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paige13_2

Millie321 wrote: »

Hi this is the first post to in these forums.

We have just dug our heads out of the sands - thanks to the call from the bank warning us to stop spending or lose our accounts!- and realised we are a shameful 40k in debt on credit cards.

My partner and I have 3 children, and have had two incidents of redundancy in the last 8 years and of course 3 lots of maternity leave which has left us with very low incomes each time. We stupidly continued to spend on credit cards and it has spiralled out of control.

We are in the fortunate position that all minimum payments have been kept up with so far, this is the first month that we cannot meet them.

We have received a debt remedy from CCCS and will probably sign up to their lower debt management scheme, which with our current surplus money will take 15 years to pay off. We do expect our income to rise and hopefully reduce that timescale - but still a horrific thought.

We think we have a solution - and that is to sell our home, buying a cheaper home which would release enough cash to pay off all our debts. But I am scared that because we can no longer afford our minimum repayments, we will have too poor a credit rating when the time comes to get a new mortgage.
I need to enquire with our mortgage company if we can transfer the existing one to the new address - does anyone know if this is usually possible? If so do the review income and credit rating?

I know that CCCS have a standard letter to send to banks, letting them know that we plan to sell, so i will definitely use cccs to help us deal with this.

could really do with support and here from others who have done similar,

one extremely worried couple.

Remortgage asap to an amount you can afford, or sell and buy somewhere smaller and manageable, but cover the minimum payment somehow until you decide what to do. If you pay the minimum it doesnt go against you like missing a payment.....

CCCS_Sarah

silvervan wrote: »

Hi
I spoke to one of your debt counsellers last year and he went through all my debts and said I couldnt afford an IVA due to my income. I am self-employed and am struggling to pay £25k unsecured debt.
He suggested I write and offer a payment I could afford to my creditors. Well I thought I would carry on as I was but again because business is quiet at this time of year I am really struggling.
I got my credit report from Experian and it is fair and satisfactory, I havent missed any payments yet.

On a link from there it takes you to moneyexpert (not this site). Someone from there has just rang me up and offered me an IVA. I told her that I had been told I couldnt afford one due to my income.

She then said that she could arrange for my debts to be sold and then I offer a full and final payment to my creditors. She said I would pay into a fund and basically after 27 months I would be debt free.
She said that all I would have would be a default against my name which would last 6 years.
This sounds too good to be true.
Does anyone know anything about this scheme? She did say I would be charged a commission and explained that to me.
I said I would think about it. I am getting pretty desperate.

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

I would be wary about this scheme; any surplus in your budget should be used to go towards your credit debts. 27 months is a long time to not make any payments towards your debts, in this time the creditors may apply for a County Court Judgment and if they did you would have to make an offer of repayment based on your budget. If you were then paying a CCJ what effect would this have on the “plan”?

I would recommend that if there has been a change to your budget since we last spoke then you have another appointment to look at your options again. If you would like an appointment please call 0800 138 1111.

Hope this helps
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Jacey53 wrote: »

I start my DMP on 1st March - many thanks to CCCS.

At present I cannot afford to MOT and tax my car so plan to declare a SORN and use the bus/cadge lifts/stay at home. (Luckily I am not travelling so much for work over the next couple of months - but will need the car from May). Am I allowed to save up my allowance for car usage until I can afford it? If so, can I open a savings account with my new bank for this purpose?

I am a poor budgeter so would like to have my "allowance" in several pots - that way i will be able to keep better track of what money i have.

Also i am trying to generate additional funds to pay off my debts (selling my stuff on e-bay etc). I don't want to lose that money in my general spending pot.

Hi Jacey,

Thank you for your message.

It’s fine to put the car costs in another bank account, this is what budgets are for so when the costs come up you have all the money saved without replying on credit.

Each person has a slightly different way of budgeting; you just need to find a way that works for you. I use two accounts, one for bills and one for my everyday’s costs like food – does not mean this is the right way it just works for me.

You could also try keeping a spending diary, you can write down everything that you spend your money on. This also helps to see spending patterns and also once you see things wrote down it helps highlight non essential items in your budget.

Good luck with your DMP and let me know if you have any questions.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Scott78 wrote: »

Hi I have just run through a debt remedy on the cccs website and its given me a monthly payable figure, can I extend the time over which its paid as I got a quote from clearview finance and the payment amount is lower but period of time is longer?

Hello,

The point of the debt management plan is that you pay whatever is left over after paying your priority costs i.e. rent, utilities, food etc – your budget needs to reflect your situation.

If your payments are lower this will take you longer to clear your debts. Also if clearview has quoted you over longer, it means they will make more money out of you for longer. Rather than paying money a company to run a DMP, you are better using this money to go towards your debts.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

donatello wrote: »

Hi,

I have been on a debt management plan for about 3 years now, with various companies. I have never missed a payment but one creditor has stuck a 'Default Notice' on my file for not sticking to the original agreement. This was put on in 2007. I am in a position now to jointly buy a house with a substancial deposit. I have been told that even when the debt has been settled, the default notice will not be removed, but a note on it saying satisfied - and this is just as bad.

I have seen websits that give suggestions of letters to send to creditors, in the hope they have lost records, so they are forced to remove the default notice.

Is this possible to do this? and will i annoy the creditors? I have only anout 10 months left before all funds are repaid.

Any help would be appreciated

Hello,

Matthew has answered this in PM’s for you.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Millie321 wrote: »

Hi this is the first post to in these forums.

We have just dug our heads out of the sands - thanks to the call from the bank warning us to stop spending or lose our accounts!- and realised we are a shameful 40k in debt on credit cards.

My partner and I have 3 children, and have had two incidents of redundancy in the last 8 years and of course 3 lots of maternity leave which has left us with very low incomes each time. We stupidly continued to spend on credit cards and it has spiralled out of control.

We are in the fortunate position that all minimum payments have been kept up with so far, this is the first month that we cannot meet them.

We have received a debt remedy from CCCS and will probably sign up to their lower debt management scheme, which with our current surplus money will take 15 years to pay off. We do expect our income to rise and hopefully reduce that timescale - but still a horrific thought.

We think we have a solution - and that is to sell our home, buying a cheaper home which would release enough cash to pay off all our debts. But I am scared that because we can no longer afford our minimum repayments, we will have too poor a credit rating when the time comes to get a new mortgage.
I need to enquire with our mortgage company if we can transfer the existing one to the new address - does anyone know if this is usually possible? If so do the review income and credit rating?

I know that CCCS have a standard letter to send to banks, letting them know that we plan to sell, so i will definitely use cccs to help us deal with this.

could really do with support and here from others who have done similar,

one extremely worried couple.

Hi Millie,

Thank you for your message and welcome to the forum!

15 years is a long time to be paying debts over and living to a budget. If there is equity in your home then selling can be a great idea and much faster way to clear the debts, we can refer you to a brokers who maybe able to help on the mortgage side of things – I have sent you a PM with their number.

You also have the option of clearing the debts and moving into rented, this would also give you time to get things more on track.

Once the house is sold you could look at making your creditors full and final settlements, this is a way of negotiating with your creditors and clearing the debt at a reduced amount. If you would like the sample letters for this send an email to [EMAIL="contactus@cccs.co.uk"]contactus@cccs.co.uk[/EMAIL] FAO Sarah and I will send you them.

Good luck with your plan and let me know if you have any questions.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

murata wrote: »

I have debt on three credit cards.
Should I re-mortgage or balance transfer to consolidate the debt?

Hello,

I would never recommend securing debt against your home, as if you were to get into financial difficulties and could not afford your payments this would put your home at risk.

Balance transfer to 0% is a good idea if you can afford the payments as you will be paying less interest.

If you are in financial difficulties then I would recommend that you contact the CCCS as we can help you complete a detailed financial statement and look at all your options. If you would like an appointment then please call 0800 138 1111.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

queen_of_the_valley wrote: »

hello all, hoping for some advice. i am about 4 years into my DMP with CCCS and about another 4 years to go :-(.

2 or 3 of my debts are due to finish in about May, but according to the statements I am getting from the debt collection agencies who are getting my payments I owe a couple of hundred pounds more than on my CCCS statement. What do I do about this? do I continue paying these creditors the difference when the CCCS amount has been paid? I am a bit worried that once the CCCS balance goes to 0 on these 2 debts that the remainder is going to come back and haunt me.

Any advice greatly received, thanks

Hello,

You can either call our client support department and give them the updated balances or just forward the statement onto us.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

gobsy wrote: »

hi wonder if you can hellp me i am currently with a debt management company gregory pennington, i have been with them for about a yr now, just recently i realised that i am paying them £360 a yr to have them help pay my debts... i no longer want to be with them as i dont seem to be getting anywhere at all debt doesnt seem to be going down at all, can i stop my agreement with them and take back the debt to re-pay myself (in better finacial situation with regular income to be paying this off woth out there 'help') or change over to a free debt management company

hope you can help
thank you

Hello, You can cancel a DMP as it’s an informal arrangement. If you wanted to switch your DMP to the CCCS, we don’t have the facility to be able to simply transfer your Debt Management Plan from your existing provider as you would need to have an appointment with one of our debt counsellors first. If the counsellor is happy to offer a DMP as a result of your appointment, we would then discuss with you how to end the current arrangement you have and setting it up with ourselves. CCCS does not charge for setting up or administering a Debt Management Plan.

If you would like us to take a look at your situation to see what options you have, you would need to book a telephone based appointment with one of our trained debt counsellors by calling our helpline 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.


Alternatively, you can use our online electronic facility called Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation. If you would like to get immediate advice on your situation this link will take you directly to Debt Remedy

Hope this helps

sweetlikechocolate89

Hi,
I have a few question, which may seem silly....

I have completed the CCCS Debt remedy booklet online and have gone for the DMP option. How long will it be before I receive documents to sign and send off? Also roughly how long will it be before it is all set up? I really want to get going with this now.

I have been in my current job for nearly 3 months and only have 2 pay slips, is this enough to prove my wage? I have also done lots of overtime recently but as this is not guaranteed i didnt include this in my earnings. Was that right? Will CCCS take this into account when they see my earnings are higher on my wage slip?

Thanks very much in advance,