Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

System

kiwichick wrote: »

Hi All,

I've been recommended to give CCCS a ring by a friend of mine who has used their service and found it to be invaluable.

I dont know anything about CCCS so searched MSE as trust the advice given here so extremely happy to find this thread and see that its all above board.

Can I ask some advice please? I seperated from my husband 3 years ago but remain in the marital home with our 3 children. He does pay maintenance and I work part time at the childrens school. I am really struggling with old debts (mainly the dreaded credit cards/store cards) and have gotten to the stage where I'm finding it hard to make even the minimum payments. I also have a mortgage on the house and a loan plus payments for the old buy now pay later deals on sofa and laptop.

None of my debt is secured against the house, not sure if thats a good thing or not? Reading here makes me think good as I was hoping to get a mortgage extension for the debt but people seem to say steer clear of moving unsecured to secured debt.

Will CCCS be able to help me? How will it affect my mortgage? I'm terrified of being forced to sell the house as the equity I have in this is the only way I'll be able to afford to put my kids through university.

Gosh, sorry for the ramble! I'm just so lost in the debt I dont know where to start with anything but the stress of it is affecting my health.

Thanks,
Allison

Hi Allison and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like this is something we will be able to help you with.

The most important thing is to put together a budget and make sure you can afford all your priority bills such as your mortgage, council tax, utilities, food and travel.

We have an online tool that will help you put together a budget and then suggest what debt solutions are best suited to you.

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 and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

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.

You’ve taken the first step to sorting out your money worries and we can support you with free and impartial advice along the way.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

Mazz27 wrote: »

Hi,

Was wondering if someone could please help me. My husband is being chased by a debt collection agency for an unsecured loan of the amount of £3460.91 The loan was taken out before we were married and is only in his name. My husband hasn't worked for the past 4 years has in has mental health issues but has only just started to get help and has been signed off work for 6 months.

My question is can I be made to pay off my husbands debts? He does get child benefit and child tax credit in his name but other than that he has no money has I have been supporting him. I really don't want this to end up going to court but don't see why I should pay a debt that isn't mine and was taken out before we were married.

Any advise would be greatfully recieved.

Thanks,

Mazz

Hi Mazz and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you would benefit from some free and impartial advice.

You can’t be made to pay off your husbands debts. However, I would recommend that your husband does get some free and impartial advice from us so that we can see what the best solution for him is.

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

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

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

He’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for him based on his current circumstances and advice on ways he may be able to improve his situation.

If he’s not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then he’s welcome to ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

If he phones us it may be possible to refer him directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for him.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

StepChange_Pavan

Hi there,

Many thanks for your post.

The CCCS MoneyAware team are out of the office until Wednesday, 6th June. Please accept our apologies for any delay in replying to your question.

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

We hope you enjoy a great Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

Kind regards,

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

Hungrylight_2

Hi guys,

I received a letter from Adventist saying they was acting on behalf of Lowell group, saying I owed them money blah blah. Never heard off them so sent them a letter regarding consumer credit act and that I wanted the signed agreement etc etc. received a reply from them today saying

"we acknowledge from your correspondence that you require a signed contract with THREE mobile and yourself, we advise that as mobile telecoms accounts are not covered under the CCA 1974 a signed contract is not required to open one of these accounts. Therefore a contract will not exist and cannot be provided by our client"

We have therefore requested copies of the bills from our client for your reference, we have placed your account on hold in the meantime, which will suspend any further action whilst we await there reply.

Now I never have or have any recollection of being with three mobile I have been with orange for over 5 years. Now if I haven't signed anything how can they prove this is my debt..

Please help just cleared all my debts and this seems to have come from know where.

Dave

GaynorT

I defaulted on an MBNA credit card in 2002. I have been paying £1 per month to LINK since 2004. In April 2012 they demanded the outstanding debt of £3509.53. I do not have this amount. Today I received a claim form the court as they have now instigated Count Court proceedings against me for £3695.53. I cannot afford to have s CCJ on my credit file [which is currently excellent] as I have just gone through an expensive divorce with my house having to be put up for sale. I have also been left with approx £40k of debt with very little equity in the house. I am currently trying to obtain a mortgage, Can you advice on my best course of action as I do not have the money to pay this and have 14 days to respond [frustrating to receive just before the long BH weekend] Thanks in anticipation.

muners

muners wrote: »

Hello, I previously posted this:

Hello, I have noticed on my Equifax credit report today that Mackenzie Hall have carried out a table 1 search on me back in july and put down "outstanding Debt" I sent a statute of limitation letter to them at the start of august when i received a letter from them with just a reference number on it (unfortunately not recorded delivery). Today a received another letter from them with the details of the alleged debt (£3003.41 to HFC bank although willing to settle for £2252.56 within five days)

I paid this loan off in 2002 when my father left me some money in his will (much to the annoyance of my solicitor dealing with my divorce at the time) however I have no receipt for this. I have a letter from my bank stating even they do not keep recoreds going back that far.

I have written another Statute of Limitation letter this afternoon and will send it recorded delivery this time. I am wondering what my options are and any plan of action i can take including getting the table 1 search removed???


Since I sent this letter (nearly two months ago) I have heard nothing, had no reply no phone call etc. Yet the table 1 search remains on my credit report..... I am moving home in a couple of weeks what should I do??

I have since received this information from Equifax:
Dear .....

Thank you for getting in touch.

MacKenzie Hall - Kilmarnock Batch has investigated your query and have told Equifax that the search information is correct and should remain unchanged.

This information is supplied by the company and we can't change it without their permission. You should get in touch with the company directly if you need more information.

Address: 58 Portland Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 1JG.



Having investigated this matter I find it porudent to inform you that the account is not in fact satite barred.
The last payment made to the account was on the 27th May 2006 for £181.34 which is not more than 6 years.
the search will remain on your account as there is no reason to remove it.
Furthermore, please be advised that the Limitations Act 1980 protects statute barred debt against legal proceedings. A search being carried out for the purposes of debt collection cannot be deemed legal proceedings and is therefore fully permissible.


Where does this leave me?
Obviously back in 2006 I had dollar off HFC although genuinely I can not recall this. Should I ask for all documents relating to the apparent debt from Mackenzie Hall and get things moving or what (only in writing of course) ? The table one search for outstanding debt is on my credit file. Other than that its clean as a whistle. I'm supposed to be looking at getting a mortgae next week and I know this will severely hamper that.... Help.

hamiltol

Hi all

In brief i have the following outstanding debt to date:

Halifax CC £7830 Years left ??????
Nationwide loan £4600 Years left 3.5
Lloyds car finance £1820 Years left 13 months

Mortgage
£109000 valued at £155,000 valued last month

We are currently renting out the above property and are in rented accommodation this was because of a work related job position.

we are covering all bills every month and have done a budget planner and are left with enough to feed and cloth our family.

We have been toying with the idea of selling our house paying of debts and start enjoying life a little more. We have been in rented accommodation for 4 yrs the only reason for this was because of a short temr contract, my situ has changed and I'm now full employed and my partner and are not gaining anything from renting our house out, does not even cover the monthly mortgage. Looking back on this we should of sold house when we moved but kept the house partly for sentimental reasons.

Now we want to move on. So do we sell, clear all above debts and whatever is left put down deposit on a new home, or do we carry on paying debts until they have all cleared.
Or is there any other options for us.

Many thanks
Laurie

hamiltol

Hi all

In brief i have the following outstanding debt to date:

Halifax CC £7830 Years left ??????
Nationwide loan £4600 Years left 3.5
Lloyds car finance £1820 Years left 13 months

Mortgage
£109000 valued at £155,000 valued last month

We are currently renting out the above property and are in rented accommodation this was because of a work related job position.

we are covering all bills every month and have done a budget planner and are left with enough to feed and cloth our family.

We have been toying with the idea of selling our house paying of debts and start enjoying life a little more. We have been in rented accommodation for 4 yrs the only reason for this was because of a short temr contract, my situ has changed and I'm now full employed and my partner and are not gaining anything from renting our house out, does not even cover the monthly mortgage. Looking back on this we should of sold house when we moved but kept the house partly for sentimental reasons.

Now we want to move on. So do we sell, clear all above debts and whatever is left put down deposit on a new home, or do we carry on paying debts until they have all cleared.
Or is there any other options for us.

Many thanks
Laurie

Worry

Hi Do you need to have a certain amount of debt before you can seek debt help?

Thanks.

bikkiboo

Hi,

I have tried contacting through private messaging to the CCCS
but it doesna seem to send??

Can someone help with this?

Thanks

Vikki