Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

Choc66

Hi, I could use some advice.

My husband and I have just sent off our DMP and written to creditors. He is now successfully using a different bank account (a previously inactive one he already had open in his name with no cc). We recently applied to make it a joint account and I found out today the application's been refused due to my credit rating.

Whilst I'm not entirely surprised, I don't think I prepared properly for this possibility. I'm now in the worrying position of not being able to open a new bank account! I haven't yet closed my existing account, but I don't feel I will be able to continue to use it since I also have a loan and credit card attached to it, with repayments due.

Can anybody offer me any advice as to how I should proceed? Are there any banks out there willing to take on new customers with poor credit ratings?

samthemainman

For me - the Co-op Cashminder is the best (from an ethical perspective) and they turned my application round in less than 10 days. Visa debit card, online banking, you can speak to the branch, get financial advice - all great. Your credit file may only be 'checked' to see who you are etc - but you won't be turned down on score. They also welcome bankrupts - in fact the only people i think they turn down are people with a bankground of fraud. There aren't as many branches - but you can use the post office for most things anyway. And when you call them you get to the branch - not some offshored call centre on the other side of the wide that struggles with English.

Otherwise there is the Natwest Step account, the Halifax Easycash, the Barclays Cashcard, Lloyds do one too. Just remember to ask for a basic account - not a current account. You won't get a cheque book (who needs them now anyway) or an overdraft - but thats not a bad thing.

samthemainman

You can stay with your bank - but you can no longer have an overdraft. With Barclays for example they close your account and give you a basic one (little difference apart from no cheque book or guarantee card or overdraft).

The important thing is not to choose a bank who are part of the same group as any of your creditors due to the offsetting rule. As above, Co-op is good as they're not affiliated to any other banks apart from Smile (their internet only branch).

Jacey53

Hello

Can you plesae advise me if i have anything to worry about.

I had a call from Nationwide Credit Cards today. They have just received my form saying that matters have been referred to CCCS, and also my payment which was approx £30 under the minimum and late.

The lad on the phone said that since he had received the form my account was to be marked "no calls" from today, but since it hadn't been activated he would call me. He wanted to know if i could make up the minimum payment (no) and when i would bring my account up-to-date (duh)
Then he started asking when i had first got into difficulties and other things. He kept saying that the file will be marked no calls but asked for work and home phone.
There was an implication that if i did not answer his questions they would not agree to anything.
It felt wrong but is it? I don't really understand what he wanted.

paspuggie

Thank you for the great work you do Sarah

I am major in debt BUT have managed to agree with all of my 13 creditors to stop the interest and over the last 5-7 years have been managing to reduce this debt. Recently I negotiated with one a 60% reduced settlement fee which was great and I'm on the way to reducing/elminating my debt (a few years to go yet though).

My question is this, I have just received a letter from a credit card company that says I owe £1800. Since I organised my debt payments around 2003 I never took this one into consideration as I had either forgotten it or the paperwork was missing.

Can they still claim this money, even after this long?

Regards
Paul

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

CCCS_Sarah

daddo11 wrote: »

On 2 March 2007 I was having trouble paying off some credit cards so I did a spreadsheet of all expenses and sent it to Lloyds, Virgin and Halifax with a covering letter asking them to suspend interest charges and offering to pay off the outstanding debt by monthly payments. Lloyds and Virgin agreed and both are now paid off, but Halifax didn't reply. I wrote again offering to pay £15 per month (the debt was £1618). I also said that if the amount wasn't enough, to let me know how much they would accept. That letter also went unanswered.

Since that time I have written to them 10 times asking them to stop charging interest, all of which have been ignored. I did receive a telephone call from their collections dept. and I explained the above. I was asked to fax all the letters I had sent to them, and they would get back to me. That was 4 weeks ago.

On 14 January I printed off all 10 letters with a covering letter explaining the whole saga and sent it by recorded delivery to the Halifax Collections Dept. The only communication I have received from the Halifax since then is a letter threatening court action!

Since 2 March 2007, I have paid £1260, which would have left a balance of £358 if they had accepted my request, instead of which the balance now stands at £996. Could you advise me what to do next? I don't know what it takes to get an answer from them!

Thank you and regards, Colin

Hello,

I would recommend that you speak to the financial ombudsman if they are not responding to your letters. This link will take you directly to their website http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ .

With regards the interest and charges, your creditors are within their rights to charge this unfortunately. I have attached a link to the CCCS website that has a section about interest and charges for you to read over
http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Creditoraction/Chargesandinterest.aspx .

If you would like the CCCS to help you complete a budget and see if there are any alternative solutions for you, please call our helpline on 0800 138 1111 to arrange an appointment or you could visit our online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy. This www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drmse will take you to Debt Remedy.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

antony85 wrote: »

hi im currently experiencing alot of trouble with payday loans, i have been struggling to keep up with them, i had £2800 all guaranteed by cheques,

i was advised that if i stop paying them the bank will as they are guaranteed, now so far its been hit and miss, i think the bank decides when they do and dont want to pay them! sometimes they'll bounce the cheque, then when its claimed at a later point, they pay it out ?? madness i know,

so far they paid out £870 leaving me with £1930 but when my balance reached -£999.11 they stopped paying out, they bounced about 7 of them, then when a cheque for £120 was cashed they paid out ! but my card only guarantees £100 :S so im a little confused to how they work!

anyways my points is im recieving letters demanding payment within 7 days, but 1 letter i got the other week said 7 days but i only had 3 days by the time i recieved it! so far i have been extremeley lucky (dont know how, ) but when they have turned up at the door ive been able to pay them before anything becomes of them, but i have a strong feeling this will no longer be the case, is there anything i can do to stop this happening,

one letter quoted i owed £220 payable withing 7 days, from albermale & bond, who used transax (i.e they get paid no matter what transax do the chasing) and if i didnt pay, it would be transferred to a dca, with 35% added onto the debt.

im really starting to worry about this, none of them seem to want to help, ive tried making payment plans but they dont wanna listen. the only ones who helped me were HTP i owed them £600 and have paid them £25 every week (lthought its a bit high for me) but now only owe the £350 and hopefully by end of the week only £300. but as i said others arnt so helpful. the money shop sent me a letter today they wacked on a £25 charge, onto the £100 bounced cheque, and are demanding payment within 7 days,

i only earn £170 a week, and many weeks i find it hard to meet the repayments on these loans, let alone other bills, which is why i have stopped paying them all, what im doing now is praying the bank pays them and if they dont, when i recieve debt letters hoping i got the money for them,i cant pffer them any payments as i have tried and they arnt willing to help!!!! but as i said, i cant see me having the money for them when all of em turn up. i have spoken to my bank they cant help, they just said pay a regular payment in, and when debt collections take it over theyll see your comitted to your debt, and they will be a lot more helpful with you, compared to if i stop all payments to the bank.

p.s i have open a new account and pay my money into that.

Hi Antony,

You have already done the first thing I was going to say – this is opening a bank account. As long as your money is not going into the bank where you have debts and charges it means you can still pay your priority costs.

You need to and cancel the cheques at your bank, even if the bank does allow the cheque to go through this would just become a forced overdraft and you could come to an arrangement for the outstanding amount.

You will need to start looking into long term options and stop the spiral of borrowing more money so I would suggest that you have an appointment with the CCCS so we can look at your options and discuss these with you.

If you would like an appointment you could either call out helpline on 0800 138 1111 or visit our online debt advice facility Debt Remedy. This link will take you directly to Debt Remedy.

Let me know how you get on.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

maxandmatty wrote: »

hello

just a quick moan and help needed.

:mad:

have been on a dmp with dfh (fee paying) since march last year.
Have now found out that one of my creditors (link financial) issued a ccj in october and that dfh ignored it and just continued to give the original amount. they won't even discuss it with me. the only thing they told me is that link want to get a charging order to force the sale of our house.

have found out yesterday that there is a form that should have been done after the judgement to offer a reduced amount to them.

is it too late to do that - want to leave dfh is it too late to do that and also can i stop the charging order as am already on anti depressants due to debt stress. have two small children, one autistic and am scared stiff about losing the house and how this might affect his love of familiar places. please please help.

Hello,

Sounds like they have not gone for a charging order as yet, have you received any paperwork from the court?

If the debt is still a CCJ you can apply to vary the judgment. To do this would need to complete a form called an N245 there will be a fee for this of £35. You can either get a copy of this from the court website http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/FormFinder.do or get one from your local county court. This will then give you the opportunity to put your budget forward to the court with an offer of repayment. If you need any help then you could call our helpline free on 0800 138 1111.

Hope this helps
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Achelois wrote: »

I am planning on starting a DMP with CCCS shortly.

I am scared. I am worried about a number of issues and wondered if someone could put my mind at rest please?

1) I have always just about managed to keep up my repayments with all my items except for one / two debts which are on frozen interest and agreed monthly payments (barclaycard and Amex - now with RMA)
2) What if I go with CCCS and my debtors refuse to freeze the interest and take my monthly payments - I dont want to end up in a worse situation then I am in now?
3) My parents have offered to guarantee one loan with my bank to cover everything instead of going on the DMP so that I can just do this this way but this worries me as I would still have access to credit and I dont trust myself.... so therefore leaving me open to making my situation worse.... should I take this option and avoid the DMP or go with CCCS and become debt free eventually?
4) If I go with the DMP, my parents will give me £3600 to knock off some of my debt. I thought with this I should try and get some F&F Settlements with some of them before I take the DMP route, or should I wait and let CCCS deal with this on my behalf?

Sorry to ask so many questions. My Mum and Dad are convinced CCCS is not the way to go, they keep mentioning IVAs, Insovelncy Solicitors, the fact I will lose my house (which is housing association and loans / debt is not secured) and people like Ocean Finance despite me telling them that CCCS is a registered charity and the money I pay goes off my debt. I think the fact that they have heard CCCS is funded by banks is what is worrying them (and me!)

Thanks all and sorry for the long post

A xx

Hi Achelois,

Thank you for your message.

We are funded by the creditors but this has no impact on the advice offered. The advice is based on your circumstances and budget http://www.cccs.co.uk/Corporate/Supporters.aspx

It’s hard to give detailed advice on your situation as I don’t have access to your budget; if your counsellor didn’t discuss an IVA with you then it’s likely that this is not your best option at the moment.

As a debt management plan is an informal arrangement between you and the creditors so there is never any guarantee that they will agree to stop the interest and charges. I have attached a link to the CCCS website that explains this for you http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Creditoraction/Chargesandinterest.aspx You could also maybe ask on the “DMP mutual support” thread on this website to see how people are getting on.

If your parents were to take out a loan and you were to pay them, then all this is doing is moving the debt from one place to another an its likely you would end up paying more interest overall. If you were to get into further difficulties further down the line would they be willing to make the payments for you? It’s a common thing that families try and help but once peoples situations change and the family debt becomes unaffordable that it may affect relationships.

Hope this helps, if you do have any questions you are more than welcome to call our support counsellors – their number will be in your pack?

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Phil-1956 wrote: »

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help. I have been in a DMP now for a year & have made all payments on time at £400 per month. (I owe about £100,000). I am self employed as a mortgage broker & the bottom has fallen out of the business. My recent review shows me as having more out go than income so I have dropped my DMP payments to £200 until things pick up. (I considered an IVA but the varaible nature of my income makes this a difficult option)
One of the debts is with Nat West from whom I borrowed £25,000 over a 7 year period two years ago. They have recently filed for a Court judgement demanding £29,000+ which includes all of the interest that is payable on the loan over the next 5 years.
I jointly own our property with my wife with a mortgage & secured loan & very little equity. We are now 1 month in arrears with the mortgage.
I have filed an acknowledgement giving me another 14 days to file a defense.
My major concerns are as follows
As a mortgage broker I am regulated by the FSA (As an appointed rep of a network). I believe a judgement will put my job at risk, but am unsure. Any body know ? I have written to Nat Wests solicitors telling them this but they have replied to the effect that Nat West are continuing the action unless I pay them the full amount or £490 per month. (The original payment was £384 per month)
I am looking for employment outside the industry but this is not easy.
If I were able to repay the loan now or in the future I would under the terms of the loan be entitled to a reduction in interest. But the CCJ is going to be for the amount borrowed PLUS future interest. Can they do this & is there a defense.
The DMP company have told me that Nat West are going to be looking to place a charging order on the house effectively making it a secured loan. My Wife would object to this as she owns half & is not party to the loan.
Selling the house currently is not an option as I would have a hefty penalty to find on redemtion of the mortgage. However if I did in the future I would intend to offer any equity to all creditors on a pro rata basis. Surely Nat West seeking a charging order are being unfair to other creditors who have been (in the main) more co-operative by freezing interest.
Can anyone advise me on the above in particular any points I can make in my defence.

Thanks in advance

Hi Phil,

Thank you for your email.

I would recommend that you call for an appointment as soon as possible for the CCCS to help you complete a detailed budget and look at your options. You will need to speak to your mortgage lender as soon as possible and come to an arrangement for the missed payment.

With regards the CCJ, if this was going to affect your work then you could apply for a Tomlin Order. You would need to find proof from your governing body of how a CCJ would affect you.

If the creditor agrees to a Tomlin Order, a document or schedule would need to be drawn up by a solicitor or a court appointed mediation service. This would then be presented to the court to agree the order. Solicitor’s fees for this service vary depending upon the complexity of the case.

If you default on the order, the creditor can return to the court and apply for a judgment to be entered without having to re-start proceedings.
The order then becomes public and will be registered as a CCJ with the same enforcement options e.g. bailiffs, attachment of earnings etc.

Sarah