Preventing Mortgage R epossessions

1. Preventing Mortgage Repossessions An overview of the national money advice sector

2. Overview • Broadly break into the following categories :- - Advice providers - f2f, email, telephone -Self-help - Specific services provided e.g. DMP, IVA - Membership groups

3. Age UK www.ageuk.org.uk • Provide Information and Advice to people in later life • Free national information line on 0800 169 6565. - open 365 days a year from 8am to 7pm. • Impartial and informative factsheets and advice guides • Age UK supports and assists a network of more than 170 local Age UKs, which between them provide an extensive network throughout England • Local Age UKs in England provide direct services to people in later life throughout the UK, working in partnership with the national organisation. • Local services can include: information, advice and advocacy services; day centres and lunch clubs; home help and 'handyperson' schemes; and IT and other training.

4. Money Advice Service • Mortgage problems or arrears • Advice and help online for households who can't pay their mortgage or have been threatened with repossession, or have endowment shortfalls • Or tel0300 500 5000 Mon to Fri 8am -8pm • Saturday 9am to 1pm

5. Citizens Advice Bureaux • Free confidential & impartial - holistic • CABxprovide advice from over 3,300 community locations in England & Wales from 338 main entities • UKs largest advice provider – top 2 areas of advice are benefits & debt • CABx also provide advice via telephone, face to face and email. • In Quarter 2 (July – Oct) CABx advised 122,000 clients about 395,000 debt problems • Money advice is provided via a bureau team of volunteers and some paid staff – all supported via a comprehensive information system, series of training courses and access to specialist support when required (including NHAS SMAS) • DRO intermediaries •  Good practice and adviser development is also supported via Money advisers attending local network groups, briefings and updating via publications such as Arian and Adviser • Self-help website at www.adviceguide.org.uk

6. Payplanwww.payplan.com • Open Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm, Saturday 8am to 3pm • If calling from a landline, the number is 0800 280 2816 • If calling from a mobile, the number is 0207 760 8980 • Request a call back – new clients can leave their contact details and select a time and date for call back • Payplan will be launching an online solution in the near future

7. Payplan – who they are and what do they deliver • Payplan are a leading free debt advice provider with over 20 years’ experience of supporting customers in financial difficulty across the UK. • There are 1300 employees based in Grantham and Lisbon who currently service 125,000 customers across their Debt Management Plan (DMP) and Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) portfolios. • These portfolios are comprised of over £4.2Billion worth of unsecured debt covering over 915,000 credit agreements. • Payplan is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (will be the Financial Conduct Authority in April 2014) and Payplan’s Insolvency Practitioners are regulated by the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA). • The service is FREE to consumers and is recommended to customers by the Money Advice Service (MAS), British Bankers Association (BBA), Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and Government (Direct.gov website). • Business continues to experience strong growth due to referrals from the creditor sector, corporate sector, voluntary sector (including the CAB network) and the internet. • Through these combined channels Payplan currently speak to 7,000 new customers every month. • Payplan DMPs are funded by Fairshare contributions we receive from Creditors.

8. Step Change Www.stepchange.org • Advice is free, confidential and impartial. • Provide impartial debt advice and the right practical solution. • Where appropriate support clients’ repayment of their debts through a sustainable, managed plan. • Where a repayment plan has been set up, provide aftercare and support to each client through dedicated guidance teams.

9. Stepchange • Tel 0800 138 1111 - Freephone - including all mobiles • Mon-Fri 8am-8pm; Sat 8am-4pm. • Request a call back - New customers can leave contact details and select a date and time for a call back • Or submit an email enquiry via the website • Free online debt advice - Debt Remedy a free, anonymous online tool will use details of your debts and budget to create a free personal action plan to deal with debts

10. National Debtlinewww.nationaldebtline.co.uk • Provide free, confidential, independent advice for anyone living in England, Wales or Scotland. • Call Freephone: 0808 808 4000 • Monday to Friday 9am- 9pm Saturday 9.30am -1pm • For online debt advice and a personalised action plan, visit My Money Steps • www.mymoneysteps.org, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. • For specialist information, including: a self-help pack, fact sheets and sample letters, visit www.nationaldebtline.co.uk.

11. National Debtline • My Money Steps - www.mymoneysteps.org an interactive online advice service. • People who use My Money Steps receive a personalised action plan setting out practical steps to help them deal with their debts and manage their finances in the future. My Money Steps is ideal for those who are confident using the internet an are keen to manage their financial situation online • My Money Steps helps in the following ways: • People who use the service are asked to provide details about their circumstances and are guided through the process of working out a personal budget. • They receive advice about income maximisation and budgeting and how to deal with priority and non-priority debts. • A personalised action plan is generated with tailored advice on all suitable debt options.

12. Advice UK http://www.adviceuk.org.uk/find-a-member/ • AdviceUK is the largest network of independent community advice centres in the UK, with over 800 member organisations. • Membership is diverse both in terms of size and nature.  Some, like National Debtline and Shelter, are large organisations with predominantly paid staff.  Others are small community-based organisations, often staffed and managed by part-time volunteers. • Provision of advice core business activitybut for a significant minority advice is only one of a range of services provided, e.g. members include housing associations, credit unions, student unions, and women’s refuges. • Some members provide advice across a range of areas of social welfare law, e.g. housing, debt and benefits - Others only provide advice in one area of law, e.g. immigration or employment.  • Approximately half of AdviceUK’s members (400) provide debt advice to the general public • Debt advice was first developed by AdviceUK member the Birmingham Settlement in the 1970s and since then our money advice members have been at the forefront of innovation in the sector.  This continues to be the case today as members have responded by developing new services in response to the recession and public spending cuts. • Advice UK members work in areas with high levels of multiple deprivation and many also serve niche communities, e.g. defined ethnic minority groups (very often where English is not the first language), or disabled people.

13. Institute of Money Advisers www.i-m-a.org.uk • The Institute of Money Advisers is the Professional body for Money Advisers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and has over 1,700 members. • The IMA's key aim is to raise the quality of Money Advice and is committed to supporting money advisers in their development and maintenance of knowledge, expertise and best practice IMA delivers the following: • professional qualifications and an accreditation scheme; so far over 600 advisers have become accredited members • 'Quarterly Account', the professional money advice journal, for members and subscribers • access to the new online Quarterly Account Index, where users can search for and download articles published in the journal • connecting members to their regional network via IMA Branch Representatives • recognises good practice with a series of Money Advice awards • Is a competent authority so can approve Money Advisers as DRO intermediaries • Offers a specialist training programme, plus a bespoke in-house training service • Hosts the biggest event of the Money Advice calendar, the annual IMA Conference, attended by around 250 people.

14. NHAS Mortgage Debt Advice • The free mortgage debt casework service continues to prevent homelessness in 60% of cases and is available for 2nd tier consultancy, as well as casework referrals. • The MDA service takes referrals of general mortgage debt cases from early stage arrears, right up to assisting clients with defending possession proceedings and will continue to offer this service into 2014.15. • Our Mortgage Debt Advice service supports local authorities and registered providers to help homeowners in mortgage difficulty. Specialist advisers are on hand to: • provide a full money advice and welfare benefits check • explore ‘hardship’ options that the lender may offer • negotiate with the lender to stop or delay possession action • make an application to suspend and/or vary a court order • look at other options open to a homeowner, including: • Mortgage Rescue Scheme (MRS) • Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) • Assisted Voluntary Sales (AVS), and securing alternative accommodation • For more information or to make a referral contact the NHAS MDA team on 0300 330 0517 or at mda@shelter.org.uk