Are StepChange actually any good?

FFS2020

I just wasted 2 hours on the phone with a person who's supposedly from the Advocacy team at StepChange.  I've never experienced anything LESS helpful and was left in tears.

fatbelly

Hi

I work for CAB so not going to criticise or defend stepchange. But debt advisers have to work in an ever-tightening straitjacket of rules and maybe you needed someone who was prepared to step outside of that. Even so, 2 hours is a long time for a first appointment.

Fortunately (for now) we are not governed by those rules on this forum so can be more flexible.

What was the issue you wanted help with? 

FFS2020

fatbelly said:

Hi

I work for CAB so not going to criticise or defend stepchange. But debt advisers have to work in an ever-tightening straitjacket of rules and maybe you needed someone who was prepared to step outside of that. Even so, 2 hours is a long time for a first appointment.

Fortunately (for now) we are not governed by those rules on this forum so can be more flexible.

What was the issue you wanted help with? 

I've been advised by my psychiatric nurse to apply for a Breathing Space, either a standard one or on the grounds that I'm receiving mental health crisis treatment.  The person at StepChange spent all that time asking questions and going through my budget only to refuse to consider applying for a Breathing Space for me because he thinks my income is so low after rent and council tax is paid that I don't have much more than £1 to offer to creditors.   The reason my nurse suggested a Breathing Space is because one creditor is harassing me on a daily basis and the Breathing Space would have allowed a respite period where I'd not be constantly being harassed and could focus on my mental health treatment.  (I have other minor debts I'm in payment arrangements for and the creditors aren't being aggressive).  The StepChange guy insisted I should either go bankrupt (despite there being a clause in my tenancy agreement that allows my landlord to immediately evict me should I become bankrupt) OR write to the main creditor telling them I'll be paying nothing at all to them for 12 months.  At present I am in an active payment arrangement with this creditor but they are wanting more money and I don't have more money.  The StepChange guy told me not to pay them anything at all, which would surely just ramp up the harassment from them. 

sourcrates

Hi,
What is the name of the company doing this ?

I can see the reasoning for this advice from stepchange, if you don`t have sufficient disposable income to pay them anything, then breathing space is just a waste of time, as they will just continue collection activity after the two months has expired, and you will be no further ahead.

You need a strategy now to get them off your back, for good, the second option SC recommended would be my first choice, write and explain your situation, tell them you have taken debt advice from SC, and they recommended two options, bankruptcy, and this second option of writing to them (mentioning the word bankruptcy tends to focus their minds somewhat).

Enclose a copy of your budget, to show you have nothing to pay them with, explain about your finances, and your mental health issues, you can even ask them to write the debt off (don`t ask, don`t get).

Look on the companies website and see if they have a specialist dept. that deals with customer's with mental health issues, if so, address the letter to them.

You don`t really need the breathing space option, if you do it this way, it should get them to back down, it may help if you add that should this be ignored, you will have no hesitation but to escalate the matter to an official complaint and involve the FOS and also inform the FCA of their actions.

Be tough with them, honestly, they will back down if dealt with correctly.

fatbelly

If you still want to go ahead with a mental health breathing space, you or your Approved Mental Health Professional can do this through the single point of entry.

https://www.maps.org.uk/mental-health-crisis-breathing-space/

Huddo

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

fatbelly

Huddo said:

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

StepChange_Allen  could comment on this statement?

sourcrates

Huddo said:

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim ?

Stepchange, from what I can gather, is a registered charity, run by trustee`s, funded by donations from creditors, and regulated by the FCA.

Also according to Wikipedia, they work with over 900 partner organisations.

They may be funded by the banks, but funding is voluntary, they are certainly not owned by them.

Jude57

Huddo said:

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

As I've said here before, I worked for StepChange for many years and can assure you, the charity is not owned by banks or any other consortium of creditors. 

The origin of StepChange is based on an American model of debt advice and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, as it was originally called, started in the UK in 1992. They were pioneers of Debt Management Plans with the firm ethos that debt advice should always be free and that debtors should, if feasible, repay their debts in a manageable way while developing good budgeting habits. The provision of DMP's via StepChange has always been free to the debtor and the only fees they charge to this day are for IVA's (still cheaper than other IVA practitioners), DRO's (statutory fee only, in line with every other Intermediary) and Equity Release (again, cheaper than other providers). DMP's are only offered when that is best for the client and at no time during my employment was there any pressure on staff to offer them in any other circumstances. 

As usual, @fatbelly is spot on. StepChange are funded by Fair Share Contributions from creditors (as are Payplan, in part) which is a voluntary arrangement whereby creditors are asked (not obliged) to make a contribution back to the charity from the DMP payments StepChange send them. Creditors are not, I stress, obliged to do so and not all creditors do. I won't name names but it certainly used to be the case that American owned creditors did not make FSC's. In no way does any creditor have any power to direct how StepChange operates. Creditors do, however, recognise that StepChange treats all creditors equitably and the working relationship between creditors and the charity is respectful rather than adversarial. That does not manifest as any level of control.

None of the above is in any way confidential and much of it is published on StepChange's own website, as well as their annual accounts.

It's fair to say that, as with any organisation that deals with the public at a stressful point in their lives, not everyone will have a positive experience. Sometimes that's due to adviser performance or unrealistic client expectations or sometimes because the advice given is not what the client wants to hear, however correct - as sometimes happens on this forum, too.

StepChange are, like every organisation, imperfect but the help and support they provide to hundreds of thousands of people every year is undeniable and I couldn't let this old, inaccurate claim go unchallenged. I echo @sourcrates post above. If you have evidence of what you say, produce it.

Pete1979_2

sourcrates said:

Huddo said:

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim ?

Stepchange, from what I can gather, is a registered charity, run by trustee`s, funded by donations from creditors, and regulated by the FCA.

Also according to Wikipedia, they work with over 900 partner organisations.

They may be funded by the banks, but funding is voluntary, they are certainly not owned by them.

Doesn't require "evidence." They actually bragged about this when they were the cccs. Ask them why they favour debt management over iva in circumstances that the iva a s clearly better for the client. The cccs was started because it was cheaper and more successful at reclaiming money than the old debt collection of the past. I've worked in insolvency for over 15 year. Cccs were not to be trusted and neither are step change. I've made a career out of correcting their bad advice. 

Pete1979_2

Jude57 said:

Huddo said:

Stepchange is owned by a consortium of the largest banks. (Mainly HBOS)
They will really only give you biased advice that will not affect the banks.

A debt help service run by big banks? Pffftttt.

As I've said here before, I worked for StepChange for many years and can assure you, the charity is not owned by banks or any other consortium of creditors. 

The origin of StepChange is based on an American model of debt advice and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, as it was originally called, started in the UK in 1992. They were pioneers of Debt Management Plans with the firm ethos that debt advice should always be free and that debtors should, if feasible, repay their debts in a manageable way while developing good budgeting habits. The provision of DMP's via StepChange has always been free to the debtor and the only fees they charge to this day are for IVA's (still cheaper than other IVA practitioners), DRO's (statutory fee only, in line with every other Intermediary) and Equity Release (again, cheaper than other providers). DMP's are only offered when that is best for the client and at no time during my employment was there any pressure on staff to offer them in any other circumstances. 

As usual, @fatbelly is spot on. StepChange are funded by Fair Share Contributions from creditors (as are Payplan, in part) which is a voluntary arrangement whereby creditors are asked (not obliged) to make a contribution back to the charity from the DMP payments StepChange send them. Creditors are not, I stress, obliged to do so and not all creditors do. I won't name names but it certainly used to be the case that American owned creditors did not make FSC's. In no way does any creditor have any power to direct how StepChange operates. Creditors do, however, recognise that StepChange treats all creditors equitably and the working relationship between creditors and the charity is respectful rather than adversarial. That does not manifest as any level of control.

None of the above is in any way confidential and much of it is published on StepChange's own website, as well as their annual accounts.

It's fair to say that, as with any organisation that deals with the public at a stressful point in their lives, not everyone will have a positive experience. Sometimes that's due to adviser performance or unrealistic client expectations or sometimes because the advice given is not what the client wants to hear, however correct - as sometimes happens on this forum, too.

StepChange are, like every organisation, imperfect but the help and support they provide to hundreds of thousands of people every year is undeniable and I couldn't let this old, inaccurate claim go unchallenged. I echo @sourcrates post above. If you have evidence of what you say, produce it.

This is nonsense. Go look up the cccs (step changes old name) and tell me what you find. The worrying thing is you work there and think it's great. I've worked in insolvency for 15 years and not a single IP I know agrees with you.