info: CCCS PAYPLAN experiences

[phat256]

i contacted CCS for a soenm debt advise before i went bankrupt last month, they were terrible .

 

they didn't want to help me at all as i did not have enough disposable income . so i suggested them about BR and they say no don't go there u earn too little so it won't help you ! the woman on the phoene suggested to me that they can only help me if i can enter into a DMP with them if not well she said don't bother contacting us .. that was her own word not mine !

 

then i went to see with National Debt line they were a lot better and gave soewm really good advise. by my own experience i rather recomand National debtline than CCCS . the CAb was also quite good especially with my Bankruptcy form !

[sequenci]

i rather recomand National debtline than CCCS

 

National Debtline do not offer DMPs so the advice they give will always be totally impartial. I also know that the level of training that an NDL adviser receives is significantly greater than those of CCCS/Payplan.

[djgordyp]

Hi.

On Monday I sent a message to CCCS, via their online service, informing them that Blair, Oliver, Scott were now in default of my CCA request and that I wanted them to stop paying this debt and told them I would hold that protion of the payment in a savings account for the time being in case a credit agreement did turn up. This is the reply I received today.

- Hi there, You must contact us IMMEDIATELY on the number below to discuss the above matter. We cannot agree to reduced payments as you can afford to pay £155 as your budget clearly shows. There are also many risks that you face by not paying your debts and we need to make sure that you are making a completely informed decision in regards to ceasing payments. The debt will not be put on hold until you call us. Kind Regards xx xx Correspondence Support Counsellor 0845 279 8668 Weekdays 8am to 6pm

I have a feeling I may end up doing the same as fredbassett and come off my DMP.

Hopefully I will get a chance to ring them tomorrow. I will be letting them know that I am well aware of the OFT guidelines regarding CCA request as well as the guidelines regarding creditors refusing to deal with appointed representatives and contacting the debtor directly instead.

As I stated somewhere before. I sometimes think that I know more than these people do. Recently, I contacted my local CCCS office, and when I mentioned the guidelines regarding contact, the person I spoke to knew nothing about them.

 

Incidentally, what are the many risks I face by not paying this debt when an enforcable agreement is not produced?

I think that by being part funded by these institution they are a bit one sided. They will take the money and pass it on to your creditors, fair enough. But stir te water and ou might find out whose side they are really on.

National Debtline do not offer DMPs so the advice they give will always be totally impartial. I also know that the level of training that an NDL adviser receives is significantly greater than those of CCCS/Payplan.

Even their website makes mention of the guidelines on CCA requests. Had I seen their site before going to CCCS I might well have been dealing with these debts myself.

Edited August 6, 2008 by djgordyp

[gemspan]

when I went to CCCS a couple of years ago the person I got was very judgemental and I felt as if I was being looked down upon for asking for help. The people at Payplan were better but suggested a remortgage. They put me in touch with the company that is associated to them and they then lost my driving licence.

 

I found this site and feel a lot more empowered in being able to deal with things myself.

 

Gemspan

[2Tiko]

I have had a very positive experience with CCCS.

 

I e-mailed to tell them that the Co-op were in default after 12+2 days. They phoned me up and were very encouraging. They asked me to keep them informed of progress and said they would withhold the Co-op's allocation. If they did not produce the CCA within the timescales then they would share out the Co-op's allocation between the other debtors. They even encouraged me to CCA the other credit card debts.

 

Incidentally, the Co-op have admitted that they are unable to find the CCA (as the account used to be with Northern Rock), so the CCCS have done exactly as they suggested and distributed the Co-op's share between the others.

[sequenci]

when I went to CCCS a couple of years ago the person I got was very judgemental and I felt as if I was being looked down upon for asking for help. The people at Payplan were better but suggested a remortgage. They put me in touch with the company that is associated to them and they then lost my driving licence.

 

I found this site and feel a lot more empowered in being able to deal with things myself.

 

Gemspan

 

So Payplan told you to turn unsecured debt into secured debt.

 

I'm really shocked by this.

[djgordyp]

I have had a very positive experience with CCCS.

 

I e-mailed to tell them that the Co-op were in default after 12+2 days. They phoned me up and were very encouraging. They asked me to keep them informed of progress and said they would withhold the Co-op's allocation. If they did not produce the CCA within the timescales then they would share out the Co-op's allocation between the other debtors. They even encouraged me to CCA the other credit card debts.

 

Incidentally, the Co-op have admitted that they are unable to find the CCA (as the account used to be with Northern Rock), so the CCCS have done exactly as they suggested and distributed the Co-op's share between the others.

 

Opposite of what I was told. The guy I spoke to at CCCS told me they would only stop payments if the FOS said the debt was to be written off.

How can aCCA letter or any complaint be taken seriously if I can't stop the payments?

[Guest sharonsmith]

hi everyone

 

i currently use Consumer credit counnselling services CCCS to pay off 5 of my creditors. They worked out my buget for me and added things that i dont usually allow for to make my free money at the end of the month less than it actually is so according to them i only have £25 a month left. so they spread that over my 5 creditors and pay each of them £5 a month. they are all accepting that, so that is what i pay. I will hopefully pay some more off soon when i can afford it. but for now i pay them all £5 a month.

 

so i dont understand how people are syaing that CCCS wouldnt touch them cos they got less than £100 a month left to spend, cos i only have £25 a month, so it dont make sense.

[emmaf01]

I'm looking at our expenditure and I know somewhere on here someone had a list (I think from Payplan) of the maximum on each expenditure, that creditors would accept and what expenditure they wouldn't accept.

 

Can anyone point me towards this. I need to check it before I hand this back to the bank.

[Deanee]

Hi all

This is my first time to this site, looking for help at the moment and

reviewing all my options I am at the start of a really nasty journey I think.

I owe around £50k on 7 credit cards and 2 storecards I am a homeowner

but cannot get a remortgage.

I am thinking of doing a DMP via payplan or cccs but apprehensive.

Any views on this would be appreciated I am really worried at the moment

feeling low and vunerable I do not want to sell my home as I look after

my elderly mother

Thanks all

Deanee

[rory32]

Hi Deanee and welcome to CAG.

 

You really need to start a thread of your own on your situation in order for you to get the appropriate help and advice, otherwise your posts will get lost in this thread. If you don't know how to start your own thread have a read here

 

Can you also let us know when these cards were first taken out, if there is PPI on them and do you have any idea if there are charges on the cards e.g. late payment, overlimit charges.

 

Try not to worry, you are not going to lose your home.

[europa16]

I'm with Payplan, and have been since 2005. I do remember some discussion about not being able to do a dmp with them if I couldn't raise the £100 per month for the creditors. Fortunately at that time I could, but against over £20000 of debt between 4 creditors, it was a drop in the ocean.

 

Since being a member of CAG I've CCA'd all the creditors, and only Egg came back with what I think is an enforceable credit agreement (maybe it isn't ).

 

So I told Payplan about the unenforceable agreements, and my wishes to cease payments to them until they produced the proper agreements. They did try to sway me into continuing payment, but I confirmed that I wished to stop, and they redistributed my payment to Egg only (the other creditors are still listed but do not get any of the money). I've now only got 18 mths left to finish paying them in full.

 

Payplan are a pain to get in touch with, it's very hit-and-miss sometimes, which can be annoying when you have an urgent question. This is why I'm now thinking of dealing with the creditor direct - I'm paying more on my DMP than I would have been if I was paying minimum payments each month in the normal manner. I asked Payplan about doing a F&F with Egg, and got no reply back .

 

Not sure how payplan would react though if I decide to go it alone, though.

[mfpa]

I consulted both cccs and payplan last year. cccs would only help me if I could eat for a month on the price of a mars bar and save transport costs by walking to work without buying any shoes. Payplan were more friendly and flexible in their approach but referred me to an associated company to try re-mortgaging (to reduce mortgage costs rather than consolidate unsecured debt). They both supplied template letters and useful advice but could not help further. My creditors seemed to like cccs and dislike payplan.

 

Some of the "government guidelines" for allowable expenditure varied massively between the two. Has anybody found an authorative source for these figures?

[DuffNCustard]

I'm in a CCCS DMP, its been running for 20 months now. As I slowly began to appreiciate just what sort of clarts I'd got myself into that cold clammy dread feeling settled on me. I found the CCCS details from the BBC website and figured that as they were funded by some of my creditors and were a charity that did not charge, they would be a 'good bet'. That first phone call to them brought such blessed relief, they just dealt with the facts, no judgements or anything remotely like that. I've since a had a few budget reviews with them, all bar one went like clockwork. The one that didn't was no big deal just a difference of opinion on what a reasonable amount to spend on broadband was. I'm looking at being debt free in less than 3 years now, all bar 2 of my creditors (MBNA and Halifax) have frozen interest.

[djgordyp]

Just managed to get CCCS to reduce my monthly payment without question. Just wondered if anyone else has done this. They obviously realise people are going through hard times now what with the rate of inflation and so on.

[loobyloo85]

Hi

 

I joined the Payplan debt management plan last November. I found the whole situation very daunting, as I had never been in that situation before, and felt ashamed and embarrassed about my situation.

Payplan have been excellent, they have made me feel that I am not alone, and have always been on the end of the phone whenever I needed someone to talk to or ask a question. It is free of charge, so does not cost anything to set up. I am paying back £150 each month to my creditors. It enables me to almost just get on with my life, knowing that the payments are being made to my creditors through Payplan each month.

Payplan have a legal team who have dealt with my letters and claim forms before which is a great help.

I definately would recommend Payplan.

 

Payplan also has other services available - my friend is in an IVA and has remortgaged through Who's Lending which Payplan also deal with.

[Toffee Penny]

Hi

 

I contacted CCCS after seeing a link to their website on Martin Lewis' site.

 

We are on a joint DMP with CCCS and they have been brilliant, they are very understanding on the phone and you can contact them through their website and they reply swiftly to any query you have.

 

I like the fact they also take the burden away from you and deal with creditors on your behalf when setting up a DMP. Although creditors are under no obligation to stop interest or charges whilst you make reduced payments to them I am sure CCCS helps to persuade them to stop.

 

Being in debt is a very heavy burden when Peter has finally had enough of being robbed to pay Paul. CCCS has helped us to live again and sleep at night without the heavy sinking feeling of debt. We know we owe alot but we can sort of live a normal life whilst paying our creditors.

[AA99]

I only initially contacted CCCS online to set my own repayment plans with my credit card creditors. It has worked with 3 of the 8 but the others I am battling with help on here! However, one of them phoned yesterday to say now that I have been on a repayment plan of £20 p.m. with interest frozen and no charges, for 6 months, they cannot continue as it costs them £20 to check if I have paid the £20 !!!!!!! So, next month they will hand the account over to their DCA to sort a plan out with me. Can they do this? I did advise them that there hadn't been a change in our circumstances and that my current account with them had a stay on over £4 k for illicit charges!

 

Where do I stand now ?

[craigers]

I've been with Payplan for almost two years. On the whole they have been excellent. My only gripes are about a lack of communication. They didn't advise me whether my creditors were happy with their monthly payments- Capital One want more but aren't getting. BOS have started charging interest and fees again- Payplan never told me it was BOS policy to charge for a few months, stop, then start again.

 

On the whole, thumbs up!

[Drone]

Hi all. I got in touch with CCCS roughly two years ago about my credit card debts. Total was around 30k. I'm self employed and my partner is a teacher. Having gone through the whole income and expenditure thing their response was "you don't have enough income to pay anything, so only pay £1 per month to each of your creditors". They refused to actually communicate with any of the creditors and just left us hanging. I suppose that it was a bit of a relief to talk to someone about the debt, and to have the idea of priority and non-priority debt explained, but I did expect rather more of them.

I'm planning to do the whole CCA business with my creditors. Wondering if it is better to try for the charges/penalties repayment first?

 

BTW. It is fantastic to find a site like this where people can share experiences. I don't feel so alone with my debts anymore. Power.

[debrag2007]

I've been with Payplan since March 2006, creditors are now charging me interest and I'm thinking of going it alone. I want to be able to pay off a creditor if I get the money but I can't with them.

 

Now sure how it will all work though.

[andrew1]

A friend of mine ran up some serious debt without telling anyone, got remarried and didn't tell other half....he's now in a Debt Management plan with Payplan who I must say sound like they've been fantastic...certainly relieved the burden of having all these companies at your beck and call and on the phone every 5 minutes.

 

Anyway, this friend is shortly retiring and has a small insurance policy coming out so I suggested using that to propose a full and final settlement with the creditors organised by Payplan, probably each would get about 20% of their debt. The first suggestion was going for an IVA which was rejected by my friend because that would mean telling the new other half...so Payplan are going to attempt to get all these settled without the IVA. We are talking over £60k (which includes a whole bundle of interest and charges) in debts so it's not insignificant, but they sounded hopeful. Under the DMP payments were running at approximately £150 a month and if continued could never be paid off during the remainder of his lifetime, so full and finals are possible and I'll keep you advised of what transpired.. - there's always hope, irrespective the size of your debt...

[rg19810]

i have just hadmy 2nd phone appointment with payplan and i'm pretty sure i will go for debt management however i am very worried about the impact it will have on my credit file will i receive lots of defaults?

will i ever beable to get a mortgage?

[DuffNCustard]

Its odds on that you'll get defaults showing on your credit reference files. As to getting a mortgage that's going to depend very much on how much deposit you put down. In theory the greater your deposit the better chance of getting a mortgage and also the best mortgage rate. Lenders are being pretty picky right now and unless you have a perfect credit history you'll find it hard to get a mortgage.

 

Of course there is another way of looking at it - those people who are able to obtain mortgages are the ones that will give the bank the most profit. Whilst house prices are still falling that large deposit gets whittled away, best to clear up your debts and bide your time. In a few years time when folks have payed their credit cards off and the banks realise that they don't make money unless they lend itn things will be better as they compete for our custom. Me? well I am set to be debt free in 30 months and mortgage free in another 10 years - they can stuff it I won't be wanting to borrow money ever again and I'm going to be dam picky where I park my cash too. I know quite a few 'young 'uns' who are busy stashing their cash, living with Mum and Dad and will pay cash for a house. They are using permium bonds - surprising that on £80k saved the actual rate of return (on the wins) is a lot higher than the banks are offering - food for thought!

[credicardslave]

Hi all,

 

I have started a dmp with cccs which has been running for two months now. All bar MBNA have agreed to participate, so they are chasing me for more money, which I dont have. I am thinking that an IVA might be a better option as all of the debt will be squared away in 5 years.

 

In terms of credit rating, that will be screwed now anyway so what do you think??