CCCS - Debt Management Plan

micaleff

I am thinking of going into one of these......whats your opinions on them?
Is it worth it or should i just struggle and try and pay minimums off each month?

thanks

Tixy

Hi

DMPs can be brilliant for some people - and CCCS are probably the best place to choose to manage one.

Depends on whether you can make your minimums sustainably and without reusing credit. If you can do this by cutting back but still being realistically able to afford to 'live' then its probably worth carrying on as you are.
If you cannot meet your minimums, are reusing the credit every month or have no slack at all for emergencies etc then I would seriously consider a DMP.

Only time I really think its worth struggling on with a small shortfall a month is if you know that your finances will improve soon in such a way that you will be able to substantially increase your debt repayments.

ProperInDebt

I started with the CCCS approx 5 months ago and although I was not sure I could manage on the budget I have not struggled at all. In fact I have had money in my bank account at the end of the month for the last 5 months.

At first there were a couple of niggles and I still get phone calls from creditors however, CCCS are only a phone call away and will give you immediate help and advice.

The only debt I have had a problem with is my Nationwide overdraft. Most companies want approx 1 per cent of the debt each month, Nationwide like 3 per cent and although I had never gone over my agreed overdraft limit and had never bounced a cheque or a Direct Debit in the 11 years that I was with them and am paying them 2.5 per cent they are now threatening to make the debt secured on my property

I have found CCCS a positive experience and I would recommend them. I had not realised how much I was worrying about my debt and now I feel that a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Good Luck

:beer:

micaleff

thanks for the advise guys.......my DH lost his well paid job and has had to take a 20k drop just to bring some cash in. I did their online thingy and it come out saying we have £380 odd to pay off the debts but it added in expediture that we dont even use now like clothing/hairdresser budget! so this will give us a little extra to save for things like relatives birthdays etc which i thought we wouldnt be able to do on something like this.
DH job should include some monthly bonus or commission but we dont know how this will pan out yet as he hasnt yet started there.....i think we may have to go onto one of these as if we stayed as we are we would pay all the bills but no money left for food, petrol, clothes etc it would literally just pay the credit and utilities etc....

eyeopener2

Once your up and running in a DMP you tend to find yourself going super frugal and, to be honest, things like relatives birthdays and other non esential things go out of the window. The usual stuff like Sky, mobiles etc also go and you learn to live without them (or at least the super duper full package/contract)

Think about it carefully. I find it fantastic and I now know roughley when I will be debt free but it's no bed of roses. Things are tight, whatever your budget says, and you have no credit to fall back on, which takes some getting used to.

Good luck and if you need any help at all there are loads of us on DMP's.

E2

micaleff

Thats great thanks for the support! i am lucky enough to have a really great family around e who have already been doing our grocery shopping/nappies etc for us for the last 6 weeks and also leant us money when our roof blew off in a storm! if i need any extra bits im sure i will have their support again.....i am used to being thrifty my biggest bug bear is my DH addiction to cigs i just wish he could stop so we could save more money....grrrr

sickasachip13

We've found the DMP a godsend. Wouldn't say it's easy at first living on a budget but one of the reasons we got in this mess was because we've never budgetted!

Have a look at my other previous posts for more details if you like.

We went with CCCS and we can't fault the service we've had so far.