Is a Fee Paying or Free Debt Management Company the best?

erdingtonbelle

I will have to go back on A Debt Management Scheme after my Debt Relief Order has been revoked-last time before my DRO i had a fee paying debt management company called Gregory Pennington-has anyone had dealings with this firm-what did you think of them?
Has anyone done Debt Management with Baines and Ernst?Are they any better than Gregory Penningtons?

Is it better to use a fee paying company for doing Debt Management or Free company like CCCS,Payplan,National Debtline or Christians Against Poverty?Which do you think are the best company to work with regarding my debts as i just cant decide what to do-to go with a fee paying company or a free DM company-but with a non fee paying company like CCCS or even Citizens Advice dont you have to do all the work regarding your creditors-dont you have to deal with the creditors yourself- whereas if you do debt management with a fee paying company like gregory pennington or baines and ernst they do All the work for you regarding your creditors so you dont have to do anything-except just to send in any correspondence you might get from your creditors and they do the rest.
I couldnt cope with dealing with any of my many creditors by myself therefore should i just either go back on debt management with gregory pennington or change perhaps to baines and ernst?What are your views of both these companies?Should i go to a non fee paying or fee paying Debt Management company?

Hope you can help as i dont know what to do for the better-as my health problems are been made worse by the overwhelming stress of debt.I cannot afford to pay any of my debts as am on Income Support-i can no longer work due to my health-and i therefore think my DRO should not have been revoked.My debts should have all been written off as i have no hope of ever paying them off-theres too many of them,and i'm over sixty now and dont want to be on debt management for the rest of my life.

walker123

If you can't face the problem yourself, or haven't got time to write the letters etc, then definitely go with a free company - either CCCS or Payplan. I have heard nothing but good reports on both.

Surely the money you would pay to a fee charging company would be better off paying off your debt

BlushingRose

We're with the CCCS and we've never had to directly communicate with our creditors (apart from the odd letter which we've chosen to send).
Why pay a company to do THE SAME JOB as a charity?

nottoolate

paying a company fees is throwing money down the drain that could paid off your debts. fee charging companies dont do any more. cccs and payplan deal with creditors and letters. gregory pennington and baines & worst deserve their bad reputation. dont touch with a barge pole.

why was the dro revoked

bargainbetty

I think you will find the general atitude here is not to pay money to a fee-based service that will do no more than the charity.

CCCS and Payplan will do it for you. You could ask them to apply for your debts to be written off due to your ill health and age, but there is no guarantee it will happen. Never hurts to ask though.

Good luck

[Deleted User]

OP
Thank you for this thread, do you mind me asking why your DRO was revoked?
Who did you do your DRO with? can't you challenge it if your on income support?

Got to be honest I found the 'charities' turned me away didn't want to know, they did make a big thing I should be getting all the bens I can just to pay debt and it was very much your on your own - I didn't have enough debt it seems or enough money available to enter a DMP with the charities so there is a bit of caution I'm afraid, :undecided I hadn't realised you need to be at a set figure of debt to get a managed DMP of course you could also try it on your own, but then if you've not enough money coming in? where do you turn?

In the end out of the fee chargers GP come through and really helped when I needed it most - I found them the best just to be listened to and think there is hope - and I don't mind saying I'm totally confused, at a crossroads now myself, as to what to do

Would be really interested to learn more about your DRO ordeal
xx

sickasachip13

Hi there,

CCCS and Payplan provide the same service as a fee-charging company. I've been with CCCS for about 20 months and they have been great - non-judgemental and helpful. I'd urge you to contact one of these organisations and get some advice specifically tailored to your circumstances.
Best of luck
SAAC

ianders

I've also heard that creditors prefer the charities to the others as they know that 100% of your payment is being distributed to them and there is no cut being taken before the money is divvied up.

sickasachip13

ianders wrote: »

I've also heard that creditors prefer the charities to the others as they know that 100% of your payment is being distributed to them and there is no cut being taken before the money is divvied up.

That's true I reckon. It certainly reminds me of early conversations I had with creditors some of whom expressed satisfaction that we were working with CCCS.

Erdingtonbelle - if you have specific queries you can ask a cccs advisor on this forum - there's a thread at the top of this page.

SAAC

Trollfever

Be aware that if you don't abide by the terms of a DMP it may well be revoked and you will have wasted more money.