Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sarah

guineverestar wrote: »

Hi,
I spoke to CCCS earlier today after filling in the debt remedy thingy online. Unfortunately I didn't really feel like it was of much use. I have about £3,500 of debt, incurred over many years when I was very depressed, and 2 CCJ's (One of which is illegal because they didn't inform me they were taking me to court, but anyway) I have phoned all my creditors and explained that I've recently lost my job, and am still waiting for benefit payments, but a few have got really nasty.
The situation has got worse and worse due my fuctuating levels of depression, and it all came to a head this morning and I decided to sort it, but i now feel like no-one's willing to help.
I don't really have any disposable income after benefits, and I don't know what to do.
Could you help point me in the right direction?
Thankyou.

Hi Guineverestar,

I would recommend that you call for appointment then we can look into this in more detail for you and we can also give you advice with regards the CCJ’s

After completing the debt remedy application, did this advise that you had a deficit budget or could only afford token payments?

If so make token payments to your creditors until you have had your appointment – this is just as a goodwill gesture, until things go more on track for you.

Hope everything works out well for you

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

minimee wrote: »

Hello, thanks for replying. It was only about 6 months ago, and nothing has changed.
What other options would there be?

The main things you will really need to concentrate on are trying to increase your income so that the debts start to reduce i.e. PT job, benefits check etc

Token payments are not a long term solution to a debt problem; they just allow time for you to sort things out

toottifrootti

CCCS_Sarah - yes I am - sorry should have said that.

LadySamara

My Dad is in serious debt & I don't know how to help him. He is married to my mum who has always been very careful with money & has some money put aside to get her through retirement. They are both 70 & live in the same house, but live completely seperate lives. He has already remortgaged the house & has now run up more debts of approx £40,000. If something was to happen to my Dad, would my mum be liable for all his debts? I am worried she may lose the house she lives in. If somebody out there could offer some advice I would be very grateful.

Kron

Hi. I am hoping someone can help because I am getting so stressed. I had my long telephone appointment last week and we are due to start out DMP with CCCS on 1 December when we make our first payment.

We have applied to the Co-op for a joint basic account to which they have said yes. We are just waiting for all the information through. However this isn't going to get here in time for hubby's wages to go into and for the direct debits to be moved over. So the end of this month everything will be going into our existing, well overdrawn account.

Has anyone got any advice on how to deal with this. Our loan that will be included in our DMP is with this bank and whilst they don't know what we are doing at the moment they probably will when the loan doesn't get paid. Should I let most of the direct debits go through for gas, electricity, council tax etc and then try to take out what is left of hubby's wages?

Sorry this is so long but I'm in a right state and really need some level headed advice.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Karen

CCCS_Sarah

DawnandAl wrote: »

Hi,
I am new to this forum but really hope someone can give me some advice. My husband and i have got ourselves into a lot of debt and we have been struggling to cope for months. We are both self-employed and got into arrears with our tax, we arranged to pay that off monthly, but we will have a new bill in January. Anyway last month i took the bull by the horns and went to CAB about our debts who then put me onto PayPlan. I spents ages talking to them and going through expenditure etc finally they concluded that we haven't enough excess money to go on a plan and suggested we offer all our creditors £1 per month. They sent me all the documents and letters which i promptly sent out to all the companies with my first payment of £1. We are now getting harassing calls several times a day (Barclaycard) some of which are automated. we are getting letters of default, letters from collecting agencies etc from them all, we have explained to them several times about our circumstances. I have kept copies of all letters and notes of call times/names. What should i do? ignore them! I am at a loss and very depressed about it all, I have ME and Fibromyalgia which are being made worse, I am also partially sighted.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank-you

Have you got an arrangement in place for your tax? Tax needs to be classed as one of your priorities.

With regards your unsecured creditors, if all you can afford to pay is £1 then try and stick to this and don’t feel pressured into paying more. Unfortunately there is no way of stopping the letters; however you will be able to ask them to remove your number from their database to stop the calls. All you would need to do is send them a letter asking them to do this.

As I have mentioned to other posters, token payments are not a long term solution to do – however it does give you time to make alternative arrangements to repay the debt i.e. increasing income etc.

If you would like us to take a look at your situation in more detail, you are more than welcome to call for an appointment to speak to a counsellor. If you would like an appointment please call 0800 138 1111.

CCCS_Matthew

MissKJ wrote: »

Help! I a trying to get onto a DMP, for which I now have all the paperwork, but I can't seem to open a basic account as our credit rating is obviously shot! I dont have any CCJ's and am not in arrears yet, I am not over my overdraft limit. I think it is just through trying to get things which require a credit check and also, the amount of credit we currently owe on. Why can't I open a basic account without an over draft or cheque book? Just tried the Co-op cashminder account, and it has been referred for a decision,which could take a week. I don't have a week, I still need to notify my employer of change of account for my wages to go into once I have a new account.

Hi there.

If you are applying for a basic account then there should be no reason for you to be credit checked. Everyone is entitled to a basic bank account by law, so there should be no reason for you to be rejected. It's important you insist you want a basic account, as some advisors have a tendency to try and upgrade it to a current account which does require a credit check.

I would advise you to ask for your employers to pay you by cheque for this month, or perhaps get your wages paid into a relatives account for this month to ensure your money is safe. Once you have your new account up and running, you can then change it again with work. It's a bit of a hassle but ensures your money is safe!

Hope this helps,
Matthew

CCCS_Matthew

Hi

Hi there, thanks for the message.

If your in a situation where you know you've got more coming in than you've got going out, you've basically got two options. Either maximise income, or decrease your expenditure. At this stage, without knowing more about your situation it's impossible to advise you on the areas that need to be looked at.

The next step for you is to sit down and write down all of the income you recieve, as well as all your outgoings. You could try starting a thread on here to get some help with your budget, or you can also try inputting them into Debt Remedy.

Alternatively, your free to come for an appointment with one of our debt counsellors who can help you draw up a budget and dicuss this with you, as well as provide you with the advice to deal with your debts. Our freephone is 0800 138 1111.

Hope this helps for now,
CCCS

Got a young family, mortgage (£160k) and too many credit cards. We currently owe around £40,000 on five different cards & two loans, and have a bank overdraft of around £3500. We have been having to borrow money from the cards, to put in the bank account to pay the bills, and its getting to a point now where we have no funds available. I work full time and the wife does an average of 10 days per month, but our outgoings are in excess of earnings. We would really appreciate some help in starting the process to get back to some stability. We havent got flash cars/designer clothes or anything of that nature, so its not that we live a millionaires lifestyle, its just past and current poor money management thats got us into this!

Any positive advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kudox

CCCS_Sarah wrote: »

Hi Kudox,

If you want to include your husband on the DMP then you will need to call for a review so that we can include his income and expenditure on the budget.

If he is joint on the account you would both be jointly liable for the debt, so they will chase him as well.

Thanks Sarah, husband is not included on DMP because hes self employed and his income is extremely erratic. I suppose it would be best to let them include the joint account and ride out the flak husband will get, still not sure if this is the correct option.

Stix75

Hi,

My partner is being chased by Lloyds for money owed to a joint account that was held with him and his ex partner. He is paying off the balance of over 3K at £20 per month and yet it appears they are not chasing his ex for any of the money, simply because they know he will pay it and she won't. Is there anything we can do about this to make her more liable for her half of the balance rather than he pay it all off alone?