info: CCCS PAYPLAN experiences

[percival]

Hi

 

Comforting to hear that I'm not the only one unsure about the infomration I received from CCCS.. They advised me to contact my creditors and make arrangements for reduced payments, whilst this worked with some, others were not willing to negotiate and have continued to subject my accounts to massive credit charges (Cooperative bank) being one of these. Coop advised that I remortgage and consolidate my debts with them, probably to increase their chances of profit. I'm reassured by poochball managing to be debt free in 3 years I calculated about 2 for me.

 

thanks for the info

[poochball]

In relation to the massive charges it is really unfair.

 

I too had a lot of charges, what I did was to write to all my creditors. First of all I wrote to Barclaycard and asked them to refund the charges they had applied as it was not helping an already desparate situation. They were increasing my debt and that it was hampering my efforts to repay what I owed. Subsequently Barclaycard wrote back to me and had refunded all the charges.

 

One of my favourite lines I once quoted in a letter to Intelligent Finanace was "I note that Intelligent Finance subscribe to the Banking code and one of the standards of practice is that “all cases of financial difficulty will be dealt with quickly, sympathetically and positively”. This raises a couple of questions which I would like the Bank to provide an answer to: -

 

1. How is adding fees onto an account each month a positive and sympathetic approach?

 

2. Why when IF contacted me about none payment were they not sympathetic?

 

Strange that IF did not answer my question and instead refunded the charges isn't it.

 

My advice to getting out of debt is to stick with your plans, make your payments and live to your means and then some. When you are tempted to spend money you haven't got, think about what that money could do paying off some of your debt. (Weird but this really helped me).

 

The most valuable piece of advice I can offer is once you are out of Debt, learn from what happened. I know I have.

[brn]

I have been with CCCS for last 4 years.

I had a debt of £50,000 and have been paying just over £800 PM.

My debt has been reduced and it has not been very easy but initially CCCS was helpful and it took aways lots of stress.

Unfortunatelly, most creditors still asking to pay interest and I will have one and half year before I can be debt free.

I arrive at each month-end without a penny and it is very painfull especially when you have children.

As my expenditure is now manageable, would you reccomend to deal with creditors by myself and not by CCCS?

[blfamily]

Pay Plan are good, but I didn't realise how close to the £100 threshold we are now. We were paying (well i am) £184 a month; but during a discussion with payplan, it came to notice that they had accepted my mortgage cuirrent account debt - which only came to light when it went over the overdraft limit; pay plan were paying £75 a month towards this on my behalf.

I have had to look hard at my finances and had to find another £100 to pay towards the mortgage current account, at least that will start to go down now. (£175 is not enough to pay it off, but it is a start). How did I do it - I am not entirely sure,, we seem to have a very large mortgage insurance policy listed, which is not 100% accurate figure, so reduced the payment to that. It appeare we should still have money left at the end of the month, not as much as before, but enough.

 

A tip I can suggest for either company probably. If you have always had a combined current account, then you might not have this problem. We had seperate accounts and then Payplan suggested we had a combined account (it does make for easier budgeting, but can cause problems if one of you suddenly has access to more income than before!). I found that we were running out of money 2/3 weeks into the month. So I went and opened a seperate account for my wages and I have found I have money left at the end of the month - something I haven't had for several years!

 

Suppose it gives the opportunity to pay more debt off? Question here is, when I do do I go to Payplan, or to the creditor; I can see Payplan sprending a lump sum around all creditors. Paying off 1 creditor debt of £215 sounds better to me.

 

Has anyone managed to get Barclays Bank to nill interest charges, out of all the creditors theya are still adding interest, I have asked payplan to ask, but not heard anything back from them.

 

For

Edited June 7, 2008 by blfamily

[percival]

I have managed to get barclay card to zero interest, not easy I took the advice and dealt with them myself. The cooperative bank were the least understanding, bombarding me with phone calls, evenings and weekends! Once creditors agree to stop loading on the interest and late payment penalties, after all without this I would probably have paid the debt of some time ago, making payments within your means is easier. Over the last few months I've learnt to go without, just have to keep looking at the debt reducing to keep me going.

[cherryblossom10]

Hi, ccan i just gatecrash and ask a burning question. If you have a dmp with payplan or cccs does this show on credit reference reports and damage your credit rating?

[percival]

Yes, your credit rating is reduced every time your apply for credit and you give permission for a company to investigate all the credit you have. They call this 'leaving a foot print!' having a payment plan with a debtor also reduces your credit rating.

 

All credit is scored on a monthly basis, if you are several months behind with a payment this will show, in order to increase your credit rating, get all your payments up to date or clear any balances and keep out of debt for at least 6 months.

 

Apply to experian, equidebt etc for a copy of your credit file, you will be able to see how the payments are recorded and who has investigated your credit profile.

[stewpots]

Payplan have been great as far as my debt is concerned I have £26,000 over 5 lenders all sorted out with one managable payment. All the interest has been frozen to, which does make me laugh as I did ask 3 of the lenders for a consolidation loan with roughly the same monthly payments as I make now and they all refused so I get debt free sooner and they get less of my money!

 

 

Well Ive been 'accepted' but was relucted to go forward as was scared what this would do with my credit rating

 

As someone has pointed what 'credit rating'

 

I was offered 57.4%APR for a £3k loan over 3yrs and it had to be co signed by someone else . ie pay back nearly £6k

 

Mine is £60k of unsecured debt which to put in presepective is just under a years gross pay

 

MBNA want 24.9% ON £26,000 of that and that alone would be £450 interest a month. They still send me credit card cheques

 

If i can freeze the interest i can pay it back twice as fast

[undercover]

do these companys actually work then? i want to get rid of all of my debt, and ive heard of people getting threatening letters after theyve started using a company like these?

 

am i right thinking, if i simply give them the information from my experian report, these guys will sort EVERYTHING out for me?

[jumpjet]

Hi undercover,

 

In a word......Yes! But not for everyone. we are with the CCCS and there are certain criteria that must be met before they will act for you.

 

I would certainly not opt for a fee charging service as the money they take is better used for the payment of creditors.

 

If you were to contact the CCCs, they will go through your income and expenditure and tell you what is allowable to claim for for your everyday needs. These include your fuel and car repairs, gas etc. school meals, clothing etc. etc. If your income supports it and you are able to pay to them a minimum monthly amount they will help you. All your debts will be calculated and priority will be given to Mortgage, utilities and other priority debts. they will calculate your disposable income and leave you with enough money to live on and even make allowences for holidays, schools trips or other incidentals that may come up.

 

they will then tell youto write to each of your creditors and tell mthem that you have taken up a DMP with them and also write to them themselves stating what their pro- rata payment will be. Your creditors do not have to accept this offer, but in most cases they will because your income will then have been assessed by a government support body and they know that as creditors are paid off, the amount of money that is available will increase and therefore the amount they get paid. Your circumstances are reviewed every six months to a year and any additional disposable income is passed to your creditors and your monthly payment will increase. Depending on your debts and income, this is not a quick fix, if I remember correctly, they aim to get you free of debt within 10 to 15 years. Upon each review, your income may have decreased and so they will try to negotiate with your creditors to reduce payments. When you sign up with them, you will have to write to all your creditors and probably need to make a token payment to each untill the DMP kicks in. They will not pay anything for the first month, but you will pay them and they then use the interest off that money to cover the admin costs. Once it is up and running, you will probably still get letters etc. the difference being that if they take you to court, it cannot be said that your are ignoring the debts and that your are doing all you can.

 

My advice would be to give them a ring! the are very helpful and there is no commitment to sign up!

Edited June 21, 2008 by jumpjet
mis information

[jotto]

Ive been dealing with the CCCS and cannot fault the help and peace of mind they gave me. I have been making token payments to my creditors but have now sorted my debts.

 

One of the last conversations I had with my CCCS advisors was about a DMP and she said ideally they like a minimum of £5.00 per creditor which in my case would have been £35.00 per month.

 

I had £17.5k worth of debt and at no point was £100 per month ever mentioned as a minimum to go on a DMP

 

Makes you wonder if they are all singing from the same hymn sheet!

[jumpjet]

Hi jotto,

 

I stand corrected! I probably should,nt think as I type!:o

 

What I was trying to say was there is a minimum amount which they will accept. The £100 was they figure they gave me based on around £32,000.

 

I have edited the £100 bit!:o:D

[stewpots]

Well Ive been 'accepted' but was relucted to go forward as was scared what this would do with my credit rating

 

As someone has pointed what 'credit rating'

 

I was offered 57.4%APR for a £3k loan over 3yrs and it had to be co signed by someone else . ie pay back nearly £6k

 

Mine is £60k of unsecured debt which to put in presepective is just under a years gross pay

 

MBNA want 24.9% ON £26,000 of that and that alone would be £450 interest a month. They still send me credit card cheques

 

If i can freeze the interest i can pay it back twice as fast

 

 

Update I was 'accepted' but after some further 'chats' was turned down as basically I still take more net pay home then all my serving of debt

 

What ill have now is for every £1,000 I pay back Id guess £600 + will be interest

 

I dont know anyway around that

[ginger whinger]

Hi Guy's n Gals

 

I have approx £45000 credit card debt,£5000 catalouge debts and approx £22000 hire purchase debt .

 

I have sent for CCA's. I am now receiving defaults.Debts accrued through job loss due to disability/illness.

 

I would like to know what to look for in the CCA,s assuming they are sent to me= what do I challenge=what do I claim=what letters do I send=when do I send them(in which order).etc

 

I am due to start a new 12mth contract job shortly - not enough to pay the debts but better than nothing --If I have to take time off to attend court I will probably be sacked -where do I stand-Can i ask to attend court on my days off? I do not really want my employer to know.

 

Ginger Whinger

[sequenci]

Hello Ginger Winger, I hope you're well.

 

I think it would be best for you to start your own thread, that way you'll get lots of helpful responses. We will also be able to help you with your CCA agreements once they start to arrive.

 

Best wishes,

 

Seq

[Guest forgottenone]

Okay, in hindsight removed all what I posted.

Edited June 24, 2008 by forgottenone

[stewpots]

Just some advise please

 

Pay plan say I don’t qualify as ‘what’s left over’ after going through a detailed monthly expenditure report would still be enough to pay my creditors what they want each month

 

Basically they have worked out I have £1,500 left over a month to pay off my creditors

 

I have £60,000 of debt (£47,000 credit cards and the rest Northern Rock loan)

 

They have now sent me a load of letters each address to my separate creditors, which I guess I can send . They offer to pay pro rata amounts and it asks in those letter whether the interest can be waive , account put on hold etc.

 

So owe MBNA £24,000 its cira £550 a month

CO OP £4,000 cira £92 a month

 

etc

 

 

Most of the pro rata amounts are higher then what im paying now and what the credit cards want

 

What concerns me is growing interest I have on the cards that will kill off any repayment

 

MBNA is 0% goes to 24.9% soon (asked 3 times to get that reduced, no good)

 

I could use co-op (still could put £10k on that at 18.9% and transfer some from the MBNA)

 

Should I just send these letters out and hope interest will be waived ???

 

If they say no then for example ill have a closed account from co-op and unable to use the 18.9% and have to keep 24.9% for MBNA

 

It’s very confusing

 

With no interest I could repay it all in 3 to 4yrs with interest 20yrs ??

 

I could max out on all my other cards pay off MBNA and 'hope' they will offer another of their 0% (I got the fee down to 1.5% last time). If that doesn't work ill have £60,000 at 29.9% which is about £700/£800 of interest a month

[jumpjet]

one of the ways the cccs work is to calculate the pro-rata payments to reduce /pay off the debt as quickly as possible. I can only speak for myself, but our pro-rata payments didnt make sense to us at first. We seemed to be paying less to the creditors we owed the most money to and more to the lower balance accounts. what they had done is calculate that by the highest level companies freezing interest or putting a hold on the account, it allowed the smaller accounts to be paid off faster (less interest) and when that account had been cleared the monies distributed further among the other creditors(higher payments and less interest) and so on. It was aimed at clearing the debt within 15 years. Creditors with higher balances recieve progressivley increased payments as time goes on.

 

The will not take into account disputes etc. If you manage to reclaim charges or interest off the accounts, they simply continue to pay untill the creditor reduces the balance accordingly and readjust the scheme at each review.

[tomterm8]

Stewpot, from what i can see at the moment you are able to afford repayment (at the minimum level) each month. Given that, they are highly unlikey to reduce interest, as you can service the debts.

 

Your best option, IMHO, is to go to an independant financial advisor and see if there is a way to restructure your debts.

[stewpots]

Stewpot, from what i can see at the moment you are able to afford repayment (at the minimum level) each month. Given that, they are highly unlikey to reduce interest, as you can service the debts.

 

Your best option, IMHO, is to go to an independant financial advisor and see if there is a way to restructure your debts.

 

Many thanks

 

I've done the independent financial advisor bit

 

Didnt get anywhere (tried to get me a cheaper loan etc). did get 53.9% but need to be co-signed and for £3k!

 

Tried my bank etc Nothing wont loan £25k on £60k of debt

 

I think what Im realising is , I do have massive debt but I can still service them

 

Even yesterday MBNA sent me another 0% offer on purchases

 

If I send out these letters from Payplan its likely to put the frighteners on them and ‘stopping credit cards’ maybe not wise for me

 

Ill have to clear one and use say a 18.9% rate from co-op to clear £10,000 of MBNA (24.9%) etc

 

90% of this mess is my own making

[djgordyp]

hi,

Now whilst having the consultation with CCCS they were telling me what I was entitled to have as outgoings according to government guidelines. The figures The counsellor came out with were considerably less than what the government says i should have ( especialy in regards to housekeeping/food etc (2 adults, 2 kids )

 

 

Sharpman

Is there anywhere I can find these figures on the internet? I am finding it tight making my payments this past couple of months (and I'm sure I'm not the only one given the economic situation)

 

Hi undercover,

 

 

I would certainly not opt for a fee charging service as the money they take is better used for the payment of If you were to contact the CCCs, they will go through your income and expenditure and tell you what is allowable to claim for for your everyday needs. These include your fuel and car repairs, gas etc. school meals, clothing etc. etc. If your income supports it and you are able to pay to them a minimum monthly amount they will help you. All your debts will be calculated and priority will be given to Mortgage, utilities and other priority debts. they will calculate your disposable income and leave you with enough money to live on and even make allowences for holidays, schools trips or other incidentals that may come up.??? I don't remember any mention of holiday allowance from the CCCS

 

they will then tell youto write to each of your creditors and tell mthem that you have taken up a DMP with them and also write to them themselves stating what their pro- rata payment will be. Your creditors do not have to accept this offer, but in most cases they will because your income will then have been assessed by a government support body and they know that as creditors are paid off, the amount of money that is available will increase and therefore the amount they get paid. Your circumstances are reviewed every six months to a year and any additional disposable income is passed to your creditors and your monthly payment will increase. Depending on your debts and income, this is not a quick fix, if I remember correctly, they aim to get you free of debt within 10 to 15 years. Upon each review, your income may have decreased and so they will try to negotiate with your creditors to reduce payments. When you sign up with them, you will have to write to all your creditors and probably need to make a token payment to each untill the DMP kicks in. They will not pay anything for the first month, but you will pay them and they then use the interest off that money to cover the admin costs. Once it is up and running, you will probably still get letters etc. the difference being that if they take you to court, it cannot be said that your are ignoring the debts and that your are doing all you can.

 

My advice would be to give them a ring! the are very helpful and there is no commitment to sign up!

I too am considering going it alone. I have recently CCA'd Blair, Oliver & Scott, who recently took over a Halifax account I have been paying off this past couple of years. I too had heard that the CCCS won't stop making payments when an account is in dispute. Hardly surprising when apparently as well as being funded by the government they also receive funding from these financial insititutions. So if that is true then they wouldn't want to be rocking the boat, would they?

[jumpjet]

Hi djgordyp,

If you take a look here...CCCS - Preparing a Personal Budget.

 

you will see a list of all allowable expenses. those which are considered neccessary for a basic standard of living. Regarding the holiday part, even this is considered as fundimental right. You still have a right to a certain amount of enjoyment and a normal familly life. No creditor would accept money held back for 6 weeks in Benidorm.......but an annual week in the country or by the sea at modest expense is quite acceptable.I don't know if there are any hard and fast rules as to what level reasonable expenditure is, but as a rough guide I would say it would be the equivelent of social security benefits. Expenses have to be reasonable and therfore acceptable to your creditors. As an example..... it would be reasonable for a smoker to purchase a small amount of tobacco each month, but not to smoke 30 or fourty shop bought cigarettes a day.

a day!

[C&D]

Hello

I have been using Payplan for years, when I started I owed approx £19,000 and now its down to £9,000.. I only pay £20 per month to my creditors now as I moved out of home and have nothing left at the end of each month to pay much more. I find Payplan really easy to deal with and the fact that I no longer have to speak to creditors is great!

 

The one regret I have is that I didnt look at a consolidation loan for the £19k before going to payplan as it would have been paid by now and my credit rating would be good.. I guess at the time, I wouldnt have been in any state to do that though, I would probably have got a loan and then re-spent my credit cards to the max!!

 

Please think carefully before using a debt management company, if you can pay them back do or speak to a financial advisor first. I really do wish I had looked at options as it is going to take me about 50 years to clear the debt at this rate!!

 

C x

[blfamily]

Hello

I have been using Payplan for years, when I started I owed approx £19,000 and now its down to £9,000.. I only pay £20 per month to my creditors now as I moved out of home and have nothing left at the end of each month to pay much more. I find Payplan really easy to deal with and the fact that I no longer have to speak to creditors is great!

 

The one regret I have is that I didnt look at a consolidation loan for the £19k before going to payplan as it would have been paid by now and my credit rating would be good.. I guess at the time, I wouldnt have been in any state to do that though, I would probably have got a loan and then re-spent my credit cards to the max!!

 

Please think carefully before using a debt management company, if you can pay them back do or speak to a financial advisor first. I really do wish I had looked at options as it is going to take me about 50 years to clear the debt at this rate!!

 

C x

 

How do you pay £20, an earlier post said you need to pay off £100 minimum, now this may be incorrect but I'm curious!

 

Only problem I have with Pay Plan is that they sometimes ignore messages. They asked me to contact them as a creditor had written to them, I responded, didn't put my number in correct, got through to the catch-call lady, who promised a call back - still waiting. I also replied to the email saying bet it was Barclays PArtnership and heard nothing since.

[sequenci]

Please think carefully before using a debt management company, if you can pay them back do or speak to a financial advisor first. I really do wish I had looked at options as it is going to take me about 50 years to clear the debt at this rate!!

 

Financial advisers do not have ANY training in Debt Advice.