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CCCS_Matthew

Billey wrote: »

I have recently separated from my wife and have been trying to pay towards my former house where my wife and kids still stay and also pay towards my new home with my partner.
The problem is that there are debts on credit cards where i am the main cardholder which happened prior to me splitting up with my wife.
Furthermore, our home has been up for sale for about 6 months and has since went into negative equity to the sum of around 40,000.
At present I am paying out more than is coming in and cannot make ends meet.
My initial thoughts are to pay for my wife and kids to rent somewhere and allow the house to be repossessed. I know this would probably increase the negative equity but then i would consider an IVA.
To continue this way is totally unsustainable and have just had a citation concerning the arears on the house.
I don't know what is for the best and any advice from forum members would be welcome.
Thanks

Hi Billey,

If you are considering to hand the keys back, I'd advise you to definitely book an appointment in with one of our mortgage counsellors. It's important that you know exactly what it involves, especially if you're family are still living there. Once they've talked through that they can discuss what your options are in terms of dealing with any shortfall from the property as well as any other credit debts you have.

Are the documents that you've had regarding the arrears just a letter asking for an arrangement, or are they court documents inviting you to a court hearing?

In the mean time, I'd suggest ringing the helpline to book an appointment ASAP on 0800 138 1111.

Regards,
Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

solaeclipsx wrote: »

Hi iv spoken to you before about my credit problems with westcot i sent them a request for my Subject Access Request with payment by recorded delivry back in october november time but as of yet have not resived anyting but 3 letters 1 i got today saying that thay will not contact me as thay are looking in to my case and a photo copyd bank statment witch has all the wrong dats on it i got in the begining of december along with a nother letter saying thay are looking in to my case, im now at a stump as i dont know if i should leave it or get in contact with them as im not to shore how long im ment to wait for ?

I'd be inclined to sit tight and wait while they claim to be looking into your case. If they have yet to send you the relevent information regarding the Subject Access Request, you could perhaps contact the Information Commissioner's Office to see what they advise regarding timescales and complaints when it comes to this.

Regards,
CCCS

soodew

Hi CCCS,
My friend has a £4,000 overdraft facility on her current a/c with HSBC. She sometimes goes over this limit & the bank charges are crippling her. Would she be able to, & would it be wise to, tranfer this debt onto a credit card offering 0% interest for 12 months, & use it only to pay off this amount monthly, or can you only transfer from credit card to credit card?

CCCS_Matthew

mumtoangel wrote: »

Hi,

Haven't posted for a while so fairly new, would just like some advice please.

I have approx £35k in debts, unfortunately one is a ccj, I am paying back £80 on the ccj which is going to take me my whole life to pay back, 2 of the debts are with debt collection agencies one is for £100 and the other £50, the last debt is with the creditor which is £50, so all in all I am paying back £280 a month, which I could afford to do when they agreed on the payments 2 years ago as I was in ajob which was paying quite good money and living with family having been made a single parent, since then I have changed jobs and I am paying rent on a private rented accomodation as the housing association won't help me (but that's another thread). I really need to be able to reduce my hours at work as my daughter is at infant school and she needs more of my time, but I can't reduce my hours because I need to find £280 a month without all the other household bills.

I was wondering if I could get any help.

Many Thanks

Hi there,

If you need to reduce down your hours, then you will need to reduce your payments to your creditors accordingly. Now this is easy enough to do with the two debts that are not CCJ's, simply alter your standing order or reduce the payment however you make it. You could enclose a covering letter to explain that your situation has changed and you can no longer commit to paying the previous amount.

As far as the CCJ is concerned, you will need to get a court form called an N245 in order to redetermine the amount. There is a £35 fee to get a judge to look at your situation, although the fee can be waived if you are on a low income or in reciept of benefits. The form will just ask you to fill out your income and expenditure (you will need to base this on your lower income) and then make an offer of payment of what you feel you can now afford to the CCJ. If the court feel it's realistic, you then only have to pay the ammended amount each month.

Hope this helps for now,
Matthew.

CCCS_Matthew

nad1611 wrote: »

Hi
I have been on a DMP with the cccs for about 2yrs now. If anyone has any doubts about starting one I can wholly recommend it. The CCCS coucsellors are incredibly understanding and supportive and have listened to a few of my tear filled phone calls.
My problem at present is that while everything has been going along brilliantly since entering into the DMP recently one of my creditors has sold the debt on to a DCA. They have been quite heavy handed and threatening legal action etc and have mentioned that our offer is not really acceptable that they want more considering we are home owners obviously trying to infer that our home will be at risk if we don't pay them more.

I really want to know what is the worst that can happen if they don't accept the offer. We have more than one creditior and are paying the maximum amount we can and payments are made pro rata. I am tempted to give them the extra £20 a month but my husbands says no as they could keep increasing the amount.

So in a nutshell, if we simply keep on paying the amount we have always paid the original creditor what could they do to us if they still won't accept the offer.
Many thanks.

Anyone know anything about the DCA First Credit and how they operate?

Hi there,

Definitely don't cave in and offer more. You husband is correct that you may find that they keep asking for more every month which will leave you struggling. Furthermore, offering them more if offering preferential treatment over the rest of your creditors.

The worst case scenario with the debt is that they could apply for a CCJ (County Court Judgment). This is basically a way in which a 3rd party (i.e. the County Court) decide whether your offer is fair based on your current situation. If this happened we could provide you with more information nearer the time, but all you would need to do is fill out an income and expenditure sheet inclosed with the court documents (much like you've done on the original appointment with us) and then make your offer of repayment. Now your offer of repayment would be exactly what you are offering through the DMP. Assuming your budget is reasonable, the judge is likely to accept your offer and the creditor has to agree to the payment.

Hope this helps, and puts your mind at rest a little! In the mean time, stick to your guns and you will be fine.

Regards,
Matthew.

bunty1983

hi ive just started dmp with you and went to post office on tues 30th dec to make 1st payment in cash of 104.00.i have been checking my online dmp all week for the payment but its never shown up,i rang you this morning and was told there was no sign of payment and to send my reciept in which i am going to do but im really worried as this will mean my creditors wont get paid wont it?will the stop the dmp because of this?i was glad to finally be on top of things and now this is a real set back!

CCCS_Matthew

marshmeister wrote: »

Hi All

I have been on a dmp since last march. Was at my wits end and have felt much better since starting it yet still dreadfully worried about debt.

I have 5 creditors. My largest debt is approx £9000 on a virgin credit card. Interest is 29.9% i think. I am paying a decent amount of this off each month but because of the interest i am only actually paying a tenner of the balance. This is soooo frustrating. Virgin refuse to reduce the interest or allow me an interest free period despite many requests.

My partner is in no debt at all and owns the house we both live in. He is desperate to help with my situation and up to now i have refused his help, wanting to sort this out on my own. Though recently i have swallowed my pride and he has offered to take out a low interest loan to pay off this largest creditor for me and i will then set up a direct debit to his account for the amount i was paying virgin.

How does this sit with the cccs? Is it a feasible option? I just cannot bear to have to be paying this credit card off for the next 40 years!!

Also, if this was a viable option while on a dmp and i decided to go ahead, is it worth making an offer of a reduced amount to virgin in full and final settlement of my account?

Thanks for your advice in advance.

me x

I'm not quite sure how this would be dealt with on a DMP. Your best bet is to ring the Client Support team to have a chat with them to get something sorted for you. If you need the number send me a PM and I'll reply with it, but you should probably have it on the back of your paperwork from us.

Matthew.

CCCS_Sarah

barafear799 wrote: »

Hi

Seems like an extremely busy thread and I have looked thru some of the advice and it does indeed relate to me somewhat - however, I cannot find an exact answer to my query and I just needed some clarification please.

I have lots of debts; one of them has been sold to a DCA (HFO, about which there is lots on MSE and other websites).

Cut a long story short - when they first got the debt, an arrangement was set up for me to pay £45 a month (on a £4500 debt) by Direct Debit. Nothing received in writing apart from an initial letter (we now have your debt, please call us to discuss repayment). I didn't know at the time that they apparently like to do their business over the phone so there is no "paper trail".

Anyway - after making about 15 payments, one of my DD payments bounced. My bank promptly charged me £30 plus other charges as a result!!! I decided that DD was not the most appropriate form of payment. I wrote to them and explained the situation - I believe they called whilst the letter was in the post and I arranged to make a debit card payment (over the phone) to cover the bounced DD payment.

At this stage, I had reduced the debt to approx £3750.

The letter was sent to HFO in April08; Nothing heard from them........until a phone call in Oct08 from their "legal team" - I explained I had sent a letter, and stated I would only deal with them via letter. Then a couple of weeks later, a call from a "new account manager for my account" seeking a settlement - I asked about my letter - he said that it had been recieved - but the member of staff who had received it was not in a position to reply to it - it should have been passed to an account manager but it wasn't!!! The tone of the phone call was to "set up a new direct debit" - I stated I could not pay by DD - the caller persisted -

after about 24 mins on the phone, I asked out of curiousity what my outstanding balance was - when he said £4950 I nearly fell off my chair!!!

I asked why? He said as I had been "refusing to pay" interest had been accruing on my account at a rate of 12% pa - I asked how 12%pa on a debt of £3750 could add £1200 in 6 months - he said he did not have a breakdown!! I ended the phone call by asking for a LETTER giving details of my balance and asking for alternative methods of payment (other than DD or debit card).
I didn't get any letter.

Then this week I get a letter from their solicitors - threatening legal action because I am a "REFUSE TO PAY" customer - urging me to phone them to discuss repayment of the debt (now at £5100, due to legal costs having been added).


So the basic question is: Are DCAs allowed to add interest on to a debt without first obtaining a CCJ against me?

Any advice on how to deal with my latest dilemma (Solicitors letter) would also help.

Thanks

Hi barafear,

Thank you for your email.

The collection agency is able to charge interest if this is specified in your original consumer credit agreement. If you have a copy of this have a read through and let me know what it says. If not try and request this as soon as possible.

If the collection agency do pursue you for a County Court Judgment and the interest is not mentioned in your contract, you will have the opportunity on the claim forms to partially admit the claim. You will then be able to put forward your case for defence.

You may also want to request a full breakdown of the balance detailing the amount of interest, rates etc

Hope this helps
Sarah

callywally

Hello,
started a dmp with cccs a few months ago. Due to urgent and expensive car repair just before christmas and also having to tax the car I had to reduce my payment this month. I need car to get to work.
I am now really struggleing for money til the end of the month as I cant borrow any thing from family etc or take out any credit I dont know what to do.
I work full time and am not on benifits so dont think I would qualify for a crisis loan.
I really dont know what to do and would like some advice as to what other people have done in this situation.
thanks

hectorcarol

CCCS_Matthew wrote: »

Hi Hectorcarol,

We would always suggest sending copies of the budget recorded delivery to ensure they can't turn around and say they've not recieved it, as you can prove that they have!

It is going to be tough, as offering £160 to debts of 50k suggests that it will take you 26 years to clear your debts. Based on that timescale a DMP or IVA is not really a suitable option.

Was anything else discussed with the counsellor is an alternative? Such as selling property, or ways in which to reduce expenditure/increase income?

In the mean time, if you are managing to stick to the budget and pay the creditors what you can afford you cannot be asked to do any more. You tend to find the first few months of making reduced payments are the most difficult but then as time goes on you may find that your debts start to get passed on which helps with the chance that the interest will stop.

Regards,
Matthew.

Hello Matthew

Many thanks for your reply, I will always forward things recorded now, I should have thought of that as I work for the Post Office.

The Counsellor was very helpful, we do both work and have no equity in our property (most probally, negative now). I suggested cutting down on some of our budget figures but she said not to lower them anymore as we have to live.

So where do we go from here ??? We will pay every amount quoted by yourselves on the dot and any wage increases we will phone you to change
the amounts to creditors and pay what you tell us to.
What do you mean about debts being passed on ???

Many Thanks
XXX