Scared to death - laid myself bare Please Help

scared-sick

Standingtall wrote: »

The only reservation I would have with this, Scaredsick, is that the WFTCs are being reduced with every passing budget and I think it unwise to depend on them right now. I know it might help in the short term but so many people are losing this benefit now and I think we are likely to see the fall out from this on this very site, sadly. Sorry to disagree though:o

I agree, but I just thought if she did get the higher tax credits, it might give her some breathing space to think things through and possibly to give her another option.

Oh I hope they dont mess around with the tax credits to much or I might be in more trouble than I thought!:o

monday_blues

Hi ScottAnne sorry to hear of your predicament, but we are in the same boat! I too live in Scotland and just wanted to say that I am in the process of applying for a DAS, you can get this for free by contacting your local CAB, or local council, there are fee paying companies too but they must be approved - however I phoned one and they quoted £1,800 each for me and hubby - obv not going with that one. But a friend said she got hers for around £300 so must be big variances on costings. I am speaking to the CAB and from what I gather if you have equity in your home then it protects the equity as if the DAS is approved, the credit companies aren't allowed to charge interest or to take any further action against you.... but you must repay an agreed amount and be able to repay it within 10 years. That's the basics as I understand it.

Also, I note the comments about CTC and would just like to say that we get the basic child tax credit of £35.40 every 4 weeks, but letter came through door on sat morning saying we're not getting it from april. Apparently if you earn 26k or more jointly, then you don't qualify!

monday_blues

http://www.dasscotland.gov.uk/

this is the official site if you click on the box it will give you all the info you need on DAS . Good luck,

ScottAnne

TheHappyButterfly - thanks for your reply and it's very useful to know you are in Scotland and have entered into some arrangement. If I could pick your brains please:

After completing the Debt remedy questionnaire on CCCS, the end result was to enter into a DMP with our surplus £206 a month and after this was distributed amongst our debts it would be 13 long years before we become debt free. Although it does state that this is an unrealistic timescale as our situation could improve along the way.

I read about the Protected Trust Deed, it states your debt needs to outweight your Assets. Am I right in assuming this would'nt be for us as our debt is roughly £32k but we have ( or should I say the bank ) has assets in the form of our house with a 162k mortgage and a valuation of 200k.

There's also mention of a Debt Arrangement Scheme, not sure if we would qualify for this.

So far we are up to date with all bills apart from contributing to the 5k business overdraft. How do you think the creditors will look on it if we do go down the DMP route and have letters sent to them all saying we are no longer making the monthly repayment and this is what will be paid from now on. It's not going to make much difference to us if the creditors dont freeze interest etc which it says is not guaranteed.

Any thoughts? How did you come to the decision of the Trust Deed? How Did you go a about it? Were you behind on your debt before you took this step or heading that way like we are? Does it cost to set up?

Thanks
Anne

newlifeonthehorizon

If i can give you any advice, it is this and it is based on being on a DMP myself with a home/mortgage:
please call cccs....they are fab.
dont go with any dmp's that charge you.....cccs dont!!
You wont lose your home.
when cccs set up your plan follow their instructions be brave and answer the phone when you initially get calls from your creditors and tell them cccs are dealing and negotiating on your behalf. (lets face it these companies are so used to this response now)
Cooperative bank do standard bank accounts where you can still have a debit card and online banking.

Standingtall

scared-sick wrote: »

I agree, but I just thought if she did get the higher tax credits, it might give her some breathing space to think things through and possibly to give her another option.

Oh I hope they dont mess around with the tax credits to much or I might be in more trouble than I thought!:o

Hi Scaredsick. I won't high jack this thread but if you go over to the benefits forum you will find lots of threads there about it. It's not good but better to be prepared:(

ScottAnne

BlushingRose wrote: »

Yep, Mr BR is on a DMP and so, by default, so am I
We only officially started ours this year in Jan, so we're still very much on a learning curve.
Up until we started it though, we were struggling. We had (through various reasons, past issues, bad choices - not holidays or lavish living) a loan and three credit cards, we'd actually managed to get rid of a 4th ourselves. However, the problem was that after managing to pay off the loan and credit card payments each month we didn't have any money for food or petrol, so guess what, they went onto a credit card. We managed this for years, consolidating now and then to ease things off, until, just in December last year, the bank said 'no' and we were finally running out of credit. I'd been on here a few times, on and off over the years panicking but neither of us had had our LBM (light bulb moment) but, in Dec 2011, it happened.
So, I came on here, panicked (like everyone does when they don;t know where to turn) and was advised to contact CCCS. We did their 'debt remedy' tool on the website and it advised a DMP, and that's what we're now on.

Any questions, please yell

Hi BlushingRose;

After doing the Debt remedy on CCCS - based on the details i provided it says a DMP is a good option. It's calculated that after essential household bills are met that the surplus £206 would be used amoungst our creditors and would take 13 years to clear!! Was your surplus for distribution much more than this, does it vary month to month and can you pay more yourself? Are you harrassed on the phone etc? Currently we are up to date with everything bar my husbands business account overdraft, we haven't began reducing this at all, I'm thinking what the creditors would make of this option seeing we are not in wrangles with them yet (I add lightly).

I do not know what the best thing to do is. I will give CCCS a call tomorrow to see if they can make things any clearer.

Thanks
Anne

thehappybutterfly

ScottAnne wrote: »

TheHappyButterfly - thanks for your reply and it's very useful to know you are in Scotland and have entered into some arrangement. If I could pick your brains please:

After completing the Debt remedy questionnaire on CCCS, the end result was to enter into a DMP with our surplus £206 a month and after this was distributed amongst our debts it would be 13 long years before we become debt free. Although it does state that this is an unrealistic timescale as our situation could improve along the way.

I read about the Protected Trust Deed, it states your debt needs to outweight your Assets. Am I right in assuming this would'nt be for us as our debt is roughly £32k but we have ( or should I say the bank ) has assets in the form of our house with a 162k mortgage and a valuation of 200k.

There's also mention of a Debt Arrangement Scheme, not sure if we would qualify for this.

So far we are up to date with all bills apart from contributing to the 5k business overdraft. How do you think the creditors will look on it if we do go down the DMP route and have letters sent to them all saying we are no longer making the monthly repayment and this is what will be paid from now on. It's not going to make much difference to us if the creditors dont freeze interest etc which it says is not guaranteed.

Any thoughts? How did you come to the decision of the Trust Deed? How Did you go a about it? Were you behind on your debt before you took this step or heading that way like we are? Does it cost to set up?

Thanks
Anne

Happy to help Anne but it'll be tomorrow now before i get back on! It's waaaaay past my bedtime

Look out for me at lunchtime.........

ScottAnne

thehappybutterfly wrote: »

Happy to help Anne but it'll be tomorrow now before i get back on! It's waaaaay past my bedtime

Look out for me at lunchtime.........

Will do, thank you.

BlushingRose

ScottAnne wrote: »

Hi BlushingRose;

After doing the Debt remedy on CCCS - based on the details i provided it says a DMP is a good option. It's calculated that after essential household bills are met that the surplus £206 would be used amoungst our creditors and would take 13 years to clear!! Was your surplus for distribution much more than this, does it vary month to month and can you pay more yourself? Are you harrassed on the phone etc? Currently we are up to date with everything bar my husbands business account overdraft, we haven't began reducing this at all, I'm thinking what the creditors would make of this option seeing we are not in wrangles with them yet (I add lightly).

I do not know what the best thing to do is. I will give CCCS a call tomorrow to see if they can make things any clearer.

Thanks
Anne

Originally, CCCS calculated that we had £400+ to pay off, but recently we've reduced that down so now they're only going to get £290 from us between them. We haven't had ant feedback yet but I'm expecting some!
Our DMP will currently take 14 years to pay off.
It doesn't vary month to month unless you need the extra money for something, like getting the car fixed, if so you ring up CCCS and let them know. Then all you need do is write to the creditors letting them know that there's a temporary reduction.
We have had NO phone calls as yet...and we weren't missing any payments either, so as far as the creditors were concerned, nothing was wrong until they got the letters from us and the CCCS x