Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

CCCS_Sarah

brokepaolo wrote: »

Hi,

I am due to start a DMP with the CCCS but haven't yet sent off all the paperwork to either my creditors or to the CCCS.

The reasons for this are as follows:

1) one of the companies I owe money to(American Express) had originally passed my debt on to a debt collection agency, but they have told me they no longer deal with my account. Who should I send my DMP letter too? American Express directly?

2) When filling in my debt remedy on the CCCS site, I originally entered an income of £1290 after tax because that's what I'd calculated my salary would be following a payrise that was confirmed to me just prior to my filling out the debt remedy. However, my net income after the payrise is actually £1270 now, probably due to some change in my taxcode.

3) having moved house in February, I only recently got round to informing my employer of my new address and last month's payslip(I get paid on the 20th of each month) was sent to my old address, I asked the current tenants if they had it and they said it probably got thrown away when they couldn't find it. I do have a payslip from december last year but that shows my old salary. Should I send that to the CCCS along with the other documentation required for my DMP?

4) Finally. when sending letters to my creditors informing them of my DMP and including my token payments of £1, I've heard that I should not sign them with my usual signature but on the template letter from the CCCS, it says that I should use my usual signature. which should I use then?

thanks,

Paul.

Hello,

If your income is different to your budget, this needs to be changed as this would affect the surplus available to the debts. If you are unable to locate a pay slip, could you ask your employer for another copy?

With regards the American Express debt, contact them directly as the debt may have been passed back to them. We would need to know what company it has been passed to so that we can make the payments to them.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

PUREHOMES wrote: »

Ive got to the point where both my partner and I need to sort out our debt.

The questions i have are:

1) I have a full time job, but recently set up my own business too to try and make some extra income. Would a DMP or IVA affect this? At the moment I have not taken any wages out of the company. The reason being I am trying to build up a few thousand pounds in there, so that I can compete for bigger deals. The plan is to not take anything out of the company for 12 months (another 9 months from now)

2) Both our credit scores are obviously shot. Our mortgage is up for renewal next year. Which out of a DMP or IVA affects this more?

Thanks

Hello,

Thank you for your email.

When it comes to renewing your mortgage, your lender will take into account your credit file. So if your credit file is “shot” the chance is you would pay a higher rate of interest as you would be classed as more of a risk.

I would recommend that you have an appointment to discuss your options, as we can talk in detail about your options and the implications and see which option best suits you.

If you would like an appointment, please call 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

babyplum wrote: »

Hello! Hope you can help.

I have been in a DMP with CCCS since 2005 and when we had our 1st child in 2008 we had to lower our monthly payment to CCCS significantly. Originally we had a debt free date of 2010 but due to our lower payment this has now changed to something crazy like 2018.

I have just finished calling all of our creditors to get an up-to-date balance from them and to check if there is any interest being added to the accounts. They all confirmed that they have now stopped adding any interest and i finally feel like i am getting somewhere.

However i have just started a new job and am in a position to be able to pay more to the CCCS each month. I really want to get this DMP over with asap as my husband and i are still renting and would really like to be able to buy our own home in the near future. But i am really worried that some of my creditors are going to see that i can afford to pay more and will start adding interest again. Is this likely to happen?

If your income does increase then you would need to let the CCCS know as your budget should reflect your situation.

If you are paying more to the debts then this will reduce the term of the DMP. I would not be able to say if the creditors will start the interest again or not as it’s really the creditor’s choice. If the debts have been passed to collection agencies, then it is less likely that they will start the interest again.

Hope this helps
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

superdupermummy wrote: »

Hi
I am after some advice for a colleague regarding locating and paying a CCJ.
He recently discovered that there as an outstanding CCJ on his credit file dating back to 2005, he had a few CCJ's back then and thought that they had all been satisfied.
The outstanding one states that it is Natwest, he has held a current account with them for many years so they have always had his address details but he has no idea what it is for.
He has spoken to northampton county court who gave him the name of the solicitors who were dealing with the case.
Geoffrey Parker bourne.
Called them and they said it had been passed to H.l legal services.
Called H.l legal and they said they aren't dealing anymore and that it was passed to Intrum Justitia.
Called them and they said it was passed back to Natwest in December 2005.
Called Natwest and they couldn't see anything on his file reflecting this.. Said they would pass it to the care team to call him.
The reference at the court simply states "Natwest" as the claimant.
He has chased today and they still have no record of this.
It is only for less than £150 and he is willing to pay it to get it off his files. Surely if it states Natwest they can take the money and satisfy the CCJ?
This is causing issues in credit checking by a potential employer and he needs to get it sorted ASAP.
He has hit a brick wall in getting it sorted as no one seens to be able to help?
Any ideas?
Thanks
xx

:mad:

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

I would recommend that that your friend contacts the Financial Ombudsman for advice, and explain that he just wants to pay the debt and is not getting anywhere with the creditor. The contact number for the Financial Ombudsman is 0845 080 1800.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

annalou wrote: »

hi guys,

my partner and i have finally come to accept we can't carry on any longer without tackling our huge credit cards debts (around 25k)
since last year we have been drawing cash from credit cards to pay into our bank accounts just to make the minimum payments to the cards and having to use the cards just to buy food and petrol as our minimum payments are taking up so much of our salaries.

its such a miserable cycle but i am scared to tackle these debts and admit the problem because i work in a bank myself and we have annual credit checks, so if i call the credit card companies to tell them we can't make our minimum payments i'm scared it will flag something up to my employers and i will lose my job and make things even worse.

my employers are RBS and i owe £3k to them on a card and an overdraft too.

I would recommend that you have an appointment with the CCCS, and then we can help you complete a detailed financial statement and look at your long term options. During your appointment, your counsellor will let you know the best way to deal with the debts including the ones you have with your work. This is a common situation.

If you would like an appointment, please call 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

emmabean9 wrote: »

Hi

I've not posted before on a forum so apologies if I get this wrong or if I've posted in the wrong place.

I need some advice on how to move forward as I am overdrawn by £3500. My limit is £4020 (with a £500 buffer but this incurs daily charges and is by agreement only) I am trying to reduce my outgoings as much as possible so to pay off my overdraft as quickly as possible and get back into the black. I haven't missed payments on anything.

I am a single parent with one child working 30 hrs per week. I can't work overtime as Tax Credits will reduce and I will be in the same situation. My son is only 5 and childcare is a big problem.

My Income is as follows

Earnings £930.00
Tax Credits £315.00
Maintenance£150.00
Child Benefit £81.20

Total Income £1476.20

These are my outgoings

House
Mortgage (£110000.00) £708.89 (will reduce January 2011 when fixed 6.95% rate comes to an end and I go on to base rate & 2.34%)
Water £ 34.27
Gas & Electric £ 82.00 (will reduce over summer plus have really good deal with provider so switching isnt an option)
Council Tax £ 75.10 (already have 25% single person discount)
Home & Contents Insurance £ 10.00

Car
Car Insurance £25.00
Car Service & MOT £13.75
Car Tax £ 2.50
Fuel £50.00
Tunnel £10.00
Car Park £29.38

TV
TV License £12.12
Sky £48.00 (reduced to £36.73 for a few months - trying to get out of contract completely otherwise paying until February 2011)

Finance
Repayment to Mum and Dad for deposit on House £ 50.00 (£14400 left to repay - interest free)
Personal Loan (£10000) £163.16 (81 months to go)
Overdraft Interest £ 20.00 (currently £3500 overdrawn on £4000 limit)
Current Account Fee £ 6.50 (can't get rid of otherwise interest rate on overdraft will rocket)
DFS £ 17.18 (27 months to go)

Other
Housekeeping, ie Food etc £100.00
Child Care £ 95.00

Total Outgoings *** £1552.85 ***

So every month I am going at least £75 more into my overdraft. I am thinking of selling my car and using the money to repay some of my overdraft. I can get a travel pass which would cost about £60 a month so that would mean I was only going overdrawn by around £5 per month but if there is any other way I can reduce my outgoings further, ie if anyone knows how I can get out of Sky contract (which seems to me to be the only thing I can get rid off), please can anyone help?

Thanks

Hi Emma,

Thank you for your email.

There other costs that would also be classed as a priority i.e. clothes. You could have an appointment with the CCCS, and then we can help you complete a detailed financial statement. During your call the counsellor will discuss the figures in your budget if there are any areas that you are over spending or under spending.

With regards your sky contract it would be allowed within a budget, but just one of the more basic packages this is to free more money up for your priority costs. Speak to sky about your situation as sometimes they offer deals. If it came to it, you could offer them a reduced payment and just add the remaining amount to your list of creditors and then just treat it as another debt – your counsellor will discuss this with you.

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

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

doombrain wrote: »

Good morning, we have managed to pay approx £26,000 off a £57,000 debt over the last 3 and a half years, but the balance owed to some of our creditors is around the same as when we started paying and one instance, actually higher. Can anybody tell us what would happen if we committed the lump sum we currently pay elsewhere, e.g. into a pension scheme, for a redundancy and sickness policy or a life insurance policy etc. So in effect not be left with anything spare at the end of each month. The reason for this question is that even though we have taken the commitment to pay off our debts seriously, it appears that if these companies decide to they can keep you paying for years without actually getting anywhere. Thanks four your attention.

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

Could you clarify the question for me? Do you mean stop paying the debts and pay the money into insurances etc or stop paying these and use this money for the debts?

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

shopnomore wrote: »

Dear CCCS advice-givers,

I (we-husband and self) have made a royal mess of our finances - about £60k across loans, credit cards and overdrafts. This has been building up over the last 9 years and we kept taking a new loan to pay off previous loans and credit cards and then spending on the CC's again. Stupid. I know. I really do not know how we have done it but we have and we have now reached the point of no return.
We were managing to meet the minimum repayments each month on everything which was not ideal as it would tkae us forever and athen some to pay it all off but at least we were on top of it all. Then my husband was made redundant from his job at Christmas and our combined income of £50k a year dropped to £25k a year and we are now in arrears and panicking.
We have no savings, we have no-where to turn. We have no-one but ourselves to blame. We are committed to paying these debts back but not sure how. My husband has applied for just about everyjob under the sun and has gotten nowhere fast. We foolishly believed he would just get another job easily.
Anyway, we sat down and listed everything.
And think, in our opinion anyway, that a DMP is probably our best option. Or flee the country.
So we have completed the debt remedy tool online at your website last weeked and got our ref number but I just wondered what the next step is now?
Is there anything else we need to do? Our bank have put our account n hold for 14 days whilst we contacted you and advised us to find alternative banking facilities so I am just going to find a new bank now if anyone will have us!! Eeeek.
Thanks
shopnomore

Hello,

You should receive your pack within the next couple of days and all the information is in there. There will be a letter to send to your creditors called “notification of debt management plan”, and we would need back a signed agreement, proof of income and proof of expenditure.

Once we have all the information back from yourself, we will then send the creditors the proposals and you will receive a welcome pack with details of your first payment etc.

I have attached a link to a booklet that has a list of basic bank accounts if you are unsure of what bank to approach.

http://www.moneymadeclear.org.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf

Good luck with your DMP and let me know if you have any questions

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

48k wrote: »

I am currently on a DMP with CCCS, there is a chance of a bonus structure being put in place in work, this would mean i would have small lump sums available from time to time, if it happens would i be able to use them to pay off in full some smaller debts on the dmp, i know its preferential treatment but at the same time, this would mean the monthly amount to the other creditors could increase so they would get paid back quicker too?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks

As your bonus may fluctuate, I would recommend that you just give our client support department a call as and when you get a little extra and they will talk through your best option.

Sarah

TJBenton

CARCRAFT
Please please please help me .... I too have become a victim of that horrid company and do not know what to do !

I bought a car on 9th March after I spoke to the salesman to see if the car that I purchased was of similar running costs as my old Volvo S40 - he used aggressive sales tactics and I brought a car that was not economical (20mpg and over £400 in road tax a year) I paid a deposit of £1000 on my credit card and £3990 on finance of 29.8% APR from Consumer Credit finance!!

I asked to replace the car 2 days later because I thought it was my fault and was dealt with in what I can only describe as a violated way...

I am a single parent and living off benefits and did mention this to the salesman - whilst taking my particulars he asked me what I did before - when I told him he said "oh that will get you your finance"....

I was at my wits end and decided to return the car on 31st March and hand over the keys and request a full refund due to misrepresentation .... they are defending the claim in court even though I have a witness to everything the salesman said....

I have read so many complaints online that I don't know how they are getting away with it !!!

Regards

Tracy Benton