Some advice please

greenpixey

Hi,
I hope you guys can help me out with some advice.
I got my meeting with cccs on the 28th, the same day as all my bills gets paid on. I'm not sure yet if my husbands wage will cover all our bills this month.
Today I had two red letters on bills that are overdue. They are threatening with debt collection agencys.
One is for a phone line we dont use anymore (husband used to have a business phone in the house)
and the other one is a car insurance that we dont use anymore but owe money on.
Can I skip paying them for now and let the debt collection agency take over? The bills are not set up on a direct debit but to be paid over the phone.

ms_london

To be honest, I would just call them & see what they say. Explain you have a meeting with the CCCS & will be in touch straight after, but I suspect if you ignore them it will make things worse (and its never nice to get letters like that through the post!!).

Perhaps you should cancel all un-important DD's before they come out. It will give you some breathing space. Then when you've had your appt you can contact them all, explain the situation & put forward a proposal of what you can afford to pay??!!

No point DD's coming out if there's not enough money to cover them, as the bank will only charge you & you'll end up in a worse off position.

xx

spud30

I have a meeting with CCCS the same week as you.

When I arranged the meeting on the phone, they told me to cancel all non essential DDs and also set up a new bank account, as some of our debt is with our account holder.

Check with CCCS but that's what they advised me to do.

Careful_girl

I agree. I think the best way to play all financial institutions is to keep them informed. The first step is being informed about what your finances are doing and then to inform those you owe when things get difficult. Then a bit of charm has always worked for me, asking such questions as what do you advise or suggest? If they know you will pay and you do not want to waste money on charges if you don't have to they often help. I think the personal touch can help. Obviously they have policies but there is a chance as they all want your business.
So give them a chance to be nice! I would be wary of cancelling direct debits, I did that once and the bank was not paying stuff due to lack of funds and it got in a mess and everyone charged me!!
Good luck!!:j
CG

greenpixey

I have opened a new bank account in a seperate bank. And only put the essential d/d in there. I just don't know what to do with the rest. I guess I have to wait til monday and give cccs a ring.

I paniced a little when the post arrived this morning. I have been struggling for a year now with paying our bills,trying to prevent it to go this far. But now we are getting threats for debt collection agencys. Just a bit scary when it hits you....

Careful_girl

:eek: It is very scary and if possible don't get involved with them. I once refused to pay a builder for some work (long story and my solicitor sorted it out he and the surveyor said he owed me money....) and he sold my debt to this agency. They did some very underhand things but the solicitor got rid of them.
I would immediately phone the people you owe and explain. If you can't get through until Monday do it before the meeting if there is time. You can only do your best but don't ignore it.
I am sure the meeting will be helpful.
Best wishes,
CG