Really could do with some good advice

[llw]

Help - not sure what to do? Myself and my husband owe about £65k in unsecured loans/cc/overdraft. At the moment we are robbing peter to pay paul everymonth - not actually defaulted on anything so credit rating is still good but not really achieving anything as payments are so high we need to keep using them to live and borrowing more all the time just to keep going. We own our house (or part of) House worth about £180k, mortgage is £122k (with big redemption fees for next 3 yrs) but when we took the mortgage out 2 years ago we borrowed up to the max on what they would lend us in relation to our earnings so dont think re-mortgaging is an option - We have a car worth about £6000 but a car is essential where we live to get to work and kids to school etc. Not sure which way to go with it now - do we get a secured loan and consolidate - dont think anyone would lend us that amount though or do we go for an IVA - last think we want is to lose our house as we have two small children! I have heard that at the end of an IVA you have to remortgage your house - what exactly does this mean? which companies are good/bad? Do not want to shirk our responsibilitys - we got in this mess but just cant carry on like this - after doing the sums we could manage to pay about £425pcm into an IVA for 5 or 6 years. Really could do with some good advice

Many thanks

[MelanieGiles]

Hi llw and welcome to the forum

You have substantial equity in your property, and could re-mortgage on a self-certified basis so long as you could afford the repayments. You would need to seek specialist mortgage advice on this point.

As you can afford £425 per month, it will definately be possible for you to propose an IVA, and the actual structure of this will be discussed with you by the insolvency practitioner you choose to represent you. I suggest that you approach a suitable professional, who can give you more specific advice about your current situation and options, before you are tempted to borrow any more money. And avoid secured loans like the plague if you can help it.

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

[james_7]

Hi llw,
I had £48000 in unsecuered debt my monthly contributions are £293 per month in my iva. I was in the same boat as yourselves using credit like you would nt beleive just to be able to pay my bills. I did get a secured loan fo £25000 as well which I regret because if I knew about ivas when I was in trouble I would of been able to have the whole lot in an iva. You must remember an iva can only take unsecured debt so as melanie says avoid secured lending if at all possible. My iva runs for 3 more years my secured lending runs for another 8 years.
My iva is with debt free direct they are so kind and understanding such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders no more stress when in an iva.
Hope this is helpful
james