Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sarah

daz_79 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I would just like to say i'm new to this forum and sorry in advance if I ask any questions which have alraedy been asked and answered. I have recently been in touch with cccs after nearly getting into an IVA with a company who wanted money straight away and probably wouldnt have been able to get my IVA agreed (lucky escape). CCCS have been really amazing and advised me that an IVA would probably be a none starter due to the fact i get monthly bonuses at work which can be as high as £1000. They recommended a DMP and i am in the process of getting that set up after a phone interview next week. Following from commencing proceedings for an IVA myself and my partner have began sending token payments but haven't yet sent them to all our creditors. As i'm not as clued up about DMP'S yet as i was with IVA'S i was wondering if anybody could help me with a few general queries i have. Firstly - with a DMP do you have to include all creditors? as my gf is already paying an old univeristy debt to a collections agency which we did include in the schedule for the IVA (will they accept a reduced payment and will CCCS negotiate this like the others?).
Also can you make additional payments over the agreed monthly payments from time to time (i.e pay extra from my work bonus)?
What happens if a creditor doesn't agree to the DMP? do we then negotiate with them direct, seperate from the DMP and if so does this affect the DMP with the other creditors?
Has anyone ever resulted in a CCJ from a DMP? my job could be affected if i got a CCJ.
I think i've probably typed way too much already so i'll leave it at that. Thanks in advance fro your help and thanks once again to CCCS for the fantastic service they have provided me up to now. Good luck all in your goals

Hello and welcome to the boards!

If you were going ahead with a DMP all debts would need to be included, to make sure everyone is getting a fair share of what you have left over. If the creditors did not agree to the reduced payments, then you send the payments anyway as it will come off the balance. If you do get any extra money from overtime, bonus etc you can pay extra in to the DMP – this would reduce the term you will be paying the debts over.

A CCJ is a possibility with a DMP, as a DMP is an informal arrangement between you and the creditors. If your creditor does choose to apply for a CCJ, and this would affect your job you could apply to the court for a Time Order as an alternative.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any further information.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

janeboo wrote: »

hi i'm very interested reading all your stories and questions! i've been juggling (fairly unsuccessfully) for years now, every so often getting on top of things, but only by luck or consolidation or extending my mortgage, and i'm sick of the constant worry and sleepless nights - this month i can't pay bills of approximately £400, and my son and i only have about £120 to live on till payday(food, petrol...etc)
:eek:
so i should do something about it obviously!
i have 3 credit cards totalling about £20k, 2 loans (one secured one unsecured) for £15k and £3k respectively, my mortgage is up to date, i owe scottish power £200...
and i am ashamed to admit that this is all approximation coss i do such a good ostrich impression!!!
anyway i think it's time to sort it out, how do i begin please?!

Hi Jane,

Thank you for your message.

If you don’t have enough money to cover all your bills, you will need to prioritise them i.e. try and pay your mortgage, secured loan, food, utilities etc and make your unsecured creditors a token payment – this can be however much you can afford, even if its only £1.

We would be able to help you put together a budget to look and look at the best long term solutions for you. If you would like an appointment to discuss this please call 0800 138 1111, alternatively we do have a free online debt advice system call Debt Remedy. If you would like to take a look at Debt Remedy this link will take you directly to the page.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Sarah

Bimble_2

Helloo..

This thread has given me so much more hope. I am planning on starting a DMP asap.

One of the things that has stopped me in the past is regarding the maintenance my ex husband gives me.

He gives me £1000 per month .. a lot I know.. lucky me. BUT! I am in a huuuge amount of debt.. I'm not even sure HOW much anymore.. about £35 thousand.. maybe. So most of the maintenance ends up going to pay my debts..

My concern is.. that my husbands payments are VERY hit and miss.. Sometimes he pays it monthly.. sometimes.. £250 per week.. sometimes not for weeks and weeks.. its all over the place. So I cannot rely on WHEN he pays me at all.

This is what worries me when taking out a DMP..

ALSO.. he says he is not sure how long he can continue to pay me at all..

So what would happen if he stopped? .. and the DMP was already up and running..
Or.. when I have to wait weeks and weeks for him to pay?

I'm scared of starting a DMP then it all going so wrong with the maintenance payments But I desperately need to do this.

michellew_2

Hi
Hope you can answer a few questions for me please.
1/ Is DLA taken into consideration? We get DLA for our son and tbh most is actually spent on him to give him a better quality of life - activities, petrol etc.
2/ Are there a list of allowable amounts for shopping etc as we only spend whats available each week / month and are usually really scraping the freezer out at some point each month.
3/ If were able to get a new bank account (ideally that has a debit card as I often cant get out due to my own health problems) do we have to tell our old bank before hand?
Thanks

Worried_Soul

Hi CCCS_Sarah

Thank you for your response. But do you know if I am really required to get the CCCS to write a letter to NatWest stating that you are the third party?

[Deleted User]

Hi ~

I am currently paying off credit card debts to 3 different debt collection agencies ... Fenton Cooper, Geoffrey Parker Bourne, and Cabot. The debts were originally with NatWest Credit Card, Barclaycard, and M&S storecard. I ran into financial difficulties when I was made redundant, and have been regularly paying each of these agencies £15 per month for several years now.

I've lost track of exactly how much money I still owe, but I think the M&S and Barclaycard debts are approximately £250 each and I still owe NatWest about £600.

The problem is that I have been struggling more and more to meet the 3 x £15 monthly payments, and I was wondering whether it is possible to pay debt collection firms a lesser amount. I seem to remember being told some time ago that £15 is the minimum amount that they will accept ... please could you tell me whether this is still the case?

I live alone and am currently unable to work due to ill-health, so my income consists solely of disability benefit which is £86.35 per week. From this sum I am paying an amount towards my mortgage, and the obligatory buildings insurance on the property.

Being able to reduce my monthly debt repayments would be a big help - I'm not in the least bothered about my credit rating being negatively affected by prolonging the time-cale of the debts.

Thanks.

CCCS_Alan

salstar wrote: »

Hi, Im with cccs on a dmp. I have a joint lloyds bank account with OH,but want to make this account in just my name so I can include the overdraft on my plan. Does anyone know if Lloyds will do this?

Hi Salstar

You would unfortunately have to check with the bank regard removal of names from accounts. They may even request for that account to be closed and a new one opened up in your name, as they may be unwilling to just remove a name on something that is classed as a debt.

If you are already on a DMP you would need to call the number on monthly statement to discuss adding the possibility of adding the debt onto the plan.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

Bimble wrote: »

Helloo..

This thread has given me so much more hope. I am planning on starting a DMP asap.

One of the things that has stopped me in the past is regarding the maintenance my ex husband gives me.

He gives me £1000 per month .. a lot I know.. lucky me. BUT! I am in a huuuge amount of debt.. I'm not even sure HOW much anymore.. about £35 thousand.. maybe. So most of the maintenance ends up going to pay my debts..

My concern is.. that my husbands payments are VERY hit and miss.. Sometimes he pays it monthly.. sometimes.. £250 per week.. sometimes not for weeks and weeks.. its all over the place. So I cannot rely on WHEN he pays me at all.

This is what worries me when taking out a DMP..

ALSO.. he says he is not sure how long he can continue to pay me at all..

So what would happen if he stopped? .. and the DMP was already up and running..
Or.. when I have to wait weeks and weeks for him to pay?

I'm scared of starting a DMP then it all going so wrong with the maintenance payments But I desperately need to do this.

Hi Bimble

If you do come for an appointment the counsellor would take into account the income and it sporadic nature of payment. They may suggest building up a buffer zone of the money to help combat this so you would always have a safety zone in case. Payments on a DMP are made to us normally only once a month.
All options though would be discussed by your counsellor in your appointment on what the best option would be for you.

If you were on a DMP and the maintenance stopped we would conduct a review in your change of circumstances, and advise you what your next steps would be regard dealing with your creditors. If other options were more appropriate for you at that point it would be discussed with you.

Hope this helps.

CCCS_Alan

jamierogan26

Hi i'm Jamie This is my little problem!

Ok i bought a laptop from dell 2yrs ago and got it on HP throught dell finance. 3years or so £20 a month. No problems!

In aprill 2008 my company asked me to work away till december so i agreed but i had to change my account from HSBC to Lloyds TSB to do with their pay system. Lloyds said they would take all my deirect debits across from HSBC which they did no trouble. So went to work away came back a few weeks ago to find letters from Dell saying i haven't paid them since April (Oh my God!) and i have a default notice!

Ok i admit was partly my fault as i didn't check my statements that in depth. BUT on the list of direct debits from my lloyds account is DELL so the Direct debit was set. I've always had money in the account for the £20.

Now non of the letters asked if i had changed banks to confirm security.

SO.......LLoyds change my direct debits over.....its listed in my direct debit list but dell haven't taken any. So who's fault???? Lloyds or Dell or Me?

The main thing is when i've rang dell to try and sort it i.e pay the remainder not a huge sum at all they've said the account is settled. Passed me around 3-4-5 departments no-one knows whats happed. Now i've asked them why they didn't transfer the payments when its set up with my bank and get this everytime i ring to ask whats happened they hang up on me! 4 times now

So what can i do? i've said i want to pay the remainder they said there is nothing to pay. I asked them can they take the details off my credit file they said its not their mistake. But i said surly it is as i've had money in there and told them my new account is it not their problem they didn't update their system? I don't know what to do

Any help sorry for long rant

Cheers Jamie

caramia1812

My ex-husband divorced me last year after promising me the earth and ofc, like a fool, I fell for it. The year prior to that he had been unemployed (after being a high earner) and I stupidly used my cc's to maintain us throughout that time. Anyways, without getting boring, I was left with a great deal of debt and didn't know who to turn to. For the first couple of months I was numb and was selling jewellery every month to meet my payment then I found CCCS and had heard that they were a "Godsend"....not for me. After booking my telephone consultation, I waited for 10 days thinking that I would be sorted out. After spending over an hour on the phone with an adviser, I was told that a pack would be sent to me, fill in the balance sheet, send it to your creditors and ask them to freeze the interest and btw, try to get a better mortgage deal. The lady I spoke to mentioned "bankruptcy" quite a lot and made me feel worse than I had before the telephone call.

Now then, prior to my ex-husband leaving, "we" had decided that "I" could maybe get a better mortgage deal so I went ahead and arranged a mortgage on my own (another stupid thing, but I had no idea what was going on in his head at the time). Anyways another mortgage deal was out of the question as I already had secured a very good deal a couple of months before but with PENALTY of £3.5k if I changed within 2 years.

I contacted my cc companies and they refused to play.

I was, by this time, suicidal and my doctor referred me for psychiatric help and put me on anti-depressants (still on them). I lose over 2 stone in weight and could not concentrate on anything. I couldnt settle and couldnt sleep either. I searched the internet daily and found a debt managment company who offered to help me but they would be charging me £30 a month for their help. In the end, I went to CAB who wrote on my behalf but STILL the cc company would not agree to freeze the interest on the two accounts I had.

It took FOUR months for HBOS and I to come to an agreement and in that time the interest accrued was almost £900. Finally, I agreed to pay them back DOUBLE the amount that CAB said I could afford which left me with the grand sum of £30 a week to live on.

One year on and I am going to have the same trouble all over again as the arrangement we made was for a year and that year is up on 29th January.

Can someone tell me what to do or where to go to?

It seems I do not meet the criteria for "debt help" in the form of a "debt management plan" as I do not have three or more creditors. I have two credit cards and both are with HBOS.

Sorry for the rant but I just don't know what to do. Today I wrote to them to ask for them to extend the agreement for a further year at the end of which my family are clubbing together to give me £7k to help reduce the debt. I am now owe about £13k............help anyone? If they dont agree a further year, I actually think I would be better off stopping payments and forcing them to take me to Court.

(I am currently paying back £65 and £83 which represents 1% of the debt at the time we made the agreement. Nor can I pursue my ex through the Courts as he has moved abroad to somewhere in Nigeria. I can't sell my house as the lease only has 65 years, can't take a lodger as it only has one bedroom and rent in this area is more expensive than my current mortgage payment).