Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

sporty1

MSE_Wendy wrote: »

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has several counsellors answering questions in our forum. There are three ways to contact them:

1 - To ask them a question please post it below and someone will post a reply here.

2 - If you would prefer to ask a question in private you can send a private message to CCCS Private Messages, and one of the Counsellors (Matthew, Sarah, Alan or Sue) will get back you.

3 - CCCS's Debt Remedy is an online tool where you can chat to a counsellor anonymously and ask questions as you work through a budget plan.

Hi i was intouch with CCCS and they gave me all the necessary papework and did a financial expenditure stuf etc, and advised me to send of to my creditors , to which i did in May after losing my job.. most creditors accepted the token gesture after time, but Barclaycard would not no matter anything... they pased it on to MERCERS, who kept ringing 3 times a day and i politly explained i had no more to give them exept to keep send ing the monthly payment as promised , towhich i have never stopped to date, in the end i had to have my phone number changed it was terrible harasment, then they started with the leters e.tc, to which i replied to explaining the situation again but they wernt interested, whilst this has ben going on since may i have been stiill recieving b/card statments with added £12 late fee, so even though i continue o send the token gesture nothing is coming of the debt, it just increases by £12 per month,
now they MERCERS, have instructe power2contact who have sent me a letter saying that if i dont ring MERCERS in 72 hrs , they power2contact will visit me,
i have wote to mercers/power2contact/barclaycard all recorded delivery, explaining i cant give them more as i havnt got it and i do not invite anyone to my home regarding this issue, as i o everything in writing.....so not only ar they continuing to put £12 month on this debt even though i continue to send payment they are now harrassing me with these letters, ( by the way i have another account with them which they are doing the same thing with £12 late fee etc,
any more advice i rang your cccs, with my case number as you hav been giving me great support over the last 7 months,but unfortunatly your lines were busy and they said someon would ring back but as of ye i havnt had a phone call
thanks in advance for your help

CCCS_Sarah

looktothefuture wrote: »

I've done my SOA, I've alerted my creditors that I'm experiencing financial difficulties - most of whom have responded and offered very reduced payment plans.

My problem is, I am struggling to pay for my rent, council tax, travel and food each week without paying my debts... how am I going to do it when I actually am?? I can't cut down on anything because I already am and I work from 8:30 - 7pm Monday - Friday, weekends I'm the sole carer for my stepson as my partner works late over the weekend so I can't even get a second job... what do I do?

It would be hard to answer this without taking a look at your budget. You would be able to have an appointment with the CCCS and then a counsellor can look to see if there are any problem areas in your budget, and see if there are any other options available to you, rather than reduced payments.

If you would like an appointment please call 0800 138 1111

CCCS_Sue

Happyface wrote: »

HI There.

I was hoping you may be able to answer my query?

at the moment I share a flat with a friend, but wanted to also ask, if my circumstances change and I moved in with a boyfriend who has a mortgage, will I be allowed to pay half of the mortgage, bills and food. or will the OR not alow me to contribute towards his mortgage?

Many Thanks in advance.

Hi again Happyface,

Sorry for the delay in replying but I wanted to get some further advice on this!
Im not sure whether you are bankrupt already or just about to go bankrupt but the answer your question is as follows;
The Official Receiver (OR) in bankruptcy will always want to note any changes that occur during a bankruptcy period. Therefore if you move in with your partner, there is no problem with this, but the OR will want to revise the budget and if that suddenly means that your surplus income reduces because you are paying more housing costs then they may have a problem with you contributing to his household particularly if you have an Income Payment Agreement in place.

The other problem is that ideally you should go bankrupt whilst renting and wait for your discharge from bankruptcy before you start contributing to a mortgaged property. This is because the OR can decide you have built up a beneficial interest in the property by contributing to the mortgage and general costs of the household. This is the case when someone lives in a mortgaged property but their name is not on the mortgage or deeds. This is usually only the case if the client has lived there for a year or more but I would say it is not worth the risk because if the OR does decide a beneficial interest then they can assess how much they believe it is worth and they will then inform the new partner and ask him to buy her share back.
Hope this makes sense but email me back if not
Cheers
Sue

CCCS_Sarah

td wrote: »

Hi,

I am meeting with my nephew and his girlfriend on wednesday as they are beginning to get themselves into trouble. I don't know the full extent of it but what I know so far is this:

they owe about £600 to orange for a contract they couldn't afford to keep and this keeps increasing because they can't pay it.

they have a loan with provident so far up to date.

they have abother loan with another company so far up to date

council tax in arrears by a considerable amount - they have been in touch and are paying what they can

rent in arrears (I presume this is my priority withthem)

Credit card bills quickly increasing

In arrears with virgin for telephone etc

They promised to ring CCCs tomorrow but I wondered if I could begin to help them first.

My question is :

The Orange bill they seem to be ignoring and hoping it will go away - I know this is not going to happen. I am willing to help them out here if they can bring this down to a full and final settlement figure that I can pay for them - how likely is it that Orange will do this and how do I go about this - what kind of things would I say to them? The chancea are that if Orange don't they're not going to get anything as they are just getting deeper and deeper into debt.

I am very aware that although I can help them financially they have to learn to manage their finances because I can't keep bailing them out.

Any advice would be gretly appreciated.

Like I say I do intend to encourage them to be in touch with CCCS but I am aware there are lots of people out there with similar probs and wondered what I could do in the interim.

td

As you said their rent would need to be treated as a priority, they would also need to treat their council tax as one. Council Tax is often over looked but the council have a lot more power than credit debits i.e. they have the power to send bailiffs.

If needed, all the surplus could be built into an arrangement for the rent and council tax. Once these are cleared, then they could use this money to put towards the credit debts.

Orange would only be classed as a priority if they are still using that mobile, If not then this can be just added to the list of creditors and a token payment can be made.

All this will be discussed in more detail during their appointment. If you need anything else just let us know.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

alfiemama wrote: »

Hi I wonder if anyone can help?

We have contacted black horse with regards to a debt (unsecured that we have) after advice from ccccs and payplan who advised as we have no money left to make an arrangement to offer £1 a month.

We have just had a chap from black horse come round and we discussed facts and figures (where not bothered about as dont want to hide want to be upfront with them).

Our prob is that we also have a caravan with the same company but under a different agreement, after advice we have been told on hp have to keep paying it, which we are upto date. But he is saying they will take off us and pay the debt off the other loan as this is a luxury, he said we will then have to make an arrangement to pay off both loans as this is classed as a liability!!!!!!! can they do this and what are our options, we were going to sell in spring when season good and pay the debt off, but he said they prob wont allow us to pay the debt off, very confusing.

Also we have our mortgage with lloyds tsb and he was talking about mortgage attatchments!!!!

We have been honest with this chap and he can see the only reason we are in this mess is hubbys commision due to the credit crunch, we dont have masses of debt so cant cutback anywhere, which is where he agreed with us.

any help appreciated

Sounds like he is trying to put the frighteners on you!

As your HP agreement is a separate agreement, it should not have any effect as long you keep your HP agreement up to date. When you are making the payments, you will need to ensure that Black Horse apply the money to the correct account so this does not send you HP agreement into arrears.

By mortgage attachments, he is referring to a charging order. Creditors are able to go for a charging order at the stage of a County Court Judgement. This is where the creditors secure the debt against the property. So if you ever decided to sell the house in future, they would clear there debt then.

Stick with your £1 payment until your situation improves. You are more than welcome to come back for a second appointment at any time.

CCCS_Sarah

ss_villa wrote: »

i have received my welcome pack today and it says my first payment should be december,which is fine..........but being as i dont get paid untill the 15th of december would this be ok to make a payment then? or does it have to be the start of the month?
thankyou in advaced

Payments are always at the start of the month. There should be a contact number in your pack, give that number a call and you should be able to delay the start of the plan until January.

CCCS_Sarah

moxie wrote: »

I am on a DMP with Payplan. I would love to have a payment holiday in December to pay for Xmas. Is that possible with a DMP? It would make such a difference and would mean we would have a good Xmas for once. I would resume paying the DMP in January.

I would not be able to answer that question, you will need to contact Payplan. At the CCCS we do budget for xmas and birthdays within our clients’ budgets. Unfortunately I don’t know Payplans procedures.

CCCS_Sarah

Tinkles wrote: »

Hello,
Not sure if you are the right people to be asking but I'll try anyway!
I had an outstanding HP agreement with Welcome Finance. They have not taken any money from me since mid 2005 when they claimed that my Direct Debit was not set up. I checked with the bank and it was set up correctly but for about 4 consecutive months the said they could not take the money from my account and the bank said there were no problems, so we went backwards and forwards. Then one month they suddenly took 2 payments within 3 days, the bank contacted me, advised me that Welcome Finance had broken the banking agreement and took the money back from them. I had not heard anything since.
I am now being harrassed by a DCA who have obviously had this debt passed to them.
My question is; where do I stand now with an HP agreement, is this now the same agreement that I should have with the DCA? I still have the car but it is on it's last legs! I am aware that I could not sell it until it had been paid off but where do I stand now the debt has been passed on? I know that I will need a new car soon as I need a reliable one for my job, I obviously don't want to make the situation worse by getting rid of this car illegally but I will not be able to afford to pay off the outstanding amount before I need a new car!

Have you been putting the monthly payments aside for when the matter was resolved?

alfiemama

thanks Sarah appreciate the advice

CCCS_Matthew

Worried_Soul wrote: »

I am about to start a DMP myself after speaking to the CCCS who said that as my situation could be changing in the next 6 months I should not officially enter into a DMP but should contact the creditors to let them know that currently I can only afford a reduced token payment. The reason that my situation 'may' change in the next 6 months is that I have a few buy-to-let properties that I hope I can sell as the rent is not covering the mortgage so I'm having to cover the shortfall myself.

Anyway, the advisor at CCCS said that I should not go into too much detail about my properties when I send them the letter explaining my situation. Should I not mention them at all? Also, if I send the creditors the budget sheet it will show that some of my money goes towards covering the shortfall. Should I not send that either?

Thank you.

Hi there.

The reason we would advise you to avoid going into to too much detail about the properties, is that if you get to the stage where you want to make full and final settlement offers and the creditors know you have vast sums of money through property sales they are less likely to accept a reduced amount.

I would be inclined to make the reduced payments, and with a covering letter explain this is only a short term solution as your situation is likely to improve in the next few months. Providing your budget does't show a deficit, you can send it to the creditors.

Hope this helps,
CCCS