CCCS- not a positive experience

homealone_2

have been really upset since my financial interview with CCCS on 16th december and its taken till now to post. i read loads of positive stuff about them on here and after first posting was advised to ring them. the man i spoke to was really nice and helpful even though it must have been hard for him listening to me blubbing down the phone. he organised an appointment for me to have financial interview and told me not to be upset or bullied by creditors. he listened to rough breakdown and said he thought br maybe the road to take or that they may contact creditors and as disabled and no income bar benefits that i may find a budget plan the way to go as creditors may well freeze interest or write off x amount. had read as much on here when posted SOA and was -£275 a month. to try and make it brief their SOA and the SOA on here has different things to take into account but after her cutting me dead when trying to explain why this cost that she came up with £322 surplus funds. i asked if she could come find it as i couldnt see it and was really offish and said i was in very good position and made me feel was wasting her time for such small amount (£26,900). when i then said had no arrears or ccjs or the like she made me feel even worse, she was just so off with me and whenever i asked her a question she kept saying well i have already explained that, she made me feel really dumb. i got in touch before it got to arrears as i used to work in a bank myself years ago and know how much better it is to tackle thiongs head on. so even though after husband left me i struggled to pay all that months debt i knew i wouldnt be able to cover december. i told her that CTC held most money owing at £15,500 and had contacted them also going through a brief SOA and they said as they were giving me £91.01 a week as my income was so low that they did not want to make matters worse by taking any of it off me and said they would pass me onto the hardship team who would call every 3 or 4 months to see if my situation was to change at all. she hmmed at that and said well as i had £322 a month to play with i would not need their help and i could pay them some money. she said i could send her a cheque for £322 and she would pay all 4 creditors a portion out of it. i asked what was difference to me just sending them money and she none just that i might forget. i then braced myself and said i really could not see where this £322 was going to come from and how i thought they would contact my creditors to see if they would be prepared to freeze interest etc. she said that once i had signed all paperwork and sent off initial cheque and she was to ring them that yes some may offer to cut payments but it was not a guaranteed thing and as she had already stated she thought it was not necessary as i had enough money to pay them and would be debt free in 7 years 8 months. when i mentioned christmas presents she said she would allow £5 per month for cards and i would have to explain to everyone from now on that would be all they received. she then changed tone and started to sound friendlier as am sure she could hear me crying she summed up what we had discussed like she was reading it from a card. am i being oversensitive or was i wrong expecting to have some of debt written off?? i have been worried sick since and even attempted to call ex but he haung up as he has done since he walked out on me 2 months ago. its so unfair that he can just walk away from it all after making sure it was all in my name and that my standard of living is to switch to existing till i am 50. i was in similar boat 25 years ago but worked all the overtime i could and even took on weekend work so could get me and my baby out of this horrid situation and i did i even had money in the bank and now have to go through it all again except this time am disabled so cant get extra work and not sure i have got anymore fight left in me

blind-as-a-bat_2

If your on benefits and DLA, i cant see how she got to that figure either

Can you post how she worked out your I&E maybe we can help make sense of it.

Did she allow the extra cost on every day life caused by your disabilaty?

There was a run of bad advice from CCCS a few moths ago, but it had seemed to settle down.

homealone_2

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

If your on benefits and DLA, i cant see how she got to that figure either

Can you post how she worked out your I&E maybe we can help make sense of it.

Did she allow the extra cost on every day life caused by your disabilaty?

There was a run of bad advice from CCCS a few moths ago, but it had seemed to settle down.

my original SOA is on here, i scribbled down the ones she said i needed to cut back on but i dont come up with that figure and it may mean another call to them when i can face it but here is what she changed.....sky was £68 including repair warranty down to basic pack £21 (an obvious one i was going to do anyway. housekeeping £380 down to £274 (another obvious one,it was figure before beak up) hair from £20 to £18 sports and leisure £21 and sundries £21 these two i did not even have figures for. i receive dla for son and she asked where that money went and told her driving lessons for him (at college studying mechanics so is necessary) pocket money for him as was not entitled to EMA before and now we are we are waiting for it to be done. as i said there SOA and ours does have different stuff on there so am thinking maybe that what made difference??? she knew was disabled so assuming allowed for that

blind-as-a-bat_2

Ok firstly can you point me too your I&E, too many posts to go searching through to find the up to date one

secondly to re-cap, your on benefits, and the DLA award is for your sons disabilaty?

how many are in the household, is it you, and two children?

fiveyearplan

Hi Homealone. You aren't the first one I've heard of recently who weren't satisfied with CCCS. Maybe she was having a bad day - still no excuse really.

peachyprice

Hi homealone, I'm sorry you had a horrid time with CCCS, it takes enough courage to ring these people in the first place, but to be treated like that it plain unnecessary.

Your benefits are the minimum amounts the government deem you need to live off, how on earth she found that much surplus is a mystery.

As bat said, if you could find your SoA and copy it here, we'll have a look.

In the meantime, don't despair, you don't have to do what the CCCS woman advised, you can still go BR if that is what you are happy with.

homealone_2

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet
Summary
Monthly Budget Summary

Amount(£)

Total monthly income

1,448.24

Monthly expenses (incl. secured loans)

1,564.04

Available for debt repayments

-115.8

UNsecured debt repayments

160

Surplus

-275.8

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Amount(£)

Total Assets (things you own)

3,000

Total Secured Debt

-0

Total Unsecured Debt

-22,263.45

Net Assets

-19,263.45

Comments on the results
You do not have enough monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments. Seek ways to increase your income and/or reduce your expenditure by £275.8. Whatever your results show, it always pays to seek advice or comments from others. Why not post your SOA details on our Debt Management discussion board or on your preferred discussion forum elsewhere. Thank you for using the SOA Calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details
Income

Amount(£)

Monthly income after tax

386.24

Partners monthly income

0

Benefits child tax credit £91.01weekly

962

Other income

100

Total monthly income

1448.24

Expenses

Amount(£)

Mortgage

0

Secured loan payments

0

Rent housing benefit £517.83

517.83

Management charge (leasehold property)

0

Council tax tax benefit £104

104

Electricity

40

Gas

25

Oil

0

Water Rates

28.00

Telephone (land line)

18

Mobile phone

25

TV Licence

12

Satellite/Cable TV

58

Internet services

9

Groceries etc.

350

Clothing

30

Petrol/diesel

0

Road tax

0

Car Insurance

0

Car maintenenance (including MOT)

0

Car Parking

0

Other travel

0

Childcare/nursery

0

Other child related expenses

0

Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) tax exempt £10

10

Pet Insurance/Vet bills

0

Buildings Insurance

0

Contents Insurance

20

Life Assurance

18.50

Other Insurance

3.98

Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)

20

Haircuts

20

Entertainment

0

Holiday

0

Emergency Fund

0

(Unnamed monthly expense)

0

sky repair

8.25

mag subscription

0

18185

15

pc world

7.99

halifax loan

191.8

(Unnamed monthly expense)

0

Total monthly expenses

1564.04

Secured Debt Description

Debt(£)

Monthly(£)

APR(%)

Mortgage

0
(0)
0

Secured Debt totals

0

-

-

Unsecured Debt Description

Debt(£)

Monthly(£)

APR(%)

lloyds credit card

5663.45
115
7.9

marks and spencers

600
15
6.9

tax credit overpayment

16000
30
0

Unsecured Debt totals

22263.45

160

-

Asset Description

Value (£)

Cash

0

House Value (Gross)

0

Shares and bonds

3000

Car(s)

0

Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc)

0

Total Assets

3000

figures in red are the new benefits i have started to receive since last posting on here (think i may have answered own question, no doubt new benefits are reason for hike in available funds) still seems very strange to insist on paying someone (inland revenue) when they have said not to for time being anyway i receive dla and ib and my son gets dla too for himself i live here with him 18 and daughter probably here 14 out of 30 day month

peachyprice

I can see immediately where she has got £191 from, you would not be allowed to pay the Hlifax loan, you have to treat all creditors fairly and all payments will be pro-rated between them, also the £7.50 PC World, is that finance too?

homealone_2

peachyprice wrote: »

I can see immediately where she has got £191 from, you would not be allowed to pay the Hlifax loan, you have to treat all creditors fairly and all payments will be pro-rated between them, also the £7.50 PC World, is that finance too?

not sure what you mean about where she got the 191 from but the 7.50 was repair warranty on lap top but thats a whole other story

mbs1

only thing i can see is the halifax loan? why isnt this on your debt list?

oops beat me too it.

It still wouldnt give you a 300 quid surplus

blind-as-a-bat_2

Your son is 18? if so Dla should be paid to him now, or is that due to his disabilaty?

But either way that is NOT your income, and should NOT be on YOUR I&E.

DLA is not for his normal keep so to speak, that should come from elswhere, but if any expense is higher due to his disabilaty that is on your I&E(which i cant see any) it should be used to offsett that

Can you break down just what the benefits bit is made up of?