Query regarding CCCS advice..

kepar

INAN the washing machine was in my case, but what I was trying to highlight that once you have gone bankrupt if you have a problem there are very few places to turn. You might life in a big city where you have a lot on freecycle, round here you probably have to wait for a year before one was listed.

mandyl

yeah and also they need to give the same advice to people. i technically have a negative budget and they suggested br to me. ummm....

judojub

debt_doctor wrote: »

When I'm training volunteers I always ask them this question;

What's the most important thing a debt advisor does?

The answer is they give people hope.

Hope that no matter how bad things are now and no matter how little income they have or are going to have there is a light at the end of the tunnel that they can become debt free and live within their (often meagre) means.

If you can't build a client up, give them hope and empowerment to tackle what they need to do to get out of their situation, then you have failed as a debt advisor.

For CCCS or anyone else to say at the outset "you've got a negative budget - you can't go bankrupt" has potentially taken away all hope and empowerment for the client and has made a clients situation worse.

DD

Sorry to interrupt, I read the BR threads quite often even though I am in an IVA and I just wanted to comment on what a great post this one is!
Many lessons could be learned from this one post alone!:j

alastairq

thanks for that, DD....maybe I should be a volunteer as well?


Regarding negative budget?

When I declared BR...my budget was in a negative as well.....despite working ...

However, like so many folk, it wasn't a real problem providing the cash flow was even or positive.

It is when the cash flow fails that problems occur...ask people like Rover?

However, when my SOA was assembled [with the help of CAB, bless 'em] and allowances 'taken advantage of', I had virtually a zero surplus...

This can be misleading to an individual.....


Suggesting one's expenditure would require assistance from credit is , to my mind, counter-productive.

After all, it is credit that has often resulted in looking at BR?

Plus...if already in a bad way, financially, would credit still be available?

Do we not advocate against solving credit issues with more credit?

DD is so absolutely right.......to help and advise, we must leave the 'client' in a positive mood....our advice must be positive in nature.

Ineedaname

Kepar, I take your point ref Freecycle, have a friend living in a very downtrodden big city and there's nothing worth bothering with on his Freecycle either. I actually live in a very small town, but am surrounded by bigger conurbations and the villages in between are quite fruitful.

I was just trying to say though, that there are ways other than saving for new. But I appreciate different difficulties are faced across the country, regarding what is available free, second hand or refurbished in each area.

debt_doctor

alastairq wrote: »

thanks for that, DD....maybe I should be a volunteer as well?

Oh, yes please!

You, like many on here, would be an incredibly good catch.

DD

Lancylass

Interesting thread!

My Brother in law certainly came away from CCCS with the understanding that he would not be allowed to go bankrupt if his budget wasn't balanced. The advisor actually said that the court would not allow it, even though we were prepared to give him a fresh start with us, ie. no household outgoings, no contribution to household expenses. This all happened today, and I checked it out myself.

As was said also in this thread, if you can't leave a client with hope ....
This poor guy is at his wits end quite honestly

rockythedog

am on hold fornational debtline right now as I was reading this thread whilst on hold for cccs and hung up. I heard cccs like topush for dmp's over br so was hesitant to call but a friend used them for a dro and gave good reports. I dont think i could handle being told br is not anoption after psyching myself upto it the past week

fermi

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

We don't say people can't go bankrupt if they have a deficit budget, they certainly can and ultimately it is their choice. It's that we would advise that there’s no long-term solution in place and that the budget would ideally be balanced before petitioning. This helps the client’s wellbeing in the long term.

Ineedaname wrote: »

The problem being this isn't the first time a member has posted that CCCS has said they cannot petition for BR due to having a negative budget. So obviously training is required in order to ensure your staff explain as you have above.

Agreed. We keep getting reports of advisors saying exactly that.

Perhaps that is a minority of advisors misunderstanding the rules or emphasis you seek to place?