Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

grahdenn66

I don't think you will get an answer until tomorrow from a cccs advisory, but if it helps, the court can't and won't order you to pay more than they think you can afford. The creditor must be disputing something on your budget allowance? I don't think you should worry too much unless you are hiding some income or claiming excessive expenses.

mikon

Hi

I have over £65,000 worth of debt and have completed a SOA which shows I have approx. £520 per month in disposable income after essential outgoings are paid and this will increase to £700 disposable income in 2 yrs as part of my mortgage is paid off. If my 10 creditors agree to freeze interest and any charges then I will be debt free in 7/8 yrs hopefully.

I am thinking of undertaken a DMP with yourselves but have a few questions which I would like answers to.

1. Will my creditors appoint Bailiffs to take items to the value of the loan even though I would be making a payment albeit not the minimum?


2. I have 2 cars my wife has one and i have the other. Will my creditors make me sell one of these cars as they will be classed as assets if I undertake a DMP. My wife and I both need a car to get to work and collect the children from school.

My creditors are :

Barclays
Barclays Visa
Co-op Finance
Northern Rock
CITI
Marks & Spencers Finance
HBC
Argos Store Card
Next Store Card

3 In CCCS experience have the creditors named above been receptive to DMPs and what is the likelihood of these creditors freezing interest/charges?


4. Do creditors harass you for payment or deal with the DMP company? (This is what I am dreading as I want to pay my debts and I will but I need the payments reduced)

5. How long before the creditors stop harassing you and deal with the DMP Company or do they pester you for the life of the DMP?

6. Again in CCCS experience what are the chances of my creditors taking court action whilst I am on a DMP

7. I have read that CCCS to not work that hard at freezing interest payments as they are paid by the creditors to secure as much money as possible is this true?

8. After I have paid the debt which may be 6 yrs will my credit record be affected for a further 6yrs due to the default marker?

Thank you in anticipation to my questions. An IVA is no good as I have property and as part of the Mortgage is paid off in 2yrs the chances are the creditors will request an equity clause and I do not want to sell my property in five yrs.

Regards

bigmacman

Hi

Just recently phoned the CCCS and was advised to do a DMP recieved my pack today which is great my questions are as followed.

1)Ive used the template letter to send to my 3 creditors do i have to send them anything else apart from that e.g copy of my budget planner etc.

2)Do i have to write to the 3 companies asking them to freeze interest and charges?

3) It says in your welcome pack you should have something to pay your 1st monthat the post office. Will it come as soon as i send back the agreement sheet plus my up todate bills?

Danzo_2

I have just recieved a letter from Bryan Carter Dated 16 March with a court claim form inside asking me to respond to the debt of £2900 within 21 days.
I phoned them up an they gave me Two options which were. 1.) arrange payment to repay the full balance within 10 months or fill in and return the Court form with an offer ect.
I mentioned that I want to go through a plan with CCCS if possible but they said it could take upto 8 weeks for that and that it is not good enough for them.

Is there a way that CCCS can help me get around this or am I doomed.
Thanks in advance for any help.

AndyLGR

I have a loan with Welcome Finance that comes to an end at the end of this month and they wrote to me last month to say there would be a shortfall of approx £700, this was because of arrears accrued earlier in the term of the loan. I wrote back to ask them what would happen at the end, do I just repay in a lump sum or does the monthly DD continue until its settled?

I got no reply and today I received a default notice from them, to tell me I have 14 days to pay the full amount owed. I have spoken to them today and they tell me that if I repay the full amount within the 14 days then the default notice will not go on my credit file. Is this correct what they have told me? Thanks.

lookingforthelight

Hi,

I have seen in these forums that in year 4 of an IVA you may be asked to release equity in your house to pay off the remaining debt. But if you are on an IVA wouldn't the mortgage company refuse as you are on an IVA, i.e a bad credit report.

If I have got it wrong then can equity release also be used part way through a DMP?

Thanks for yiour help.

Helly24

Hi new to these forums but hope someone can help

I have been on a DMP with the CCCS 11 months and now owe just under 12k as of this month!
I currently pay £252 a month too the CCCS and this is perfect (once i got used to the budgeting!)

The problem is i have just found out i am pregnant - The maternity scheme where i work is runnish - I get 90% of my wages for 6 weeks then straight down to SMP for the remainder. I have worked out that my wages will drop to around £480 p/m.

What i am worried about is that i will no longer be able to pay £252 p/m to the CCCS - It would be more around the £100 p/m mark (at the most!!!)
I really dont want to get my creditors backs up though as the DMP was running so smoothly!

Would i be better writing to my creditors and offering them a token payment for approx 8 months then continue my DMP when i return to work??

Any advice appreciated.
Thankyou in advance!

CCCS_Sue

yippeedoo wrote: »

Hi Sarah,

I hope you don't mind me posting this on your thread as I have posted it in the main forum but I would be interested in your experienced opinion.

* Are there any template letters to inform your creditors that you are opting out of a CCCS DMP and running your own with the same payments, etc?

* Do I need to inform them? If I continue to make the payments instead of CCCS, will it make a difference?

If you're interested, the background is this. I have a DMP set up with CCCS which is very straightforward and involves 6 creditors all of whom had agreed to freeze interest and to my reduced payments. However, after just 6 months, Halifax/BOS have started charging interest again and told me because I can afford to pay £112 per month (pro-rata CCCS payment), they are entitled to charge me 1% interest - this means it would now take me 43 YEARS to pay that debt! :mad: They also said if I could only afford to pay £1 a month, the interest would freeze. Despite my letters, etc about them breaking their original agreement and the unfairness on my other creditors, they have refused to stop the interest.

I spoke to CCCS about this and they said Halifax are within their rights to do this and there was nothing they could do to help. CCCS have been brilliant getting me to this point and getting some control over my finances again but I think I now need to opt out as in the present setup, I can't do anything about the Halifax's interest.

I'm intending continuing the payment plans set up with my other creditors but reducing my payment to £1 with Halifax and in effect, fighting fire with fire.

I'm sure I've read some threads on here about running your own DMP but I can't for the life of me find them.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Hi Yippeedoo and thank you for your message

Payments on a DMP are worked on a ‘pro rata’ basis so that all the creditors get a fair share of any surplus left after paying all your priorities.
So, it would not be realistic to offer the Halifax a £1 token payment if their pro rata share was £112, though I do see the point you are making.

Paying £1 month would also take you forever to repay the debt.

A DMP with CCCS is not a legally binding agreement and you can stop it at any time if you prefer to make the payments yourself.
You would need to ring our client support team and advise them that you wish to start making the payments yourself.
Then you could write to the creditors to inform them that you are now taking over the payments yourself. You would need to back up your offer of payment with a copy of your budget and a list of any other creditors.
You may find, however, that the Halifax will still not agree to stop interest and charges just because you are paying a £1, as it is entirely at their discretion.
If you were to make a token payment over a period of time, then they could look at applying for a County Court Judgment. The judge could then ask for a pro rata payment based on the surplus in your budget.

If you still wish to make the payments yourself and finish the DMP, then please ring our client support team who will advise you further.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

thepedestrian wrote: »

just the wording Im not sure about now ( it gives me till 24 march to pay )




" We are prepared ,without prejudice ,to accept £2,353 in full and final settlement of the debt , provided, provided that the payment is made by 24 March 2010

signed ( printed signiture )
Colin Rogers
Collections Manager "



What do you think ? - is it a runner ?

Only thing I can think of is that it does not state that credit file will be ajusted ( can live with that for 6 years I suppose - bound to pick up a couple more anyway, the way my finances are at the moment ! )

and it dosent specifically state that the remainder will not be sold onto a third party - but then if it says "prepared to accept £2353 in Full and Final settlement of the debt " - doesnt that cover that point ?

any thoughts, ideas , advice most welcome please - I would hate to pay these cretins after all the trouble and threats they have been giving us , only to find out they turned me over,after all

Hi and thank you for your message

I recommend that you contact Community Legal Advice on this to make sure and also to see where you stand legally.

I have attached a link to their website

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/

Regards
Sue

theboycronic

My dad is 62 and on pension credit, he now lives on his own as my mum passed away in January of this year in a previously mortgaged house. unfortunately some 18-21 months ago he was made bankrupt after running up debts in the region of 10-15,000 pounds additionally it appears he has a secured loan with welcome finance. It would appear the official receiver is trying to get him to clear his debt potentially by selling the house which given the age needs things doing to it but is in a good area. My question is can they force my father out of his house and if so would he be entitled to move into a council flat of some kind or are there other options he can consider

Any advice would be greatly received