Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

clab1508

i pay over £1000 each month to creditors totalling £45k, for 4 credit cards £11k and 3 loans £34k and its getting harder to manage. I'm going on maternity shortly and have tried my creditors for payment breaks etc and cant get any help from them. The last loan i got was over a year ago and was suppose to sort this out but just hasnt, i wish i hadnt done that. I cant see a way forward to getting rid of at least the credit cards and was thinking of an iva?

I earn £2500 a month but with a £900 mortgage payment plus other bills i dont have any spare cash to put towards the debts. With the low market prices my house would have negative equity as well so thats no help either.

lightarrow

Hello Sarah

We are very new to this and have just started going through the IVA process. We sent token payment letters to all of our creditors last month - we did not sign the letters, just typed in our names.
We have now had a letter from a credit card company asking for a signature in a signature box, but they have not explained how the signature will be used. They have said this is due to the letter, sent to them with the token payment and explanation of our circumstances, was not signed.
Do we sign or not?
We would appreciate any advice!!!
Many thanks

monsiwin

Can anyone help me word a letter to my creditors requesting a final figure for settlement . I am hopeless at wording letters.

acheekymunky

Hello,

I am hoping you can give me some advice. I have been on a DMP for about 3 years and still have about £30k outstanding debt. I dont see how I will ever pay this off. I did contact Payplan last year (they are not who my DWP is with at the moment) and they said I could not apply for an IVA as I was not even earning enough for that! My circumstances have improved after leaving rented accomodation with my boyfriend and moving in with my parents. I want to clear my debts but we also want a mortgage. I am guessing we will not be offered one if my name is on it as I have used up 100% of my credit and my Experian credit report records my defaults on about 6 creditors.

Do you advise I stay on my DWP as I am probably for the rest of my life or should I try and get an IVA? how will this affect me if we ever have to apply for future credit i.e another mortgage in the future?

Thank you in advance

jamesd

acheekymunky, do be sure that you don't open a joint bank account with your boyfriend. That will set up a financial association between the two of you and let potential lenders see your credit record as well as his, harming his chance of qualifying for a mortgage. You're right that at the moment even a hint of a default is likely to greatly reduce the chance of getting a mortgage.

You've done well to stick with the DMP for three years and that's very positive, but not enough to offset the defaults.

If you or your boyfriend have savings you might consider whether you want to offer settlement lump sums to creditors, for less than the amount owed. Some might prefer that to a long DMP. Boyfriends aren't obliged to pay your debts so the creditors can't chase him but offering might help you to get to the point of clearing your debts sooner. You might start at 10% or 20% of the amount owed to see whether any are interested at that level, or come back with an offer. Something like "A friend has indicated that they are willing to lend me the money to settle some debts at 10p in the Pound. Please let me know if you are interested in settling at this level or whether you'd like to make them an alternative offer to see whether they are interested".

It looks to me as though you should discuss the situation with parents and boyfriend to see whether they might be willing to offer some capital to offer to creditors for some percentage discount on the debt owed. Then perhaps discuss with a debt management charity to get their help in maximising the possible benefit from it. The debt management charity can also compare this to the possible benefits of an IVA to see which looks best.

An IVA would be a negative factor for six years and £30,000 is enough that it would be a substantial negative point to your ability to get credit in your own name, though the effect would gradually decrease after a few years of record showing that you've had no problems since the IVA ended. Settling with offers as I described earlier would probably have a lower negative effect.

jeanm_2

I finally got in touch with CCCS over a year ago, after 6 months of burying my head in the sand following my husband's job loss in 2008. It was such a relief when the letters and telephone bombardment stopped. We pay a manageable amount to you and my creditors seemed accepting. Although, I do pay an extra £5 each month myself to MBNA and that keeps the debt from being sold on. I need to avoid court judgments as I work part time in finance myself and I would be asked to leave(ironic, eh).All interest and default charges were stopped, and that was a great help as the balances were finally going down instead of up. But, 2 months ago, Barclaycard started phoning to say they hadnt received payments. We checked and they had got their regular reduced amount. Interest and default charges were back. Now, they phone up to 20 times a day on my husband's mobile(which he now leaves at home on silent) and the house phone, starting at 8am and sometimes up to 10pm. We have both told them about the arrangement with CCCS, giving them our reference number with you. They still keep on with the phone calls,making it very difficult after we have had the same conversation 10 times in a day, to say again. So, now, if they say it is Barclaycard, my husband will not answer. We have written to them, asking them to stop phoning and we are paying what we can through our DMP. But, I have seen online that we are not alone and this letter will probably fall on deaf ears. We have put in the letter that my husband is no longer available on the phone numbers they have (true, as his mobile was registered in my name, the house phone also). What more can we do? CCCS are writing to them with a re-proposal but the phone calls are getting so annoying. There are 6 missed calls since 8am this morning so far on his mobile. It makes no difference if he answers it. They will phone back later. I answer,they ask for him, I say 'is it Barclaycard?' they say yes and they hang up.
On a separate point, would it be of more long-term benefit to pay off one credit card balance as a reduced settlement? My husband may be due a tax rebate, just enough to pay off £360 as a reduced settlement we were offered on a £1150 balance. I know it will still show badly on our credit rating, but the rest of our debts are going to take 12 years at this rate anyway. So I can't see our credit score improving before then.

suze72

I have been on a DMP with CCCS since Feb 09. I have 3 debts, all with Metropolitan.
I wondered what the situation would be regarding full and final offers. I think that soon I should be able to get enough money together to offer a reasonable f&f on the smallest debt, freeing up more money to pay the other 2 debts more quickly. As all 3 debts are with the same creditor I wondered what are the chances they would accept a f&f on only 1 of the debts, also what would be the view of CCCS?
Thanks.

jamesd

jeanm, it seems that Barlcaycard are harassing you, an unfair debt collection practice. You can start by taking written notes of the times of each call and the name or other identifier of the representative who speaks with you.

Barclaycard are apparently breaching these parts of the Debt collection guidance,
Final guidance on unfair business practices:

Physical/psychological harassment
2.6 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
a. contacting debtors at unreasonable times and at unreasonable intervals

Deceptive and/or unfair methods
2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:
c. refusing to deal with appointed or authorised third parties, such
as Citizens Advice Bureaux, independent advice centres or money
advisers
d. contacting debtors directly and bypassing their appointed representatives

If you keep a record of the calls and in each call inform Barclycard that they are carrying out these unfair debt collection practices that will assist CCCS or you in making a complaint against Barclaycard that will allow the Office of Fair Trading to take action against them.

acheekymunky

jamesd wrote: »

acheekymunky, do be sure that you don't open a joint bank account with your boyfriend. That will set up a financial association between the two of you and let potential lenders see your credit record as well as his, harming his chance of qualifying for a mortgage. You're right that at the moment even a hint of a default is likely to greatly reduce the chance of getting a mortgage.

You've done well to stick with the DMP for three years and that's very positive, but not enough to offset the defaults.

If you or your boyfriend have savings you might consider whether you want to offer settlement lump sums to creditors, for less than the amount owed. Some might prefer that to a long DMP. Boyfriends aren't obliged to pay your debts so the creditors can't chase him but offering might help you to get to the point of clearing your debts sooner. You might start at 10% or 20% of the amount owed to see whether any are interested at that level, or come back with an offer. Something like "A friend has indicated that they are willing to lend me the money to settle some debts at 10p in the Pound. Please let me know if you are interested in settling at this level or whether you'd like to make them an alternative offer to see whether they are interested".

It looks to me as though you should discuss the situation with parents and boyfriend to see whether they might be willing to offer some capital to offer to creditors for some percentage discount on the debt owed. Then perhaps discuss with a debt management charity to get their help in maximising the possible benefit from it. The debt management charity can also compare this to the possible benefits of an IVA to see which looks best.

An IVA would be a negative factor for six years and £30,000 is enough that it would be a substantial negative point to your ability to get credit in your own name, though the effect would gradually decrease after a few years of record showing that you've had no problems since the IVA ended. Settling with offers as I described earlier would probably have a lower negative effect.

Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate you taking the time to do this. A lot of points you raised I would not even have considered so I am very grateful for your advice.

Thanks again

acheekymunky

nobodysdriving

Hi,
I have been on a DMP in the past, it's 'horrible' but it's the best solution out of them all I think (if it suits your situation). Anyway, I have decided to start working 6 days a week to COME OFF the DMP and have come off it over 2 years ago. Now am working 6 days a week, I even work on my holidays to pay off my debts (approx £30,000 left to pay!!!), am meeting all my payments religiously every month and should have eradicated everything within 3 years from now (then I can have weekends off work like a 'normal person').

Anyway, I am eployed by NHS and work my extra hours for the same employer. Now I had a 'bombshell' dropped by HMRC that my tax contributions in past TWO YEARS have been UNDERPAID.
I have checked it all and they are right, I owe the 'tax man' £6000!!!
I am now about to start proceedings to see how I can pay this to them.
I know that all I can afford after I pay my rent/bills/food and debts I am already paying off (and I am paying the MINIMUM every month) I only have £20 or £30 per month to spare.

Someone told me that the 'tax man' won't accept something that little, the 'tax office' has not told me yet, I've only just sent them a letter asking them to review situation so am still waiting for them to ask me how much I can afford and for them to ask me to provide them with a breakdown of earnings/expenditure.

My questions are:
do they have to look at my bank statements and look at EVERY PENNY I spend? after I pay my debts I don't spend much in 'leisure'. Myself I don't go out, I don't drink I don't smoke, I don't have holidays, but I do subscribe to braodband for my son (who is 14), buy him a video game once a month or so and give him £50 pocket money a month, and I don't want to stop that, the poor lad is 14!
Can they force me to pay more than the £30 I can afford to give them?
if so then I will start defaulting on my other debts (other debts are loans/hire purchase/credit cards/store cards). I have NO savings or assetts.

I think it would not be fair for the tax office to ask me to either stop my son's pocket money or to default on my other debts, after all they are the people who got it wrong for 2 years and now want to cover up their mistakes....

any advice?

thank you so much

ps I reallyd don't want to end up on a DMP again because of something that's not my fault