Up to my neck & rising...

[Niobe]

It does make sense but, with BR you do still pay back something to your creditors.

Not saying it is the way to go but it is something to consider to get back on track.

[Broke of London]

You make total sense! Most of us have two or three options available and the one we chose is down to personal and sometime emotional reasons.

I hope your call goes well tomorrow x

[KAYKAY]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by TotalMoron



I wish i could figure out where it's all gone.

The secret is to look forward.... NOT back... you can um... and ah... as to where it all went wrong, but that won't move you forward.

By the way Welcome to the forum.

Take heart that you are not the first and certainly will not be last to end up in your situation. The fact is you have agreed to do something about it. Glad you have managed to talk to your parents as they may be able to support you along the way (I dont' mean financially, but as a sounding board) alongside the members of this forum.

Now is the time to start working out what you actually do spend, keep receipts for fuel, shopping, etc.. along with any other things you spend your money on. You will need to factor in all your expenses, including dental treatment, hair cuts, opticians and prescriptions should you be on regular medication. These are all allowances that you can have along with a mobile phone and sky packages, although you will only be allowed the basic packages on these, anything over this comes of your additional allowances. Try and have as much of this information ready and to hand for your telephone conversation tomorrow. Keep in touch with the forum and never be afraid to ask a question no matter how trivial you think it may sound. Good luck for tomorrow and let us know how you get on.

[TotalMoron]

Thanks so much for the kind words & support. It's a little easier knowing i'm not the only one who's been there, i just hope my call tomorrow goes well.

Does anyone have experiece of Barclays in these situations? They're my main creditor & i have a loan, 2 Barclaycards (1 was an Egg card til they took it over) & an overdraft with them. As such, they hold around 2/3 of my debt & i'm concerned about how understanding they usually are.

[KAYKAY]

Barclays were one of my creditors too, you will probably find that at some time throughout your IVA they will sell on the debt to another company anyway. Barclays are a regular to posters on here and I don't think they have any negative impact on people entering IVA's. Please make sure you speak to one or two companies before making a definate decision. IVA's generally run for 5 - 6 years and you need to be comfortable with the company you choose.

[Foggy]

Its difficult to say how a creditor will vote on the day as they view each proposal for its own commercial merits. They were one of our (smaller) creditors and voted yes.

Have you opened a new bank account with a bank you have no owings to? Many of us use the co-op cashminder account. This avoids the possibility of your bank offsetting monies in your account against their loans.

[KAYKAY]

If you decide the IVA route is the one for you, then you will also need to think about opening another bank account with a bank who is not a creditor of yours. Once you have another account open, you will need to arrange for your pay to be paid in and any direct debits (not those of the creditors you will be including in your IVA) are transferred over.

[TotalMoron]

Electricity, gas, water, tv & internet all falls under the £300 a month i give my parents.

I pay for my own clothes, toiletries, petrol, food etc. I have a mobile phone that's £37 a month & has around 10 months left to run, after which i can drop down to a cheaper sim-only tarrif.

[TotalMoron]

I haven't opened a new account yet, i only had my full realisation of how deep i was sinking on Wednesday! I'm gonna sort one out this week & make the DD changes. Huge step, i'm really nervous about it!

[KAYKAY]

£300 a month to cover all that including rent. It may be time to look at increasing your rent slightly. The one thing you must not do... and I was guilty of this, is to try to make your outgoings lood as cheap as possible in the hope of being accepted for an IVA. I am also NOT saying fabricate your expenses. You must be realistic to ensure that you can survive during your IVA. No good saying you only pay £70 per month for food, then end up living on beans on toast for the next five years. Make sure your Income and Expenditure are realistic for your needs.

[Broke of London]

My initial I&E had food/housekeeping at similarly low levels and my IP increased it to nearly £200 as they felt that my expenditure was too low to be sustainable for 5 years and that I wasn't spending enough to maintain good health.

My mobile phone costs have never been challenged and I have a contract with regular upgrades. Your current phone may well not last the ext five years so sim only could be a false economy.

I felt as you do...that I would make my outgoings as small as possible to make my offer more attractive to creditors. But you have to be fair to yourself!

[TotalMoron]

I think i am guilty of that, my parents have asked me for more as they're struggling but i just haven't had the funds to give them.

Looking at the expenditure, i just don't know what amount is regarded as reasonable, partly because i've been living beyond my means for so long.

The expenditure i put down is as follows...

Income: 1000

Rent: 300
Mobile: 37
Repairs/Maintainence: 20
Spares/Servicing: 15
Road Tax: 10
Insurance: 21
Fuel/Parking: 30
Food/toiletries/cleaning: 75
Meals at work: 50
Pets: 10
Dentists/opticians: 20
Hairdressing: 20
Clothing/Footwear: 30
Entertainment: 20
Emergencies: 20
Loan from Family: 100 (i'm aware that this can't be included.)

That leaves around 230 pm disposable income.

Are these figures reasonable?

[Broke of London]

It is hard to judge all the figures without knowing your lifestyle. Is £30 for petrol your weekly or monthly amount?

[TotalMoron]

Petrol's monthly. I can just about get by on that in a month, as i'm only really going to work & back at the minute & i get free parking.

Course, it is rising fairly rapidly.

[Broke of London]

Your figures seem to leave you with little wriggle room which will put you under pressure from the start.

It may also be worth getting in touch with Clear Debt as I have a feeling your disposable income will drop slightly after speaking to a few professionals and Clear Debt can do ivas from £100pm which is less than a lot of other firms.

We have a poster - size 5 aka Mike - from Clear Debt on here who is a fantastic guy.