Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

bunnygreen

Hi,

Just wondering what sort of change we should notify CCCS of.

I.e our mortgage rate has dropped by about £100 as it's variable so I assume that is significant to inform them of, but say it was by £20-£30 would we need to do the same and would it then be distributed to our creditors?

Also - I am applying for a temporary secondment job, which will mean an increase in salary for about 10 months. Would I then have an increase in payments to creditors for those 10 months, then drop back down after? I would be worried about having to reduce payments again.

I guess my questions are - what counts as a significant change that I'd need to inform CCCS and if the change is temporary should we increase payments on a temp basis?

Thanks

kimmi_b

Hi

I have been on a DMP since last October and in December of last year I made my 3rd payment to one of my creditors, whom I have 3 outstanding debts with - overdraft, credit card and loan. The first 2 payments have been accepted with no problems but the third in December for the credit card was refused.

The company who are dealing with my debt management plan have asked for an explanation from my creditor but as yet we haven't had a response. I am due to make my next payment in a weeks time.

Do you have any idea why this payment would have been refused after they previously agreed to my reduced payment plan?

CCCS_Alan

mattie5 wrote: »

currently my case of bank charges is with the ombudsman and has been there since october. i am under their financial hardship rules as various things such as 6 months behind on the mortgage, no rates paid last year son lost his place in school, they actually told him to leave he's 9 and why. (we are being sued by them and the case is to be held at the end of the month) but thats all another story at the moment.

lloyds who the complaint is about have not tried to resolve the matter of over £12,000 in excess charge they are still trying to intimidate me with soliitors letters even though the matter is with the ombudsman. well, i was on your webside last night and under debt free wannabe they had been talking about the credit consumder act and how if they have no signed agreement etc they cant prove a debt.

when all the trouble started i was 1,800 o/d now due to charges and interest i am over 4,000 o/d this cant go on and i was wondering what action i can do to bring this to a conclusion one being asking for my agreement on the overdraft. they have extended the limit from 1800 and now only charge interest, but not at my say so.

could you reply to me to get this matter finalised - many thanks

only my second post so not really wise to the system

Hi Mattie5

Going down the route of requesting a signed agreement is to dispute that a debt is yours. In your case you are saying that the debt is yours so the debt is not in dispute.

With the financial hardship rules the creditors are not obliged to act any quicker on a case but will take into consideration your claim.

Since your case is been dealt with by the financial ombudsman this unfortunately can take time to resolve so you would have to wait for them to deal with your case. You could come to us for an appointment to asses if you are in financial hardship and provide a supporting letter to approach your creditors with, or look at the court action route. Below is the link to the guides on this on the MSE site. But again they not be any faster than through the ombudsman.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges#hardship

At the moment unfortunately a quick solution is not available to resolve bank charges cases.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

ljmindebt wrote: »

Hi I hope you can help me - my first time of posting. I have today received a Statutory Demand from Weightmans Solicitors in relation to Phoenix Recoveries - it is relating to a Marbles Credit Card. It was posted through my door by hand and was not in an envelope so could have been seen by anyone in the house !! It is dated 23rd December but was only put through the door today. I acknowledge the debt but have not received any corres to tell me that Phoenix had taken the debt on and noone has telephoned me or written to me prior to this demand. I had agreed a payment plan with Weightmans and was paying up to about a year ago when I fell on hard times - this is the first correspondence I have had in the last 12 months.
What do I need to do ? I rent my home and have no assets as such.

I was going to call Weightmans tomorrow and offer to pay £250 up front and then £200 pm - the total debt is £9888 is this likely to be accepted ?
Many Thanks

Hi ljmindebt

If you can agree a payment by instalments before they petition for your bankruptcy this could stop the action altogether. Creditors sometimes issue the statutory demand as a threat and have no intention to petition for the person’s bankruptcy as they risk writing off the debt completely, and will cost them money to make the person bankrupt. Hopefully they will consider your offer reasonable.

Even if they do go for the petition and a bankruptcy hearing is called if you can reach an agreement at the hearing the petition can be adjourned. If you have tried to make offers of reasonable payment before the hearing and in the courts opinion unreasonably refused to accept an offer to pay the debt by instalments, the court may refuse the bankruptcy petition on those grounds.

If you are unsure if bankruptcy would be a viable option for you in your situation, it may be worth you using the online advice facility called Debt Remedy to asses your situation.

Hope this helps.

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

Ricky38 wrote: »

Hi there,
I am new to this so bear with me.

I would like to know how long an inhibition order lasts on a property?
Is there a time limit?
I live in Scotland and have been told by different places 5 years, 6 years,
10 years and indefinite.
If you could clarify this I would be grateful.

Hi Ricky38

I have sent off your questions to our Scottish trained counsellors and should have a answer for you after the weekend.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

Brandy29 wrote: »

Hello, I have recently filled in an online debt remedy but need a little clarification on one point please.
We have a 2nd property on the market at the moment, we just want to get rid now and break even, I filled in the form as receiving a lump sum from the sale of the property (after mortgage on it paid off) which would almost cover our unsecured debt so the reccomendation was to pay off the loans with the difference between the sale and mortgage owed.
However, this difference is actually owed to our parents so they have to be our priority (we're talking 30k here). To cover this I put that the house was worth as much as the outstanding mortgage on it - can I do this or we going to get into 'trouble' for over declaring the mortgage balance?

Hi Brandy29

It really is dependant on what your next steps are going to be. If you are able to repay your debts in full with repayments over a reasonable time, it should not really be a problem as your creditors will still receive the money, just over time.

If you are looking to go down an Insolvency route this could possibly be seen as disposing of assets, unless your parents had a charge on the property or proof can be provided that the money was from them to start with.

It really depends on what the advice is provided by the Debt Remedy system once you change the details to show no money would be available from the sale.

What you may want to consider is try and offer full and final payments to clear the debts but save you money overall, and pay the remainder to your family. Then gradually pay your family the remaining money back over time.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

CCCS_Alan

daave wrote: »

hello,

i was wondering what happens in my situation:

me and my wife are in debt, and considering a dmp, but do we do one as a couple or one each?

in total we are in around 23,000 of debt and struggling to pay it


please advise

Hi Daave

You could do either really if a DMP is a viable option for you. Some people prefer to do a joint DMP as you would have a household income, household expenditure and all your debts together with one payment split between all the creditors. A joint application covers you for things like joint debts such as overdrafts as well.

You could use our Debt Remedy advice facility and look at your options as joint or single applicants and see which you prefer. The system is flexible enough to allow you to go back in and change your details from single to couple to allow you to asses your situation.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

depressed_but_determined

Hi, I am awaitig my pack from CCCS before starting on my DMP and I have a quick question. One of my creditors is Egg who I have a personal loan for £6100 for, it was 11,500 when I took the loan out and was due to finich 11/2011

I have realised that I had payment protection insurance added to the policy, I was wondering if I could ask them to reimburse this onto the amount of the loan to bring the debt down if I was entitled to a refund? I am covered for accident, sickness, unemployment and death.

Any help will be gratefully recieved.

CCCS_Alan

onamission wrote: »

Hi
I've got 2 ccj's registered against me and i am paying the agreed amount. I have been told i'm at risk of redundancy. I wanted to start researching my options now. I will beclaiming JSA if laid off. how does this affect the ccjs and would there be any impact (of ccjs) on redundancy payout?

thanks

Hi Onamission

If you do become redundant you would be looking to pay your basic living costs before your creditors, which mean you could look to alter your CCJ payments for your judgement. Below I have included a link regards how you would go about dealing with this situation.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/judgment/cannotpay/happens.htm

Dependant on the amount you receive from your redundancy you could consider offering full & final payment to the creditor in question, to settle your CCJ. You alternatively may have to use the money on general living costs dependant on your circumstances.

You would not be expected to pay off your CCJ with your redundancy money it would be your choice.

Regards

CCCS_Alan

mr36

Thank You Sue for your feedback.

As advised, I rang and spoke with a cccs advisor and has booked me an appt with a debt counsellor for Feb and advised me in the meantime time to advise Northern Rock of my cccs claim reference number which I have.

However when I opened the post this morning, I received a letter from Northern Rock's solicitor that i am in breach of the terms and agreement of the mortgage agreement and that I have 7 days to make payment of the arrears to Northern Rock to avoid repossession proceedings against me.

They also add, any fees and charges incurred from this action will be added to the outstanding mortgage debt.

As I cannot afford to pay, what should I do ?

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi Mr 36

Thank you for your message

Bankruptcy is always the last resort and is not always the best option for everyone. Especially if you have any equity in the property.

It is difficult giving you advice via email as I do not know your full situation

However, the mortgage is obviously your main priority at the moment as you are 3 months in arrears.

I would suggest you ring us as soon as possible for an appointment with one of our mortgage advisors. They will help you put together a budget showing your income and expenditure and look at the best options available to deal with your situation.
We also have a welfare benefits support team who would also check to make sure you are receiving your full benefits entitlement.

If you would like an appointment please ring our free helpline on 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sue