Hello all, This is my first post and I have been reading other threads but I am still not quite sure what to do and need some help and advice please! I have a few debts which total approx £16k and until now I have been managing it by myself but after several things happening over the last year we have had to reduce payments and I have had to start speaking to StepChange. They have come up with either a DMP or IVA but we are currently thinking against IVA. I am contemplating DMP or just trying to go it alone with one of their letter templates and do not know which option is best!! I am not fussed about my credit rating as to me it is probably shot already and to be honest I would rather stay as far away from credit cards or loans etc as possible - for the foreseeable future anyway! I am more concerned with how it is paid in a DMP - ie say our circumstances change then am I able to pay off more without it backfiring on me? say one month we are an extra £10 better off or £100 better off can I pay it to the creditors without having a comeback or am I better off going it alone and doing things on my terms with the creditors so that I can specify to them that if I have extra cash I can pay more off?? I am also worried about how the interest charges will be - I do not know if all of my creditors will freeze their charges - if anyone can help out with that question it would be very much appreciated!! I dont know what other peoples experiences have been with any of the following... my creditors are: Sainsburys (loan) Barclaycard (credit card) Santander (credit card) Tesco Bank (credit card) For the sake of freezing interest is it more recommended that I go for a DMP with StepChange or go it alone?? I have no idea and any views are very welcome and very much appreciated!!! Thank you all in advance

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/loans/9615276/2000-borrowers-have-at-least-five-payday-loans.html

I have a large outstanding debt with natwest, i originally contacted natwest who told me that they would not accept my repayment option. i was then passed to Allied international who i completely ignored. they eventually stopped all contact with me and i recently started getting letters from fredricksons international again demanding the debt. the address they have always had for me was my parents, which i had used when first opening my account. but since then frederickson have managed to send them directly to my own home address. i have been ignoring frederickson after reading several bad stories and comments about them on here and other sites. earlier this week i received a letter from Bryan Carter about it. My issue other than the debt is that i dispute how much it is, originally account was a student account and my overdraft was £1250, when i finished uni a "friend" who worked for them, transferred my account to a Gold advantage, this started incurring charges and the interest was ridiculous. i could never put enough in there to start reducing the OD and struggled most months to even make the minimum payment on time. this got out of hand when after my second daughter was born, i missed a month completely and could never catch up with my repayments. as things spiralled, i buried my head in the sand and tried to pretend it would all go away - stupid i know. i called cccs around Christmas time, but never followed through with it and i have got another phone appointment with them on Monday to see how and if they can help me. the debt now stands at £1999.90 and has been frozen at that amount. Are there any suggestions/ letters/ ways of approaching this, as now I have unburied my head and am facing up to my debts. i have already managed to clear £1500 worth that i had also accumulated, but this is the biggest one i have left hanging over me.

Hi there guys, came across this forum while looking for help with a growing problem. Very long story, but will try to summarise: I've been in debt for a *very* long time - never let a messed up 18 year old have a full-time job, they'll still be paying off that debt into their 30s... as I've found out the hard way. Contract ended, I couldn't find another f/t job and fell into arrears. Been drifting from p/t job to p/t job ever since, when I haven't been on the dole, that is. When I realised (or rather, accepted) that I needed help (in early twenties), I followed advice from the CAB and have been with the CCCS ever since. I've also struggled with depression for a long time. This hit breaking point a few months ago, where I finally accepted that I'm not fit for work, and am now claiming ESA. Being in debt for what is now 15 years hasn't helped my mental health in the slightest, and with no end in sight I decided a DRO was now my best option. I went through the online application about the same time that I filed my claim for ESA (about July this year). Got the application pack, including the list of things I needed to send off with my form. Credit report, check. Proof of income, check. Statement of accounts from *all* creditors.. this is where I'm having problems. I got 2 (out of 4) just from printing online statements (all necessary info is there). To get the last 2 I sent out letters - found a good template to use online. BoS responded fairly quickly. The other is Arrow Global, allegedly - although in their notice of assignment they say to contact AIC. So I sent off the letter to the address I was given. I've learned to be patient when expecting replies, so allowed them a month. During that time I was waiting on Experian (they'd sent a request for more info while I was away, so after posting that off I was waiting for a reply), so I was in no rush. Once that had passed, I checked over AG's letter again - and realised I may have used the wrong reference number (there were 2?!). So I sent off another one, this time with the right number. Experian sent me the report I'd requested, but I was still waiting for AIC. I was getting pretty POed by this point, especially with CCCS nagging for the paperwork. I had to explain the position to them while deciding it was time for a phone call. The only thing was, AG had sent a couple of letters before - one trying to trace me (despite my informing all creditors of both change of address *and* name) - I'd called them once before just to confirm I was the right person, and could they please update my name change on their records. For some reason they said they couldn't - and proved the point when they sent a notice of assignment. Both letters said to contact AIC with any queries, but both gave different phone numbers. After failing to get through on one, I tried the other. Well, I got through with not much difficulty. I gave the reference number on the letter, only to be told it wasn't working with their system. They then took my details, which was problematic in itself as I tried previous and current addresses, and names. Finally the guy found my details - and said I was in the wrong department, please hold while I transfer you. Okay, fine, I thought, until the same happened again. I managed once to explain I needed a statement of account, but after they tried it a third time, I voiced my protest. They said they'd call back once they found out which dept. I needed. Did they hell! Tried calling the day after, couldn't get through at all. Now fuming, I pondered what I was now meant to do - call the CCCS? File a complaint? While checking things out online, I found a mailing address for AG in Manchester (I think), and sent *them* the request, telling them I'd tried the details they gave, but since they were unhelpful maybe they could help. In the meantime I started college - my hope of getting a decent career for a change, and to aid recovery. It's been about a week now since I sent off that letter. Predictably (from what I've read), I have still yet to hear from them. In the meantime I have a nearly-complete initial application for DRO to post off, and waiting on this *one* last thing is infuriating. CCCS advised me to close down my DMP while applying for this, so only a few days ago I had a call from Natwest, another of my creditors - which has been stressful in itself since all the time they've been part of my DMP, they've still been charging interest, making my payments nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But that's another story. Fact remains, none of my others are getting paid, apart from the CCJ. This is all really starting to p* me off. The reason I applied for a DRO in the first place was to get one more weight off my shoulders and move on with my life. I'm starting to feel that AG/AIC are either stalling deliberately, or they're just a load of incompetents who don't read their post. Or lose it. From what I've read on here, I'm fast losing hope of ever getting that elusive statement from them. This has dragged on for months now - what else can I do?

a very good afternoon, i hope you can help me, i was put in touch with CCCS my barclaycard when i could not keep up my payments, i have since had my telephone interview, completed my forms and returned them to CCCS, i also sent my notification of debt management plan forms back to barclaycard. i havealso been in weekly contact with barclaycard on the telephone giving them my CCCS ref. no. and explaining what i was doing. yesterday out of the blue i received a very rude telephone call from Mercers saying they were going to "send round the bailiffs if i did not pay" i explained i was i contact with CCCS and barclaycard trying to sought this out. after this finished i telephone barclaycard but of course on a saturday night at 7.30, not much joy, but a very helpful lady did register my complaint and told me to phone back on monday. i of course did try to phone CCCS but they are closed on sat/sun. sorry to go on but this has now really worried me. a couple of questions really. can Mercers really send round the bailiffs, i have been in constant touch with barclaycard and explained eveything, why would they go to such drastic measures when they now im in a debt management with CCCS. sorry to have gone on so much but this is really worrying me now. thanks winchester

cpuld i have your help please, i have 7 debts with cccs which i have over the past 4 years paid on a monthly basis, now having over the last 2 years ( i know i should have done something sooner), read this great site i feel now i must do something about these. 2 are very old barclay card accounts over 20 years old, 2 marks and spencer accounts over 10/15 years old, one creations account well over 10 years old, one coop account and one capital account these are only 6/7 years old. question please should i cca these or sar these which would in your opion be the best way foward, i am going to get my life back on track and the first thing i am going to do is to sort my cccs account out thanks for any help that you can give cheers winchester

Hi, I wonder if someone could possibly help me with a couple of queries I have. Hi, My husband and I currently have a DMP with CCCS which we have had since May 2010. When we first started the DMP, I also had a Littlewoods account but I didn't include it with the rest of my creditors as it didn't have much on it and I thought I would pay if off before the DMP started. Unfortunately we needed to use it for some household appliances which broke and we hoped to pay if off with my husband's commission, however, he hasn't received as much as we expected. The account has now increased to the point now where I can no longer afford the monthly payments. I have been burying my head in the sand a bit about it but I now need to do something about it. I have emailed CCCS to see if they are going to cancel my DMP or if they are willing to help me but in the meantime, I wanted to find out how I can go about managing my own DMP if they cancel. - All my creditors have accepted my DMP so I don't think it would be difficult now to manage it on my own. I'm not sure, however, how I would add the Littlewoods debt to it? Do I send them a letter saying I can't afford the monthly payment and offer them a reduced amount? Do I have to tell Littlewoods that I have been in a DMP for the last few years? Do I have to tell the other creditors about it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

We finally did it! After putting it off for such a long time, my wife and I have had a grown up conversation and faced up to the hard facts that we have been living outwith our means for far too long. Nothing excessive, but things that should have been addressed earlier beacuse we're now looking at £50k+ of unsecured debt! We completed the debt management tool on the CCCS website last night and spoke to a really helpful and supportive member of their staff team this morning. I feel great - I'm not proud of the debt but am really proud that we're doing the right thing and taking control. Don't put it off - just get it done!!

Hi All Here is my predicament. We are expecting another baby in Sept and my wife will go on mat leave for approx 6 months. She is the main earner in the household so we are going to lose approx £1200 per month. Est income will be £2000 Est outgoings will be £2600 Outgoings include £900 of loans, credits cards and other finance. If I could 1/2 the payments I am making to these lenders in the short-term (6-12 months) and make a few cutbacks elsewhere, I think I could make the books balance. Finance includes the following: Private loan £20k @ £280 p/m Personal loan of £8k @ £230 p/m (halifax) 3x credit cards of £6k @ £140 p/m (halifax, barclaycard, vanquis) DFS @ £70 p/m Solicitor @ £100 p/m What I plan to do is write to all these creditors with an offer: Are they likely to listen and help? Is there any chance they might freeze interest? Would DFS try to reposes the sofa? Any other advice? I know this is going to affect my credit rating and quite frankly I would be glad of it. Finance people throw credit at me and I am not responsible enough (see above). The alternative is IVA or BR but I think as it's a short-term problem and we are homeowners, I should avoid that. I would be extremely grateful for any advice. Thanks Ryan