A diary of a debt adviser

National_Debtline

Hello all,

All bailiff (enforcement agent(!)) information and FCA information should now be all up-to-date. If you spot anything that needs changing do please let me know. The next job is to get ready for some major changes to the civil court process, much of that comes in on the 22nd April.

As you can imagine, the nature of debt advice is organic. Rules, regulations and practices change all the time. To ensure that we are as up-to-speed as possible, we have a number of checks and balances in place to ensure that our service is as current as it could be.

Last week every money adviser had a day off the telephones to undertake a training session with a chap called John Kruse. Some of you may have come across this name before, he is an authority on bailiffs - and widely regarded as being one of the most knowledgable people in this field. The training sessions were held over a number of days so not to impact the ongoing service. We are already starting to have calls filtering through where the new rules have to be applied. As far as we can tell, it seems to be business as usual for bailiffs.

- David.

rizla_king

National_Debtline wrote: »

As far as we can tell, it seems to be business as usual for bailiffs.

Lying and cheating as usual then.

National_Debtline

I'm sure we'll soon find out. I've just taken a look at our statistics for March 2014. 3500 callers had council tax arrears, 1385 had outstanding Magistrates' Court Fines and 606 had parking penalty charge notices. Annoyingly, our systems cannot tell me how much of these reached the bailiff stage although I would imagine it would be very much the majority.

Best wishes,

David.

National_Debtline

Hello all,

This week has been quite a busy one here at NDL towers. All advisers are now fully up-to-speed with the changes to the bailiffs rules and regulations, we're now in the process of getting to grips with the changes to the civil court system and the new costs and fees (these come in on April 22nd). In addition to that, a few of us are working on a project which will allow us to advise the public directly through our website via web chat. We're hoping this will go live in the next few weeks.

We have crunched our statistics for March, I thought I would share the ten most frequent debt types with you.

1. Money owing to banks - either loans or overdrafts: 46% of callers
2. Credit cards: 45% of callers
3. Council tax: 24% of callers
4. Gas/Electricity: 19% of callers
5. Catalogues: 15% of callers
6. Water: 14% of callers
7. Rent arrears: 13% of callers
8: Payday loans: 12% of callers
9. TV licence: arrears: 12% of callers
10. Benefit/Tax credit overpayments: 10% of callers

It's important to note that many of our callers might have more than one debt, some of our callers had over 30 different debts to deal with.

If there is a debt that you would like further information on, please feel free to ask.

Here are a few other stats that you might find interesting:

53% of our callers were female, usually we see more women call than men although the split is usually a little closer.

12% of callers were between 18-24
31% of callers were between 25-35
35% of callers were between 36-50
17% of callers were between 51-65
5% of callers were over 65

32% of callers worked full-time
16% of callers worked part-time
17% were unemployed
9% were sick
3% were disabled
6% cared for their dependents
5% were self-employed
2% were students
6% were pensioners

As you can see, there is a very broad range of people who call us. One of the things I like best about being a money adviser is that you never know who you might talk to next. I haven't yet had a caller that I've not been able to help; there is always a way forward.

Have a great weekend!

David.

National_Debtline

Hi all,

It's been a few weeks since significant changes were introduced around Bailiffs, or should I say Enforcement Agents. As a senior adviser I often take calls which have been escalated from our 'triage' service, invariably these are often bailiff-related.

The new rules have clarified a number of points which have been regarded as a bit of a grey area. Some parts of bailiff law go back hundreds and hundreds of years, over time things have become blurred. These grey areas have been exploited to a large degree, so it is welcome that there has been some tightening up of the rules.

I would like to see a world where we didn't need bailiffs but I do appreciate that they have a job to do. I would dearly love creditors to be able to tell the difference between those who cannot pay and those that refuse to. Although there are rules that surround how bailiffs should treat vulnerable peoplem, I'm not sure that they go far enough.

A key concern is that the fees an enforcement agent can charge have increased. In some cases signficiantly. For example, a bailiff used to be able to charge a maximum of £42.50 for visiting someone twice to chase for unpaid council tax. That fee can now be as much as £310, sometimes even more. If our callers struggle to pay their council tax I really do not know how they are going to find the extra money to pay these fees as well. It may well be that more people will have to explore formal insolvency-based options such as Debt Relief Orders.

As the new rules have only been in place a few weeks it is unclear how much of an impact they will have when it comes to the conduct of enforcement agents. Many have been known to intimidate and frighten our callers, I'm not sure that this type of behaviour will change any time soon.

If you would like to learn more, we've a useful guide here.

David.

National_Debtline

Hello all,

I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend!

It's been a few weeks since the introduction of our all new website. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! You only need to go as far as this very forum to see the importance of the internet when it comes to seeking help and support for financial issues. One of our key aims is to help as many people as possible tackle their debts, next week we will be introducing a new web chat facility.

The key aim of web chat is to help users of our website get the right help they need, advisers will be online to answer any questions that might pop up. You may have come across a few of the team answering questions here on the forum, as you can imagine it takes a slightly different approach to when we speak to callers on our helpline. We know that a significant proportion of people prefer to seek advice online rather than by the more traditional channels like telephone or face-to-face. Personally, I've been very keen to have involvement with the web chat side of things as I believe there is a lot in common with answering questions on internet forums. I often encourage callers to come on to the MSE forum, as they can see that their are other folks with their own debt issues. There can be strength in numbers and a huge amount of empowerment. Web chat should be available from the 12th May onwards, do consider dropping us a line!

going_nowhere_fast

I have a question that I would be grateful if you could answer, pretty please.

When preparing a budget or SOA to send to your creditors there are certain amounts which are recommended and accepted by creditors i.e. I've budgeted £50 per week for food, toiletries, household items. There is one adult and one child in my household by the way.

Are you allowed an amount for broadband/internet access in your budget?

Currently I use a dongle but the signal is terrible which means sometimes I struggle to get online. With my son being at school I don't want him to get behind other children so I'd like to get broadband but it would affect my budget and I suppose really it is a luxury not essential item.

What's a debtor advisor's opinion?

National_Debtline

Hello there,

Firstly, please accept my apologies for taking a long time to reply. I've been off taking some exams, so have only just seen your questions. I'm really sorry.

You are right, there are guideline figures which are deemed as acceptable. Our parent organisation (The Money Advice Trust) has been integral in developing these figures as well as an industry-standard financial statement which creditors should accept. It is widely used throughout the industry. The figures are not in the public domain although our electronic financial statement will prompt you if you allocate too much money for certain items.

£50 per week would fall within the guidelines for an adult and child, this works out to be £216.67 per calender month.

An internet connection would not generally regarded as a luxury item. So long as you have a reasonable package it should not be challenged by any of your creditors. We categorise an internet connection as 'other spending' along with items such as haircuts, sky/cable television, pet insurance, school meals and other sundry items - so long as the total figure for all of these items is reasonable any offer of payment to your creditors should be seriously considered.

We have further information about working out a budget on our website, you can find it by clicking through this link.

Best wishes,

David

going_nowhere_fast wrote: »

I have a question that I would be grateful if you could answer, pretty please.

When preparing a budget or SOA to send to your creditors there are certain amounts which are recommended and accepted by creditors i.e. I've budgeted £50 per week for food, toiletries, household items. There is one adult and one child in my household by the way.

Are you allowed an amount for broadband/internet access in your budget?

Currently I use a dongle but the signal is terrible which means sometimes I struggle to get online. With my son being at school I don't want him to get behind other children so I'd like to get broadband but it would affect my budget and I suppose really it is a luxury not essential item.

What's a debtor advisor's opinion?

National_Debtline

A little while ago, a brand new addition to our website was launched. It is now possible for you to contact a qualified money adviser via the internet through our web chat system. This allows you to ask quick, general questions or discuss intricate technical queries quickly. If you fancy dropping us a line you can do so here.

We have also updated our online advice tool, My Money Steps. The system allows you to complete a financial statement which in turn provides you with tailored advice about the most appropriate options to deal with your debts. You can take a look at the new My Money Steps site here.

Of course it is still possible to speak to an adviser over the telephone, calls are free from landlines and all major mobile networks. It is exciting to be involved in these projects which should hopefully serve more people and to help them become debt free!

David.

fermi

That looks handy.

I'll [STRIKE]pester you via[/STRIKE] try that sometime.....