I've contacted CSSS - I hope they can hekp

Pompeyfan

My debt situation has got to the point where I'm having to pay more in minimum payments than I have coming in, and consequently been using the credit card to pay bills/buy food etc so thats seen the minimum payments rise and so is a catch22 situation (I was fine untill a death in the family reduced the household income and my expenditure went up coupled with a reduction in benefits), so I decided enough is enough and contacted CSSS this week, after failing to get a consolidation loan which would have helped.

Hopefully CSSS will be able to help me, but I'm not sure how they work or what I have to do re: contacting creditors. I filled in the online forms and got the MyRemedy pdf, which shows I can afford £225pm for repayments and it'll take 7 years 7 month's to clear, but is there any chance my creditors would accept this? btw I chose the DMP route rather than IVA was that a good idea?

ATM I have a good credit reference and have so far not missed any payments and am totally up to date - will this help do you think?

Anyway, my situation is:

I'm not working and unlikely to be in the near future as I'm agrophobic, on medication for severe depression and have rheumatoid arthritus in my hand/wrist. I don't own a house or have a mortgage, but the house I live in was left half to me and half to dad by my gran (and is freehold mortgage free), and I entered into an agreement with him that I'd sign over my half to him for his lifetime, with the entire house coming to me eventually but he'll see to the upkeep/running costs - consequently I (luckily) have no worries atm about rent, council tax nor utility bills. I have a mobile for emergencies but it's on PAYG and I use less than £5 a year on it.

Income:

Income Support and Disability Living Allowance £504 per month

Outgoings:

Food/essentials £45pw
HSA Hospital Plan £12.56pm (mainly for if I have to go in hospital as my benefit would stop and leave me nothing)
Broadband £5pm
Minimum credit card/loan repayments £553pm

I've cut the food bill as much as I can, but I have to shop for 2 weeks at a time so anything perishable is out, plus I need broadband to pay bills and do my shopping as I can't go out, but have recently moved it to Sky (Dad pays the Sky TV bill) so it's £5 per month. I don't drink, smoke or gamble so no savings to be made there.

Debts:

Nationwide Credit Card £6,954 (Limit is £7,060, APR 16.9%) £209pm

LloydsTSB Gold Credit Card £7,361 (Limit is £10,000, APR is 5.9% on £3,300 and 16.9% on the rest) £151pm

Egg Card £3,279 (Limit is £3,300 @ 18.9%) £52pm

MSDW Credit Card £954 (Limit is £1,200 @ 16.9%) £20pm

LloydsTSB bank loan £1.923 left owing from initial £7,000 @ 6%) £121pm

Student Loan £1000 @ 2% (but not making payments as not earning £15k per year)

I have a £200 overdraft facility at the bank, but rarely go overdrawn.

Cheers for any advice.

Sea78

Hi!

I'm with CCCS too - I have found them to be wonderful. I have quite a bit more debt but started the DMP paying only £148 a month. Yes, the creditors didn't like it, but they didn't really have a choice! I got some letters and phone calls (still am) but nothing too much. I think they (CCCS) will be very helpful and talk you through it all and maybe make different suggestions for you.

Well done for taking the first step!

Sea xx

HardleyLisa

Hi!

Well done on posting.

I'm also with CCCS and I agree with Sea78 that they are brilliant. I have 8 creditors and only 1 has rejected (Barclays bank). I think they mostly accept because they see it that they are getting something each month.

Everyone on here is great and the support from this site really helps.

bill_the_chinese_man

i posted on a dfferent forum and was kindly directed here(i think). we owe over 50k and have been with payplan for about 4 months. today i got 3 letters from creditors. the most worrying one was from solicitor acting for capital one.they are threatening bankruptcy or attachment of earnings or seeking a warrant(does anyone know what that means). any advice please i am worried now

bowz25

hi
i am new to this myself only just starting with dmp,however it probably would be best to contact payplan if you are with them and ask for their advice.
sorry i cant offer more help and hope it all works out.

sallyjo_2

Dear Pompeyfan and all,

CCCS have been great in the 2+ years I've been with them.
They will not steer you wrong. DMPs are better than IVAs in my opinion.
The most difficult thing in the beginning (for me) was learning to live on today's money instead of tomorrow's. It was not easy initially as I had no savings to help cushion the transition. Also don't take any crap from your creditors or their agents. Write and tell them you will only discuss matters in writing, don't talk to them on the phone and let the CCCS help you get back on track.

If you can get onto https://www.thetimes.co.uk, they have a good series on living with thrift this week. Try it. and good luck.
SJ

fatbelly

bill_the_chinese_man wrote: »

the most worrying one was from solicitor acting for capital one.they are threatening bankruptcy or attachment of earnings or seeking a warrant(does anyone know what that means). any advice please i am worried now

Like most letters from creditors, this is misleading. They can't do any of these things (warrant refers to warrant of execution which means bailiffs) without you first having defauted on a a County Court Judgement (CCJ).

So first they've got to start a County Court claim. You would reply with your income/expenditure details, the court would order an affordable payment. That's as far as it would go.

Most creditors threaten court action but never take it. If they get fed up with harassing you, they just sell the debt on to someone else.

Pompeyfan

Cheers for the replies.

One further query I have - should I pursue claiming back credit card charges in light of CSSS proposing a DMP to the credit card company? Would trying to claim back £120 and threatening court make them less likely to accept a DMP?

Cheers

Crown

Pompeyfan wrote: »

Cheers for the replies.

One further query I have - should I pursue claiming back credit card charges in light of CSSS proposing a DMP to the credit card company? Would trying to claim back £120 and threatening court make them less likely to accept a DMP?

Cheers

Hi and welcome (sorry a little belated)

The answer to your question is Maybe. There is no fixed routine the creditors stick too and some of us have run into problems with them in the past. I would refrain from attempting to claim your charges until you have set up your DMP.

Also you mentioned on your earlier post that you have a good credit file. This could well be ruined as soon as you contact them requesting a DMP as you will be effectively defaulting on the Original terms and conditions of the account. Is there anyway you may be able to get any new 0% credit cards or even possibly a Life of Balance transfer deal? I think one of the best at the moment is M&S at 4.9% interest till the debt is paid.

Obviously the main considerations are that you need to try and stay within your means and stop using credit of any kind as you will dig yourself deeper into the debt hole. I am personally paying just token payments to my creditors of £1 a month and they eventually have accepted this as there is hardly anything left over after living expenses.

In your SOA your say that you are spending £45 a week on food and essentials. Can you break this down further. what exactly are essentials. I saw on the old school section of these forums people are trying to feed a family of 4 for £29.99 a week and are drawing pretty close to this. IS the budget just for you? If so this may be a area you may be able to cut down on if you can go back to basics and learn how to cook fresh.

Have you told your dad about your debt? would be in a position to help you at all without putting himself into financial hardship?

Well done on posting. you are in a quite good position and try not to stress to much as there are more important things in life like your health.

Good luck and hope that you keep us updated

Storm

Hi PompeyFan :hello:

Looking at your figures, then a DMP does seem the best option, but can you break the £45 a week down please? Have you got anything you could sell to bring in some short-term cash that would bring the minimum payments down to something more manageable?

Have you spoken to your dad about your situation? Would it be possible to take in a lodger maybe and split the rental income between you? Also, as you're getting DLA your dad may be able to claim Carers Allowance too - would he be willing to do this and let you have the money towards your debts?

Storm

Pompeyfan

Thanks for the replies.

The £45 pw is an average figure, I have to do my shopping online as I can't go out, and to help save on delivery costs/be able to use the Tesco vouchers on this site I do a shop to last a fortnight or more which pretty much precludes fresh or short shelf life food as it dosen't last long enough and cooking is restricted to the microwave due to my arthritus (can't handle pans etc and have scolded myself when I tried - hot gravy hurts trust me;)). The food delivery is normally made up of things like pasta, frozen meals, fish fingers, squash (don't drink tea or coffee), long-life bread, pet food, toilet paper, toileteries like shower gell, pet food etc - but I buy what I can in offers and use vouchers, so this weeks for example was £80 for 2 weeks after getting deductions of £35 (voucher was £15 off £100 shop so made sense to get extra to be able to use it).

Unfortunately Dad isn't in a postion to help, he did offer to take out a loan on the house, but if anything happens to me he's !!!!!!ed with the payments as he's only on a state pension, small company pension (just enough to stop benefits and housing benefits) and DLA as he's disabled as well.

A lodger isn't really option as we haven't the room plus to help cut costs we rarely have any heating or the emersion heater on (so no hot running water).

I've tried the low interest loan and credit card balance transfers route, but even though my credit reference is good atm, due to being on income support I can't qualify for anything as they only take the DLA into account as income.

As long as the DMP proposed can be set up I'll be ok as I'll be left with enough for what I need to live on and the debt won't get any bigger and will in fact be going down (proposed debt free is 7 years 7 month's).