Thread: Attachment of Earnings RBS MINT Card

Speak to a trained debt counsellor - these people will be able to offer a great deal of info on your debt, your options, and your best way forward.

Consumer Credit Counselling Service Freephone 0800 138 1111

I have personal experience of them, and I would never hesitate to promote them. They are impartial, non judgemental and very helpful.

I've yet to hear a bad word about them!

Originally Posted by leebot2004

hi,

thanks for that again, can you explain what the actually do then or should i wait for an email from them?

I presume from the above that you emailed them? If so, I'm sure that they will be in touch shortly, but you can call them free on Monday.

They basically offer free advice about anything debt related, to anyone in debt.

Once you have explained your predicament, they will advise you on your options. It is then up to you what you do with that information. They will not, as far as I know, offer any advice on dealing with your bank charges- you will get that help here though...

In theory, even a small debt, unsecured, could eventually lead to the worst case scenario. However, getting to that point would involve the debtor either refusing to make a payment, or totally ignoring every effort to negotiate a deal, including many court processes.

Since that is not the case here, the outcome is likely to follow the following route (I am presuming that this debt is not secured against your property??) and also, bear in mind that my knowledge of Scottish law / regulations in particularly weak - but I imagine that the overall routine is somewhat similar...

The company now dealing with the debt asks for the money to be repaid

You presumably can't do this, and with help from someone like the CCCS, you produce an income/expenditure sheet that shows what precisely you can afford.

You then make those payments (even if this is rejected by the agency)

The agency may tell you that they will proceed with court action, however this is unlikely, since a court will only be able to make you pay what you can afford, and since the spreadsheet you have produced with CCCS will show it, the court is very unlikely to say different. With this in mind, the court would not be best pleased with the agency for wasting their time.
I'm not too sure, but it could be that the court make a record of this, effectively binding you to this agreement (in England, this would be akin to a CCJ - county court Judgement).

So long as you stick to this payment plan, however it is reached, there should be no further action taken. At regular intervals (possibly as far as a year apart) you would be expected to update the figures on the spreadsheet, and certainly if your circumstances changed (for better or worse) then you should change it anyway and alter payments accordingly... although small differences would not matter, I'm talking more of substantial wage increases, or loss of employment etc.

The agency should be willing to reduce or stop interest (clearly stopping is preferrable here) as it would be likely that a court would ask for this. If payments are very low, and they insist on keeping interest going at full rate, then you might be "better off" letting them take you to court. The CCCS will explain further.

You would continue paying small amounts if circumstances don't change, and after some time the agency may swap to another to try a new approach, or may offer reduced settlement figures. A long running, reduced payment plan could be settled as low as 15 or 20%, but might normally be initially offered at 50 - 60% of the debt. There are no 'rules' on this though, it all depends how lucky you are.

Ahh, if you are in England then the above is fine. I wrongly presumed you were in Scotland, where different rules can apply. Not that I'm in anyway knowledgable about UK law, you understand!!

CCCS is funded and supported entirely by the credit industry, not simply banks.

CCCS provides its services totally free to consumers - an an impartial way, without being prejudiced by that funding.

I think it is extremely unfair to paint a picture of them as being in the banks pocket!

I have used their services in the past and they were an absolute godsend - never once did they make any kind of suggestion that any bank, or other financial organisation, should take preferrence in payments, and overall gave us the best and clearest advice possible.

Specifically, in relation to our Halifax bank account that was £750 in arrears, they advised us to 'walk away from it' and offer a minimal payment of £1 per month - there's little that they can do at that stage!

Hardly the actions of an organisation that might be a bit too close to banks!

I don't want this issue to hijack the thread, so if there are further comments to be made on the subject, let's have a new thread started please.

Originally Posted by jonni2bad

CCCS is funded and supported entirely by the credit industry, not simply banks.

CCCS provides its services totally free to consumers - an an impartial way, without being prejudiced by that funding.

I think it is extremely unfair to paint a picture of them as being in the banks pocket!

I have used their services in the past and they were an absolute godsend - never once did they make any kind of suggestion that any bank, or other financial organisation, should take preferrence in payments, and overall gave us the best and clearest advice possible.

Specifically, in relation to our Halifax bank account that was £750 in arrears, they advised us to 'walk away from it' and offer a minimal payment of £1 per month - there's little that they can do at that stage!

Hardly the actions of an organisation that might be a bit too close to banks!

I don't want this issue to hijack the thread, so if there are further comments to be made on the subject, let's have a new thread started please.

Pleased to hear that is your experience J2B - its just I was around at the birth of CCCS and that was the original idea , IMHO and experience, of course.

Yes your right , a discussion for another time and place. Just delete my post if you think it's a diversion.