decisions decisions...

[rachmac]

I went on a DMP with CCCS in April 2007, I owed about £30,000. I've worked really hard to pay it off, and have it down to about £8,000 now. Two of the debts are default (about £4,500 to what was Cahoot and Egg), the rest were never defaulted.

I'm not happy with CCCS at the moment because they have so far refused to accept that I havent had a payrise this year, and also because tried to scare me when i needed to reduce my payments temporarily.

So now I have been offered a job overseas for at least 2 years. When I get back the defaults will have gone, but I dont want any new ones while I'm away. I have about 6 weeks to get myself sorted, but there is no way I can continue to make the same payments as I will be on less money.

So... I'm wondering what to do about the defaulted debts, whether to pay them a tiny amount so that I can focus on paying the rest of the debts? And whether to run the DMP myself so that I can decide who gets what? How easy would this be to arrange given the timescales and how easy would it be from a different country?

Any advice?

Thanks

Rachel.

[caspar]

Re: decisions decisions...

Hi Rachel,

Being realistic it's going to be very hard to get your own DMP properly up and running in 6 weeks.

Also, I'm afraid your logic of self managed DMP's is a bit flawed. They do give you more control when creditors start playing up, but to start with you send pro rata offers to all your creditors based on your disposable income and then take things from there.

Alternatively, if, as in your case, you're already in a DMP, then it's usually best to continue the existing payments for a period of time and keep quiet to creditors that you're managing it yourself.

It's a tricky situation as you are wanting the best of both worlds. You want the experience of the job overseas for two years and are willing to take a drop in income to get this, but the drop in income means you cannot afford the DMP that has clearly proved successful for you. There is sadly every chance that if you reduce payments when you have the option of maintaining the status quo by remaining in your current job, that you will be defaulted.

Perhaps your best option , in the circumstances, is to tell CCCS that you are having to go overseas to get a job - obviously you need to do this to keep paying as much as possible to your DMP, and explain that you are having to take a reduction in income, so they'll need to re-negotiate payments with your creditors.

It will be much easier to negotiate through CCCS from abroad than trying to keep up with the mail in this country from abroad.

[rachmac]

Re: decisions decisions...

Thanks Caspar,

Maybe I should clarify a bit - I was served notice at work before Christmas, January 2011 and again in March 2011, but we have just been told we are ok until March 2012 so my current job is very precarious, whereas the job overseas has been offered to me as a permanent position (but I will be getting a two year visa to start, before deciding if I want to apply for residency).

Also, I could manage the payments if I didnt have to pay the two debts that are already defaulted. I could probably afford to continue the existing payments to the companies that havent defaulted me yet, as there are three of those and two of them should be paid off before xmas this year. CCCS wont let me just pay those that are not defaulted though, I have to pay all of the companies I owe to.

Hope this makes sense.

I take your point about a self-managed DMP though, was just an idea as I want to focus on debts that havent defaulted yet.

Thanks

Rachel

[caspar]

Re: decisions decisions...

Hi again Rachel,

Thanks for clarification. It actually makes the final bit of my original post more pertinant as it is the truth. I would tell CCCS that you've been given notice in your existing job, but you are adamant that you are going to clear your debt, and the only job you've been able to source is one working overseas which entails a drop in your wage. If you approach from the point of view of I want to do the right thing and get things paid as quickly as possible, but I just won't have the same money to maintain my current level of repayments, they should be sympathetic.

It also means that you have the company with whom you have a good, long track record negotiating with your creditors. You'll probably have to pop in and redo an Income Expenditure form, but the CFS figures changed just yesterday, so that will work to your advantage as well. The information will carry a lot more weight coming from them, with whom you have a long relationship, than from anyone else as there will be a degree of trust which will have built up over the years.

What I didn't say last night and should have was well done for getting to this stage. You have done brilliantly well, so although you may have a few issues with CCCS at the moment, they have obviously served you pretty well over the long term, and this change in circumstances totally negates the issue that is causing the current problems, so they should look at your case in a new light.

The other added benefit is that it should all be sorted within 6 weeks for you, but you may well need to stress how much easier this would make things.