Clients

CCCS of the Black Hills current Debt Management Clients only can access their information online. Click here.

Questions You May Have About
The Debt Management Program

WHAT IS A DEBT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM? It is a self administered plan established for you by your counselor which provides a link between you and your creditors. The CCCS staff are available to help you with any problems or questions you or your creditors may have during the life of your program.

WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE THE PROGRAM WORK?

• Communication is necessary in the success of your program. Keep in touch and let CCCS know immediately if there are any problems.
• Mail your deposits on time. Send cashiers’ checks, money orders, or personal checks. No cash will be accepted.
• Inform CCCS immediately if any change in address, marital status or employment takes place.
• CCCS does not receive your creditor statements. Keep all creditor statements and make sure your payments from CCCS are being properly credited. Check your statements for interest reductions, late fees or overlimit fees. Review statements for credit life or disability insurance premiums being added to your account monthly. You may want to call and cancel the insurance premium. Send your most current creditor statements to CCCS for review after you have made three consecutive monthly payments. After that, send your most current creditor statements every six months for CCCS to update your balances and review. Keep CCCS informed if any of your accounts have been turned over to collection agencies.

WHAT SHOULD I AVOID IF I WANT MY PROGRAM TO GO SMOOTHLY?

• Do not miss payments or make late payments to CCCS for any reason. If you do, your creditors may resume their regular collecting procedures by calling you, reinstating your interest and charging you late fees until that payment is made up.
• Do not make payments directly to your creditors on your own. Send all payments through CCCS even if it is late. Send any extra payments to creditors through CCCS.
• Do not apply for any additional credit without recounseling with your counselor. If you do, you may place your Debt Management Program in jeopardy.

WILL CCCS CONTACT MY CREDITORS? Once you have brought in all necessary forms signed and your initial set-up fee, CCCS will mail proposal letters to each of your creditors. All letters to creditors will go out at the same time. The proposal will advise the creditor that you have sought debt relief assistance through CCCS and request the creditor’s support and cooperation on your behalf. The proposal letter will have your name and address, the account number, your total indebtedness, the number of creditors on the program, the proposed repayment amount, and the date by which creditors may expect a payment.

CAN CREDITORS STILL CALL ME OR REJECT THE PAYMENT? You may still receive calls from your creditors up through the first three months of your program. Not all creditors will do this. If a creditor should call you, do not refuse to speak to them. In order for you to get out of debt, you need your creditor’s cooperation. Do not negotiate a payment with them, but do inform them of your circumstance and ask them to contact the agency. If a creditor states they will not work with CCCS, provide the agency with this information along with a name and phone number if possible. Your CCCS staff will then contact the creditor and negotiate on your behalf. The creditor, due to the delinquent status of your account, may recommend an increase over the original proposed payment. If this should happen, your counselor will call you with your options.

WILL ALL CREDITORS STOP INTEREST? Some creditors will stop or reduce interest while you are on the program and make consistent monthly payments. It is however, important to know not all creditors will stop interest. Many creditors will stop the late fees and overlimit fees as long as consistent monthly payments are made.

WHY DOESN’T CCCS MAKE ALL OF MY CREDITOR PAYMENTS? CCCS is not a bill paying service. Our objective is to help work out a debt repayment plan with those creditors who are willing to work with CCCS. Generally creditors of secured loans are unwilling to take reduced payments. They may take their collateral back if you cannot make the payments.

WILL I RECEIVE A RECORD OF MY PAYMENTS? Yes, when you make your monthly deposit, you will receive a statement showing the payment deposit and the disbursement payment status to be issued to your creditors. You will see the list of each of your creditors, the account number and the beginning balance. The balances shown on our disbursal for each creditor may not reflect your creditor statements. This is due to the interest your creditor is charging. Because of this, it is very important to bring in your statements every six months for up-dating balances and review. If you should see a rather wide variance between the balances CCCS shows and what your creditor statement is showing, this needs to be reported immediately to CCCS. When a creditor is paid off, you will see this reflected by zeroes.

WILL CCCS ACCEPT CASH? No. Payment must be made with a money order, cashier’s check, or personal check. There is a 5 day hold put on all personal checks—they are deposited immediately but funds are not disbursed for 5 days. There is no hold on money orders or cashiers’ checks. Cash is not accepted. ACH payments are acceptable upon meeting specific criteria.

TO WHOM SHOULD I MAKE MY PAYMENT? Make them out to “CCCS” or Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

HOW WILL WORKING WITH CCCS AFFECT MY CREDIT RATING? Any information on your credit report is put there by your creditors. CCCS does not report any information to credit bureaus. Many creditors will begin to report to the credit bureaus an account as “current” after they have received the first proposed payment from CCCS. This does not mean that delinquency information in the months prior to entering the Debt Management Program will be changed. However, some accounts may continue to show delinquencies despite the creditor having accepted the CCCS proposal arrangements. Whatever a creditor reports to a credit bureau is determined by its company policies.

WHAT IF I CAN’T MAKE A FULL PAYMENT? Every effort must be made to make full program payments by the required due date. Failure to do so indicates a lack of good faith in wanting to retire your debt. Your creditors have agreed to the program based on your agreement to make the full adjusted payment on time each month. Failure to keep the agreement will result in your creditors charging late fees and may also lead to interest charges if your creditor has given you interest concessions.

WHAT IF I CAN’T PAY BECAUSE I HAVE TO PAY CAR INSURANCE? When your budget was established, your counselor designated a set amount of savings for such things as car insurance and other periodic expenses. If you are living within a budget and have included these items in your household savings account, you should be able to pay these bills and also make your CCCS payment. If you need help with your budget, call your counselor immediately.

WHAT IF MY PAYMENT IS LATE? Payment due dates are established at CCCS to make certain that the hundreds of CCCS clients’ deposits to CCCS are processed and received by creditors in a timely manner. If you miss a payment, you can expect calls from your creditors wanting to know why. Late fees will be charged and interest charges can be reinstated if concessions are given.

CAN I INCREASE MY MONTHLY PAYMENT TO CCCS? Definitely. Anytime you have the good fortune of having extra money to send to your creditors, you should do so. Remember, our objective is to get you out of debt as soon as possible. If you wish to designate the extra dollars to a specific creditor, you must inform CCCS of your intentions.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE EXTRA MONEY AND CAN PAY OFF MY ACCOUNTS EARLY? Accounts can be paid off early. When you wish to do this, call CCCS so your creditors can be contacted for the final payment amount. All pay-offs will be handled through CCCS. Also, do not be upset if your final statement shows a small amount due for finance charges. This can happen because of differences in billing cycles.

CAN I BE TAKEN TO COURT BY MY CREDITORS IF I AM ON THE CCCSDEBT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM? Most creditors would prefer to receive payments through CCCS rather than to resort to the courts. Many creditors will stop legal action or hold judgments in abeyance if they are receiving consistent and timely payments through the Debt Management Program. However, if you should receive a summons while in the Debt Management Program, be sure to follow the instructions of the court or your attorney. You may want to provide the judge or mediator with a copy of your CCCS General Information Form listing your income and bills you are paying.

MUST I CONTINUE TO WORK A BUDGET EVERY MONTH? Yes. During your session your counselor prepared for you a money-control worksheet to assist you in meeting your finances on a monthly basis.

WHY DID I HAVE TO TURN IN ALL MY CREDIT CARDS EVEN THE ONES THAT HAD NO BALANCES? One of the basic rules of getting out of debt is not to incur any additional debt. Most of your creditors understand you are having financial difficulties and are giving you a break while in the Debt Management Program by accepting reduced payments. They know that all other creditors are also accepting a reduced payment. Creditors want to be treated fairly and equitably. It is unfair for one creditor to get a full payment while another is getting a partial payment.

IF I CAN’T MAKE FULL PAYMENTS, WILL YOU DROP ME FROM THE PROGRAM? Possibly. Making consistent and timely payments is the key to making your Debt Management Program work. When you start a program, you are making a commitment to your creditors to get out of debt. They expect you to live up to your commitment. If you miss two consecutive monthly payments or four payments within a 12 month period, you will be dropped from the program. If you are having difficulty with your budget, contact your counselor immediately for a recounsel to maintain your goal in retiring your debt. If circumstances are such that warrant you to be dropped from the program until your finances stabilize, CCCS will work to reinstate your program.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I WITHDRAW FROM THE DEBT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM? Your CCCS program is a voluntary program involving not only you, but also your creditors and CCCS. If you drop out of the program, you lose all of the advantages the program provides: lower monthly payments, lower interest charges, avoiding bankruptcy, learning to live within your means, avoiding unpleasant collection calls, etc. By staying in the program to completion, you will have created a good payment record for yourself which will indicate to future creditors that you have the ability and the will to meet your financial obligations.