IP=Intelligent People???

[DebtDummy]

I lost my job in March 2006, but my husband and I were managing
to pay the bills as I sought to find new employment. As time went on
we fell behind with all of our creditors and the council tax. The mortgage is current( we pay full montly) but is in arrears of £1000. The second mortgage is of £301 is current. We did not take holidays, buy designer clothes,we do not have 2 luxury cars. The money went into the house, literally for refit kitchen and a conservatory;and a consolidattion loan.

We contacted various debt management firms and they pretty much said with the size of our debts £73,000 we should do an IVA. We own our home but there is very little equity.The company we went with,MYVESTA, said a DMP can be put in place until I find employment and then an IVA would be done.
They requested documentation to prepare the IVA so that when I had employment things would go faster.The monthly amount would have been £886 for the first 6 months then £556 for the remaining 4.4 months with £12,000 due at the end of the IVA.

Now, at that time my eldest daughter was living at home and we had to make her pay £250 a month in order to pay the DMP. The IVA IP said this £250 could be used to pay the IVA as well. Then about 2 months later he calls back and says the £250 she was paying could not be used as the creditors would not view this as income as she could move.We became so angry over this we dropped them and used another company, The Debt Counsellors. Guess what? With all the stress in the atmosphere here at home she did just that.Her moving impacted the DMP payments and we could not make them. Creditors calling 3 times a day, 7 days a week. I cried and screamed at the telephone.

After all this time I did find a job and have been waiting since Oct 12,2006 for the CRB to be completed. I explain this to the creditors over and over and over! Since August 2006 we have not been able to pay any of the creditors. Have falling behind in the council tax. We have a summons from the Magistrates Court for Jan 25th. We owe concil tax of £659. We have on Jan 19th a Charging Order being placed on the property by one of the creditors. What a way to start the new year.

I did ask the Debt Counsellors IP could the charging order be stopped. He said yes for between £200-300.My husband and I do not have it. He then stated it was not essential to stop this anyway as all it does is turn an unsecured loan into a secured loan and we pay $40/month to them (deep sigh). The IP's IVA monthly figure was £580 for 72 months with nothing to pay off in the end. The balance would be written off.

He did contact Asset Link the creditor representing GE Money to persuade them not to do a charging order and they refused. It is all we can do to eat. It is all we can do keep our sanity. AND now a charging order and a magistrates summons! Can it get any worse?

Can anyone tell me what will happen please regarding the charging order and the magistrates visit? I can't work until my CRB is completed. We are broke! We are living from day to day! I was lucky to find the £6.50 for my heart medication I take monthly! We have a 17 year old daughter in the house and she is abit down herself from all that is going on. My husband when he is in his moods says it may be better to declare a bankruptcy online. Then he calms down and soon changes his mind.

1. Is there such a thing as a 72 month IVA?
2. What happens in Magitrates Court and what documentation should we bring?
3. By not being able to stop the Charging Order did we some how prioritize our debt by having GE money secure £8500?
4. How will this effect the IVA?
5. What happens if my CRB continues to take it's time in being completed? The CRB informed me my case has been escalated and sent me letters stating such.

We do not know what to do anymore . Our creditors are: HSBC( 1 loan, 2 credit cards and an overdraft), GE MONEY( 3 loans) and our 1st mortgage is with them as well. Endeavor Personal Finance is the 2nd mortgage(and is a part of HSBC we discovered). The remaining are Inland Revenue,an error with the tax credit programme, catalogues. The cars have been paid in full, thank goodness!

The IVA proposal is being prepared and the IP said we should have it within 10 days.The ratio is 40p on the pound for 72 months and the rest of the balance will be wiped off. He also stated we can't afford the IVA and should look into a DMP. As you can see we are very very confused as well as worried. I can't see signing it if my CRB has not been completed. Thank you all for reading this.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Dominic]

Get your IP to put an interim order in place this should stop any court action ASAP.

[Dominic]

An Interim Order is an order made by court precluding creditors from taking any action against the Debtor whilst a meeting of creditors is called and held to decide whether the proposals are acceptable to them or not.

[MelanieGiles]

Dominic is correct. Your insolvency practitioner should be making application at Court for an interim order to stop the charging order action continuing. This is a relatively simple process but does cost approximately £130 each in terms of a Court fee.

You do need to be careful, however, as if the creditor applying for the charging order is owed more than 25% of your total debts, it is unlikely that they will support an IVA if they feel they can get their whole debt paid in full by continuing with the charging order.

To answer your questions in the order you raise them.

1) Yes you can do a 72 month IVA. There is no time limit on IVA's although they are usually proposed for 60 months.
2) At the Magistrates Court you simply need to explain to the Judge that you are proposing IVAs which will give all creditors an equal return and not one creditor the largest slice of the pie. (I am suprised your IP is not doing this for you!)
3) It does not sound to me as if the Charging Order is yet in place if the hearing is not until 19 Jan. Get those Interim Orders if you can afford them.
4) Sorry, I'm probably being thick but I don't understand the abbreviation CRB - What does it stand for?

Hope it all works out for you. Some creditors are just greedy!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Oliver]

Sorry to jump in but I believe that CRB is reference to the Criminal Records Bureau in the UK. I would guess that DebtDummy is applying for a job that needs a CRB check before she can start.


Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles Ltd, A medium sized debt solutions provider based in London.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

[Dominic]

CRB checks are done for mostly public sector jobs and if you plan to work with children.

If you apply for a public sector job and it mentions credit checks I would let them know about any IVA you have going, they will find out.
It will not matter much at the basic clearance level, but gets a bit dicey from the Security and developed vetting levels. WIth SC as long as you are honest about it things should be ok, with DV its another matter.