CCCS see a DMP as the way forward not an IVA. Any advice much appreciated.

[MrsR]

Well, it is an individuals choice which route they wish to take, and as others have said, noone should push you into anything.

Personally, our income dropped late 2010, which is when we spoke to a DMP company a friend used. We had outstanding debt of £63k, so they took a management fee every month and said it would be paid off in 5 years, but turned out they did not pay the bills off like they said they would do and by the calculations, it would've taken around 12 years !

After a few very angry letters/emails/calls, I spoke to the CAB who put me in touch with Payplan. I spoke to them and got lots of information about bankruptcy, IVA's etc and was going to go ahead, but thought I would check with other companies as well, and I found this forum while looking.

I realised that after speaking with a few people on this site, that i was not alone in tryignt omake up my mind about what to do, as many others are in the same boat, so I started talking to Tina Shortland, who works for Melanie Giles, and instantly I felt a sense of relief that finally someone knew what we were up against and genuinely wanted to help !

Needelss to say, I spoke with Tina, got everything ready for our chat - outstanding debts, company names, income/expenditure etc, and that night as we started going over the figures and our options, i felt a weight lifted and decided that I wanted to go the IVA route, as this meant I could pay back my debts as much as I could, and within a timeframe that we were comfortable with.

I have a lady called Susan Clay who works with Melanie and Tina as my IP, and she is fab, as are all of the team - no phonecall or email is ever too much trouble to deal with !!

I have been speaking with them a year ago now, and officially started my IVA in February this year. I just wish I had found this forum the year previous as I could now be almost 2 years into the IVA !!

[MrsR]

Sorry for the long post !

[Johndylan]

Much appreciated mrsR.

[luna]

Hi,
Can't comment on the DMP side as we went into an IVA with CCCSVA but we have found them to be excellent.
The IVA protocol does make things easier as you progress though time if you are fortunate enough to benefit from salary increases/bonuses etc.
Regards.

[size5]

To answer the question Mel, the success rate at freezing interest across the board on a DMP is very high, no one can promise 100%. DMP's are not as reliant on CCCS guidelines as IVA's are, and as they tend to deal directly with creditors/DCA's rather than the likes of TIX, then in reality it can be said (and I've seen first hand more than one of them do this) that a lot of proposals for DMP's are accepted without the finstat even being looked at.

Therefore, the only conclusion I can draw is that CCCS seem to be either saying that they have trouble getting interest frozen on DMP's if they exceed their own guidelines, or they would prefer you to do as you are told. I do not wish to knock CCCS, but it does seem a very strange point of view to have. According to a very recent report by MAS (Money Advice Service) fee paying DMP's achieve similar or better satisfaction rates as free ones, and fee payers have a ratio of 35/35 when looking at IVA's in relation to DMP's. Non fee payers, that ratio changes significantly to 11/53. The free sector did provide more assistance in re-organizing household budgets, so fair play for that, but you do wonder whether that is motivated more by a desire to keep debtors paying contractual interest to creditors, or by a genuine desire to help. Michaels points of view seem valid here when you analyze these statistics.

Regards.

[Johndylan]

Thanks size5 for contributing. The ratios you quoted for dmps and ivas were they success rates in being approved. I have mentioned my conversation yesterday with ccc. The impression and feedback I got was why would my creditors accept an iva when with a dmp they would get all of their money back. For this reason, despite the fact that I will be in dire straights an iva with cccs is not an option. Fee paying IP seems a likely option if iva is a better solution.

[size5]

As has been mentioned already, the real key is affordability. It is fair to say that most IP's would concede the point that if you can pay the debts back with a true disposable income in a period of, say, 6 years, then there would indeed at face value seem little incentive for creditors to accept. To achieve full repayment of £75k over 6 years, and trusting to luck a little with interest freeze, takes £1042 per month assuming no DMP fees. If you use your own estimate of £9,600 pa, then you are looking at 7.81 years as a minimum timescale (assuming all things remain equal, which of course in itself is a great leap of faith) and more if interest is not frozen. The question then re-aligns itself from "why would they accept the IVA?", to "why would you prefer the DMP?".

Don't get me wrong, DMP's are a good tool in the fight against debt, but it does indeed seem that they are the "default option" for the non fee payers. I can only re-iterate that it will not hurt you one iota to get as many opinions as you can from as many providers as you can before you make any move at all. Don't forget though, to try and provide a sense of balance, that any estimates regarding IVA proposals are just that, estimates, until evidence is produced to back up any proposal. Many is the time I have looked at an IVA with an estimated payment of, say £500, and it turns out to be £250. It works the other way of course as well. As I type, I am on the phone to a client who has £45k debt and the AA have simply refused to freeze interest even though he approached CCCS for help.

Regards.

[MrsR]

A lot of good information from size5 !

Our initial DMP payment was around £450, with £350 payments to follow, but the creditors did not freeze the interest or stop charges/defaults while we were paying, so we were fighting a losing battle in our own opinion.

Noone know what will happen in the future regarding interest/charges etc, but the banks will probably need to make up for some of the recent financial issues !!

[Jules79]

Hi, Originally we were with the CCCS on a DMP for just over 2 and a half years. All I'm going to say is it was 2 and a half years too long! We now pay only £70 more each month on our IVA which now includs my husbands business debt as well. I wish we had done the IVA at that point cos we would have been 3 years in to paying back the debts with a total freeze on interest and a hell of a lot less stress with the IVA. A DMP can go on for years, an IVA is 5-6 years then your debt free.

Good luck with your journey

[Foggy]

It would be an interesting exercise to try to get through to the (THE) CCCSVA IP directly.

It wouldn't surrise me at all if, two . three years down the line CCCS suddenly "decide" that an IVA would "now" be appropriate !!

[hopefull1]

Hi

I have been with CCCS on a dmp since May 2008 and started at £78,000 of debt which I am far from proud of. I have just under £30,000 left as all creditors have frozen interest. I have always found cccs very easy to talk to and very sympathetic and they did suggest I could do an Iva but I decided to try and pay all the money I had borrowed.

[Foggy]

Hi Hopefull1.

It's always good to hear from people for whom a DMP has worked ( is working).

Best of luck.

[herbekj]

When I confronted my debts I have 4 choices and read postings from many sites before deciding.

1. Bankruptcy
2. IVA
3. DMP
4. Stick head back in sand

Option 1 - Just didn't want to do that one.
Option 2 - Looked like my type of solution, own up, pay back as much as you can.
Option 3 - Would have gone bankrupt instantly instead of this. Never in a million years would I enter a DMP.
Option 4 - Was a nice one idea but realised that it had been going on to long.

[MelanieGiles]

Some very good material on this post from two very reputable providers of DMPs, together with others who have experienced good and bad on both sides of the fence. I hope this will help you to make a decision ultimately as to what is the best solution moving forward, John.

[mattyboy]

All I would add is to choose your IP / firm very carefully and don't rush in, this will be a five year plus relationship and it can be almost impossible to change down the line. You should go with the company that you feel most comfortable with and one that you feel will meet your needs and your families needs. I was reccmmended a dmp by a charity firm who I believe tried to mislead me telling me that my creditors would not accept an IVA and only a 8 year DMP would work. Six months later with no interest freeze in sight and constant debt collection calls I decided that something just wasn't right with the advice I'd been given and contacted an IVA firm. All my creditors accepted an IVA and the structured legally enforceable plan ensured i was back on my feet in five years. I would be still in my dmp now of I hadn't questioned that initial advice.