Hello I'm new and scared!!

[Woody]

[:I]Hi,firstly I hope I'm putting this in the right place!
I've been reading on here for a while now but just registered today. I've found this forum really helpful so far.
I've just today received my draft proposal and it's scared me half to death! I've known it was coming but seeing it on paper is scary! I'm so worried! I think I thought I would be offering more than 37.5p in the £ but I hadn't accounted for all the fees which have to be taken into account. Now I'm thinking that's not a good figure and feel doomed!!
A question I wanted to ask if anyone knows the answer to is if it can be issued in any Court. I'm in the legal profession and I dont really want it issuing in my local Court as I know so many people there. Is this possible? I know when I got a divorce I did it out of town so I'm hoping?
Thanks for any help.

[markiboy]

Hi, I am in the same job. Don't worry about that it had no effect on me. I am also new and the the guys and gals here are great and give very good advice. My only limted advice is really look whats on offer?[}:)]
See if you can afford it and it is tough and you have to look at your life style. I take a caculator at Tesco's I get some strange looks but I keep to my budget as I want this to work.
I went with Thomas Charles who were good. I did have sticky start with the IP and wished I knew about this site before I said yes.
Also really look at your expenditure I didn't add two things which cost me. Best of luck.[;)]

markiboy

[Skippy]

Hi Woody and welcome to the forum. I know what you mean about the figures being scary - when I first contacted Thomas Charles about my IVA I thought I owed about £35k. That would have been bad enough, but you can imagine the shock when it added up to around £65k!

As far as I am aware the IVA has to be put before your local court, but I'm sure one of the experts will correct me if I'm wrong.

Good luck with your proposal, and if you have any questions, or want to have a moan or just a chat please post away!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[Woody]

Ah thanks for the reply. I feel like I've had no information at all from my IP really. When I got the proposal today it came with a compliments slip which just said "please read carefully, sign and return" ... helpful! I wouldn't have a clue about the procedure if I'd not been reading this site for months. Some of the background information has errors, but everything else seems ok. I'm worried as the figure is tight, although manageable, but looking on here it seems that they usually ask for more than whatever is offered. Is it better therefore to offer less and leave a margin for increase or just to offer your real best offer, which I feel I am doing anyway. God it's horrible. How stupid I am to get into this awful mess!!
Does anyone know how long it will take to get a creditors meeting once I've returned this proposal to my IP as I've waited ages to get this far!

[Skippy]

The idea of an IVA is to offer the creditors the maximum return that you can afford. What I would say to you is to make sure your income and expenditure is accurate, be sure that you can afford the payments, and don't agree to any increases if you can't afford them, otherwise your IVA is heading for failure. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a doom merchant, but I made the mistakes and my IVA failed after 4 months and I don't want to see anyone else struggling.

I can't remember how long it took for my creditors' meeting to be arranged, but I think the IP has to give the creditors either 21 or 28 days notice of the meeting - hopefully one of the experts will be able to confirm that.

By the way, you're not stupid! Most of us on this forum have been in the same situation as you. You will get through this, and we are all here to support you!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[Woody]

[:)]Thanks Skippy, I'm just loving this forum already! Should have joined ages ago instead of just lurking in the background spying on everyone else!! he he .. It's so nice to be able to speak to people who understand, it's just not something I'd talk to people I know about, it's just far to taboo. So thanks.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Woody

Just to refer to your query about the Court - the IVA proposal does have to be lodged in your local Court, but there is no public listing and in my experience the Court staff take little or no interest in the papers. The Court side is important to you though, as this gives you the important protection from creditors for the duration of the IVA. Legally, insolvency practitioners are required to give 14 days notice, usually extended to 17 to allow for posting days, of creditors meetings - although it is increasingly common these days to give longer periods to ensure that all creditors have sufficient time to read and comment upon the proposals in readiness for the creditors meeting.

Good luck with your meeting - and make sure that you fully understand the documents. Your IP should have at least held a telephone interview with you to ensure that you have understood the options available to you, provided complete and accurate information regarding your financial affairs, and importantly that you can afford the suggested monthly repayments. If this has not occured, I suggest you call them and make an appointment for a meeting or a chat - as this is the next five years of your life you are effectively signing up for.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Woody]

Thanks for that Melanie. The Court thing sounds reassuring, I imagined it would be up there on the Court list for all the lawyers in town to see ... so I'm happy with that.
Yeah I've had a few chats with my IP on the phone and as it stands I am happy with the figure and know that it is one I can maintain so I just pray that it will be accepted. I just can't imagine being in the position of being accepted, it must be a fantastic feeling.
Everything crossed then.

[Skippy]

I can completely understand how you feel Woody - my main reason for not going BR at the beginning was that I didn't want the hearing at my local county court as I used to work at the magistrates' court next door and I know it wouldn't be long before word got around! It turned out that they don't actually deal with BR there, and my local court was not the one I thought it was!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/