried to talk to the CCCS debt relief order people but they are always engaged... Im now sinking fast and im now in a bigger mess than when i didnt get the advice so what do i do know. with mounting bills and debts not much left for me.
Im really starting to panic I really do not know what to do anymore.
I read the pack but they sent me but still have no idea what to do. I get worried that creditors will call as i live with my mum who is very old I really dont know what is left for me to do. And dont know how much more i can take.