Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

annetta123

Just a little observation on my part. During the times that I have been reading these pages, one thing stick out more than anything else. Whilst it would appear that help is available, it is very confusing and a bit all over the place, perhaps that's the nature of a discussion on this subject, I don't know.

CCCS seems to come highly recommended, but it also appears to me that none of this is plain sailing, indeed, some of the problems people have encountered are for me, personally, counter productive, as the more I read the less inclined I have become to seek the assistance of a debt counselling service.

Is it just me, or do others feel the same way?

CCCS_Sue

hayston wrote: »

Hi,
I wonder if you can give me some advice.
I have been on a dmp for the last 8 months.
I may be in line for some compensation. My question is I thought about putting this into a high interest acct so I could perhaps make a full and final settlement to my creditors in the near future. Would this be allowed on a dmp or if I were to receive the money would I have to put it towards my dmp and reduce the amount i owe if and when i receive it. I can not afford any more per month to my dmp. If Iwere to receive any compensation it would only be about a third of what i owe.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

Hi hayston and thank you for your message

I would recommend that you ring our client support team so they can advise you further on full and final settlements. You may be able to negotiate with the creditors with the amount you have, without putting the money in a high interest account.
These normally work on long term investment.
If any of the creditors were to start charging interest again during this time, this could wipe out any interest you had gained on your investment.
If you have a cash lump sum, it would make sense to use it to try and get rid of your existing debt and have a fresh start.

Regards
Sue

Clowance

My sister in law and husband have £40000 outstanding on credit cards - interest bearing variety. They have a £60000 endowment mortgage with a 30000 shortfall maturing in 4 years - so they will need to raise another 30000 then. Plus they are having trouble with noisy neighbours. Their solution is to sell the flat, pay everything off and move into rented with a nest egg of the remainder of their equity and the cashed in policy.

They don't think they would be able to remortgage - or move with a new mortgage - with their current credit rating.

Is this the right thing to do? Point me in the right direction to give them some advice, please! We are not in a position to help them financially, unfortunately.
TIA

CCCS_Sarah

nolumfc wrote: »

CCCS-Sarah
Without going into to much detail at the moment could you please give me some advice.
All of my credit cards and loans come straight out of my account by direct debit.
If i send letters to my creditors asking for them to freeze interest and accept token payment will they still be able to take the direct debit out of my account?
Thanks
NOLUMFC

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

If your debts are with the same bank then they may still take the money, so you would need to open a basic bank account as soon as possible where you have no debts.

With other banks, once the direct debit is cancelled they can’t take the money.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

kiwikaz wrote: »

Just a general query.
I'm currently on a DMP with you and, at the moment on benefit. Hopefully in the very near future I should be back job hunting.
My question is ; Would it be a wise move to try and seek employment with someone to whom you owe money ? My town is turning into Tesco town so there are likely to be plenty of job opportunities but I owe them over 10k on a credit card.

Karen.

Hi Karen,

If there is a job going I would go for it! If you were asked on your application if you owed Tesco any money I would recommend that you declare it. Big companies like these generally are broken down into different sectors ie Tesco’s Finance and retail etc

If you did get the job, I would also recommend that you check your contract to be on the safe side.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

greyhound22 wrote: »

Hi and thanks for the previous reply but just need to know should I phone Lloyds tsb and reiterate the fact I am on a DMP and cannot afford any more and what is the likely outcome of the enforcement notice as there is no mention of collection agencies only legal action . All this is very worrying as I came to the cccs through a link on the Lloyds tsb website when I realised I was in difficulties but they now don't appear to be very cooperative towards the DMP .

Is the overdraft getting a monthly payment through your DMP?

CCCS_Sarah

joanne64 wrote: »

Hi,
I hope you can help me. I am considering a DMP, but I have a joint loan of about £10k with my husband. I don't want to drag him into the DMP with me, so I wondered if it is possible to add this joint loan to my DMP without him being affected?
Thanks

If you are going on a DMP then you would need to include the joint loan as well, as all your debts would need to be include as you can not prioritise one debt over another.

There is nothing stopping your husband making the difference in the payment up though as this would the technically keep that debt up to date.

Does your husband have any debts of his own that he is struggling with? If so, then you could look at a joint DMP.

If you would like to book an appointment to discuss this then you could call our helpline free on 0800 138 1111.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

annetta123 wrote: »

Just a little observation on my part. During the times that I have been reading these pages, one thing stick out more than anything else. Whilst it would appear that help is available, it is very confusing and a bit all over the place, perhaps that's the nature of a discussion on this subject, I don't know.

CCCS seems to come highly recommended, but it also appears to me that none of this is plain sailing, indeed, some of the problems people have encountered are for me, personally, counter productive, as the more I read the less inclined I have become to seek the assistance of a debt counselling service.

Is it just me, or do others feel the same way?

Hi Annetta,

Thank you for your post.

Becoming debt free is anything but plain sailing. People that are in financial difficulties do find it initially very hard as it’s a lifestyle change and most of the time not through any fault of there own. Everyone’s situation is different and advice is not a case “one size fits all”.

The best thing anyone in difficulties can do is approach an independent organisation such as CCCS, CAB or National Debtline. Once they know their options then they can start to move forward.

People that are struggling with debts also have the added pressures on dealing with creditors and collection agencies. Advice charities help educate people of the collection process and what creditors can and can’t do whilst they are offering reduced payments. Without these free services, people would have no option but to turn to profit making companies that may not necessarily have the client’s best interest at heart.

All of the above organisations provide clients with their advice in writing and also provide aftercare services, so if someone feels that they need to chat that they are more than welcome to come back as many times as necessary. For some this may not be needed and others it provides a valuable service but everyone is individual.

Sarah

CCCS_Sarah

Clowance wrote: »

My sister in law and husband have £40000 outstanding on credit cards - interest bearing variety. They have a £60000 endowment mortgage with a 30000 shortfall maturing in 4 years - so they will need to raise another 30000 then. Plus they are having trouble with noisy neighbours. Their solution is to sell the flat, pay everything off and move into rented with a nest egg of the remainder of their equity and the cashed in policy.

They don't think they would be able to remortgage - or move with a new mortgage - with their current credit rating.

Is this the right thing to do? Point me in the right direction to give them some advice, please! We are not in a position to help them financially, unfortunately.
TIA

Hi Clowance,

I would recommend that they have an appointment with the CCCS and then we would be able to talk through their options.

We could also refer them to an independent broker who can look into the mortgage side of things.

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

Sarah

elnino1978

Hi

I've come on this site over past few months and its great! To date I've got back over £1k in PPI/Credit card charges and still on a journey in this regard.

I'm on a DMP with a company that charges. Basically about a year ago I was just so fed up with the mess I was in and googled debt help and very quickly signed up - at the time any assistance any one could provide would have been most grateful and they seemed and where very helpful at the time. In fairness it has been good in getting me back on track however I pay £70 a month to the company which is £840 per year.

I've been thinking alot about this as yes they have saved me a lot of interest by negotiating better rates but they are been well paid for it!

I'm very tempted to just ring my creditors and take over the plan myself as I've never missed a payment and could offer them all more money ie the £70 & just write to the company and end their involvement

What do you think - can I get the same reduced rates on the credit cards x 4 or do things have to be renegotiated etc?

Any advice would be appreciated - I just want to be debt free as quick as possible and that £840 would get rid of 2 creditors!

Thanks
John