Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

AJLondon

Hi all

I have a question for you about my finances..

I have three unsecured loans and a credit card outstanding with debts on them combined at approx £30,000... Two of the loans are over 5 years and the third is over 7 years with a high APR.

Basically I am looking at approx £200 per month after payments come out to also pay my CC and live on..

Would a DMP be an ideal solution for me?. I have recently purchased a new home on the new government scheme which the money is seperate and I want to keep my debts as MY debts and to not affect our house or my partner..

What do you suggest? With a DMP my outgoings would be £650.00 for all House bills/Mortgage/Food.. £40 per month on my phone bill and £45 per month on my life/personal insurance.. So would have just under £900 per month left over.

CCCS_Sue

welshangel wrote: »

Hello

I am a brand new poster here, but have been following you for ages and am amazed at some of the people here.

I thought I would ask a little advice, I am going to do a SOA at some point for a little pointer her, but for starters, I am going to arrange an agreement with Payplan in teh next few days, but don't want to move banks at the moment as I am not sure that I can get an account elsewhere with my credit rating.

I have 3 cards with my bank, so obviously with not moving, I am not wanting to put these on the credit arrangement. I have £1600 on one, and was wondering if it would be a good idea to put £1000 of this over on to the egg which I am putting into the agreement.

Do you think this would work or am I just being daft?

Cheers
R

Hi welshangel and thank you for your message

It is advisable to change your bank account to a basic one where you have no debts and have your money paid into this account.
This is so that your present bank cannot take money from your account to pay their debts without your permission.
By changing to another account, you are putting yourself back in charge of your finances.
You are not asking for any credit at the new bank.
You just want somewhere to put your money and pay your priority bills.

You would also need to include all your debts, including your credit cards, otherwise you are not being fair to your other creditors.

When you have your appointment with Payplan in the next few days, I am sure they will explain this in more detail for you.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sue

welshangel

Thank you Sue, that helps a lot.

katcot

Hi Sue

I have been mulling over your reply and wonder what could reason could there be for the claim to be reinstated once its been striken as it were.
Thanks Kat

kpp2002

Hi CCCS

Ive manged to sort out most of my debt and most ppl are accepting vastly reducued payments. However I was stupid enough to default on a Payday loan over xmas and pounds till payday wont accept a redcuced figure or installments. They say they will pass me onto to a debt collection agency who operate doorstep collections

is there anything I can do legally to stop them sending a doorstep collector. It really would be the last thing my elderley parents need

many thanks

KPP

CCCS_Amanda

luce181 wrote: »

Hi I've got a bit of a problem,

I tried to switch my bank acc over to alliance and leicester last year.
They said they would deal with all the DD's and getting my wages transferred and they were also offering to match any overdraft.

Well, it all went through successfully or so I thought...
The month when it was all supposed to change over, they didn't actually get my wages transferred, nor did they give me an overdraft.
A&L didn't get in touch, the first I knew about this was when my I got letters from various companies saying that my DD had been returned.

So I then discovered that my wages had been paid into my old bank (Abbey) so I paid the DD's myself.
I then decided that as A&L were not going to give me an OD I would just stick to Abbey. So I transferred my DD's back to Abbey.
However, without me knowing A&L had paid one of the DD (I can't actually rem which one but it was for £30) Anyway, when I found out about this is they had already added loads of charges on, which I didn't think was fair and told them this.
It all came to head in Oct, when they were threatening further action, so I agreed to pay the initial charges which were about £75. I was due to go on hol in a couple of days, so I sent off a cheque and thought nothing more about it.

Stupidly I didn't check to see whether the money had gone out, anyway
over Xmas they sent a couple of letters but I didn't really take much notice but now I've got a letter saying that they are taking me to court over a balance of £450 :eek:

I phoned up the debt recovery and they said they will accept a payment of half now and half next month, and basically that there's nothing I can do unless I want to go to court.
I feel so stupid and just don't know what to do, I can't afford to pay that much money, is there anything I can do??

TIA
P.s sorry for the essay!

Hi luce181,

If you can not afford to pay the amount that the Debt Collection Agency (DCA) are asking for you could try writing to them, with a copy of your budget, and make an offer of payment that is affordable for you.

The offer that you make should be based on a realistic budget, as long as it is then they should consider any offer that you make.

If you would like some help completing your budget you can either use our online facility called Debt Remedy or you can contact our helpline on 0800 138 1111 to speak to a Debt Counsellor.

I hope that this helps.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

duffy123 wrote: »

Hi there, a few years ago i was in debt with my bank (bank loan and cedit card £10,000) and could not afford the repayments so they put me on a management plan. Every month i pay £122 and at the start £92 of this was debit interest(sept 2008) now its £48 (dec 2009) is there any way of changing companies that will offer me a better deal as the debt seems to be going down very slowly?

Hi duffy123,

Did you take out a loan with your bank? If you took out a loan and the loan payment is affordable for you, there is not a lot that you can do about the interest.

Banks are reluctant to just stop interest for clients as this is how they make a profit.

If the payment that you are making is unaffordable then you could consider taking some free advice on your situation.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

kaths101 wrote: »

Thank you -A few more questions
- is it better to wait with the letters and send a token payment with each of them for February as and when they are due.
-How do I send a token to my 2 loan companies? Just send them a cheque and cancel the direct debits?
-Also I have opened a new account with HSBC - Im hoping they are not linked to any of my creditors - do you know of anyone they could be linked with? Also I think they may have given me a overdraft which obviously I cant use with a DMP, shall I tell them I dont want it or is it ok to have it and just not use it?
- Last thing - Im still using my nationwide overdraft to live on until the end of the month before i switch earnings to my hsbc so my balance will be more than I said to CCCS when I sent off the info, does this matter?

Thanks for your help

No problem….

You can send the letters off at any time and advise them that you missed the cut off and are making a token payment in good faith. If you want to make a token payment to your loans then a cheque would be fine.

A stipulation of the agreement that you have signed with us is that you do not take out any further credit. You would be best to remove the facility so that the temptation is not there. Unless you have other debts with HSBC then your account should be fine as linked banks systems don’t communicate.

Do not leave any money that you need to live on for the month, if we write to them and advise them of your DMP they will probably freeze your account. Take out what you need to live on and put it in HSBC if needed.

I hope that this helps

Regards
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

grazyme wrote: »

Thankyou matthew,I've decided to send letter first asking why they want them and explained that t date none of our other creditors have requested such documents .If they write back insisting i might send my proof of income but not bank statements,the cc is in my name so i won't send husbands proof in just mine,and hpefully they might accept then,abit worried though what they might do if i don't comply as i've heard cap one are quite difficult to deal with.Not bothered if they sell it on but don't really want a ccj.

Hi grazyme,

If they sell it on then you will just have another opportunity to negotiate your reduced payment.

There is no way to guarantee that you will not get a CCJ – Just try to take one step at a time.

Regards,
Amanda

CCCS_Amanda

tedsd wrote: »

Hi,

I've been on before asking about unwanted phone calls and thought I had sorted it (naively) by explaining to my creditors that I have had a change in circumstances, enclosing a token payment and asking them to write only as I was off sick last year for a long time due to stress and I want to remain available for work so that I can meet my financial commitments... 3 of my creditors keep ringing and there is usually just silence at the other end or when I explain that I have spoken to them already and to please write, they phone me an hour later...I have paid £3.00 to Sky to block calls from certain numbers and am hoping that works...it bothers me that my children are answering the phone at weekends/evenings thinking it is their friends and they worry when it's a silent call.. It's getting on top of me today and I feel really low... is there anything else I can do?

Hi tedsd,

If you have already sent a letter to them asking them to stop calling, you could now make a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading. I have attached a link to give you further information.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/#named5

Regards,
Amanda