My DMP with CCCS, Repayment too much?

TimTheBear

Hi guys

My DMP with CCCS has been going on exactly 1 year now, I remember this time last year, I couldnt eat, sleep and kept on worrying about the huge mountain of debt I owe.

Finally me and my partner decided to go with CCCS and have a joint DMP. It was tough at first with the phone calls, but everything seems to have 'calmed' down alot now. However, At the start of the DMP, 1 credit card (Halifax) had an extraordinary repayment value dictated by CCCS, (£253!) The outstanding amount was £14.8k and I remember min repayment being £135. Halifax said they were 'helping' me out by reducing the interest to 12% :mad: In which £140 was interest out of the £253. I decided to bite the bullet and grin and bear it for a year. Now a year has elapsed and I just received my statement from Halifax, the balance is now £13,700 despite paying £3000 into it over the year.

The Halifax said my 'special' rate was up and now jacking it back up to 22%. I said I cant stop what CCCS has dictated to pay to you so why cant you help me? They replied with "Well your payment is above the min required amount, so your account isnt in arrears, so you dont need to be in collections dept"

I know its a Sunday night and I cant get hold of CCCS, but this has been playing on my mind all weekend. Will CCCS say thats the amount our computer has generated so thats it.. suck it up and suffer the new 22% interest?

Me and my partner have a joint DMP of currently £127K... YES.. 127K, we pay £2400 every month and we've actually paid off £26k of the original balance (it was £154 when we started)

We have a tiny little house thats on a SVR with NRAM, no savings.. and Halifax says I'm not in 'financial struggle'

I dont know what to do.. I'm worried about CCCS not helping! would they lower the repayment and spread it out over other creditors? Or shall I just do a self DMP with my partner.. I'm tired of being in debt. 37 years of age and nothing to show for, first positive move I have ever done, and now the banks wants to screw me some more.

Advice appreciated.

Thanks

taylor25

I'm sure someone far more knowledgeable than me will be along . But as i understand if from my DMP with the CCCS, they will only lower your monthly repayment if you can no longer afford the amount your paying and will lower every creditors payment by the same percentage, so they wont lower the Halifaxs to below the Min repayment amount and leave all the others the same .

TimTheBear

Thanks for the reply, what I dont get is, I have 15 creditors, ALL of them are nearly half of the old min repayment. Why is Halifax the only creditor to get more than before! Because of this, the Halifax has no reason to put me on a repayment plan as the min repayments are being met.. So now I'm paying 253 every month to the halifax and it will be pure interest.

I dont know what to do!

taylor25

I'm not sure why they get more.. all of mine get less than what the min repayments were.

TimTheBear

Even the Halifax didnt understand, even they advised me that I should contact CCCS and asked them to re propose new figures!

Superbiatch

Its worked out on a pro-rata basis. So Halifax must be one of your biggest creditors (£14.8k)? Therefore whatever % 14.8k is of your original outstanding debt should be how they worked the figure out. Halifax should then receive that % of your monthly payment to CCCS - sometimes this is more than your original minimum payment which is where your troubles begin.

If you are seriously struggling, then maybe a review should be made but I doubt it will make that much difference to reduce your payment to under the original minimum monthly amount. Your best bet is to continue to negotiate with Halifax, some people continue sending the same letter month after month eventually getting them to agree to freezing or reducing the interest drastically - but its not a certainty.

I hope the above helps you see how it is worked out and fingers crossed they will eventually see the light and freeze the interest.

Edit - just worked out that your Halifax debt is approximately 9.61% of your original debt working on your figures, therefore making your payment to Halifax about £230 a month so it might not be far wrong.

TimTheBear

Hi

I'm not struggling yet, and yes this is one of my larger debts, but £254 every month will be wasted for nothing.. I also have a loan for 26k and thats only £96 repayment?!


Is it possible for CCCS to review what they have done?

Superbiatch

TimTheBear wrote: »

Hi

I'm not struggling yet, and yes this is one of my larger debts, but £254 every month will be wasted for nothing.. I also have a loan for 26k and thats only £96 repayment?!


Is it possible for CCCS to review what they have done?

Well in that case it blows my theory out the window! I don't know how the hell they've worked out those figures but it looks as though your creditors aren't being treated fairly.

CCCS should be reviewing your DMP every now and again to see if your circumstances have changed, tell them you want it reviewing. If you aren't struggling though, they may be unwilling to change anything.

This is partly the reason I'm doing a self-managed DMP, although creditors aren't always very happy to deal with you direct. But it saves all the hassle you get 2nd hand from CCCS.

TimTheBear

Hi again

Reviewing with CCCS will mean answering the same questions, I did a year ago.. I'm on the same salary, nothing has changed, all I'm concerned was the original figure they came up with!

To do a self DMP, did they need to see your bank statements etc?

Superbiatch

TimTheBear wrote: »

Hi again

Reviewing with CCCS will mean answering the same questions, I did a year ago.. I'm on the same salary, nothing has changed, all I'm concerned was the original figure they came up with!

To do a self DMP, did they need to see your bank statements etc?

They didn't 'need to' but I sent them anyway to keep good relations with my creditors. They ring me every now and again (in fact one did a few days back) to see if anything has changed. It cuts out the middle man but can be a bit stressful to set up in the first place.

The thing is though Halifax are getting the correct pro-rata payment according to what you can afford on a DMP, I would send one of the template letters on here on a regular basis until they give in and reduce/freeze your interest. Don't take no for an answer as the letter stipulates you want to pay off your debt in a quick time as possible, but if they continue to add interest it will never be paid back. This is where I feel dealing with them direct is in your favour.

I owe Halifax almost 16k and they have reduced/frozen interest on all (loan, cc and overdraft). So its worth persevering.

TimTheBear

I'll still call CCCS as the Northern Rock 26k Loan are only being paid £96/month..

I'm getting those horrible last year didntknowwhattodo butterflies in my stomach again...