Advice please on CCCS and DMPs?

breakfree

I have recently set up a DMP with CCCS, having finding myself living on my own again after a relationship breakup and moving back to my house it has become more and more difficult to manage finances and I just felt I was juggling it all about but getting nowhere, so I finally decided to try and get my life in order spent a long time sorting finances and decided after speaking to CCCS to set up a DMP as I thought that if the creditors froze the interest I could get this paid off quicker and take control. But I am feeling a bit uneasy about the DMP.

My loan with Tesco RBS have said that they have not accepted my lower payments because of a query on my budget and have sent me a default notice saying that if payment is not made they will take court action. I am terrified that this is spiraling out of control. I have never ever missed payments before and I really am so worried that I am going to end up with a CCJ or end up having court action taken against me.

If RBS do end up giving this to a debt collection agency (CCCS advised they may well do), would they be selling the net value of the loan amount which was £22,800 the original amount I borrowed or would they pass over the net amount plus the interest which totals at £27,378? I am concerned that if they are going to be recovering the net amount plus the interest and then they continue charging interest this will take me years to pay it off and I may have been better off just contacting them and extending the years of my loan without having default notices and the stress of court action against me? I also have debt of £4,360 with MBNA who have agreed lower payments and reduced interest to 7.9%, which is good that they reduced but obviously I'm still getting interest charged on it, will this continue or will they consider freezing this in time does anyone know?

I am very worried at the moment whether RBS would continue charging extra interest and late charges and the original amount I borrowed ends up being a lot more and taking me a lot longer to pay off? I would really appreciate any advice I am really feelingn very stressed about all of this. Has anyone had experience of RBS being a difficult creditor to deal with?

I called Tesco yesterday to ask them about the query on the budget and they said it was my travel which is £230 a month, which unfortunately it is (working in London)!! I have now written to Tesco loans RBS and enclosed a copy of my travel season ticket which and asked them to reconsider accepting my lower payments and freezing interest on my loan to enable me to pay it off quicker.

Any advice would be very appreciated. I'm starting to think that maybe this was the wrong thing to do and that maybe I should have just done this on my own and just extended the years I pay the loan without going through the stress of having a terrible credit reference and defaults and court action stress?

Jinx

Hi Breakfree

I didnt want to read and run. You've done really well to start getting sorted out.

My debts were all credit cards so Im not sure if your loan will work differently, but basically if you are paying your creditors what you can afford then they cannot have what you dont.... Pretty much as soon as you stop paying minimum payments you WILL get defaulted and some lenders will pass your debt to a debt collection agency. This isnt a disaster, you just write to them instead and it shows they werent that keen to take you to court. You can only request interest is frozen, its not guaranteed. In my experience when a debt is passed on charges stop getting added and some charge interest where others dont, luck of the draw methinks.

My advice: read the stickies at the top re getting advice; ONLY correspond in writing; ONLY pay what you can afford - my preferred method of payment is recurring online payment - it means I dont forget to pay and I can change it up or down depending on circumstances; do a statement of affairs for the experts to help you pick apart. Also I used to put in my letters Im paying what I can afford etc and provided perhaps more info that I needed to, however, I felt if my debt ever did make it to court I could prove how reasonable, fair I was being.

breakfree

Thank you Jinx for replying to me, I am just really worried about it all at the moment and half of me is thinking of contacting the credit card I had with Halifax as they have offered me another 9 months 0% interest (whether that will be accepted now is another thing!) I thought maybe it would be better to put the credit card debt on there (which is currently charging me 7.9%) then try and get the money together to pay Tesco loan this month and then perhaps get on the phone to them to see if I can extend years of loan so I am only paying back amount I can afford right now which is £300 to them. Or is that just juggling my money around further? At least that way I'd feel that I wouldn't be getting final demand letters and threats stressing me out?

I talked to CCCS and they just said it was up to me, they think I should stick with plan but it was up to me what I wanted to do and I could cancel the DMP at any time. I really thought that CCCS would be in contact with my creditors more fighting my case but it doesn't seem to work like that, has anyone else found that?

So I either roll with this and get tough and try and fight it by taking the letters, calls and writing to them until they are sick of me to plead for the frozen interest, live with a crap credit rating and try and get through this, or I try the other option and try and pay this months money I've defaulted on and try and talk to the Loan company to discuss whether they can do anything for me?

HELP!! I'm just so worried that Tesco loans will keep charging interest and so will MBNA and then it will leave me even worse off?

I'm so confused and stressed, I can't call the CCCS because each time I do I get charged a fortune because its an 0845 number!

Has anyone had any experience of Tesco loans freezing interest? I looked on their website and it says that they support the CCCS and are sympathetic to customers with money difficulties! I was thinking that my next step if I carry on with the plan is to write another letter to Tesco Loans and mention what they say on their website and perhaps mention contacting the FO?

Bloodyelle

Hi Breakfree

The national debt helpline have a great section of customisable and downloadable sample letters you can use for virtually every eventually...including one for when they refuse to freeze interest.

You can find them at national debt helpline look for sample letters

Hope that helps..I've never posted on here before although been lurking for weeks. I'm just about to embark on a DMP with CCCS and one thing the lurking has been invaluable for is learning what to expect!... For me, it took a few weeks to sink in that there was indeed NO way out of my financial mess without ruining my credit history and probably not without accruing Defaults or CCj's. Once I accepted this as inevitable the knot in my chest has lessened a bit.

Only you know what you can and cant afford...but for me it helps to remind myself that my budget I and E sheet is the reality and creditors can only have what I have to pay..no matter what they do!

Hope you find some of this helpful


Bloodyelle

eyeopener2

Tesco won't freeze the interest on the loan as its already calculated in the amount you owe.

Credit cards are a different matter as they usually come on board but not always straight away and it is worth badgering them with letters to make them see sense.

CCCS are great but you have to take a lot of matters into your won hands, be proactive if you will. CCCS will contact all your creditors with budget, offers etc but you need to do a bit yourself.

You have to decide what you want to do now. if you pull the DMP can you afford to go back to paying your contractual payments? If you can, then cancel the DMP.

If you can't then your better off biting the bullet, accepting the DMP, and learning to live on the budget CCCS set. Still badger your cc about freezing interest though and don't let up.

its not easy at first but you do get used to it even if your DFD can seem a long way off.

SkintnScared

I'm so confused and stressed, I can't call the CCCS because each time I do I get charged a fortune because its an 0845 number!

Hi there
Ive just been reading through your thread and just a little note....may be of use..........there is a website called 'say no to 0845/0870 numers'..........put the details of the company in and it will give you a landline number you can call instead.

I never call 0845/0870 numbers etc anymore.............not a huge thing but may help a little

Best of luck for the future and make the most of this forum, the guys on here are brilliant and have helped me immensely.

Best Wishes

SnS

thriftymoo

hi

Try their help line number which is 0800 138 1111 The number you've got might be for an internal department but if you try the free phone number i'm sure they'll put you through to whoever you need if you ask. Or request that they'll call u back?

eyeopener2

I thought CCCS was freephone as well, it always is when I call.

breakfree

Thanks everyone for your replies, I basically wrote to Tesco loans and asked them to reconsider accepting the lower payment from CCCS I also enclosed a copy of my rail ticket showing that I have to pay £230 a month for travel (as that was the query on my budget and the reason they declined the reduced payment). Still wondering whether this is the right thing to do or not really, I just really want to make a start on paying all of this debt off, but so worried that it could backfire and I could end up owing more if they start charging a higher percentage of interest. I've read that usually once a creditor sends you a default notice (which I have already been sent) then they usually stop charging interest or pass the debt over to a debt collecting agency, from what I understand this seems to be a good thing is that right?

I think I'm going to have to roll with it, I don't want to try and see if I can reopen my credit card at 0% which Halifax offered me for being a good customer!! Just in case it has an effect on my DMP (would my creditors be able to tell if I'd opened a 0% card up or requested more credit) basically if I opened the card back up I'd transfer my cc debt on to that and then try and make payment to Tesco loan before notice date and try and negotiate with them to lower my payment if extending the years? perhaps that is just still juggling my money though.

Still thinking maybe I should just go with this DMP though just hope that my life changes in future perhaps i'll meet a nice guy and move in with them and then things will be different as I'll have more money to pay on the DMP then. I dunno my head feels like its gonna explode most of the time, my friend did the DMP through CCCS and said that it does take a few months to settle into but eventually you get there.

One other question MBNA have reduced the interest to 7.9%, just a thick question but if I write to them to freeze interest or reduce it what am I asking them to do, freeze it at 7.9% or to 0%? Can they do that???

Find all of this very confusing!!!

Good point is I am really starting to control my finances, cancelled all overdrafts and know exactly what dates bills go out and the exact amounts I've even become a bit OCD on checking my accounts every day!! But pleased to say I'm actually in credit in my account before payday which has to be a first for about 10 years!!!

Any advice on the DMP stuff would be fab!! :0) x

discodriver

One of the big advantages of CCCS for us has been that they can act as a "buffer". Not only are the many and various tactics of these companies commonplace to them (the debt collector threats and "solicitor's letters" e.g.) which means they can advise on how seriously you need to take them, but you can use their management of your plan to stonewall companies who try to hassle you. Remember that the overriding aim of each of your creditors is to get their money before anyone else gets theirs! We have been able to fend off particularly insistent callers by telling them that under the terms of our DMP we cannot negotiate with individual companies, and that they will have to deal via CCCS.
In the early days several of our creditors declined to accept the payments offered (incl Tesco/RBS) but persistence and small but regular payments have brought them on board.

discodriver

Might also add that creditors will not always advertise the fact that they are freezing your interest at 0% once they have accepted your DMP, but you will see it from your cc statements when they come through! Also applies to all those default charges. They are obliged to keep sending you all those default notices, doesn't necessarily reflect the situation accurately.