New to the board and Help please

neith

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading this board for a while and its been really helpful.

I am starting a DMP in April with the cccs. Total debt over 100k!!!!

Its a long story, Kids, Mother and Father living with us with little income (pensions) Mortgage going up and up and no pay rises, I have been ill for months on a reduced income, the list is endless!!

I have a few questions that I am embarressed to ask the cccs incase they think I am not commited to paying my debt!

Will my credit cards etc... leave me alone once this has all been set up or do they keep on at you, I am not sure I can cope with that?

Are you allowed to take holidays? I thought we could go camping as we have all the gear, but wondered if that would be frowned upon? I care for my Father who is 83 and very sick and I need a break at some point.

What happens if you get some savings together? Do you hang onto it or pass it on to dmp company or deal direct with your cards loans etc...?

Sorry to be such a thick'o but then thats probably how I got into this mess!

16011996

no idea to the answer to your questions, although i do know they aren't going to be bothered about you going camping from experience.

just wanted to say welcome and well done for posting and being so brave as to face up to things,

best of luck

160

James&Shell

HI ,

Welcome to the boards

Your cc,s shoul leave you alone after they have recieved the first couple of payments.

As for holidays etc what the creditors /cccs dont know doesnt hurt them (ie Bonus from work)


(god im going to get slated )


As for savings you can pay a lump some off to them and they will distrabute it fairly.


Well done for conacting them and us

Good Luck


James

HHH_2

Hi Im with recently with CCCS, and yes most creditors seem to leave you alone once your dmp has started ( except Lloyds in my experience) not sure about your other questions but once you have a cccs number you can go on the website and create a password and get a lot of answers to your questions, its a more comprehensive site than the one you first go on. Im sure camping would be allowed( if its not we wont tell!) and you certainly sound like you deserve a break. good luck with it all.

lonely_2

I'm afraid that you aren't allowed to budget for holidays with the CCCS (the creditors WILL frown upon it), but if you saved up a little here and there to pay for it and were very "discrete" about it, I'm sure you would get away with it. Budget in an emergency surplus (say £50 a month) - I'm sure you could justify it with a family as big as yours.

The credit card companies will leave you alone once CCCS have contacted them. As long as you are polite, can make token payments in the meantime (as little as a £1 if you can't afford much) and are willing to talk to them when they call, my experience is that they are mostly quite helpful. It is also handy to have a CCCS reference number to give them. Don't go into too much detail, keep it short and sweet so they can't use anything you say against accepting your CCCS offer.

CLAPTON

the important thing is to agree a sensible budget with CCCS that allows you to live a reasonable life but also addresses the debts. Its unclear whether you have already agreed a SOA but usually CCCS will lead you to figures that are acceptable to your creditors.

Once agreed your responsiblity is to pay the agreed monthly amount to CCCS who will distribute the appropraite amount to your creditors. With the money remaining you can use as you like. Noone checks that you actually spend the 'food' budget on food so you can manage your own budget and if you choose to spend on a modest holiday thats your business.

the CC companies may be difficult in the beginning but usually things calm down once the CCCS payments have been made for a few months.

Unless your income increases significantly, its probably best to save any spare money. In due course its likely that the debts will be sold to DCAs when you will probably be able to negoiate full and final settlements.

neith

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for your replys. I had to leave the office and compose myself!! Its so nice to have a bit of support.

My husband is great but he says don't worry and gets on with it, I on the other hand lay awake at night with these daft questions going around in my head!!

I just don't want to do anything that will upset the cccs and I don't plan a holiday as such but wanted to know if I could put some money aside would I be shot for taking a break?

My Dad is in hospital at the moment and I know it sounds daft but the house keeping is cheaper and I can put that away. Plus as I have not had any sick days at work this month I got a £20.00 cheque today.

Any bonus and so on from work etc... will go away to reduce my debts. I just wondered if anyone took me to court and I had some savings by that time would they take it and pay one cc or is it safe to hang on until I have a sum worth paying some one off, or giving to cccs to distribute.

Sorry if I am not making much sense but its mashed potato in my head not brains!!

Thanks again eveyone.
N

Vickicb

Do you have pets? I think you are allowed to budget for them so if you don't have pets maybe you could use that allowance to save for your hols?

chevalier

Hi there
Are you getting all the benefits you are entitled to? For example if you are usually caring for your dad do you get carers allowance. Have a look at https://www.entitledto.co.uk and see if you can claim
chev

wilky371

Welcome to the forum, i've been in & out of it for a while now & finally getting on with it. Good luck with everything.

I will be doing the same & contacting CCCS tonight when I'm home.

Ex-Spendaholic

Hello and welcome. You have taken the first step in contacting CCCS and joining the forums. I don't think they will be too bothered about you going camping.

A number of us are just in starting DMPs at the minute and have a thread going here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=388366

Please feel free to join us. We just all ramble and give each other support when needed.