confused about debt plan with spectrum

shamrockintheclover

hi there,
i am in about £12000 debt with three credit card companies. i contacted spectrum , and paid them £233 for 3 months to take charge of my financial affairs. in their ad, they boasted that they could get up to 95% of the debt written off. ok so they sent a statement of my finances to each company and these have now been passed to debt collectors for all three companies. they also told me i should start paying £1.oo a month to the 3 creditors. so im wondering now, how much should i be saving each month, and at what point should i make an offer of payment and with how much money? tow debts are around £3000 each and the other is £4000 and something. this is supposed to be a 5 year payment plan so i m debt free in 5 years. i dont work and i claim benefits for 3 kids so i am seeking to make the lowest offer possible. would i be needing to contact the creditors or the debt collectors to make an offer? i also have one credit card which i have kept as it is the same bank i get my money paid in. i was advised to keep this one or my bank account would be closed. its for around £3500, and im able to pay it off each month £70/month. so how much should i realistically be saving to pay each account. i treid to contact spectrum about this but as yet i havent received satisfactory results. please help!!!!!:o

southernscouser

Hi there and welcome to MSE! :hello:

Firstly the the proposal of wiping out 95% of your debts is called an IVA but it doesn't sound like you are on one. By all accounts Spectrum are basically ripping you off! :mad:

Stop paying them immediately and call the CCCS who are a registered charity and do not pay you a penny for their services.

What it sounds like they are doing is entering you into a DMP which is basically an agreement with your creditors on a monthly repayment where hopefully interest and charges will be frozen. DMP's however do not wipe out 95% of your debts.

I can't believe they get away with this as it's just robbery in my opinion.

Honestly call the CCCS. They are looking out for YOU because they make no money out of it themselves. Spectrum is a buisness that looks to make profits from you and are scum of the earth.

Contact details can be found here and also have a look at posting a SOA and we might be able to help you make some cutbacks.

Welcome aboard! :beer:

shamrockintheclover

hi there,
thanks for your advice!! just what can i do about specturm if i decide to go to the cccs? can i cancel? and get my money back and what do i tell my creditors or the debt collection agencies? i have not been satisfied with specturm as they have made several errors by not contacting creditors on my behalf, mixing up my account numbers and it takes half a day to get through on the phone, yet before i paid them each month the £233 they were ringing me to remind me. please help, can i get out of this agreement

southernscouser

Just cancel. I don't believe you are in any contract with them. Unfortunately you would have lost the money you paid them but most of it should have gone to your creditors.

If the creditors phone explain to them that you are dealing with the CCCS. They may be more understanding because at tleats that way they know they are getting 100% of your payments going to them!