Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sarah

nettienodge wrote: »

Hi i am a single mum of 2 one is at school (4yrs old) the other is 6 months, i am not working and my debts are really mounting up, i woukld like to try and sort this out but am un-sure of how much money i owe and who to, i am starting to get baliffs at my door and i have no idea what the bill is for???

Dont know what to do, i have been on experian and there is only a couple of bills on there but i know i owe more,

HELP
Annette

Hi Annettee,

It’s really important that you don’t answer the door to the bailiffs. Next time they come round speak to them through the letterbox and try and get more information from them i.e. how much you owe and to who. The bailiffs could be in connection to a couple of thing unpaid council tax, defaulted CCJ or unpaid fines.

I would recommend that you call for a telephone appointment as soon as possible, this is so we can help you put together a detailed financial statement and let you know your best options.

If you would like an appointment please call 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

sibil wrote: »

Hi i am now unemployed through no fault of my own and have cards that i can no longer pay - should i approach the cc companies to see if they will take a payment plan or just write and say "sorry can no longer pay" and see what happens. So far payments have been made each month - all more than the minimum but the interest is crippling so the debt hasnt gone down and in 2 cases its taken me over the limit despite not havibg used them in ages
any ideas would be helpful
thanks

Hi Sibil,

It’s up to you. If you call them, don’t let them put too much pressure on you and don’t agree to pay them more than you can afford. If you do feel they are putting pressure on just advise them that you will send an offer in the post. Either way I would send it in writing and keep a copy for your own records.

It’s difficult to give you detailed advice as I 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

Angbunny wrote: »

Hi

I hope you can help. My partner is in a DMP with Payplan and all of his creditors have agreed this except one. Egg have passed his debt on to a collections company who are refusing to accept the offer which has been made and are sending threatening letters and talking about making a charging order on his house.

I had a DMP myself and one of my creditors were Egg and they could not have been more helpful which is why I can't understand this behaviour (my finances and repayments to them were a lot worse than my partners!).

Is it possible to get Egg to take the debt back from this company and if so what should we say to them to get them to do this? Is there anyone we can complain to about the behaviour of this collections company - they are effectively stopping him getting his finances back on track by refusing, and are causing his blood pressure to go sky high by sending these letters to him.

We have tried speaking to them to advise he cannot pay any more money than he has offered (he has been on sick leave from work for a year and is only now able to go back - unfortunately the industry he works in does not do sick pay!) but they will not have any of it. If they would just agree to the repayments plan he has offered then at least the debt would be going down - as it is they are adding interest and it is going up.

Does anyone have any advice please!?!

Hello,

I have answered your questions below for you.

Sarah

Hi

I hope you can help. My partner is in a DMP with Payplan and all of his creditors have agreed this except one. Egg have passed his debt on to a collections company who are refusing to accept the offer which has been made and are sending threatening letters and talking about making a charging order on his house. You could ask Payplan to write them a letter asking them to consider stopping the interest and charges for you. As a DMP is an informal agreement unfortunately there is no way of making them agree to the offer. Often creditors use this as a collections tactic and it is standard.

I had a DMP myself and one of my creditors were Egg and they could not have been more helpful which is why I can't understand this behaviour (my finances and repayments to them were a lot worse than my partners!). Creditors do review accounts on a case by case basis, you could ask them if there is any particular why they are rejecting the offer i.e. high expenditure

Is it possible to get Egg to take the debt back from this company and if so what should we say to them to get them to do this? Is there anyone we can complain to about the behaviour of this collections company - they are effectively stopping him getting his finances back on track by refusing, and are causing his blood pressure to go sky high by sending these letters to him. From the information you have given me, it does not sound like the collection agency are doing anything wrong. Collection agencies have no more power than the original creditors – just stick to your guns and make the payments regardless.

We have tried speaking to them to advise he cannot pay any more money than he has offered (he has been on sick leave from work for a year and is only now able to go back - unfortunately the industry he works in does not do sick pay!) but they will not have any of it. If they would just agree to the repayments plan he has offered then at least the debt would be going down - as it is they are adding interest and it is going up. Again just stick to your offer and don’t pay them a penny more unless there is a change in your situation.

Does anyone have any advice please!?!

leemuddywaters

Firlst hello all, recently found this site and have found it be a great help.

Im about to start my battle in getting 2 defaults removed from my credit report and would appreciate all input and support possible as its effected my life for the last four years.

I left the UK in 2006 to live in New Zealand and left a large some of money with a family member to place in my bank account so that a loan payment would be covered with Egg (starting balance £4000) and also a credit card (balance of only £250). I returned home two years ago to find out he had taken the money and my loan had defaulted and also the credit card with capital one.

I have paid the capital one credit card balance off completely as it was with DCA, it is showing as satisfied on my report but still as a default, and the Egg loan has a balance of £3000 as I have been paying the DCA for the last year.

The thing is both of these were taken out in 2005 and defaulted in 2006. I have seen examples of template letters going down the route of writing to both companies asking for proof of default letters? Is this the route to go down firstly? Or should I write a nice letter to Capital one initially asking for removal of default as that debt is settled?

I am recently married and my wife and I want a mortgage soon, so the clock is ticking and I want to start doing everything I clean to make our lives a lot better.

Hope some of you experts out there can point me in the right direction and I appreciate any input.

Thanks

Lee

CCCS_Amanda

kazimojo69 wrote: »

Hope someone can help.

I/we have just received a horrible letter from the above about an account at Arrow Global LLC - which I believe is MBNA debt.

For a bit of background....a few years ago - my husband suffered very serious depression following a close bereavment. He was horrible to me but I stuck by him as I believed it was the best thing to do. It went on for nearly 2 years. In that time I racked up debt on his card and couldnt pay and completely lost my way with the finances.

I kept putting letters in the bin etc. I then tried to make minimum payments but MBNA put fees on top of fees on top of fees. I cant even remember how much the total (correct) amount was for now as it was a few years ago. But Frerickson Intl are now asking for £13000+, which I know the original amount was nothing like that.

The letter says basically that I/we have to make payment in full or it will go to court etc etc etc.

My husband phoned them and went bolistic with them and me. I said this is the first I have heard from these - but he doesnt believe me. I made a payment of £10 on the phone to this company until I looked into it further.

They said if I didnt pay then it was likely it would go to court and my husband would have a CCJ against his name.

I dont know what to do. What can I request if anything (contracts etc) and is there anything I can do.

They said they would settle for £10500 - but I cant afford that either at present.

We want to try and get a mortgage next year - but now I am worried sick about this.

Hi there,

Thank you for your post.

Ideally what you want to do is to try and make an offer of payment to the debt in line with what you can afford.

You could submit a copy of your budget to Fredrickson International and make an offer of payment to them and see what their response is. They may accept what you offer to them. If you need help with your budget we can help you to do this.

If they are unhappy with what you offer then the worst thing that they can do is to apply for a County Court Judgement against your husband. This would not mean that he would have to go to court; a CCJ is a postal exercise. You complete your budget on the court form provided to you and make an offer of payment in line with what you can afford, after you have paid all of your priority bills. Creditors can not send bailiffs or anything like that; as long as you pay the judgement amount then nothing further will happen to you.

As far as getting a mortgage is concerned, a CCJ will go on your husband’s credit history but this will not necessarily stop you from getting a mortgage. It is a case of shopping around, or going to an all of market broker to see what deals you can get. I have attached a booklet that will give you information on your credit history and the information that it holds.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/credit_explained_leaflet_2005.pdf

I hope that this helps.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

bubblybumble wrote: »

Hi, my son is 18 and in college full time, he gets EMA of £30 a week, he has never been in debt and is very sensible with his money. He has tryed to get a mobile phone with Orange and was refused, I told him it is because he has no credit rating. He doesnt want a credit card, he said he doesnt want to get in debt.
How can he build a credit rating without getting into debt?
Any help would be appreciated, he has never applied for anything in his life until he tried the mobile phone contract.

Hi bubblybumble,

Different companies have different qualifying criteria that you must meet before they take you on as a credit risk. I have attached a copy of a booklet that will give you information on credit histiories, the information that you want is on page 3.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/credit_explained_leaflet_2005.pdf

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Amanda

nicnak100777

Hi Looking for advice, In the last few weeks I've been recieving letters from Scottish Power for a £717 bill for an address I lived at 9 years ago, I've never heard of this bill before then all of a sudden the sheriff officers where at my door today to serve me papers from them, Can they do this?

Thanks Nichola

redpolly1

Hello
Started a CCCS DMP in July. Have mortgage with NR plus an unsecured loan. They rejected the lower payment and have just issued a CCJ. How likely is it that the payment will be accepted on the CCJ? Can't understand the logic of going for one if they will have to take the reduced payment anyway. I spoke to NR and the woman there said they were going for a Charging Order. This was before we had even returned the forms! Does this mean it is all a formality and they will reject whatever offer we make? Not really sure about all of this as never been in any sort of trouble before. It is all very scary. We have kept up to date with the mortgage and we are in massive negative equity. Will any of this stop the charging order?
A number of our creditors have rejected the reduced payments. Will they all go for CCJ's? My husband lost his job so we have been struggling. He has now got a permanent one and we have been able to reduce the term from 10 to 7 years so we really are trying. None of this ever seems to be taken into account. We keep being told the steps are automatic regardless - would have thought NR would have more sympathy, they have more debt than all us put together and ironically they owe it to us!

Thanks for your time

mamijaka

hi sarah counsellor, pls can u help send me a reply. i posted my messages 4 the 1st time yesterday. am so stuck, my credit cards all due on thursday, i hv absolutely no money left in my account, cccs say they r posting out dmp to me. still waiting. too scared to call any creditor. what do i do? how do i know amount to pay? applied for 2 new basic accounts in citibank & abbey. awaiting confirmation. hv cancelled all direct debits. all od maxed as well. pls can u help me know where to go from here? big ta

mamijaka

CCCS_Sarah wrote: »

Thanks for this Wendy.

As Wendy has advised, please feel free to message any of us.

We are happy to help!

Sarah

as a new member hv posted messages everywhere but no responce yet. dont know if am doing right thing. what can i do?