This is a question on behalf of a friend (i am in an iva).
My friend lives at home with her husband and her disabled mum. She has been doing a DMP for abut 2-3 years and has been paying £200 a month into it with a fee of £35 a month to the DMP company. She has recently been to the local CAB to see if they could take it over as she didnt want to pay the fee any more. CAB said yes and told her to stop paying her DMP company any more money. She did this and is now getting letters from creditors etc etc. She hasnt got a clue what is happening to her debts as the CAB have told her to stop ringing every day as they are over loaded with work!!!! My friend is now very concerned as she has heard nothing from the CAB regarding her matter. What should she do?
My husband has recently changed from his DMP company (same one as friends) and gone to another paying £15 pcm fees, and this has all gone smoothly in less than a month. My friend has been doing this longer and got nowhere except to have rude staff shout at her at the CAB. Any advise.
Hi, I think this is possibly why a fee paying DMP is sometime preferential to that of a free service. I do feel the CAB are often oversubscribed. Would you be able to recommend the company your hubby uses and take the case off the CAB and hopefully the creditors will cease letters again.
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
Hi Lesley,
I have told her what I have done. I have even told her to ring her creditors up herself and see if she can come to an arrangement if she doesnt want to pay a fee. I feel she is getting nowhere with the CAB. She is unwell herself. She has had a letter from her previous company stating that one creditor is willing to reduce her payment. I find this strange too when she is no longer with that DMP company. Do be honest I dont think she has a clue whats going on. It is making her poorly
Doesn't sound as though her monetary problems are helping her situation. Once she's instructed someone to take the pressure off her I feel she could maybe relax again and it may help her health problems.
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
Not a good representative for the CAB I do agree. I would try and encourage her to go with a fee paying company as this may just alleviate some of the stresses she's experiencing right now. x
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
Hi
It is ok for the CAB to advise not paying your commecial DMP company but only if they give your friend an alternative solution. Not paying anything or a token one pound a month is not going to help your situation.
I suggest they contact several experts/companies and discuss all options and the costs, if any, involved.
Regards
It is sad to see this isolated report about poor service from the CAB, which I rather suspect boils down to a lack of funding and resource, rather than an unwillingness to assist. Correct me if I am wrong, Andy, but I am not sure that CAB actually collect monies and distribute them to creditors on behalf of clients, but rather set up the plans and let clients get on with making the payments?
If so, then a low fee charging commercial company might be worth their salt, if your friend feels unable to cope?
thanks andy and melanie. you are correct melanie, they clients themselves have to pay their creditors themselves (have another friend on dmp via cab) . I have tried telling my friend to go elsewhere because she is certainly getting nowhere with the cab. The joke is our local cab are advertising in the local paper telling people with debt worried to go and see them and they will be able to advise! They are already overloaded with DMP plans and new customers hoping to set one up (as the rude lady told my friend)
If she doesn't want to pay a fee she could always try Payplan or CCCS.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
My understanding is the same as Andrew's. The CAB recently announced with much fanfare that they have come to an agreement to refer all of their debt management clients to the CCCS. I understand that the CCCS will then manage the DMPs on behalf of the clients as per their normal service. Perhaps the word has not yet filtered down in this case.
If the person in question does not want to pay fees, perhaps they should contact the CCCS directly as Jan has suggested.
