CCCS

[acsn]

If we are looking at CCCS impartiality should we not also be considering those IPs who act for creditors and lenders. Strange , might even be a bit of conflict of interest, who am I to say . But some of my modifications seemed to be fee generating. Not complaining , just in case my IPs reading these blogs.

[paddyuk]

i was thinking of going with cccs for my dmp as i current am on a fee paying dmp. good idea to switch or stay after reading this?

[catullus]

Paddyuk

I think that the answer to that is follow your instinct.

The purpose of my post was to ensure that anyone thinking of using CCCS did so in the knowledge of what they are and weren't taken in with the tag "well they are free" which I hope I've demonstrated simply isn't true.

If you don't like what you hear from CCCS you've always got the option of going somewhere else for a second opinion.

This forum's not a bad start!

[sonyse2t5]

CCC's motto is to assist families and individual in distress and they have forfilled that.I can't take that away from them.They do ease the pressure!It's easy now to take for granted what we know now about the debt and critize.

They also cliam they have powers to influence creditors to freeze interest, and I wouldn't agreed with BOLD CLAIM as the Banks decide when to freeze interest.Their only flaw in my books.

Given the the option of a DMP-totally unregulated unlike in Scotland(protection from legal action and freezing of interest) and an IVA (given what the Banks like Cap1, MBNA,NR thinks and Bankruptsy -it is the individuals make the final choice and not CCCs.

CCC'terms of practice are centred on the debtor.They are very curtesy in a pressurised envionment. We can go BR or an IVA anytime as I did - no strings and I got my DMP back.
OK, the Banks fund them, but what would people prefer - fee paying DMP companies - they are worse than anything you can say about CCCS.

I would love to sit on their Executive. We need them as they are in the 5th 'Emergency service' for debt.

[MelanieGiles]

That is a very sweeping criticism you make of DMP companies - it this from personal experience you have of the industry as a whole?

I know of several very good ones which I would have no hesitation in recommending to anyone.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Skippy]

One thing to bear in mind is that sometimes a free service isn't the best service - you often get what you pay for.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[n_b]

before myself and hubby decided to go for Iva hubby was already with CCCS and I had made own agreements with creditors... whilst we were struggling cccs had disregarded my debts in the agreement as i had my own arrangements but included me in the hubbies agreement by where I was down as paying all utilities and Food ... so I contacted Payplan who were very nice but would not accept me on dmp by myself as some of my debts where with debt collectors and they worked my disposable income out as £170 which they said debt collectors would not accept... they would only recommend bankruptcy or the cab....so we decided on IVA as we really do not want to go Bnakrupt.

so if this did not make sense

[acsn]

I agree, CCCS gave me back hope and dignity and treated me with utmost courtesy at ever stage, but no one ever mentioned the commission charge. Whilst I appreciate that as a charitable organisation they need funding it would be good practice from them to be a bit more upfront about their charges.

And to be honest, I have learnt more from reading these pages than I ever did from either CCCS or the IP who dealt with my IVA. And as far as I know you guys haven't charged me.

The debt industry is one of the fastest growing businesses in the UK, people need to stop being driven by shame and despair to grab at the first glimmer of hope and be sucked into solutions that just don't make sense.

Getting out of debt is much much harder than getting into it. And like everything else in life; if the answer given seem too good to be true then it probably is.

Getting out of debt is never going to be easy as many on this forum so clearly demonstrate.

[emma_t]

Hi all

I am looking to hopefully enter into an iva and contacted CCCS about this.
I have had 2 phone appointments with them so far lasting about an hour each, so far have found them very good and friendly.
They said that they started doing iva's in April this year.
They have said that the fees they charge do not exceed £5k for the 5 year term - £2k initial set up fees and 10% of monthly payments up to a maximum of £5k.
I notice that some people approach 2 or 3 different companies before they decide which one to go with, but I have been impressed by CCCS so far.
Looking at all these posts on the subject has made e slightly apprehensive but I can't face keep going through it with other companies - I just need to try asap to get an iva.
Hopefully they will be ok [:)

[acsn]

Don't worry , they are the goods guys, you just need to be realistic on how much you need to live on each month. It sometimes easy to agree a repayment amount that will leave you with little to actually have a semi decent life . Please remember 5 + years is a long time to be skint. Best advice read everything again and again and use the guys on here to ask as many questions as you need , even if you feel stupid. Debt is a horrible all absorbing thing that can make fools of even the most intelligent people. But when you do get a solution that works for you it's the greatest feeling.
Good luck.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Great post acsn
regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[OPTIMIST12]

I honestly think I would have jumped at the chance of a CCCS DMP if I was SURE that all my creditors would have agreed to freeze interest and to keep sending me monthly statements so that I could see the balance owing to each creditor going down every month. Even though it would have lasted 100(!!!) months based on the initial figures as against 60 for an IVA I would have hopefully speeded up paying off the balances by extra overtime in order to shorten the DMP. I think the one advantage of a DMP (assuming frozen interest) is that you have the reassurance of seeing the balance go down each month whereas with an IVA you do tend to sometimes feel a bit as if you are in "limbo" waiting for claims etc. and not really knowing exactly where all your payments are going. I assume that this is all set out in the Annual Review statement but have not reached my first review yet.

Having said all that - now I am in an IVA I am determined to see it through. With apologies to Skippy for stealing her signature - tomorrow IS a mystery but every tomorrow is one day nearer completion!!!

By the way I thought Emma T's post was very interesting - hope you will update what happens Emma. If I had started things a few months later I would have been in a similar position I think.

[Skippy]

No worries Optimist - I nicked it from a website! It was far to profound for me to think up!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[sonyse2t5]

Optimize12, Doing long term DMP in the UK is like walking through a mindfields, you bound to get 'hit' with interest eventually and to renegotiate forever till the debt if payed off. And not knowing what the postie will bring to your doorstep from creditors in their ever changing stance. Try to neg' with some call centre collection staff outside the UK on interest reduction..I rather use sign langauge - no pun intended

Only in Scotland is DMP truely regulated and offer absolute protection for small/medium debts against interest and legal actions.The UK needs to reinvent the DMP concept as their Scottish peers have done so

In the UK what would happened if you have 15 creditors as I have seen posted on this site....it is enough make you want to go BR talking to these collections people....

IVA writes off debts....DMP you pay the whole lot.So 5 yr is resonable? Maybe not 75% but 40-50%. Thank god for the insolvency act!

[OPTIMIST12]

I agree Sonyse2t5 that it would be a great idea to reinvent the DMP as a sort of "halfway house" to an IVA - with a binding agreement by the creditors to freeze interest and by the debtor to maintain a minimum monthly agreed payment. I am sure that this would be a great solution in some cases.

T was put off a DMP because - like you say - as things stand any one or more creditors could change their stance and derail the whole thing. Also my debts were too high and I just had too many creditors to make a DMP a workable option.

I know that DMPs can work for many people with few creditors and lower debts and that there are reputable DMP management companies and organisations.

I am surprised that a more formal DMP system does not meet with more favour from creditors - after all in the cases where it is a viable option they would be getting back 100% of the debt. Yet they do seem more supportive of IVAs or Bankruptcy as a solution- or alternatively they sell debts on for a fraction of their actual "value" - even though all these options mean the actual returns to creditors are potentially much smaller than they would be in a regulated DMP.

It is all very confusing for the average layman / laywoman but I suppose the banks etc. must have sound business reasons for the way they deal with consumer debt!!