I got three months deferred, there was little or no work and we ate baked beans a lot, if it hadn't been deferred we'd have had less than no money. At the time I didn't know about CCCS or priority payments the 'phone kept ringing and I paid what we had to creditors. Daft way to live really. I will try and find out a bit more.

I'll look into it an let everyone know. I've got to contact them at some point about this today. Their standard offer is three months deferred. They grudgingly tell you they are only making this "kind offer" because the government have told them to. I am not sure if the provision was inteded to run for a max. of two years, if you look at the wording I think it means the scheme, which is voluntary, runs for two years from its start date, not the amount of time given for homeowners to find new jobs/sort themselves out. What I have found out is , if you agree to split arrears over a period of time they will offer you a max of nine months. I noticed a case where it seemed to have been decided that these split payments should have no time factor , ie theoretically they can be split over the remainder of the mortgage. As I say, I'll look into it.

Cheers for that. Have you any experience of this? The Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme - HM Treasury The scheme itself will be open for a window of two years, subject to review. The guarantee will last for a maximum time period and will expire once the customer is able to commence normal payments. If, during the period of guarantee, the customer defaults, the Government will pay the lender the equivalent sum of the total amount of the interest guaranteed that is not recoverable from equity in the property. The Natwest offer only three months deferred, if you miss then after that they split what's owed over six/nine months.

Clemma, one thing I'm begining to realise is this is like having a part time job on top of everything else and starting 'A' level law or something. Send the CCA to the solicitor, what about the CCCS agreement?

One last thing a soclicitors letter has dropped threough the door , yesterday requesting payment or statement of my intent. Do I send them duplicate copies of the CCCS/ CCA letters , the ones I'm sending to the creditor they are acting on behalf of, Maybe there is a standard "response to solicitors letter" to send out as well ? Thanks again.

Also it has gone spookily quiet on the 'phone at the moment. No one has harassed for a few days yet.

Firstly, Clemma, thank you for taking the time to offer support . I understand you are not too well at the moment , so I appreciate this. I am going to send out the CCCS £1.00 token payment letters. These are going recorded delivery.(ouch) Then I am going to send out SAR's to banks with overdrafts/ CCA's to loans, along with with £10.00 postal orders for SAR's. 'nother ouch) Not sure about these CCA's , please clarify: If I sending a token payment, couldn't this be interpreted as recognising the debt? As I said this is all new to me. Diddydicky , that sounds the thing. Telephone harassment is a pain, it doesn't produce anything positive ( they have only one goal ie to pressure payments) so it is better to get them to put everything in writing.

Thank you, You probably don't realise how helpful this is! So basically putting the account into dispute slows down the recovery process? And you can put an account into dispute by a ) sending a subject access request letter to creditors covered by CCA b) Disputing bank charges . I have heard the FSA are still considering cases of financial hardship. I am fairly sure we fit into a hardship catagory. Regarding PPI- I have actually been contacted by a previous creditor wh was hauled in front othe FSA. The company contacted me and have told me they are considering my case which should have some resolution by the end of the next month. Would all the PPI money retrned to me have to go to paying off debt if it was returned? Thanks again.

Thanks Clemma. I have two unsecured overdrafts , one unsecured loan, and a credit card debt. I ran these up when my wife's earnings fell to about half of what they normally should have been. We are both self employed. We also have a house which I was doing up and without using some of this money it would have been unfit to live in. These we necessary things like new boiler/washing machine/ basic kitchen thta was rotting from leaking pipes etc. I came to a point where I didn't want to keep borrowing any more money against the equity in my home and chasing ever increasing debt by borring more money is like an illness. Without borrowing more to pay debt I can no longer pay my debts. One mistake I made was to assume that things wouls pick up after Christmas. The Bank offered a three month resite on the mortgage, and I didn't understand about prioritising debt. Firms kept ringing and hassling and I kept up the monthly payments. I am now three monthsd in capped areas with a month owing on top of that. They have offered to split the arreas over nine months, and this is the point , with the help of CCCS counselling I have come to understand priority payments. I didn't know the law and I thought not paying debt was like a "crime". So I ran around like an idiot paying off what I could when I could. I am sending mininmum payment letters out and intend to keep paying my £1.00 postal orders until the arrears are sorted out. I am concerned that they may come after the equity in my home and try and force reposssession. I would like to point out I haven't led the highlife My time an money has gone into trying to make a home fit for my family out of a wrecked house thta very few other people wanted. My clothes are second-hand excepting a few birthday gifts, and my car is worth about £200.00. The children got new clothes when we could afford them. I would like to stay in my home and I want to devlop a sound strategy to enable me to do this. Can you explain the importance of asking the loan companies for the agreement?

Hi, I'm new to all this. I have taken advice from CCCS , opened a parachute account and I am about to send out the first letters to my creditors with £1.00 payments. I am worried and I am wondering their responses might be, and how to deal with them. What happens next? Do they start a deluge of telephone calls, debt collectors turning up? My wife is under a lot of stress looking after elderly, terminally ill parents ,is there any legal way to protect her from this possibilty. We would welcome some support and guidence , I have no real idea about what awaits us or how I'm going to deal with it. Thank you.

Hi I've been advised by the CCCS to do the same. ( Pay £1.00) I'm waiting for the parachute account which they reccomended to become active. What I'm trying to understand is: how binding the DMP is on the creditors and how long it can be in place for before they are allowed to reasonably take action to increase the payments, or find some othe rmeans of demanding money. They CCCS gave the impression the creditors would accept this as a temoprary solution for a few months. It would be worth knowing what other options there are for the future.

Hi, First of all, thank you for running a site like this! I have a number of unsecured debts . Until recently I could pay the monthly amounts on the loans. My wife has experienced a severe drop in income, and my own work has slowed down, an di now have to contribute to what used to be her side of the financial responsiblities. My wife has to spend time looking after terminally ill parents and working as well. We now can not keep on repaying these debts at the rate agreed. I have approached the CCCS ( two weeks ago) and they have advised I write to each creditor and offer them a mininmum payment of £1.00 per month each. I can't see any other way out of it . What I don't understand is, if this is actually some kind of IVA that my creditors will agree to. What kind of agreement is it and what rights do I have? I took advantage of the three months respite on mortgage repayments and now have to concentrate on making priority payments, which I now understand are priority payments. I am one month behind beyond the mortgage agreement. At the time I thought work would pick up carried on paying unsecured creditors and did not understand about prioritisng debt. I have opened a parachute account with a bank not connected with the creditors. So three questions. 1. If I jump banks, will they enforce the Mortgage agreement as a form of control? One of the unsecured loans is an overdraft with the same bank that is the mortgage lender. It is a three month arrears-capped. As I say we have fallen one month behind on the capping agreement, so we are technichally four months behind, but I can pay this month's this week. 1.a We only want to stay in the house for another year whilst my son finishes college. So I want to buy as much time as possible. What room for manouvere do we have here? 2. Is this an IVA in kind? Can my creditors be trusted to stick to it if it is from the CCCS? What can they do to us? 3. What other options do we have? I hope you can help.