DMP with CCCS?

Rochdale_Guy

Growurown wrote: »

.A DMP won't work unless you have enough money to live on so you have to put money aside for everything or you will soon find yourself getting into difficulty.

Exactly, see above.

I haven't even been on my DMP for a whole month yet, but my bills and expenses are already rising.... whereas my income isn't.

Growurown

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

I haven't even been on my DMP for a whole month yet, but my bills and expenses are already rising.... whereas my income isn't.

The only thing I can suggest is that you contact CCCS and explain your circumstances and see what they come up with. It is not easy doing a DMP - all those little things bought that you don't really think about add up to a lot over a month and you really have to keep tight control of your budget, which is hard, and not a lot of fun either. Lots of people rise to the challenge though. They sell stuff on ebay, they make lots of savings on food, do car boot sales, and buy second hand from charity shops etc. Lots of advice on the forum about how to save those pennies.

Growurown

Gimpsdad wrote: »

It is little wonder that I question the motives of those that draw their salaries from creditor contributions when such mis-information repeats itself over and over again. Martin himself has a guide to IVA's which is laughable in it's errors and mistakes, but vulnerable people will take these "guides" as gospel when they are downright dangerous and misleading. I repeat, bad advice is bad advice, whether it is free or not.

Hmmm you sound a tad annoyed. In light of the above statement do you have any opinions as to where one could go to get good advice that is correct whether it be free or not?

BlushingRose

Growurown wrote: »

The only thing I can suggest is that you contact CCCS and explain your circumstances and see what they come up with. It is not easy doing a DMP - all those little things bought that you don't really think about add up to a lot over a month and you really have to keep tight control of your budget, which is hard, and not a lot of fun either. Lots of people rise to the challenge though. They sell stuff on ebay, they make lots of savings on food, do car boot sales, and buy second hand from charity shops etc. Lots of advice on the forum about how to save those pennies.

I still keep a spending diary (only been on a DMP since Jan)

Gimpsdad

Blushing Rose asks me whether she could keep the house on BR/IVA. I have to say that I am very surprised that she doesn't know already as surely CCCS will have gone through the pros and cons of all options. Not doing so is a very serious dereliction of responsibility to a debtor.

Anyway, in BR you lose control of your assets. The Official Receiver has a duty to divide assets of the estate for the benefit of the estate, i.e. the creditors. Broadly speaking, he or she will look at 3 things.

1. Is there a property involved? If so, is there any equity I can look at?
2. Any other high value assets such as cars, shares etc? If so, can they be realised for creditors?
3. Can I look at an IPA/IPO from disposable income?

If the answers to 1 and 2 are no, then you need to give serious thought to BR, as even if you plump for an IVA then an IVA will last for 5 years instead of 3 on an IPO/IPA. That is not to say you should do it, nor to say that you should do IVA either. Be aware that if the answers to 1 and 2 ARE no, and you are advised to look at a DMP, then you need to ask why.

Gimpsdad

Not very good at posting extra long answers so forgive the 2nd.

If the answers to 1 and 2 above are yes, then you need to consider the likelihood that you may lose said assets. For the avoidance of doubt, it is NOT set in stone that you will lose your house/high value car in BR, but as each case is different then you need to ask yourself whether you are prepared to take the gamble. As a rule of thumb, you can purchase back equity/vehicles from the OR if he or she deems it is in the benefit of the estate. Once purchased back, then the asset becomes yours again. A property with little or no equity is usually safe, but speak to an Insolvency expert before you make a decision.

An IVA allows a debtor to retain control of his or her assets, so in an IVA the house is safe. That is not to say that it is not taken into consideration, it is, and there are rules on that, but be aware that you will get legal guarantees that a DMP simply cannot give. Therefore, if an IVA's timescale is less than the timescale on a DMP then think about it. There are scenarios where you will pay your debt back in full on an IVA, but you will also be guaranteed to save a fortune in interest charges if you do, and in the vast majority of cases debt will be legally written off at the end of your IVA, whereas in a DMP once Roses 5 years are up she will still face another 9 (as it stands).

Gimpsdad

Growurown, where you go for advice is up to you. What I would say is that when the wolf is at the door, then you should at least be open to having a chat with someone who isn't reliant on 90% of their income from said wolf. People need to ask why CCCS has 1 IP to deal with 10,000 enquiries a month, when a normal Insolvency Practice will have 2 or more to deal with anything over 100 cases a month.

Rochdale Guy, I don't know enough to advise you definitively what you should do, but as you have mentioned BR, I will assume you have no real assets to protect. Apologies if that is incorrect by the way.

Scenarios.

1. Stay on a DMP for (currently) 18 years. Trust to luck that creditors will freeze interest and that they will not take further action, such as court action. Odds ARE good on interest freeze in fairness, but not 100%
2. Consider IVA. 60 payments times disposable income £7,256 (as it stands) and be debt free 13 years quicker with all the attendent legal guarantees that scenario 1 doesn't give. It ISN'T as simple as that of course, but for now that will do.
3 BR. £175 court fee, £525 OR fee and 36 payments of £126 (as it stands).

In this example BR is the cheapest and quickest option. That doesn't mean you should do it, only you can decide your own fate, but speak to an Insolvency expert to weigh up your pros and cons. Any reputable company will not tell you what to do, you will be left to decide that for yourself. The overwhelming impression I get from most threads on here is that options are glossed over, and people feel that as they are getting free help it follws that that is good.

It ain't necessarily so.

Rochdale_Guy

Growurown wrote: »

The only thing I can suggest is that you contact CCCS and explain your circumstances and see what they come up with. It is not easy doing a DMP - all those little things bought that you don't really think about add up to a lot over a month and you really have to keep tight control of your budget, which is hard, and not a lot of fun either. Lots of people rise to the challenge though. They sell stuff on ebay, they make lots of savings on food, do car boot sales, and buy second hand from charity shops etc. Lots of advice on the forum about how to save those pennies.

Thanks.

I'm actually worried of contacting CCCS re: reducing my monthly payment to them, as:

a) I haven't even been on it a whole month yet, and
b) Not all of the creditors have accepted the offer from CCCS, so if they aren't playing ball with what's being offered at the moment, I don't want them sending in the bailiffs because CCCS have to then make them a second reduced offer which to me will seem like a red rag to a bull

Rochdale_Guy

Gimpsdad wrote: »

Rochdale Guy, I don't know enough to advise you definitively what you should do, but as you have mentioned BR, I will assume you have no real assets to protect. Apologies if that is incorrect by the way.

Only asset is my car, worth anywhere between £2,000 - £2,500 depending where you look, a 54 plate Fiesta with 40,000 on the clock.

Gimpsdad wrote:

Scenarios.

1. Stay on a DMP for (currently) 18 years. Trust to luck that creditors will freeze interest and that they will not take further action, such as court action. Odds ARE good on interest freeze in fairness, but not 100%

Sounds good, but 18 years is a killer

Gimpsdad wrote:

2. Consider IVA. 60 payments times disposable income £7,256 (as it stands) and be debt free 13 years quicker with all the attendent legal guarantees that scenario 1 doesn't give. It ISN'T as simple as that of course, but for now that will do.
3 BR. £175 court fee, £525 OR fee and 36 payments of £126 (as it stands).

But I'd lose the car in any scenario other than a DMP

Gimpsdad wrote:

In this example BR is the cheapest and quickest option. That doesn't mean you should do it, only you can decide your own fate, but speak to an Insolvency expert to weigh up your pros and cons. Any reputable company will not tell you what to do, you will be left to decide that for yourself. The overwhelming impression I get from most threads on here is that options are glossed over, and people feel that as they are getting free help it follws that that is good.

It ain't necessarily so.

I appreciate the input though :beer:

Growurown

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Thanks.

I'm actually worried of contacting CCCS re: reducing my monthly payment to them, as:

a) I haven't even been on it a whole month yet, and
b) Not all of the creditors have accepted the offer from CCCS, so if they aren't playing ball with what's being offered at the moment, I don't want them sending in the bailiffs because CCCS have to then make them a second reduced offer which to me will seem like a red rag to a bull

Have you actually had creditors say no to your offer or are you just still waiting to hear? There are 'accepted' amounts for things like your food bill for example. However other costs such as petrol will obviously depend on your mileage so this can vary greatly from person to person. You can say to creditors that you have to reduce your payments because your costs have risen and if these costs aren't unreasonable then there isn't much they can do. I found it very difficult to manage on the amount they allowed us for food, but I did put in amounts for things I didn't use such as dry cleaning and lunches at work, which have given me a little extra each month to put towards the food bill instead.

Only one of our creditors turned down our offer because they said they didn't like the amount we put by for smoking, so we had to up our offer a bit, but then they were fine. We don't smoke either but that again gives us extra each month. It does mean it will take longer to our DFD, but it makes life a bit more bearable.

So the question you have to ask is - have you done a realistic budget or are you still in the spend, spend, spend frame of mind that got us all into this situation in the first place?