Preparation for appointment - CCCS

rarele

Hello everyone

I am amazed by the amount of information on this board. I am wading my way through it but can't take it all in so I'm sure some of what I'm asking will have been covered somewhere else - apologies in advance for that - I just haven't found it yet.

I have an appointment with CCCS this Thursday. I have filled in the forms they've sent which are basically income & outgoings. I have also - as a result of this board - tried to open a basic bank account with Nat West (Step). I did it online and I think it went ok but they will send stuff in the post to complete the application.

What I am worried about are the following points;

- there should have been several DDs coming out of my (Smile) account this week. I have cancelled them all (because there isn't enough money & I'm sick of getting charged) but I am worried about the repercussions. Some were to debt collection agencies for debts going back along time. One was to BT - my monthly payment - I am probably worrying unnecessarily but they won't cut my phone off will they??

- will the fact that I have cancelled these DDs have any affect on the advice / help that CCCS give me. I assume that the debt collection people will be threatening legal action any day now

- the Step account (Nat West) comes with a Solo card. Does anyone know if this can be used to SELL on ebay & Green Metropolis? If not that's a small but useful amount of money I won't have anymore.:(

- what sort of proof do CCCS want of income & outgoings? Do they need to see bank statements?

Sorry for all the questions - I'd be grateful for any help/advice anyone can offer. I'm quite scared by this whole process but also I must admit slightly relieved that I've actually faced up to it properly for the first time in my life.

R

CLAPTON

if you dont pay your BT bill then they probably will cut you off. you need to pay this bill, how much is it?

why not post your SoA here and you will get useful advice.

Annie_Fanny

Hey Rarele

Well done on facing up to your problems. I know it is scary but you can get through this.

I can't help with any of your specific questions but there will be people along shortly who can. Try not to do anything rash at the moment. You have your meeting with the CCCS on Thursday and they will be able to guide you on the best course of action.

As Clapton said how about posting up an SOA? We may be able to find some ways for you to cut back your finances? You will find information on how to prepare a Statement of Affairs (SOA) in the following thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Good luck!

Annie
Xx

rarele

Thanks for such quick replies.

My BT payment is not the bill as such - it's a monthly payment. I pay £63 a month:o I have no idea why it's so much - I used to pay £30 and then it went up. It's partly to do with having a teenage daughter - I never use the thing (never get chance - she's either on the phone or the internet). I've got Option 2 I think which gives me free evening & weekend calls but unfortunately not to mobiles which is what she calls most of the time. I would like to change to Broadband but we share the house with someone else & it's their computer & internet connection & they don't want to change so not much choice there really.

Will try to post a SOA in a minute (I'm actually at work!).

Thanks again
R

rarele

SOA as follows

Income

Salary - 1712
Child Ben - 70
Total - 1782

Outgoings

Rent 600
Council Tax 61
Water 25
TV Licence 10.99
Gas & Elec 15
Phone 63
Mobile 50
Daughters travel 50
Food 160 to 200 - am trying to decrease this
Loan 77
Debt 205 (student loan - passed to debt collectors)
Credit Card 120 - this is minimum payment - up to limit £4k +
Debt 115 (old cc debt - passed to debt collectors)
Daughters pocket
money + money for
college stuff (photo
graphy - expensive
A level to take) 80
DVD rental 14.99
Therapy 100 (don't think I can manage without this)
Entertainment/clothes/
haircuts etc 30

Total - 1816.98

Also have 2 credit cards which have been passed to debt collectors - total about £2k. Have not made any payments towards these yet (am waiting for CCCS appt). Also remainder of student loan which hasn't been passed to debt collectors - probably about 6K (can't remember - as I said I'm at work at the mo & don't have figures with me). Student loans are asking for about 100 a month on top of the 200 I pay to debt collectors - that's what made me contact CCCS in the end.

I know there is some stuff here that isn't essential. The therapy I believe is. The food can be reduced & I'm trying. Could cut the DVDs out but realistically I rarely go out and hardly ever by clothes or have my haircut so I'd like to have something to enjoy!!!

Thanks for your help
R

Annie_Fanny

Rarele

Thanks for posting your SOA. It is a positive step to take.

The first thing to point out though is your way of thinking at the moment, i.e. you need to undertand the correlation between your comments of "I know there is some stuff here that isn't essential. The therapy I believe is." to "there should have been several DDs coming out of my (Smile) account this week. I have cancelled them all (because there isn't enough money)"

Therapy is of course very useful but at the moment you are sinking and you need to turn this situation around - which you can do. It may be a case of cutting down on the therapy. What is £100 of therapy buying at the moment, i.e. how many sessions and how often? There are also ways to get some forms of counselling for free. You need to look into this.

Do you have a complete list of debts, aprs and whether they have been passed to a DCA? This will help us see everything together.

Annie
Xx

CLAPTON

first of all about the phone

a. check the itemised bill carefully ... are all the calls due to DD or does your house mate make calls and what about the internet side of things

b. there is nothing to stop you get broadband and have your house mate continuing to use dial up

c. down grade BT to option 1 and use https://www.call1899.com for landline calls (typically only 3 per call (nothing per minute) and https://www.call18185.co.uk for mobiles (5 p per minute but a lot cheaper than BT).
(check out martins site for telephone deals these may not be the best but a lot better than BT)

d. set a budget for DD..say £10 per month and she pays any excess out of her money (sign up to BT online and monitor the bills on a daily/weekly basis ..the other ones provide online access as standard)

e. mobile...get a PAYG and just use it only for emergencies)

this should mean say max of 20 on the phone (11 to BT and 9 to the others) and say 5 max on the mobile saving about £80 per month

Presumably DD knows your situation and perhaps needs to a parttime job to pay some of her own bills?

Does the house mate contribute to the house hold bills?

Debts : it would be easier to see the situation is you itemised the debts separately with the details about payment /APRs etc along side

rarele

Hi Annie Thanks for your reply. One of the reasons that I have been reluctant to post an SOA before is that I knew people would advise me to cut down or cut out the therapy. I've got a long standing mental health issue which I don't think I could manage without this support. I have looked into free counselling in the past but this is very much related to income and as (on paper) mine is quite reasonable I would not qualify. Also I have been seeing this person for some time and to change now would probably not be helpful for me. However, I do take on board what you are saying about my financial situation. I suppose I have to make the choice but one of my concerns is that CCCS won't help if I insist on paying £100 for therapy (this is for 1 session a week - so £25 per session which is actually a reduced rate - I used to pay more but the therapist has knocked it down to that quite recently).
Thanks again
R

rarele

Thanks for your ideas Clapton - I have looked into those 1899 etc etc type things for phone calls - I find it all extermely confusing! But I have Thursday off work - CCCS call is in the afternoon so I will spend the morning looking at my phone situation!
It's an on going problem with the lovely daughter & getting a job etc. I would love her to but am also worried about how much work she's doing for her A levels so don't want to put too much pressure on. But you're right I do need to talk to her about it - she knows the finances are not good but I do need to come to some sort of arrangement about the phone - I already check my bill on line so can keep an eye on what she's doing.(It is her not flat mate). Flat mate & I do share the bills - we have worked it out so I pay 2/3 of everything except council tax which we halve. What happens in practice is that he pays most of gas & elec & I pay water & tv. I pay phone because he never uses it & he pays internet connection. Didn't realise I could get broadband & he could stay with dial up - on the same computer?

Regarding mobile - I think I am tied into contract for another 6 months - do you think they'd release me from it?
R

Annie_Fanny

rarele wrote:

Hi Annie Thanks for your reply. One of the reasons that I have been reluctant to post an SOA before is that I knew people would advise me to cut down or cut out the therapy. I've got a long standing mental health issue which I don't think I could manage without this support. I have looked into free counselling in the past but this is very much related to income and as (on paper) mine is quite reasonable I would not qualify. Also I have been seeing this person for some time and to change now would probably not be helpful for me. However, I do take on board what you are saying about my financial situation. I suppose I have to make the choice but one of my concerns is that CCCS won't help if I insist on paying £100 for therapy (this is for 1 session a week - so £25 per session which is actually a reduced rate - I used to pay more but the therapist has knocked it down to that quite recently).
Thanks again
R

Ahh but Rarele this is simply my advice to you. You can take on as much advice as you wish. I am here to advise in the best way I can and not to judge you on your choices.

Have you tried your GP for a referral? It would take sometime to get the counselling but at least you would have a plan in action.

I also have a feeling that tackling and paying off your debts will greatly improve your mental health. Could you cut down to 2 or 3 sessions a month and put the £50/£25 towards your debt?

As for your daughter I think it would be beneficial for her to get a job. You could try and look at things from a different perspective. i.e. having a job is part of your child's education. It may also make her more employable once she is looking for jobs in the future. Is she planning to go to University?

Out of interest do you do any excercise?

Annie_Fanny

Just me sticking my nose in again...

I think it is about changing your perspective on life, i.e. you say that you "Could cut the DVDs out but realistically I rarely go out and hardly ever buy clothes or have my haircut so I'd like to have something to enjoy!!!" OK that's fine but could you become a member of the library and get the DVDs for free? There are also lots of incentives for joining these DVD rental companies. You can get free membership for a month or get money for having a trial.

Also have you thought about joining a Mystery Shopping company - you often get free meals and stuff like that. You don't get paid a lot but often taking action to resolve problems is in my opinion the best medicine.