Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

CCCS_Sue · 13 April 2010 at 10:53AM

mazza25 wrote: »

Hi
I have a question about trust deeds. I have just spoken to the national debt helpline who have advised my husband may have a complaint about his, as it seems the amount he has paid could be well in excess of the debt (possibly £3000 more!)
My question is about our house. The trust deed went through after we applied and were approved for a mortgage, but before we owned our house.
A little research is showing that we might now not actually own our house? The trust deed belongs only to my husband but the house is jointly mortgaged. Can you advise on this?

I'm getting pretty scared.

Hi mazza25.

Sorry for the delay in replying.

I now have a reply from our Scottish team.

Firstly, if you feel that your husband has any complaint regarding his Trust Deed please contact ICAS (Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland)
Use any search engine for how to contact them.
In any trust deed, any assets, for the entire duration of the trust deed pass to the trustee.
Was your husband's trustee aware of the mortgage application & subsequent purchase?
If this is not the case, then can I suggest that he contacts his trustee as a matter of urgency as any changes to your circumstances should be reported.
If the trustee was aware, then you should check how this will affect your situation once the trust deed ends.

Regards
Sue

huskypup · 13 April 2010 at 11:29AM

Can someone please advise me

We are just about to start our DMP with CCCS on 01/05, Tesco credit card have accepted my DMP and cut interest - I have written to them to say thank you - my HB also has a Tesco credit card and has heard nothing except two letters asking him to sign a template because without his signature they can not assist him - we did not sign the original letters - when I spoke to CCCS before they said not to sign the templates as they have already passed required documentation onto Tesco - should he sign them or are they playing a game.

tubsolard · 13 April 2010 at 1:13PM

Hi,

I have been in conversation with a company called William Goldberg who rather convincingly advised me they could reduce my monthly payments, freeze credit on credit cards, over draft etc and have me debt free in 4 years - for a small fee of about 17% which worked out about £2k for the duration of the contract.

I said I would be consulting a second opinion before making a decision and my brother advised me to come here and pointed me towards a thread which stated that the CCCS and similar charities provide the service for free. I have since arranged an appointment and will be speaking with a counseler on Thursday evening.

The guy called back yesterday to confirm I'd received a detail pack so I told him my intention was to give the free service a try first. His advise was:
1. The CCCS is not free, nothing in life is free, they are earning from my debt in some way, but they are not being honest about exactly how much of my money is actually paying off my debts.
2. The CCCS work in behalf of the banks, not the client (me) and as such they (William Goldberg) work on my behalf as I am a fee paying client. CCCS are on the lenders side and not mine.
3. The interest rates are not frozen on credit cards, loans etc whereas they have a 95% chance of freezing these fees.
4. Monthly installments can fluctuate and often go up and up as the plan goes on. He suggested I can never be certain my money is going to the right place and that the debt is actually being cleared.
5. I was fed a horror story in which a client used CCCS, was given a 5 year plan to be debt free and at the end of this 5 years ended up owing more money than he originally owed the lenders.

Now, I don't see myself as a naive person so for me this doesn't wash. If their services was that good, they could sell it without criticising competitors. His job is to get me on board paying a fee, regardless of telling me that his only interest is helping me.

But I would like to hear what the CCCS say about the accusations, purely because I know very little about them.

Thanks for your help.

Scott

CCCS_Sue · 13 April 2010 at 2:33PM

elgjp wrote: »

I don't know if this is the correct place to ask this question but i couldn't find a better place to put it!

I was recently contacted by Mackensie Hall regarding an alleged debt to littlewoods for less than £100. I have never had a credit account with littlewoods but the debt has now appeared on my credit report. I read in this forum about a consumer credit request (requesting to see the contract between the creditor and the consumer) and all they sent was a blank current credit agreement. This is of no use at all in proving the debt is mine and i know the debt is incorrectly associated with my name!

My question is what step do i take next to get this debt taken of my credit report?

Thanks in advance for your help

Graeme

Hi Graeme and thank you for your message

If you are not aware of the debt, you are entitled to request the creditor provides you with a ‘true copy’ of the executed agreement.

Did you request the copy in writing and enclose the £1 fee?

The time limit for the creditor to reply is 12 working days from receipt of the request.
You should send a reminder after 14 days pointing out that the agreement is now unenforceable and will remain so until the creditor complies with the request.
The agreement remains unenforceable and if it has been two weeks plus one month since the request was made then an offence has been committed. You can consider reporting the creditor to Trading Standards and complaining about the breach of OFT Debt Collection Guidance – e.g. para 2.8(k) (not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt).

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sarah · 13 April 2010 at 2:39PM

Triggles wrote: »

What's the best way to handle a company (Santander) that is sending daily letters demanding payment and that we ring them? We've talked to someone from Santander on the phone previously, and were told a note would be made on our account about our situation, however, that was a few weeks ago, and we are still receiving letters each and every day regarding this particular account. The odd thing as well is that it is just for one of our Santander accounts that we owe money - and the lowest balance at that! We're not getting this from our other accounts - and they are all getting greatly reduced payments. Obviously speaking to them on the phone hasn't helped. Is there a letter template for "oh for god's sake, quit wasting paper by hassling us on a daily basis?" We told them both in writing and on the phone that we can only pay what we are paying, the person on the phone was polite and said that was fine and made a note on our account, so why these letters?? We strongly suspect that it's a simple case of "the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing" however, in a business the size of Santander, how are we expected to communicate with the numerous different branches that are obviously working with this? The account is in DH's name, and he is extremely uncomfortable speaking to them on the phone, so we'd prefer to deal with this in writing.

Oh, and we are doing a DMP self-managed, although we got advice from CCCS prior to starting it.

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately you would not be able to stop the letters, however you would be able to stop the calls. The letters you do not have to respond to, unless it’s court paperwork and then you would need to fill them in and send them back.

I have attached a letter below that you could use. If you keep receiving the calls then keep a log of dates, times and peoples names if possible then you could make a complaint to the OFT.

I have also attached a link to the CCCS website that gives you a brief overview of the debt collection process – will be worth a read https://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Creditoraction/Debtcollectionprocess.aspx

To whom it may concern

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to ask that you no longer contact me by telephone as your calls are causing me considerable stress due to the frequency, and that they are being made at inappropriate times. Please remove my telephone number from your database and send all future communication in writing to my home address.

I have provided the most recent copy of my income and expenditure to make you aware of my current financial situation. I will continue to make my payment of x on the x of every month and will keep you informed of any changes in my circumstances as I am keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

I understand that following this request if you continue to call I can contact the Office of Fair Trading to make a formal complaint.

Please confirm in writing that your records have been amended.

CCCS_Sue · 13 April 2010 at 2:44PM

huskypup wrote: »

Can someone please advise me

We are just about to start our DMP with CCCS on 01/05, Tesco credit card have accepted my DMP and cut interest - I have written to them to say thank you - my HB also has a Tesco credit card and has heard nothing except two letters asking him to sign a template because without his signature they can not assist him - we did not sign the original letters - when I spoke to CCCS before they said not to sign the templates as they have already passed required documentation onto Tesco - should he sign them or are they playing a game.

Hi huskypup and thank you for your message

When you set up a DMP with us, we ask you to sign an agreement to say that we can negotiate with your creditors on your behalf. If you have already signed this, then that should be fine.

I would recommend that you follow the advice already given by our client support team at CCCS, especially as we have already sent the required documentation to them. If the creditors contact you, explain that CCCS are now dealing with the payments.

Regards
Sue

CCCS_Sarah · 13 April 2010 at 2:59PM

tubsolard wrote: »

Hi,

I have been in conversation with a company called William Goldberg who rather convincingly advised me they could reduce my monthly payments, freeze credit on credit cards, over draft etc and have me debt free in 4 years - for a small fee of about 17% which worked out about £2k for the duration of the contract.

I said I would be consulting a second opinion before making a decision and my brother advised me to come here and pointed me towards a thread which stated that the CCCS and similar charities provide the service for free. I have since arranged an appointment and will be speaking with a counseler on Thursday evening.

The guy called back yesterday to confirm I'd received a detail pack so I told him my intention was to give the free service a try first. His advise was:
1. The CCCS is not free, nothing in life is free, they are earning from my debt in some way, but they are not being honest about exactly how much of my money is actually paying off my debts.
2. The CCCS work in behalf of the banks, not the client (me) and as such they (William Goldberg) work on my behalf as I am a fee paying client. CCCS are on the lenders side and not mine.
3. The interest rates are not frozen on credit cards, loans etc whereas they have a 95% chance of freezing these fees.
4. Monthly installments can fluctuate and often go up and up as the plan goes on. He suggested I can never be certain my money is going to the right place and that the debt is actually being cleared.
5. I was fed a horror story in which a client used CCCS, was given a 5 year plan to be debt free and at the end of this 5 years ended up owing more money than he originally owed the lenders.

Now, I don't see myself as a naive person so for me this doesn't wash. If their services was that good, they could sell it without criticising competitors. His job is to get me on board paying a fee, regardless of telling me that his only interest is helping me.

But I would like to hear what the CCCS say about the accusations, purely because I know very little about them.

Thanks for your help.

Scott

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

No debt advice organisation can guarantee interest and charges will be frozen on a debt management plan, as these are informal arrangements between yourself and the creditors.

CCCS is in fact funded by the credit industry and this is something that is known and we don’t hide, I have attached a link to the CCCS website for you to have a read through https://www.cccs.co.uk/Corporate/Supporters.aspx .

Even though the CCCS are funded by the industry this has no impact on the advice we offer and the advice it tailored to suit the clients’ situation. A debt management plan is just one of many options, and the aim of an appointment is to see what is best for you.

The main thing is that you don’t pay for advice and services that you can get for free as this money is better going towards your debts, not into another companies pocket. There are also other non profit organisations such as CAB and National Debtline.

Hope this helps, I will be happy to answer any other questions you have on this.

Regards
Sarah

huskypup · 13 April 2010 at 3:20PM

CCCS_Sue wrote: »

Hi huskypup and thank you for your message

When you set up a DMP with us, we ask you to sign an agreement to say that we can negotiate with your creditors on your behalf. If you have already signed this, then that should be fine.

I would recommend that you follow the advice already given by our client support team at CCCS, especially as we have already sent the required documentation to them. If the creditors contact you, explain that CCCS are now dealing with the payments.

Regards
Sue

Sarah

Would be ok for me to write to them again and say basically what you have said above - as they have now sent two of these letters and they say they will not action anything on his account without his signature.

It just seems strange that my Tesco CC was 3x his and they accepted the DMP without any of this hassle - and the name on his letter was the same as the name on my letters accepting the DMP's without any signatures.

Former_MSE_Wendy · 13 April 2010 at 3:24PM

As this thread is quite long, we've started part two here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2402327

tubsolard · 16 April 2010 at 1:54PM

Thanks Sarah, yes this answers my questions.

After speaking to someone at CCCS yesterday, even though they weren't able to help (my finances are in good enough order, I just need a bit more discipline!) they seemed to be giving advice based on my own personal interests, whereas the paying service basically said I need help and I should pay them for it.

Thanks for your response.

Scott

Ask a CCCS counsellor a question

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free