made the first step

[nopottopissin]

hi all
i've probably beeen putting today off for the last 2 years, but having amassed outstanding balances totalling around 96k, not sleeping properly for the last year i've made my first telephone call to a company i hope can help.
this company is payplan,and i was hoping anyone who has had experience of them could give me some opinions. also would you advise ringing a couple more up to compare advice.
my income is around 3k per month, essential outgoings £1350. its currently costing me £2280 to service the debt so the sums arn't adding up at the moment. the debt is spread among 12 creditors. the debt's mainly due to me ploughing money into my business in the early years, not paying off bigger chunks when times were better, downturn in trade, overstaffing the business hoping the downturn would pass; a combination of poor decisions.
the positive i try to take is if the debt were not there the business could support me.
payplan are ringing me back tomorrow to go through things in more detail and i currently feel sick to the stomach.

[Viki.W]

Welcome to the forum. A few members are with payplan on here so they will advise you. I think it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. I'm with Melanie Giles who is an expert who posts on here so I'd recommend her. X

[kallis3]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I'm with Payplan, and have found them to be ok. They were helpful in setting up our IVA. Not had to contact them since so don't know what their 'after sales' service is like!

Have you spoken to Payplan yet? What did they advise you to do? You have an awful lot of disposable income after your essential outgoings, so I am not sure if they would recommend an IVA or DMP.

It would be a good idea to ring other IP's. As Viki says, give Melanie Giles a ring. She posts on here and comes very highly recomended.

[nopottopissin]

thanks for replying so quickly.
i've not included food, petrol, kids clothing etc in the essential outgoings. i just included the mortgage, utilities, insurances etc that go out by dd every month. add the rest on and there's sod all left.
i will contact melanie giles, thanks for that.
my other query is that i have about 70k equity in the house. i have considered remortgaging (if i could get one) but the increase in mortgage payments would be as crippling as the current debt (and it wouldn't clear it all off). how do iva proposals take into account equity ?

[kallis3]

Sorry, I thought you'd included all that! You might qualify for an IVA then.

As regards equity, most IVA's these days have a Year 4 clause which means that in the fourth year of your IVA, your house is revalued and if there is enough equity, you have to try and remortgage your house to pay a chunk across to your IVA.

If you can't get one, then your IVA normally continues for an extra 12 months.

When I did mine, my clause was to remortgage at maximimum 85% LTV. I think that has gone down now. Your new mortgage repayments cannot be more than 50% higher than those of your IVA payments.

[kallis3]

Meant to say that the repayments are 50% of the mortgage payments less your original mortgage repayments (if that makes sense!)

[facingittogether]

hi and a big welcome from me also!

well done to you for facing your problems, i think for alot of us that is one of the hardest parts!

like jan and vicki have said it cannot do any harm contacting a couple mor ip s to see who you feel comfortable with! alot of us on here are with melanie giles!

good luck, i am sure now you have faced things you are on your way to getting sorted!

love barb x

[nopottopissin]

thanks again......i feel such an utter failure. i'm 41 years old i've worked since leaving school. built a reasonable business over the last ten years got a fabulous wife and 2 gorgeous kids but i feel now that i've got me cap in hand scrounging for help while the wolves are circling. awful.

[facingittogether]

please dont think you are a failure, just sometimes life throws us a tough deal and we may make wrong decisions but that does nt make you a crap person! if that was the case with the amount of debts i was in i must be really crap!

like you say you have a lovely wife, 2 gorgeous kids who obviously think the world of you. i know you are worried at the moment but please put it in perspective this is all about just money, you have so much to live for and there will be a way for your money problems to be sorted. talk to a couple of experts, take time to reflect and believe me you will be given a way for things to be sorted!

keep posting as we are all here for you
love barb x

[MelanieGiles]

Hi there - I love the forum name, and you have made my team giggle all afternoon! I wonder how long Admin will allow you to use it!!

You have made the first step to seek advice as to what options there are available to you - and as others have said it makes no harm to check out a few companies to compare the advice provided. The key think is to ensure that you have fully provided for all of your known and contingent expenditure - and that provision is made for items which are not paid regularly but nevertheless have to be paid for - like road tax, new glasses, insurances and a provision for hobbies and entertainment - as life in any form of insolvency process is not meant to be drachonian these days.

You have to take all of those negative thoughts away, and seek courage in the fact that you are doing an awful lot now to deal with your finances and are prioritising the needs of your family above everything else. I wish you well in your search for a suitable solution - and do take time to think through all of your options.

[Skippy]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I love the name - Admin, please don't make him change it! **
I would definitely recommend speaking to a couple of companies, and choose the one you feel most comfortable with - I went with the first company who were sympathetic to me and my IVA was a disaster! I would recommend Melanie as a lot of people on the forum are with her and she gets great feedback. You can also look on www.iva.com for feedback on different IPs and companies.

Good luck, and please keep posting x

** [:D] [:D] OK !
cheers admin

[nopottopissin]

thanks, thanks, thanks. i'm really touched by your replies. it's just the words, iva insolvency debt bankruptcy just reek of misery. it's like some giant monty python type character is pointing at you shouting LOSER.
melanie, if i follow your link to the enquiry form will it be yourself who contacts me ?

[Skippy]

Hi again, please don't feel like a failure or a loser, you're not. I was terrified when I realised how bad my situation was but you'll feel so much better when you are on the road to sorting things out. You will get through it - I never thought I would, but I ended up going BR and I survived. You really aren't alone, so keep posting on here as we all support each other, and also have a laugh x

[john.jk]

Hi there NOTAPOT
You are now in the right place to get your debt advice, Back in may we also were in your position WHAT DO WE DO NOW !! worry worry
sleepless nights and that horrid sick feeling !
Our debts were way out of control and they were very very high, we were paying this with that card and that with this card we were in deep DOGGIE DOO'S
We rang MELANIE GILES and we have just had our IVA approved on the 25th july
Hope all go's well good luck

[tori]

hi there & welcome from me too.great name by the way,that really made me giggle.i think i can safely say that everyone on here has been in the position where you are now i.e.recognising that you need help & then actually plucking up the courage to get it.ive had my fair share of sleepless nights,constant worry & feelings of overwhelming guilt,but be rest assured that there is a way forward & i hope that it isnt too long before you get to the stage where you are no longer living with those awful feelings[:)]