Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

JohnB1954

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi Emma and thank you for your message

Creditors are unable to legally pursue you for the debt if, after six years;

• The creditor has not already obtained a county court judgment (CCJ)

• You or any one else owing the money (on a debt in joint names) has not made a payment

• You have not written to the creditor admitting you owe the debt

This is known as statute barred and refers to the Limitation Act.
If you believe that the creditor is timed out to collect the debt, you may wish to use the template letter below.

Example letter – limitations act

From:
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Date:
CCCS Client No:
To:
Creditor’s Name:
Account/Agreement No:

Without Prejudice

Dear Sirs
Ref
I do not admit any liability for your claim and will not be making any payment towards it, as it is now more than six-years since any cause of action may have accrued. Any claim would, therefore, appear to be statute barred under section 5 of The Limitations Act 1980 and any court claim will be defended on that basis.
In addition section 2.14 of The Office of Fair Trading Collection guidance states that it is unfair to pursue such claims where, as here, the creditor has made no contact during the relevant limitation period.
If, however, you have substantive evidence that your claim is not statute barred then please supply it to me within 21 days. If you are unable to provide such evidence please confirm that no further action will be taken against me.
Yours faithfully
(Signature)
(Print name)

Regards
Sue

:T Thank you Sue. I had a similar letter from Arden which had me worried. I sent them a copy of your proforma on 04.10.2010 and I had a reply from them today advising the account has been closed and there will be no further action

secretshopper75

Hi, hope that you can help. we've just set up a DMP and our first payment was sent last week.

One of our creditors has informed us that we are 55p short of their required amount to agree to the DMP with them. Is is worth asking the CCCS if we can pay this extra 55p per month to the said creditor? Thank you.

StepChange_Pavan

josscotgrave wrote: »

Hi my name is Jon, im 27 and have got myself in a situation (due to being an idiot and ignoring my debt).

I have today (monday) recieved a letter from PENHAM EXCEL LTD (enforcement agents) stating that the arrears due to authority are £735.77 and an additional cost of £24.50 for a first visit. I recieved a letter form the council awhile ago and completely forgot about it to be honest as I was out of work for 18months and was deducted from my jobseekers allowance.

I phoned them to discuss a payment option of about £100 a week now im working and was told I have 2 options either pay the full amount now or the only way they can discuss a payment set up is allowing a baliff to enter the premises and itemise my belongings I dont have much as I live with my parents (so everything in the property belongs to them)due to me losing my job and long unemployment. So i have next to nothing in terms of possessions and I dont want to let baliffs walk about my parents house and take their stuff.

If anyone can give me any advice I would GREATLY appreciate it as according to the letters i have 4 working days and according to the guidance notes they can take anything but nothing is mine.

Its my own stupid fault for letting it get this far any help on what would be my best course of action I would really appreciate. Then i have to start tracking down other debts i know I have(approx £2000).

your faithfully,

Jon Wilkie

Hello Jon and thanks for your message.

If the council are unwilling to discuss a payment arrangement, you should continue to make payments that you can afford until you get a Warrant of Execution letter through the post. This letter will tell you that a bailiff will visit the property.

The bailiff is there to recover the money, whether this is by a payment arrangement or by taking goods from the property and selling them at auction to pay off your debt.

Bailiffs cannot break into the property unless you have already allowed them in or they entered through an unlocked door or window, on a previous visit. This is called ‘walk in possession’. Once the bailiff has ‘walk in possession’ they can use force to enter again in future.

It’s important that you (or your parents) don’t let the bailiff in. Try to negotiate with them outside of the property or through an open window.

If a bailiff enters your property, they will not take any goods on the first visit. They will usually make a list of items in the house which they can take in future. Once they have done this, it is an offence for you to remove any of these items from your house.

However, the bailiff CANNOT take items that don’t belong to you. You would need to prove to them that it is not your property and that most items belong to your parents.

With regards to tracking down the other debts that you owe, I’d recommend that you apply for a copy of your credit reference file. You can read more about how to do this in this leaflet: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/credit_explained_leaflet_2005.pdf

If you would like further advice on your situation, you can use our online debt advice facility, Debt Remedy: http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

Kind regards
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

sugar9 wrote: »

Hi there, just some advice please. We are currently in the process of setting up a DMP with CCCS. We received our pack last week and on Thursday sent out letters to our creditors with token payments and also asking for up to date statements (all sent recorded delivery btw). When we spoke to the CCCS advisor he said we could possibly set this up for 1st November. Will CCCS accept creditors names and account numbers for now until they send us any up to date statements or do we have to wait until we have all up to date details before we send them to CCCS? We would really like to get started on the DMP on 1st November. Many thanks for your help.

Hi Sugar9, and thanks for your message.

We will need some paperwork from your creditors to set up the DMP as proof of the debt – even if it isn’t the most up to date.

If you have older statements or some correspondence with the account number, sort code and creditor address then this should be ok.

If you’re unsure, it would be best to call our support team who will be able to confirm what you can send in.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

kljross75 wrote: »

Hi, hope that you can help. we've just set up a DMP and our first payment was sent last week.

One of our creditors has informed us that we are 55p short of their required amount to agree to the DMP with them. Is is worth asking the CCCS if we can pay this extra 55p per month to the said creditor? Thank you.

Hi there, and thanks for your message.

The payments that we send to your creditors on your behalf are worked out on a pro rata basis so that your money is distributed fairly.

If you wanted to increase your payment to this one creditor, you would also need to increase your payments to the rest of your creditors on a pro rata basis to ensure that you weren’t showing preferential treatment to this one debt.

I know it sounds silly for the sake of 55p, but if every creditor did this you could end up increasing your surplus by a significant amount, leaving you short on your priorities.

If you would like to discuss this further, you could call our Client Support team who will be more than willing to help. Just to reassure you though – even if they don’t accept the DMP, we will send them payments anyway.

Hope this makes sense!

Kind regards
Pavan

sarahmason77

Please can anyone give me some advice on a few things?
My partner has been out of work now for over 9 months and his job seekers Allowence will run out on the 1st November 2010, I only work part time and we have a 5 year old daughter to look after.
We were made Bankrupt in February 2010 due to him being made redundant but we still have a mortgage and a Secured Loan to pay, i have been paying the Mortgage but have fell behind on the Secured Loan payments. I am paying all i can on it but it is still not enough.

I really dont want to lose my house and i am now at my wits end as to what we can do to save our house being bankrupt and all and my Secured Loan will NOT reduce my payments to help me in any way.
I have never been so stressed out in my life and i cant afford to live at all when my partners JSA runs out. We dont get Council Tax benefit due to receiving Working Tax Credits & Child Tax Credits.

So i guess i'm just askinghas anyone got any advise on what i can do about my Secured Loan as i am already Bankrupt and what happens when my patners JSA runs out??

Any advice would be a great help
Thanks
Sarah

josscotgrave

Pavan, Thank you for the quick response. I have wrote direct to the baliffs explaining my situation with regards to the fact that it is my parents home and as such i will not give them right to enter the premises as well as informing them that i shall send them the first payment on friday. Your help has been invaluable. I have also wrote to the credit agency to obtain my credit report and will let you know my outcome as i shall probably be seeking advice on the best way to clear my debt.

Thank you again, Jon

Standing tall against an estimated 4k Debt.

hayley748

hi

I'm currently with a company who do me bills for me, they take i think £37 a month for their charges, i pay them £258 a month. Can i change to cccs or do i have to stick to this company?

I have also taken out a few payday loans which i'm struggling to pay, i know i shouldnt of done this on a dmp but needed money for car bills etc, so could these be added?

I owe approx £10,000

I'm so worried about these debts the interest on payday loans is awful, i have a 3 year old girl and really want her to have a good life but im constaintly upset about my debts

Look forward to ur reply

H

CCCS_Sue

sarahmason77 wrote: »

Please can anyone give me some advice on a few things?
My partner has been out of work now for over 9 months and his job seekers Allowence will run out on the 1st November 2010, I only work part time and we have a 5 year old daughter to look after.
We were made Bankrupt in February 2010 due to him being made redundant but we still have a mortgage and a Secured Loan to pay, i have been paying the Mortgage but have fell behind on the Secured Loan payments. I am paying all i can on it but it is still not enough.

I really dont want to lose my house and i am now at my wits end as to what we can do to save our house being bankrupt and all and my Secured Loan will NOT reduce my payments to help me in any way.
I have never been so stressed out in my life and i cant afford to live at all when my partners JSA runs out. We dont get Council Tax benefit due to receiving Working Tax Credits & Child Tax Credits.

So i guess i'm just askinghas anyone got any advise on what i can do about my Secured Loan as i am already Bankrupt and what happens when my patners JSA runs out??

Any advice would be a great help
Thanks
Sarah

Hi Sarah

Thank you for your message

In order for us to look into this in more detail for you, I would recommend that you call us for an appointment to speak to one of our counsellors.
The counsellor will help you put together a budget and will also look at all options to deal with your situation.

To book an appointment with one of our trained counsellors you would need to contact our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

Regards
Sue

StepChange_Pavan

josscotgrave wrote: »

Pavan, Thank you for the quick response. I have wrote direct to the baliffs explaining my situation with regards to the fact that it is my parents home and as such i will not give them right to enter the premises as well as informing them that i shall send them the first payment on friday. Your help has been invaluable. I have also wrote to the credit agency to obtain my credit report and will let you know my outcome as i shall probably be seeking advice on the best way to clear my debt.

Thank you again, Jon

Standing tall against an estimated 4k Debt.

Hi Jon,

It sounds like you’re really starting to take control.

Good luck, and you know where we are if you need further advice.

Kind regards
Pavan