Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

System

Jughead wrote: »

Hi everyone, my wife and I both took out different courses with skillstrain on finance with barclays partner finance in early 2007 I think, I dont think either of us ever handed in an assignment (partly due to the books they left us with being out of date and partly due to us being lazy) but the point is by the time we decided we wanted out it had passed the 14 day cooling off period, we continued paying for maybe the rest of the year before we both canceled our direct debits (stupid, I know), anyway we have had various letters over the years from various company's all "acting" on behalf of barclays, we have never responded to any of them and dont have them anymore, we have moved house once since then but have had another round of letters today this time from a company called capquest debt recovery, I owe £1800 and my wife owes around £900 I believe, we would like to do the right thing and settle up but are unsure of how to go about it as we cant aford much, I'm part time at 2 jobs one of which is minimum wage and the other isnt much better, she earns considerably more but due to my low wage we can barely make ends meet (we have almost £4000 on a creditcard which we are stedily reducing as well), Ive done a bit of research about the company asking for the money now and they dont seem like the sort i want to confirm we live here too so any advice will be welcome

p.s. sorry about the length of this post, its nice to finally talk to someone about it :T

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I’d recommend putting together an accurate income and expenditure budget and looking at what you can realistically afford to repay. We can assist you with this.

We’d need to include all the companies you owe money to including CapQuest.

The first thing to do is visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If you phone us 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.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

Hi there,

Many thanks for your post.

The CCCS MoneyAware team are out of the office until Tuesday, 3rd of January. Please accept our apologies for any delay in replying to your question.

You can still receive debt counselling over the New Year period through our online service Debt Remedy (http://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk) 24 hours a day.

You can also read our short guide to debt help http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/12/christmas-debt-help/.

We hope you enjoy a Happy New Year
Kind regards,

The CCCS MoneyAware team
http://www.cccs.co.uk
http://moneyaware.co.uk

lozzz

hi
i am new to this site, i woundering what i could do about my debts am a young lad (25) i enjoyed my life when i was 18 and spent on the plastic and overdrafts now i have a young family and its going wrong. i can afford to pay my min payments on my credit cards and loan just but now we need to move into a house and am not going to be able to am about £3500-£4000 in debt, i am in full time imployment on a basic amount however my credit rating is pathetic never going to get a loan to pay 1 bill each month, every month i have to go around paying different bills an direct debit going out of my account left right and centre, i really need some advice on whats the best thing for me to do a lot of my money going to be tied up in the near future please help! thank you!

proudmumof1

I desperately need some advice on where to get started with our debt problems. We have been 'juggling' for a while as we are a 1 income family but I had been oblivious to just how serious things had got. (Ive been completely preoccupied with our son and his special needs statementing process and his problems at school)

My husband has admited today that he has not been entirely honest with whats been happening and how bad things are:
1 month behind with the mortgage
several months behind with the council tax
credit card debts spiralling
bad letters from everybody

He has tried to resolve some of the issue very recently but without going into all the specifics the incoming just doesnt cover the outgoings.
He called the mortgage company just before christmas and requested an interest only option but they have refused ( he got a letter refusing his request between christmas and new year). He has also agreed a payment plan on the council tax but their first repayment isnt due until next week and its huge!

So, any advice would be welcome also as i realise we have to deal with the mortgage, council tax and credit cards as a priority, how do I go about asking them for help.
Are there any standard template letters to send?

Finally, I have done a budget sheet outlining all outgoings and incomings, is it sensible to attach this to the letters to the above people?

Many thanks to anyone reading this who can offer any advice.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

proudmumof1 wrote: »

I desperately need some advice on where to get started with our debt problems. We have been 'juggling' for a while as we are a 1 income family but I had been oblivious to just how serious things had got. (Ive been completely preoccupied with our son and his special needs statementing process and his problems at school)

My husband has admited today that he has not been entirely honest with whats been happening and how bad things are:
1 month behind with the mortgage
several months behind with the council tax
credit card debts spiralling
bad letters from everybody

He has tried to resolve some of the issue very recently but without going into all the specifics the incoming just doesnt cover the outgoings.
He called the mortgage company just before christmas and requested an interest only option but they have refused ( he got a letter refusing his request between christmas and new year). He has also agreed a payment plan on the council tax but their first repayment isnt due until next week and its huge!

So, any advice would be welcome also as i realise we have to deal with the mortgage, council tax and credit cards as a priority, how do I go about asking them for help.
Are there any standard template letters to send?

Finally, I have done a budget sheet outlining all outgoings and incomings, is it sensible to attach this to the letters to the above people?

Many thanks to anyone reading this who can offer any advice.

Hi and Welcome whilst you are waiting to have an advisor come back to you. We have a couple of support threads on here if you would like to join in. Reading back pages can be really helpful to see the journeys people have gone on.

Withouth a paddle and also DMP support threads on debt free diaries pages.

It must have been very difficult for your husband to come clean. I hope you are able to support each other. Admitting it and knowing where you are means you are a significant step along the route to recovery.

The CCCS website is very helpful. You can anonymously enter all your debts and outgoings to the Debt remedy tool and it will come up with suggested plan for you without you needing to give your name or personal details. That was a huge attraction to me and as I gained information felt more confident to proceed.

Most of the people at CCCS are great. I'm sure someone will be along to help you in the next couple of days.

Hope that helps.

HHx

proudmumof1

Thanks HH for your support,

I will get onto those threads now and have a read through! I tried to speak to the mortage company today - completely forgetting its a bank holiday so no luck there.
Will try again tomorrow.

Thanks again HH - Ill keep an eye on here for responses over the next few days
x

jay17_2

I am looking for some advice....

I have recently started addressing my 'bad debts' and received a letter about a current account I held with RBS. The overdraft on this account was £500 however the debt which was outstanding has jumped up to £908.66.

Is there anyway i can challenge the amount that has been added on (im guessing this is through charges etc) or am i stuck with it as i defaulted on payments?

It has now been passed on to a debt recovery company, have i missed my chance to do anything about this amount?

any help at all appreciated

StepChange_Pavan

Chrisblue1962 wrote: »

Hi, just a quick query about DMPs

Lets say that I am on a DMP with CCCS with 6 creditors, all receiving amounts in proportion to amounts owed, lets say £25.00 , £25.00 , £20.00 , £15.00 , £10.00 and £5.00 , total being paid £100.00 per month.

Lets say that the smallest creditor, receiving £5.00, gets their final payment.

My question is: When the smallest creditor is paid off, how is money subsequently allocated to remaining creditors? Do CCCS....

• Just split the payment, £5.00 in this example, equally between five remaining creditors, i.e £1.00 each?

• Do they re-apportion the payment , £5.00 in this case, on a pro rata basis based on remaining debts due?

• Or, do take the whole monthly amount, £100.00 in this example and re-apportion the whole monthly payment pro rata among the remaing creditors based on amounts owing to each creditor?

Thanks for your help

Hi Chrisblue1962 and thanks for your post.

We would take the £100 and pro rata this between your remaining creditors.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

thebrink wrote: »

Hello i would just like to ask how long a debt relief order takes as i have sent in further information for debts of £8467 mainly credit cards and catalogue mobile phone contract i have a cccs budget plan i receive benefits due to a disability and the stress has had a major impact on my health i have been told that i am eliglible for a dro how long can i expect to receive a reply from sending further information in recently thank you

Hi thebrink and thanks for your post.

It’s not clear whether you’ve already discussed a DRO with us and the process has started or whether you have just had some initial advice. I’d recommend that you call our support team and they will be able to look into your details to see if we have received your information and how much longer the process will take.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

lozzz wrote: »

hi
i am new to this site, i woundering what i could do about my debts am a young lad (25) i enjoyed my life when i was 18 and spent on the plastic and overdrafts now i have a young family and its going wrong. i can afford to pay my min payments on my credit cards and loan just but now we need to move into a house and am not going to be able to am about £3500-£4000 in debt, i am in full time imployment on a basic amount however my credit rating is pathetic never going to get a loan to pay 1 bill each month, every month i have to go around paying different bills an direct debit going out of my account left right and centre, i really need some advice on whats the best thing for me to do a lot of my money going to be tied up in the near future please help! thank you!

Hi Lozzz and thank you for your post.

If you think you won’t be able to manage your outgoings in the near future, it’s good that you’re looking for advice sooner rather than later.

I’d recommend that you visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If you phone us 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.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan