Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

CCCS_Sue

Somnium wrote: »

Hi I'm looking for some advice. I currently have an IVA which was set up shortly before I found out I was pregnant and at the time I was working a 40hr week so earning a full time income. The IVA has been suspended for 9 months while I am currently on Maternity leave. I am due to return to work in late November but obviously wont be able to return to full time work due to a lack of childcare so therefore my income will be dropping (I could use a child minder/nursery but dont earn much and so would still be dropping income due to paying out for this). What would happen now as I wont be able to keep up with the payments that were previously arranged?

Hi somnium and thank you for your message

As an IVA is a legally binding arrangement, you would need to speak to the Insolvency Practitioner who is dealing with your IVA.

They will be able to update your income and expenditure and advise you further on your options

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

arteta1878 wrote: »

Thanks for replying Sue,

I have already transferred all of my general living costs and direct debits over to another bank and am having my salary paid into there now.
I know the bank will not act until my account goes overdrawn or payments are not met, but that is due to happen any day now.

I took out a loan for 25k 2 years ago and have already paid over 11K back, but I cannot afford the repayments anymore, and my overdraft is now at it's limit of £1350.

I am writing to offer them £100 a month for my loan and £25 a month for my overdraft, so would you consider that a reasonable offer under the circumstances? I have broken my income and expenditure down completely for them, so they will be able to see that I am just using my overdraft every month and living in that!

I need to start afresh, but I cannot do it on the terms that we originally agreed, and without wishing to sound blaise, it is the RBS we are talking about here, so they can hardly take the moral high ground on my situation!

Hi arteta

If you are constantly living in your overdraft, your situation could get worse!

You are going round in circles, paying it off and then using it again by the end of the month.

As I said in my previous message, you need to change to a basic bank account where you have no overdraft facility. Then you can see from your budget how much you have left realistically to pay off your debts. You may find that if you do not use an overdraft to fund your living costs that there is very little to offer your unsecured creditors. You cannot pay your creditors money you do not have so you need to be realistic with your offer of payment.

If you want to discuss this further, please call us free on 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sue

arteta1878

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi arteta

If you are constantly living in your overdraft, your situation could get worse!

You are going round in circles, paying it off and then using it again by the end of the month.

As I said in my previous message, you need to change to a basic bank account where you have no overdraft facility. Then you can see from your budget how much you have left realistically to pay off your debts. You may find that if you do not use an overdraft to fund your living costs that there is very little to offer your unsecured creditors. You cannot pay your creditors money you do not have so you need to be realistic with your offer of payment.

If you want to discuss this further, please call us free on 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sue

Thanks Sue,

I have worked out my budget with income and outgoings, and found that I have around £200 a month suprlus to service my debts.
As I mentioned previously, I am now with a different bank for my account management with no overdraft, so I am going to manage my finances from there from now on, that way I know exactly how much I have and am not using an overdraft facility.

It is a case of drawing a line with the RBS and just start repaying them on a payment plan if they will accept it.

jasetec

hi there,
i got made redundant last year and been paying back mbna what i can afford each month(£30).
this is well below of the required monthly payments,but my mortgage and utility bills must come 1st.
i recieved a count court papers where i filled in my incomings/outgoings etc...
the amount that the court have replyed with is the same as what i was paying.
a week later they have passed this onto another county court for a decision and time/date.
i've been told to ask for a copy of the cca to see if my signature is on their forms.....is this too late to do this?.
i'm starting a new job soon so if this is the case i will be able to afford more to pay off this debt.
the county court that has moved to is to far for me to attend and would like to know how i can change this to a nearer court where i live(birmingham).
all of my debts are handled by a debt management company,why is this happening if they communicate with this company?.
i'm doing my best at the moment and holding on for more advice.

darwins_mum

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place.
I have just had an appointment with CCCS and they have suggested that I go on temporary token payment plan to pay of my outstanding loan and overdrafts.
Has anyone heard of this and if so, how does it work?
I shall receive the paperwork in the next 4 days, but am anxious to find out how exactly it works, and whether or not interest will continue to be applied.
cheers

HellsBells116

so here goes.

With regards to the Debt Solutions I have been reading today about these companies who are in it for our money.... well, i'm one of those who fell for it. and i'm now thinking that i've fallen for it again:-
We, my husband and myself, are in debt (around £7k). We have been for years. We realised that we were paying more than our income and was getting no-where.
A Debt Managment company said 'we'll help'. Two years down the line with them and i realised 'hang on, they are taking a third of our payments for themselves'. We left them to go to another company of what seemed more honest. They say they are not a Debt managment company and that they really will sort out our debt by looking at agreements etc as stated in your list of Debt solutions.
(I would like to give company names, but not sure if thats allowed). We are using our Child Benefit money to pay off our debts, as that's the only stable income we have. We have done that for years.

Because of the change over of companies, payments to the creditors have paused. We are now receiving letters from solicitors adding court fees etc. It seems to be getting higher, rather than lower.

We are a family of 5, with low incomes (plus fear of redundancy at the moment). I cannot remember what we have signed for this agreement we're in.

Do you think it would be best if we stay as we are, or should we leave this company too, and find help elsewhere???

I didn't realise it would be as confusing as it is and to go on for as long as it has.

Any help would be most appreciated. Kind regards

CCCS_Sue

jasetec wrote: »

hi there,
i got made redundant last year and been paying back mbna what i can afford each month(£30).
this is well below of the required monthly payments,but my mortgage and utility bills must come 1st.
i recieved a count court papers where i filled in my incomings/outgoings etc...
the amount that the court have replyed with is the same as what i was paying.
a week later they have passed this onto another county court for a decision and time/date.
i've been told to ask for a copy of the cca to see if my signature is on their forms.....is this too late to do this?.
i'm starting a new job soon so if this is the case i will be able to afford more to pay off this debt.
the county court that has moved to is to far for me to attend and would like to know how i can change this to a nearer court where i live(birmingham).
all of my debts are handled by a debt management company,why is this happening if they communicate with this company?.
i'm doing my best at the moment and holding on for more advice.

Hi jasetec and thank you for your message

You are quite right to make sure that your priority bills are being dealt with first. These are the most important.

When a CCJ is issued on a debt, then this too becomes a priority.

I’m not sure of your full situation, but I am presuming you are not able to make the repayments that the court has requested and you have asked for a redetermination. This can be done with or without a hearing.
Normally, the hearing is automatically transferred to your local court.
You could speak to the court clerk, who could help you determine if the case was filed in the correct location and if you have grounds to have the case heard in your local court.
I would recommend that you contact your DMP provider for further help and advice , especially as they have all your financial details.

If you would like to speak to one of our debt counsellors for some free confidential advice, you could call for an appointment on 0800 138 1111.

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

darwins_mum wrote: »

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place.
I have just had an appointment with CCCS and they have suggested that I go on temporary token payment plan to pay of my outstanding loan and overdrafts.
Has anyone heard of this and if so, how does it work?
I shall receive the paperwork in the next 4 days, but am anxious to find out how exactly it works, and whether or not interest will continue to be applied.
cheers

Hi darwins_mum and thank you for your message

You certainly are posting in the right place!:)

If you are not able to make the minimum payments to your debts or even a reduced amount, then making token payments is better than making no payments at all and is a ‘gesture of goodwill’ until your circumstances change.

If you try to offer more than a token payment, then you could fall behind on your priority bills such as rent/mortgage, council tax,utility bills, etc and these are more important.

A creditor has the right to add charges and interest. All charges that can be added are stated upfront in the terms and conditions of the credit application which you are required to sign to take out credit.
In most cases, there is nothing you can do to stop interest and charges being added. However, if you make reduced payments over a long period of time, usually several months, most creditors will eventually stop charging interest and adding late payment charges.
Usually, a creditor will stop interest and charges either after they issue a default notice or they pass it onto a debt collection agency, although this does not always happen.

At the end of the day, you cannot pay them money you do not have, so token payments is a temporary measure until your circumstances change.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sue

HellsBells116 wrote: »

so here goes.

With regards to the Debt Solutions I have been reading today about these companies who are in it for our money.... well, i'm one of those who fell for it. and i'm now thinking that i've fallen for it again:-
We, my husband and myself, are in debt (around £7k). We have been for years. We realised that we were paying more than our income and was getting no-where.
A Debt Managment company said 'we'll help'. Two years down the line with them and i realised 'hang on, they are taking a third of our payments for themselves'. We left them to go to another company of what seemed more honest. They say they are not a Debt managment company and that they really will sort out our debt by looking at agreements etc as stated in your list of Debt solutions.
(I would like to give company names, but not sure if thats allowed). We are using our Child Benefit money to pay off our debts, as that's the only stable income we have. We have done that for years.

Because of the change over of companies, payments to the creditors have paused. We are now receiving letters from solicitors adding court fees etc. It seems to be getting higher, rather than lower.

We are a family of 5, with low incomes (plus fear of redundancy at the moment). I cannot remember what we have signed for this agreement we're in.

Do you think it would be best if we stay as we are, or should we leave this company too, and find help elsewhere???

I didn't realise it would be as confusing as it is and to go on for as long as it has.

Any help would be most appreciated. Kind regards

Hi HellsBells116 and welcome to the forums!

The money you are currently paying for the fee each month to your DMP provider could be used towards clearing your debts faster.
If you would like an appointment to speak to one of our debt counsellors about your situation, you could call us for an appointment. If you have received any CCJs then these need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

We don’t have the facility to be able to simply transfer your Debt Management Plan from your existing provider as you would need to have an appointment with one of our debt counsellors first. If the counsellor is happy to offer a DMP as a result of your appointment, we would then discuss with you how to end the current arrangement you have and setting it up with ourselves. CCCS does not charge for setting up or administering a Debt Management Plan.

If you would like us to take a look at your situation to see what options you have, you would need to book a telephone based appointment with one of our trained debt counsellors by calling our helpline on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00. It would be helpful that when you call you have details ready regarding your income, expenditure and creditors, as this can help speed up the referral process. If you have this information ready it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor if one is available, otherwise we will arrange a time that is convenient for you to be called back for an appointment.


Alternatively, you can use our online electronic facility called Debt Remedy. 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. If you would like to get immediate advice on your situation this link will take you directly to Debt Remedy http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu

Regards
Sue

CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for the services we provide to our clients. We take great pride in offering first class help and advice, but we only offer this where we have been able to fully explore and understand your circumstances with you. We want to help you understand these choices and the possible implications, but not make them for you.

Woodgnome16

Hi.

I have a large amount of debt the amount of which i am not really sure at this stage. These debts go back many years. In fact i have not paid any money off any of them since early 2006. The reason for this was due to the fact that I was being advised to set up an IVA and was told to cease payments. The IVA fell through and I have since been advised to seek bankruptcy.

My question is this: If I were to begin bankruptcy proceedings I understand that there are various costs involved with the court. Would it be better therefore to allow my creditors to begin bankruptcy proceedings so that they shoulder the costs or would that have other implications?

Thanks
Paul.