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StepChange_Pavan

longhairedbloke wrote: »

Hi,

We have just completed the forms on the CCCS website and it suggested an IVA or a DMP.
Brief summary of our situation :
Total unsecured debt £3100
Total secured debt £162000.

At the moment, we'd prefer a DMP.
However, the booklet said it would take approx 10 years to complete (providing all creditors stop interest).
So, I have a few questions :

We have gone through all the figures a lot to ensure we have everything covered, but if we start a DMP and find we struggle, or one or more creditors refuse to stop the interest, would we be able to move to an IVA relatively easily?

If we find we actually have any money left at the end of each month, would we be able to just pay a bit more to the DMP to try to reduce the term more quickly?

We actually own a house that we rent out and we are renting a house elsewhere (due to relocation due to job change). We have thought about selling, but we have a large second mortgage that has 12 years left (we weren't given great advice on this, wish I'd come here first!) and we owe more than the house is worth, so even if we sold, only the term would be reduced, not the monthly payments and we wouldn't have the rent coming in to help us pay it.
I've heard that with an IVA there's something about it could last for six years if you own a house. There would be some (small) equity in it after five years (all other things being equal), so would that affect anything and make the IVA longer?

Just one more thing, we have a timeshare (in the US) that we can't get rid of, but have to keep up the maintenance payments. We're already behind and are being charged interest. We can't even give it away, cos nobody wants one any more, even though it's a top gold crown resort (top 10 in the world). We can't just not pay and let them take it back, cos that stopped a few years ago when everyone was doing it who wanted rid. Can we justify putting down the $600 per year cost on the DMP?

I had a few more questions but they've slipped my mind now cos it's gone a bit fuzzy with all these figures and the worry. Hopefully when the email comes through from CCCS with details of how to setup the DMP I'll start to feel more positive.

Thanks.

Hi Longhairedbloke and thank you for your post.

I hope your head has cleared a bit, and you should have received your DMP email by now. You’ve mentioned that your unsecured debt is £3100. Is this correct, as you would need a minimum of around £15,000 to qualify for an IVA?

I’ve answered your questions in the order that they were asked, but if you remember the ones you forgot, you can contact our support team and they will be happy to help.

With regards to moving across to an IVA, this would depend on your circumstances at that time. We would need to reassess your situation to ensure that it is still a viable option. If it is, there would be no problem in referring you across to our IVA team.

Our DMPs are extremely flexible and are intended to help you repay your debts at an affordable rate for you. If you feel that you can afford to offer your creditors more, we can adjust your monthly deposit. If this is more on an ad-hoc basis, you can still pay more through your DMP without committing to a regular higher payment. Similarly, we can review your budget if your priority bills increase or you start to struggle.

The ‘longer’ IVA that you refer to occurs when the creditors stipulate that you have to release any equity to contribute towards your debts, but for one reason or another you are unable to do this. This could be because there isn’t as much equity as anticipated or you are unable to remortgage because of your credit rating. As a compromise, the IVA will last for 1 year longer (6 years in total) instead of a remortgage. However, IVAs vary from one individual to the next and so without looking at your whole situation, I couldn’t say whether your mortgage would be affected. Did you include these details in your Debt Remedy? If not, I’d recommend that you update us by calling the support team.

And finally, the $600 for the timeshare would depend on your budget and how drastically this would affect the term of your DMP. I really recommend that you call our support team to discuss this with them as they will have access to all your details and will be able to give you more specific advice.

Kind regards
Pavan

pricelessluck

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi Pricelessluck and thank you for your post.

There is a really useful article on this site that gives you more information about credit files and how to improve them:
I hope you find some helpful advice.

Kind regards
Pavan

Thanks Pavan,

Went through the 10 questions and that says I am a good risk as does Equifax but I think my missed payments in 2008 (2 credit cards over c/l for 3 months in a row) is affecting me. Does anyone know if there is a time period before they become insignificant?

StepChange_Pavan

dadooronronrondadooronron wrote: »

Hello

After a few false starts I finally sent off all my paperwork to CCCS couple of weeks ago. I spoke to somebody last week who said it was in the final stages of being checked and that I could probably start it by paying 1st payment via direct debit to CCCS on 1st November, but CCCS advisor said this would all be confirmed in my welcome pack, which hasn't arrived as yet.

I put my car in for service Monday and now have an unexpected bill of over £300 to cover service and couple jobs on it. Would it be possible to hold off starting DMP until 1st December? I would, of course, make further token payments this month to all and sundry!! Would that be ok?? Otherwise going to really struggle.

Secondly, I sent the letters off to everybody and have had acknowledgements back from a few. I didn't sign the letters. I signed them electronically as I keep reading on here is the best action. I have now had letter back from Capital One saying they will not acknowledge my instruction to deal with CCCS as my letter does not have a signature that they recognise? What should I do?

thanks for all your help. CCCS have been great as have all the people on this site. Difficult to ring CCCS at moment as am working extra hours and cant ring from work and have in-laws staying at home and they have habit of walkng in room when on phone :eek:

cheers - RON

Hi Ron and thanks for your post.

It’s good to hear that you’ve sent off your paperwork, and you’re on your way to starting your DMP

It’s not a problem to defer the start of your DMP until December. However, we will need to update your records. If you can’t get to us by phone, send us an email using our Contact form and select ‘I am an existing CCCS client’. Just include your client reference number and explain your reason as you have above.

With regards to Capital One, we will contact them once we receive your signed DMP agreement anyway. You could send them a notification letter by post along with November’s token payment if you wish.

Kind regards
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

pricelessluck wrote: »

Thanks Pavan,

Went through the 10 questions and that says I am a good risk as does Equifax but I think my missed payments in 2008 (2 credit cards over c/l for 3 months in a row) is affecting me. Does anyone know if there is a time period before they become insignificant?

Hi again,

Everything will remain on there for 6 years. However, it's difficult to say whether these will or won't affect you.

Hope this answers your question.

Pavan

CrashBandiloot

Hi

I found out last week that my husband has run up debts in the region of £20,000. He tells me that none of these were secured against our home. Through his firm's welfare service, he has been put in touch with a company to help him sort out these debts, and he has been speaking with them over the last few days. Today they advised him that they would also need to know all of my financial details in order to deal with these debts as my husband's creditors will take my money into account when working out repayment schedules. My husband and I have always kept our finances separate, splitting the bills etc. The only joint finance we have is our mortgage; as this is one of the bills I pay, it is up to date.

Can you please advise whether the advice my husband has been given is correct. I am very concerned that I may end up being held to account for finance I didn't know had been taken out until last week.

Thank you.

StepChange_Pavan

CrashBandiloot wrote: »

Hi

I found out last week that my husband has run up debts in the region of £20,000. He tells me that none of these were secured against our home. Through his firm's welfare service, he has been put in touch with a company to help him sort out these debts, and he has been speaking with them over the last few days. Today they advised him that they would also need to know all of my financial details in order to deal with these debts as my husband's creditors will take my money into account when working out repayment schedules. My husband and I have always kept our finances separate, splitting the bills etc. The only joint finance we have is our mortgage; as this is one of the bills I pay, it is up to date.

Can you please advise whether the advice my husband has been given is correct. I am very concerned that I may end up being held to account for finance I didn't know had been taken out until last week.

Thank you.

Hello CrashBandiloot and thank you for your post.

If the debts are in his sole name only and you finances are kept separate, there should be no reason why they would need to include your income. They should just include your husband’s income and his contributions towards the bills.

Is the company that your husband is speaking to a free debt advice agency? I would strongly recommend that he doesn’t pay for the advice or service he receives, as there are charities that can do exactly the same thing for free.

If you would like your husband to get a second opinion from a free and independent debt advice charity, he can use our online debt advice tool, Debt Remedy or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards
Pavan

tritons0

hi wondering if you may be able to help. self employed - when good month just scrape by but most months have been pretty poor lately and really struggling - putting money through credit cards and spiralling out of control. i owe about 34 k in debt - 2 loans, 5 creidt cards . i also pay my mum 200 per month for finance she helped me with as well as paying 100 per month the credit union (these are not inclluded in the 34k debt. ) as being self employed i must put away 500 quid each month to cover tax - but really need to put away 700 but cant afford it - and suprise suprise wont have full amount of tax needed to pay taxman in jan - so will have to put on credit card again ! please help:o

shellbell121

Hi,

Im after some advice regarding a 15 year old debt from a bank account. I have only just been contacted about this debt. The bank account was mine but i didnt run up the debt, i think it was my ex. As it was so long ago im finding it hard to remember details that could help me with this. They have told me that i owe £1'000 and when i told the company dealing with this debt (Mackenzie Hall) that i wouldnt be paying without looking into it as it wasnt my debt i was told that they would investigate but that the money would be recovered from me. Can they still chase this 15 years later, had it been done before then it could have been sorted but now im so annoyed because i dont have any debt and its stressing me that they say i owe this money. They have asked me to write a letter to them giving them permission to investigate. If i dont do this what will they do. Im worried that by doing this it sounds like an admission from me that the debt is mine.

Thank you in advance.

candles1978

Hi,

I have had my DMP with CCCS since May this year. Most of my creditors have been really cooperative and have frozen my interest apart from HSBC. They seem to have accepted the DMP for all but one of our accounts which has been passed to their in house debt collection agency. Since it was passed over, we haven't heard anything from them so I am hoping they have finally accepted it. Unfortunately, I was checking our online banking the other day and I noticed that even though HSBC have accepted the DMP payment on our other accounts, they are still charging us interest. This means, for example on our one account, we make a payment of £23.23 and the interest this month was £23.44 so that means we will never pay the debt off!!!

Is there anything I can do about this? Is it worth calling HSBC about it?

Many thanks

longhairedbloke

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hi Longhairedbloke and thank you for your post.

I hope your head has cleared a bit, and you should have received your DMP email by now. You’ve mentioned that your unsecured debt is £3100. Is this correct, as you would need a minimum of around £15,000 to qualify for an IVA?

I’ve answered your questions in the order that they were asked, but if you remember the ones you forgot, you can contact our support team and they will be happy to help.

With regards to moving across to an IVA, this would depend on your circumstances at that time. We would need to reassess your situation to ensure that it is still a viable option. If it is, there would be no problem in referring you across to our IVA team.

Our DMPs are extremely flexible and are intended to help you repay your debts at an affordable rate for you. If you feel that you can afford to offer your creditors more, we can adjust your monthly deposit. If this is more on an ad-hoc basis, you can still pay more through your DMP without committing to a regular higher payment. Similarly, we can review your budget if your priority bills increase or you start to struggle.

The ‘longer’ IVA that you refer to occurs when the creditors stipulate that you have to release any equity to contribute towards your debts, but for one reason or another you are unable to do this. This could be because there isn’t as much equity as anticipated or you are unable to remortgage because of your credit rating. As a compromise, the IVA will last for 1 year longer (6 years in total) instead of a remortgage. However, IVAs vary from one individual to the next and so without looking at your whole situation, I couldn’t say whether your mortgage would be affected. Did you include these details in your Debt Remedy? If not, I’d recommend that you update us by calling the support team.

And finally, the $600 for the timeshare would depend on your budget and how drastically this would affect the term of your DMP. I really recommend that you call our support team to discuss this with them as they will have access to all your details and will be able to give you more specific advice.

Kind regards
Pavan

Hi Pavan,

Thanks for the reply. I must have mistyped, the unsecured debt is £31000. We've received the email with the forms to complete and are going to get those done in the next couple of days.

We'd prefer the DMP for now, we'll see how we go for a few months and reasses. We'll keep an eye on things. We've tried to cut back as much as possible, but things like the tv licence will reduce as we've just moved in (they want six months up front) and the council tax took a couple of months to get sorted so we're playing catch up with increased payments for that as well, so hopefully those will reduce and we'll have a bit more money to throw at the debts.

Thanks for your help, we feel much better now the CCCS have been helping us.

Regards,

LHB.