Christians Against Poverty

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golden

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https://capuk.org/

This group seem too be a debt advocacy service... has anyone any experience of them?

I have emailed them to see if they will help me with my water rate debt.

Just as an aside, in the UK if you are on a water meter you may be able to get onto the water sure scheme.

If you use more water due to a medical condition, they only charge a low water usage.

:)
 
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golden

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Received this email from christians against poverty:

"
For us to be able to assist you with your debts we need you to have a regular income either from benefits or employment. If you live in an area that we cover, we send a debt coach to see you at home. We gather information about your finances and put together a debt management plan. "

I explained :

1) neurological disability
2) lack of medical support
3) not being well enough to sign on
4)was too ill to claim benefits (couldn't get to g.p. etc)
5) currently being threatened with court action for water rate debt of 750 pounds.


Useless, useless, useless.
 
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golden

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Artstu said:
How come you use so much water? my yearly metered water bill is around £180 a year.
Click to expand...

1) i cant remember the last time it was paid...(so its built up)
2) The average in my area is around 450
3) I had a spell of living in my bath tub , for the pain
4) I never had a water meter before and it took me a couple of years to learn what it was and what it meant! duh
5) i wasted a ton of water in many ways during this learning period
i would forget i left the hose on say for example if i dropped it to desperately lie down....
i wash things in the machine only to not be able to get them out and dry them so have to wash them again
i start dishes only to stop and rest and then have to refill bowl etc...

6) and unrelated to my medical condition, my pond leaked for a good while and i had to keep on refilling it. it took me ages to rope someone into fixing it, it was fixed for ages but again i think its leaking.
 
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golden

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p.s. now i use baths mainly for epsom salts and to medicate with magnesium. i am much healthier than i was. :)
 
Artstu

Artstu

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Ah right, I looked into the water useage scheme but my consumption is tiny at around 30 cubic metres a year. Sorry I can't help with your question. If you're not well enough to sign on you really should be on ESA.
 
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golden

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Artstu said:
Ah right, I looked into the water useage scheme but my consumption is tiny at around 30 cubic metres a year. Sorry I can't help with your question. If you're not well enough to sign on you really should be on ESA.
Click to expand...

I came back 'home' because my mother wanted me to look after her as she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Prior to this I was living in a 2 birth touring caravan. I used very little water and it was pretty impossible to forget about leaving a tap on as my bed was next to the kitchen sink ha ha. Even if i did , the barrel would just empty and the water pump would make alarming noises :)

It was pretty difficult to adapt.
 
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golden

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p.s. I am now well enough to sign on. :)

I think I could safely make it regularly to the fortnightly signing on point.

But part of the contract is to be able to work 39 hours a week. Nowhere near that yet.
 
Artstu

Artstu

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I'm not sure I fully understand that bit about signing on and needing to work 39 hours. I have in the past been declared fit to work, but hadn't realised that meant capable of 39 hours, I'd thought they perhaps meant I could work 16 hours.
 
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golden

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Artstu said:
I'm not sure I fully understand that bit about signing on and needing to work 39 hours. I have in the past been declared fit to work, but hadn't realised that meant capable of 39 hours, I'd thought they perhaps meant I could work 16 hours.
Click to expand...

When I did give signing on a try - the one and only time - it gave me a bad relapse.

But when I said surely It will be east to get a little part time job - they stressed to me i had to be looking for full time work - and be willing to travel an hour there and back...

i have since , thought about faking wellness enough to sign on... but in reality that amount of travelling dat in day out i think woukd be too much. (let alone the 8 hour work bit between lol)

I made a massive leap in health a few weeks ago.... but when i see what other people are doing .....i am having difficulty gauging where i am health wise.

its near impossible for me to fill out benefit forms with a fluctuating illness too.
i wouldn't even attempt a hostile ATOS assessment without openly recording it and a knowledheable advocate. And then i would be rejected. Then i dont know if i could face a tribrunal...

and i feel strongly the stress of it could cause me a relapse and so i have just been trying to be well.
 
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golden

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I further explained my situation to Christians Against Poverty and got back this:

" The service that we offer is debt counselling. We look at the income you have to work out what you can afford to pay towards your creditors on a regular basis - like a debt management plan. We then negotiate with your creditors to get the repayment arrangements put into place. Without an income we are unable to help"
 
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golden

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This is their advertising from their website:

"
We are a group of people who are passionate about lifting people out of poverty, standing up for those who can't speak for themselves and bringing justice and good news to the poor. We are totally reliant on churches
and individuals
who share our heart to support our work as we receive no government funding. We are currently half way to our vision of having a CAP Debt Centre in every town and city in the UK so we can reach everyone suffering in debt as quickly as we can. We need you. Will you join us today?"
 
U

Undisclosed

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golden said:
This is their advertising from their website:

"
We are a group of people who are passionate about lifting people out of poverty, standing up for those who can't speak for themselves and bringing justice and good news to the poor. We are totally reliant on churches
and individuals
who share our heart to support our work as we receive no government funding. We are currently half way to our vision of having a CAP Debt Centre in every town and city in the UK so we can reach everyone suffering in debt as quickly as we can. We need you. Will you join us today?"
Click to expand...


It seems to me that the name of their organization is woefully wrong. It's seems to be about helping people with debt. Lifting people out of debt does not help with 'poverty'. If you have no income or not enough income to meet the expenses of daily living, the last thing you can do is actually pay off your debts because there are zero funds to do this. Who is going to pay so much a month to a company they owe money to, if they need that money for food or medical expenses. If you could manage to pay off your debts bit by bit, most who have low income will be in debt again very soon. They should change their name to reflect the services they offer.
 
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golden

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Yes exactly .

I have already emailed them quoting their own website back at them requesting the wording to be changed as it is less than truthful.


I was actually quite hopeful they would help me.

The thing is , I think I can get the debt waived. Its just that I have been in correspondence with the company and they are messing me about. I think i require someone official sounding backing me up.
To advocate on my behalf.

And yet they were not even willing to do that!
 
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Undisclosed

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golden

I hope you can get the debt waived. It's sad they can't even help you with that. You obviously have the paperwork to prove your circumstances and a group that claims they are against poverty could at least provide some sort of official sounding letter in support of you.
 
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golden

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This is the answer to my further complaint. Its ok , its just disappointing that they cant expand their services to include those of us in real poverty.

I said I suppose they are busy helping all those who have gone wild with their credit cards lol :)

" Thank you for emailing our info@cap email address. I can see from your emails that you are unwell and struggling financially and I am very sorry to hear that.

Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a debt counselling charity and we offer free help to people who are struggling with debt.
When you look at our website and click on 'I want help' the first sentence describes the help that we offer as a charity:

'If you are in debt, you've come to the right place. Christians Against Poverty is a charity that gives free debt help to anyone in debt. Thousands of people have already been given hope and a solution.'

People who are in debt can be in debt for a variety of reasons, they are not always in debt due to overspending on credit cards.

We offer a home visiting service and work with people, we put an affordable budget together for them, we support them locally and look at the best way to get them debt free. We have a team of highly trained debt counsellors who look at each client's individual situation and give advice accordingly. Sometimes that advice is to increase income or decrease expenditure.

We have used the name Christians Against Poverty since 1996 when the charity was established as we do help those who are struggling with poverty as a result of debt.

As ***** has explained we do need all our clients to have a regular income in order for us to be able to work with them. Where people are struggling to find out what benefits they are entitled to we point them in the direction of help from other agencies such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or Turn 2 Us - 0808 802 2000 www.turn2us.org.uk

CAP do not provide an advocacy service, if you need help to apply for benefits and to complete application forms for trust funds then your local CAB would be the best place to seek help."

CAB are no use. Will look into Turn2us...

it sounds like it might be the title of my next thread :)
 
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golden

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Thanks Brenda,

:)


The groups of people it says it helps are :

Alcohol
Alcohol and Drug
Ex offenders
Frail Elderly
Generic/mixed
Housing for older peopl
Learning Disabilities
Mental Health
Refugees
Single Homeless
Teenage parents
vulnerable mothers and babies
women and domestic violence
young people at risk .

I don't actually qualify for any of those problems :(
 
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