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StepChange_Pavan

kathleenbrennan wrote: »

Hi,

I just went through the CCCS online tool and received my booklet. It suggests a DMP but there's a few things I'm confused about:

1. It states my monthly contractual payments as £529 but I calculated them as £389... I went back through the tool but I can't amend those figures, does this mean that the advice is incorrect for my situation?

2. I am advised to change my bank account, however, it is a condition of my personal loan that I stay with this account as my main one until the loan is paid off or the bank can request payment in full. Does the DMP take this into account?

3.Will being on a DMP affect my credit rating? I've recently met a wonderful new partner after 8 years with a man who treated me very badly (not his fault, he turned out to have undiagnosed bi-polar disorder) and we are hoping to rent together at the end of this year. I don't want to be credit checked and refused when we are looking for a house.

4. How do I know how much spare income I will have after paying everything each month on this plan? Again, I need to save up for a deposit to move in with my partner.

5. I can afford to pay my personal loan, it's just the credit cards that have become a problem. Is it possible to continue the loan payments and enter into a DMP for the credit cards only?

6. I entered that I am behind on some of my household bills in the online tool. I moved into a new house in December and my house-mate pays the bills quarterly. I was stupid and used the money I should have set aside for bills on credit card payments. I now owe him about £175, which I can just about afford to pay him next month, if I don't put the usual amount of money away for car costs and cut back on my food bill this month (which should be fine because my partner will be away for 3 weeks). Is the advice affected because it assumes I can't pay the arrears?

Sorry for so many questions but I really need to know this is the best possible route for me before taking it on.

K

Hi K and thank you for your post.

Your contractual payments shouldn’t affect your debt solution unless you were actually able to maintain the real ones. If you’re concerned about this you could call our web support team just to make sure.

Whilst making reduced payments through a DMP you are breaking the original terms and conditions of the agreement. It’s important that you change your bank account; otherwise there is the risk of them taking money from your account without your permission.

Unfortunately your credit rating will be affected from being on a DMP. This is because you will be defaulting against your original agreements.

A DMP takes all of your surplus income into consideration to pay towards your debts. All essential expenditure is included in your budget so you will have enough to live on. It’s not usual that you will have any spare money towards saving as this money could be going towards clearing your debts quicker. If you need to allocate more money within your budget, you may need to amend your expenditure.

With regards to your arrears you will need to amend this on your budget. Debt Remedy will assume that you need to pay more towards these priorities to get them back up to date. If you feel that you can comfortably clear them before the start of the plan you will not need to do this.

I hope this answers all of your questions, but you can call our web support team if you need any clarification. They have access to all your information and can discuss and make any changes for you.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

saltnvinegar wrote: »

Dear Lovely CCCS people

I was posting some advice to someone on here last week, who mentioned that they were not keen to take a DMP with the CCCS as they had been told that the CCCS no longer wrote to creditors on behalf of debtors on DMP's.

Could you clarify the position please as I wouldn't want to give incorrect information!

Best

SnV

Hi SnV!

I hope you’re well


I’m not sure who might have given this information, but we need to liaise with creditors on behalf of our clients in order to offer them payments through a DMP.

Could it be that they are referring to token payments? We don’t administer these on a DMP so we would support the client to contact their creditors themselves.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

saltnvinegar

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi SnV!

I hope you’re well


I’m not sure who might have given this information, but we need to liaise with creditors on behalf of our clients in order to offer them payments through a DMP.

Could it be that they are referring to token payments? We don’t administer these on a DMP so we would support the client to contact their creditors themselves.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Hi Pavan!

Apart from a bout of the lurgy I am very well thanks! Hope you are well too!

Thanks for clarifying that point, thats what I thought but just wanted to check!

Best

SnV

username1988

Hi there, my Father in law has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is currently in hospital receiving treatment for this. Whilst he has been in, my Mother in law has found out that there have been several missed payments on their mortgage and that her husband has a considerable amount of debt in the form of credit cards and loans. Since his diagnosis 18 months ago he has had to take a considerable amount of time off work sick, resulting in reduced salary, consequently this has caused him to juggle his finances and rack up debt - unbeknown to his wife!

He has no life insurance policy and we have identified that between a number of loans, credit cards and overdrafts he owes around £30,000 - this doesnt take into consideration the £153,000 owed on the mortgage which is currently a negative equity.

There are of course a number of missed payments on these credit cards and loans and also unpaid utility bills - all of which is soley in his name.

Could you please advise where i should help my Mother in law to begin!

Many thanks.

myth3_16

Hello,

I wonder if you could help me.

I took out a Halifax Loan in 2005 when I first started my Job. I kept up the repayments on this for a while and then I got a bit silly with my Credit Card. I took out another Halifax Loan to pay the card off but I was young, stupid and reckless and filled the card back up again. They kept putting my credit limit up and I wasn't going to complain. I took out my last loan in 2006 and couldn't afford to pay them all back even though I was working so I stopped paying them.

In 2009 I was made redundant from my job with no redundancy pay as the company I worked for went into administration so they had no money left to pay the redundancy money. I have been living with my wife who goes to work full time and we are finding it very difficult paying our own household bills.

Two weeks ago I got a letter from Buchanan Clarke and Wells about my debts. They had been passed onto a company called The Arrow Group and they was acting as DCA for them. When I received these letters I found them to be very obtuse to say the least. The language they use in the letter is very forceful and very intimidating. I immediately sent them a letter back stating I did not have any residual income, I sent a income/Expenditure as well, and that I could not afford to pay any of my debts as I didn't work and my wife was the only one working and all of our money goes on our priortiy debts e.g. Council Tax arrears, utility Arrears etc. My wife is currently having to get Pay Day Loans to keep us afloat throughout the month and we are very nearly at breaking point. I got another letter from BCW Group last week stating that I hadn't contacted them and they have been monitoring my credit activity and they see no reason why I should not be paying them and that it appears that I must just be ignoring the debts.

This made me feel so small and made me feel so intimidated. Are they allowed to monitor my credit report without my consent? I feel as though I am on a downward spiral and can't break loose from it.

Your advice will be much appreciated.

Brett

StepChange_Pavan

username1988 wrote: »

Hi there, my Father in law has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is currently in hospital receiving treatment for this. Whilst he has been in, my Mother in law has found out that there have been several missed payments on their mortgage and that her husband has a considerable amount of debt in the form of credit cards and loans. Since his diagnosis 18 months ago he has had to take a considerable amount of time off work sick, resulting in reduced salary, consequently this has caused him to juggle his finances and rack up debt - unbeknown to his wife!

He has no life insurance policy and we have identified that between a number of loans, credit cards and overdrafts he owes around £30,000 - this doesnt take into consideration the £153,000 owed on the mortgage which is currently a negative equity.

There are of course a number of missed payments on these credit cards and loans and also unpaid utility bills - all of which is soley in his name.

Could you please advise where i should help my Mother in law to begin!

Many thanks.

Hi username1988,

Thanks for your post and I’m sorry to hear about your father in law’s illness.

The main priority is to get back up to date with the mortgage and utility payments.

It’s important for your mother in law to communicate with their mortgage lender and make them aware of the situation as soon as possible.

The first thing to do is put together a budget, making sure it covers all essential expenditure. This will help them to work out how much they can pay towards the arrears on the mortgage and utilities.

Credit cards and loans are not as important at this stage, and it could mean offering their creditors token payments until other bills are back up to date.

If they would like help in putting together a budget and looking at the options available they could contact us for further advice. If they would prefer for you to speak to us on their behalf we would need a letter of authority from your father in law.

They can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist them in completing a financial statement which includes information on the household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to deal with their situation.

Once they’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information they will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice based on their current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways they may be able to improve their situation.

Alternatively if they would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about their situation, they can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

myth3_16 wrote: »

Hello,

I wonder if you could help me.

I took out a Halifax Loan in 2005 when I first started my Job. I kept up the repayments on this for a while and then I got a bit silly with my Credit Card. I took out another Halifax Loan to pay the card off but I was young, stupid and reckless and filled the card back up again. They kept putting my credit limit up and I wasn't going to complain. I took out my last loan in 2006 and couldn't afford to pay them all back even though I was working so I stopped paying them.

In 2009 I was made redundant from my job with no redundancy pay as the company I worked for went into administration so they had no money left to pay the redundancy money. I have been living with my wife who goes to work full time and we are finding it very difficult paying our own household bills.

Two weeks ago I got a letter from Buchanan Clarke and Wells about my debts. They had been passed onto a company called The Arrow Group and they was acting as DCA for them. When I received these letters I found them to be very obtuse to say the least. The language they use in the letter is very forceful and very intimidating. I immediately sent them a letter back stating I did not have any residual income, I sent a income/Expenditure as well, and that I could not afford to pay any of my debts as I didn't work and my wife was the only one working and all of our money goes on our priortiy debts e.g. Council Tax arrears, utility Arrears etc. My wife is currently having to get Pay Day Loans to keep us afloat throughout the month and we are very nearly at breaking point. I got another letter from BCW Group last week stating that I hadn't contacted them and they have been monitoring my credit activity and they see no reason why I should not be paying them and that it appears that I must just be ignoring the debts.

This made me feel so small and made me feel so intimidated. Are they allowed to monitor my credit report without my consent? I feel as though I am on a downward spiral and can't break loose from it.

Your advice will be much appreciated.

Brett

Hi Brett and thanks for your post,

You’ve already done the right thing by writing to your creditors and making them aware of your situation. You’re also correct that you must pay your priority bills before paying your creditors.

Your creditors can access your credit file, but your income and expenditure will support the fact that you can’t afford to pay any more at the moment.


If you and your wife are using payday loans to survive it suggests you may benefit from looking at your situation as a whole.

If you’d like us to look at your situation in more detail you can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00. If you do decide to call us, please have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have all of the necessary information ready, it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

Regards,
Pavan

crolkuk

Thanks for the reply Pavan. I have spoken to CCCS and because my monthly payments are made on 25th they're not able to stop this month's payment to Wonga. I will be contacting them myself (Wonga that is) to speak to them about this. I will then liaise with CCCS so that in future the Wonga allocation can be disbursed amongst my other creditors. That is, unless Wonga repay me! Ha ha, faint hope! As always, CCCS gives good advice! ::)

CCCS_Sue

Today is sad day as I have to say goodbye to everyone here on the forums. I am hanging up my debt advice book and retiring after 10 years working with CCCS.

Pavan and Mat will still be here continuing to offer expert advice on your debt queries

I just wanted to say goodbye to you all and to wish you a speedy debt free future.



Sue x

backinbusiness

bye sue

you all do such good work

bib