Payplan vs CCCS

fiscalfool

Well yesterday I had telephone appointments with both CCCS and PayPlan. I did this because I wanted to take the advice from the two big Debt Counselling charities. Both of them were very friendly and helpful and I couldn't fault the Counsellors.

I find it interesting that one of them thought my car was HP, where the other insisted it was Personal Finance.

Before the call, I felt that I'd probably go with CCCS ... but after both calls I couldn't help but feel that of the two people I spoke to, PayPlan just edged it with understanding my scenario and also explanation of what happens.

Both companies suggested a DMP, but also some measures to increase cashflow and get the term reduced. Good stuff.

The only thing that I find disconcerting about PayPlan is their "selling you extras". Anyone whom calls a Debt Management company is already in the deep brown smelly stuff with their finances. I just thought it was strange to be being sold "what-if" type cover for scenarios that might not happen. In my head I kept hearing "You can only pay the money that you have left after the other bills have been paid". Luckily I have Life Cover, and Long Term Sick cover already ... but I don't have redundancy cover, nor do I have their "car servicing and breakdown cover".

Am I being too simplistic?? Surely in a DMP you should whack all free cash at the problem and bring it down as quick as possible?

That said, part of my reason for selecting PayPlan was that they had calculated that I had more outgoings a month than CCCS. This means in the first few months while we get used to this budget, having that extra few quid might be damn handy. Although it will lengthen the debt slightly. My concern as taking on a budget that then needs adjusting more.

Has anyone else bought into the Extras from PayPlan? are they a good idea? Have you ever needed on?

Or is it like Product Cover that you buy from certain High Street retailers!?

Tixy

Jarvy wrote: »

Well yesterday I had telephone appointments with both CCCS and PayPlan. I did this because I wanted to take the advice from the two big Debt Counselling charities. Both of them were very friendly and helpful and I couldn't fault the Counsellors.

I find it interesting that one of them thought my car was HP, where the other insisted it was Personal Finance.

Before the call, I felt that I'd probably go with CCCS ... but after both calls I couldn't help but feel that of the two people I spoke to, PayPlan just edged it with understanding my scenario and also explanation of what happens.

Both companies suggested a DMP, but also some measures to increase cashflow and get the term reduced. Good stuff.

The only thing that I find disconcerting about PayPlan is their "selling you extras". Anyone whom calls a Debt Management company is already in the deep brown smelly stuff with their finances. I just thought it was strange to be being sold "what-if" type cover for scenarios that might not happen. In my head I kept hearing "You can only pay the money that you have left after the other bills have been paid". Luckily I have Life Cover, and Long Term Sick cover already ... but I don't have redundancy cover, nor do I have their "car servicing and breakdown cover".

Am I being too simplistic?? Surely in a DMP you should whack all free cash at the problem and bring it down as quick as possible?

That said, part of my reason for selecting PayPlan was that they had calculated that I had more outgoings a month than CCCS. This means in the first few months while we get used to this budget, having that extra few quid might be damn handy. Although it will lengthen the debt slightly. My concern as taking on a budget that then needs adjusting more.

Has anyone else bought into the Extras from PayPlan? are they a good idea? Have you ever needed on?

Or is it like Product Cover that you buy from certain High Street retailers!?

I the think the thing to remember is Payplan is not a charity. They are a commercial company that offer DMPs without fees, because of that they make money elsewhere, so trying to sell you other products is a way to try and do that. Don't take anything on unless 1) you are sure you need it and 2) you are certain its the cheapest avaiable on the market.

It can be quite hard to tell if a car is finance or an HP, it will depend on the paperwork. Did CCCS and Payplan actually see the paperwork? did you read it out to them?

Regarding the different budgets/ different payment things, have you looked at why they differ? where have Payplan 'allowed' you higher costs. If you continued paying at the suggested rates for the duration of the plan (which in reality you probably won't) how much difference would it make to the length of the plan? are you talking 2months or more like 20months?

mozzyc

Hi

We have the cover my life option, and might take them up on home insurance if the quote is reasonable. But no more. They offer the services, if you don't want them, just let them know.
I know what you mean though, it is weird for them to be selling extra's. But we've been with payplan now for 5 years, and have had no problems, and usually our case officer is very good in helping us out and explaining things to us. And the use of the justabank website is great. I can keep track of everything on there.

ald65

We are with PP and they have been great. The extras they sell are supposed to be to save you money, however we have never taken any of them up so not able to comment on how good they are. We havent experienced any hard sell on these products. We chose PP as their way of repaying suited us and we also had a loan which was classed as HP by them. Many people speak highly of CCCS , it was just that PP suited us better.
good luck whichever one you go with x

Lulee36

Hi

I started with CCCS but I did in the early days find them a little too slow with sorting out requests for financial statements etc and responding to ceditors which used to make them chase me so afer 2 years I went with payplan who I have been with for 5 years and I cant fault them

At the time CCCs did not offer online facilities and payplan did but a friend of mine has recently gone with CCCs and said she cant fault them ( and they now have online access)

fiscalfool

Tixy wrote: »

I the think the thing to remember is Payplan is not a charity. They are a commercial company that offer DMPs without fees, because of that they make money elsewhere, so trying to sell you other products is a way to try and do that. Don't take anything on unless 1) you are sure you need it and 2) you are certain its the cheapest avaiable on the market.

It can be quite hard to tell if a car is finance or an HP, it will depend on the paperwork. Did CCCS and Payplan actually see the paperwork? did you read it out to them?

Regarding the different budgets/ different payment things, have you looked at why they differ? where have Payplan 'allowed' you higher costs. If you continued paying at the suggested rates for the duration of the plan (which in reality you probably won't) how much difference would it make to the length of the plan? are you talking 2months or more like 20months?

Ah right, my misunderstanding. They didn't explain that to me, they just said "We are very similar to CCCS".

I agree with the ethos of unless you're certain you need it, don't have it!

The CCCS chap asked for the title of the car paperwork and said "oh that's certainly personal finance". The thing that confused me was my partners paperwork had the same title, but he classed hers as HP ... but only as it had a small balloon payment at the end. Payplan on the other hand said "If it's for a car, then it's HP" ... I did try to argue that there were different finance routes for cars, but he insisted it was HP.

I've done a spreadsheet comparison of the two, and there were certain things such as food, clothing etc that Payplan increased to within the BBA guidelines, but on the otherhand they annualised the Electricity bills and the Council Tax. So overall like you say, pretty similar in the end.

Thank you all for your great responses. Bit of a quandary now as which company to go for.

My other big issue is my job ... I need to investigate if there are any ramifications to my job if I enter a DMP. It's a bit daft really, as if I don't enter a DMP, then the credit cards will be full soon and I will be in arrears. So it's going to happen one way or another, I just thought it would be wise to be proactive and enter a DMP first before getting behind on things. Problem is that I think it might involve my job :S

Deep_In_Debt

One of the reasons I went with CCCS and not Payplan is that PP tried to sell me various "extras". They then tried to sell me an IVA which I knew was not suitable for me and got quite funny with me when I told them I wanted a dmp and not an IVA.

Deep_In_Debt

Your job need not know about a dmp unless you wish to tell them. Another reason why a dmp was better for me rather than an IVA as I work in Financial Services industry and at the time had an advisory role.

fiscalfool

It's more a case that I would have to tell them.

Clear out your PM's and I'll explain!

--

As a slight aside, I've just had a laugh. For a sanity check, I compared a Secured Loan to consolidate everything. Even so, the loan payment would not be covered by my current available income after servicing priority debts.

mumslave

I was with payplan for 18 months and wouldnt recommend them personally. They tried to sell me extras too and I was told by my husbands insolvency practitioner, that payplan is funded by a lot of the big creditors out there, so they arent actually working for you....I also asked them if we could have an IVA and was told as we had debts over 15000 we couldnt. Lies. Twice i was told this, so wasted 18 months on a DMP that didnt get us anywhere. We are now on a trust deed with a private company.

As for CCCS I have no idea about them.

fiscalfool

I think I found it a bit disconcerting that a company aiming to help me out of a situation was just trying to sell me extras. Granted some of them might help out, but it just seemed the wrong approach.

Oh and Mumslave ... just read your status. Good luck for tomorrow and all the best ;-)