Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Payplan_company_representative

Hi,
This thread is specifically for CCCS, however I hope they don’t mind me jumping in to answer your query.
We never hold onto your payments and we do distribute them to your creditors as soon as we received them. However in some instances creditors request that payments are sent to them on specific times of the month, therefore depending on when you make your payment, the funds for that particular creditor could be distributed slightly later at the creditor’s request.
Many Thanks
Gemma

Time_to_face_the_music

Payplan_company_representative wrote: »

Hi,
This thread is specifically for CCCS, however I hope they don’t mind me jumping in to answer your query.
We never hold onto your payments and we do distribute them to your creditors as soon as we received them. However in some instances creditors request that payments are sent to them on specific times of the month, therefore depending on when you make your payment, the funds for that particular creditor could be distributed slightly later at the creditor’s request.
Many Thanks
Gemma

Thanks very much Gemma, that is really useful information

I hope someone from CCCS can as easily explain their reason for holding on to payments for 25 days .....

Panicking_2

Hello.

I am desperate for some advice as I can't see a way out of my current situation.

I owe £20,000 to credit cards. My monthly outgoings are around £1,250 with mortgage, bills, and minimum payments.

I now have no income as I am expecting a baby in September and my work has now ended permanently.

I have no way to pay anything from next month (1st July).

My husband's wage just covers his half of the outgoings so he cannot help towards any of my payments.

I think I will be eligible for maternity allowance from end of July, which is £128 per week, not nearly enough to cover my outgoings.

I don't know what to do, please someone help

StepChange_Pavan

Hi everyone,

I’ve addressed your comments on the other thread to try and keep this one for people in need of debt advice.

Thanks,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Panicking wrote: »

Hello.

I am desperate for some advice as I can't see a way out of my current situation.

I owe £20,000 to credit cards. My monthly outgoings are around £1,250 with mortgage, bills, and minimum payments.

I now have no income as I am expecting a baby in September and my work has now ended permanently.

I have no way to pay anything from next month (1st July).

My husband's wage just covers his half of the outgoings so he cannot help towards any of my payments.

I think I will be eligible for maternity allowance from end of July, which is £128 per week, not nearly enough to cover my outgoings.

I don't know what to do, please someone help

Hi there and welcome to the forum

The key thing to remember is that your mortgage and priority bills must come before any payments to your creditors. You can’t pay your creditors money that you can’t afford and it’s likely that they will have to take a back seat for a while as you’ve got much more important things to prepare for at the moment.

For the time being, I’d recommend that you make your creditors aware of your situation by writing to them and include a copy of your budget which will show you can’t afford the payments. You can offer to pay them £1 per month as a gesture of goodwill. They can follow the debt collection process (http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Creditoraction/Debtcollectionprocess.aspx) but they can’t force you into making extra payments.

This is a short term solution if you think you might return to work and your situation will improve. There may be other solutions available to you, but we would need to look at your circumstances in a bit more detail before we can advise you.

If you’d like some more detailed advice, please call our helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free, including from mobiles). We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.

I hope this helps, and please try not to panic – we can help you find a solution.

Kind regards,
Pavan

brotherlylove

My brother left the UK for France in May 2006 and we are trying to get him to come home because he has 3 cronic illnesses including Addisons (which has a fight or flight syndrome) he flew. and he now he is much worse and needs his family around him.

After many hours he has admitted that he left with debts which his wife does not know about, one to a c/c company for £8000 he thinks and one bank overdraft for £2000 he thinks,his last contact was june 2006 with a payment to the c/c company, He has no assets to speak of and we are unable to help him.

Question. What would happen if we could persuade him to come home. Will he have debt collectors banging on his or my door, could he get a basic bank account, he is near retiement Basic pension only. We want him home but not if it makes him worse.

Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

jimmy66

I am nothing to do with debt, I am a financial adviser who has been tasked on a few occasions to help my clients who were struggling, the easy option used to be send them to CAB, but in truth that wasn't helping them as they are just too busy... CAB also now recommend Debt free direct and Grant Thornton, two for profit companies !!

I have investigated payplan and cccs and the majority of the time they DO NOT freeze interest!!! thats shocking and wholly unacceptable, why I asked myself, the answer is because they are paid and funded BY THE BANKS, I found this forum because I was googling debts reduced as came across them and wanted to find more info, and the worrying thing I have found is how POOR and inaccurate the advice is on this site.... I do not work in debt but I have looked into the facts and I am amazed, can anyone respond from payplan or cccs to confirm they do not freeze interest and they are actually working for the banks and not 100% focused on the benefit of the client?

FREE debt advice with interest being charged is quite obviously hugely more expensive...... I am desperate to be shown cccs or payplan are the best route but I have not found the evidence..... Please please help

Tearingmyhairout_2

Jimmy No debt management company whether free or fee charging can freeze interest.

It's the company who the money is owed to, either the original company or a debt recovery company who have bought the debt who can freeze interest.

This is the big lie that fee charging companies regularly use.

StepChange_Pavan

brotherlylove wrote: »

My brother left the UK for France in May 2006 and we are trying to get him to come home because he has 3 cronic illnesses including Addisons (which has a fight or flight syndrome) he flew. and he now he is much worse and needs his family around him.

After many hours he has admitted that he left with debts which his wife does not know about, one to a c/c company for £8000 he thinks and one bank overdraft for £2000 he thinks,his last contact was june 2006 with a payment to the c/c company, He has no assets to speak of and we are unable to help him.

Question. What would happen if we could persuade him to come home. Will he have debt collectors banging on his or my door, could he get a basic bank account, he is near retiement Basic pension only. We want him home but not if it makes him worse.

Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

Hi brotherlylove and welcome to the forum.

I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s health and you’re right that being around his family is probably what he needs right now - it’s easy to forget that wellbeing is much more important than money.

It’s unlikely that you will get debt collectors banging on your door straightaway but it is important that he addresses the situation rather than letting it get worse. If he needs a bank account, it’s best to open a basic one with a bank that he doesn’t have any existing debts with.

We’d need to know more about his circumstances to be able to advise him on his options, but there will be a solution available to him. If he’d like to get in touch with us, we can help reassure him. Our number from overseas is +44 113 297 0126 and we can call him back.

If he prefers we can speak to you on his behalf but we would need written or verbal permission to do this and it’s important that you gather detailed information about his income, expenditure and creditors so that we can advise properly.

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any more questions.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

jimmy66 wrote: »

I am nothing to do with debt, I am a financial adviser who has been tasked on a few occasions to help my clients who were struggling, the easy option used to be send them to CAB, but in truth that wasn't helping them as they are just too busy... CAB also now recommend Debt free direct and Grant Thornton, two for profit companies !!

I have investigated payplan and cccs and the majority of the time they DO NOT freeze interest!!! thats shocking and wholly unacceptable, why I asked myself, the answer is because they are paid and funded BY THE BANKS, I found this forum because I was googling debts reduced as came across them and wanted to find more info, and the worrying thing I have found is how POOR and inaccurate the advice is on this site.... I do not work in debt but I have looked into the facts and I am amazed, can anyone respond from payplan or cccs to confirm they do not freeze interest and they are actually working for the banks and not 100% focused on the benefit of the client?

FREE debt advice with interest being charged is quite obviously hugely more expensive...... I am desperate to be shown cccs or payplan are the best route but I have not found the evidence..... Please please help

Hi jimmy66 and thanks for your comments.

Tearingmyhearout is right that no debt management provider can guarantee that they will stop interest and charges.

The only way you can be 100% assured that you won’t get further charged is if you opt for a legally binding debt solution – such as an IVA or DRO.

Unfortunately creditors are within their rights to add charges as they are stated up front in the terms and conditions that are signed when the credit is taken out.

Many debt management companies will claim that they are better at stopping interest and charges but this is not true. It’s against the Office of Fair Trading’s guidance to imply this, so if you’ve been wrongly advised it’s important that you report the company involved.

With regards to our advice; it is completely free and impartial. Creditors agree to pay what’s known as a 'Fair Share Contribution' (FSC) to us, in recognition of the unique service we provide to people in debt.

FSC comes from creditors that pay a voluntary, non-contractual and charitable donation of the money that’s repaid to them through debt management plans.

It doesn’t affect our advice in any way as we look at each client on an individual basis and provide best advice based on their circumstances.

All funding received by us is used for charitable purposes. All payments to the charity are used to help new people, as well as supporting our existing clients, by providing a completely free service.

I’ve mentioned before that this thread is to help people in need of debt advicerather than discussions on how we are funded.

To stop any confusion, and so that we can continue to help those that need it, you can continue this conversation on another thread which we are happy to contribute to if needed.

Kind regards,
Pavan