Christians Against Poverty

Cheeselady

We have a CAP Advisor coming to our home in two weeks, as we would prefer to see a person face to face, as I'm partially deaf, so using the 'phone is difficult, but wonder if what they offer is as good a service as CCCS and Payplan? Is there anything they don't offer that say, CCCS and Payplan do? Thanks

LBaum

I originally contacted CAP . Unfortunately they couldn't help me because I am self employed. What I do understand about them is they hold the broad view that poverty arising through debt can be harmful to families and individuals
when it gets out of hand, especially when they borrow more money to pay off existing debt.

Borrowing more money at extortionate rates is economically unnecessary, because the law is there to protect debtors falling into poverty, however few of us use it or even know how to begin to use it. Abd thats where groups like PayPlan, CCCS and CAP are there to help

From the CAP's point of view, the stress of un-managed debt has adverse effects on the family , often it's quite 'evil' in its consequences. I'm not a Christian but I would agree that un-managed debt does have serious and adverse effects on the debtor and to me its a kind of banal, everyday 'evil'

There is another side to this. When people get into bad debt they often borrow money at high rates to get get out of it. You know, payday loans etc. This only makes matters worse. You could argue if every debtor who ran into difficulty because of unavoidable personal circumstance knew the law and their rights as debtors then they wouldn't go to high interest lenders, hence high interest lenders wouldn't have a business.

Even as a non-Christian I think there is something intrinsically wrong in lenders regarding human being like heads of animals so the high interest creditors don't have to do constructive work for a living and make the lives of those they exploit worse in order to make a quick profit out of them. - Small quick profit out of hundred of people in one area .

What they do can ultimately damage families .

There's two sides to the debt relationship

1. The debtor
2. Every company or individual who is trying to make a quick buck by exploiting the debtors position and circumstances.

Remove the relationship by a debt management plan which uses legislation to back it up and you remove some of the destructive effects of debt and reduce the influence of exploitative lending companies, and DCA's by not giving them a foothold in peoples lives.


If its any help a family member put me on to them. This person is a member of a big church which hold the CAP ethos and they seem to work cooperatively and support each other. For example one member of their church went into hospital the other week, and other members of the of the church took time out to provide transport and support in hospital and in the home when the member came out.

On the whole they seem a very happy, constructive, positive bunch.

Good luck if you choose to go with them.

sammy115

Me again...I am stalking you... I misread your post and thought you meant CAB. I have no dealings with CAP so I can't comment on what they may suggest. I am with CCCS and I would say that the credit card companies and Debt collectors seem to listen when you say you are with the CCCS and back off from hounding you.

fatbelly

There's no problem in seeing what they suggest then running it past another (fee -free!) debt help organisation to see if they agree.

I think National Debtline can be trusted to be impartial and even-handed.

Martin's 'approved' list is here

LBaum

National debt line very helpful in my experience.

CL - makes the point she has difficulty hearing - so it might be that consideration should be given to whether she can use the internet rather than the 'phone to contact and deal with them.

Might be worth someone from CCCS etc explaining alternatives to 'phone use.

Might also be worth her pointing out to collection agencies she can't actually hear what they are saying.

a) there's no point in ringing

b) ringing when she can't hear what they are saying , for the sake of it, is probably a form of harassment and they should send all correspondence by writing.

Cheeselady

Thanks everyone for your replies and useful advice. My DH is hearing, so can use the phone, but obviously I wanted to be involved as much as I can, so the CAP appealed to us, as they offer home visits. Also my husband is a Christian and I thought that they may be able to offer some support for him. Saying that though, if the CCCS is a better option and would get us a better result with our debts, which at the end of the day is of number 1 importance, then obviously I would rather go with them, and just let DH do the phone calls. Is the CAP service as well know as the CCCS, and do they provide the same kind of help? Not sure whether we should ring the CCCS as well, and then see which the better option is, not sure if it's acceptable to approach both at the same time or not?

Cheeselady

Just bumping this in the hope of getting an answer to my question above, about whether it's acceptable to contact both at the same time, and see how they compare? Thanks

brucemcc11

Hi,
I went with CAP to start with, but didn't like there idea of ALL my money going into an account of theirs and when you need money you have to ask them for it. They do help reduce your debt, but also control your spending which I didn't like.

Cheeselady

brucemcc11 wrote: »

Hi,
I went with CAP to start with, but didn't like there idea of ALL my money going into an account of theirs and when you need money you have to ask them for it. They do help reduce your debt, but also control your spending which I didn't like.

Oh, I don't like the sound of that either, so they operate differently to CCCS and Payplan then? Didn't realise that, I thought you just paid them what they needed to pass on to pay the debts? I really don't like the idea of having to ask them every time I want to spend something. How would that work? If you go to the shop to buy milk, sorry but I don't quite understand, surely our money wouldbe in our bank account and we could use our debit card? Could you explain a a bit further please? Thanks

Anyone else had experience with CAP?

guinnessgirl

Hi Cheeselady,

I work for CAP, and while I am not posting in an official capacity here, I can tell you that the service that CAP provides is every bit as professional as the CCCS and works on broadly similar terms - the difference being that CAP offers face-to-face support and advice and is not solely phone-based. CAP has great success with helping people to get out of debt, mostly within five years.

Brucemcc11 has misunderstood the idea of paying in money to CAP. I can confirm that you do NOT pay all your money in to CAP. You pay in only what is needed to pay your bill & debt repayments, with a little to put aside for emergencies and one-off payments like car tax etc. That's it - not all your money! You keep the rest to live on, as normal, no funny business!

Hope that helps, and I hope your visit with your local CAP representative goes well

Cheeselady

guinnessgirl wrote: »

Hi Cheeselady,

I work for CAP, and while I am not posting in an official capacity here, I can tell you that the service that CAP provides is every bit as professional as the CCCS and works on broadly similar terms - the difference being that CAP offers face-to-face support and advice and is not solely phone-based. CAP has great success with helping people to get out of debt, mostly within five years.

Brucemcc11 has misunderstood the idea of paying in money to CAP. I can confirm that you do NOT pay all your money in to CAP. You pay in only what is needed to pay your bill & debt repayments, with a little to put aside for emergencies and one-off payments like car tax etc. That's it - not all your money! You keep the rest to live on, as normal, no funny business!

Hope that helps, and I hope your visit with your local CAP representative goes well

Oh thank you so much for explaining it to me, so when you say bill and debt repayments, what bills does that cover? Are you talking about all of them or just particular ones such as gas/phone, or does this only apply to any bills which you are behind with payment? Thanks for replying to my questions, really appreciate it. :T