Consumer Credit Counselling Service
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The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom which has has followed the creditor funded American model of debt counselling. CCCS is currently the largest debt advice charity in the UK, and is funded entirely by the credit industry.
The stated purpose of the organisation is to assist people who are in financial difficulty by providing free advice and debt management plans to assist individuals with managing unsecured debts. CCCS receives between 10% and 12% voluntary monthly contributions from the credit industry for the services provided.
The trustees of the charity include Christopher Leslie. The chairman is Malcolm Hurlston who is often quoted in the media on debt issues. Other trustees are Jeremy Burton, Doug Ross, and Gordon Beesley. The Chief Executive of the charity is Gordon Bell.
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[edit] History
The charity was started in 1993 with funding from Registry Trust Ltd, Barclaycard and GE Consumer Finance. Vic Ware OBE and Malcolm Hurlston introduced CCCS to the UK as a pilot scheme based in Leeds.[1][2]
In 1996, new centres opened in Nottingham, Birmingham and Cardiff. The introduction of counselling over the telephone proved to be a success and allowed expansion of their services to continue throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s at a relatively low cost.
The charity has also worked with the Community Channel who filmed 'Unsecured'. This short TV film which first aired in 2005 dealt with a former CCCS client who became a counsellor and her experiences with debt. The story was based on a play shown at the National Theatre as part of the "Headline" series. This play was written by Gregory Burke.
[edit] Location
The charity's head office is based in Leeds, England. There are also centres in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle, Birmingham, Chester, Halifax, Eastbourne, Nottingham and Limavady, Northern Ireland. The Chairman is based in London and also has an office there.
[edit] Recent Developments
In 2006, CCCS provided in-depth counselling sessions to over 73,000 people, repaid £140.3 million to lenders, set up 35,135 debt management plans, and answered 293,000 calls on the freephone helpline. The average unsecured debt levels of a CCCS client in 2006 was £31,370. In 2006, the charity introduced personal online counselling called CCCS Debt Remedy which is believed to be the only service of its kind in the world.[citation needed]
In April 2007, the charity opened CCCS Voluntary Arrangements (CCCSVA). CCCSVA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Foundation for Credit Counselling [3], which runs the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. It will covenant its profits to the Foundation.
CCCSVA will serve the percentage of CCCS counselling clients for whom an IVA is one of the best solutions. CCCSVA is based in Leeds, yards away from the headquarters of the Foundation for Credit Counselling.
This year CCCS expects to carry out 150,000 counselling sessions. Following an in-depth counselling session clients are given recommendations for the best solution in their circumstances and information about the various options open to them. The final decision on what course of action to take is made by the client.
