www.iva.co.uk

My sister and her husband currently have outstanding credit card debts of about 35,000 and a HP agreement on a car for about 12,000. He was self employed and able to cope with the payments but has now been informed that in two months he will no longer be needed but they will offer him a permenant salary of 22,000 a year for 6 months, increasing to 30,00 over the next 6 months.

The mortage on the house is about 1400 a month so they are in trouble. The house is worth about 350,000 and they have equity of about 70,000.

I am willing to help them, would it be possible for them to go in an iva and I pay it off, so they could still pay for the house or would they be made to sell the house for something smaller.

With so much equity in the house, they are not insolvent so an IVA would not be an option.

Im sure one of the experts will be along soon with more details and options.

Mrs Skint is right in that your relatives are not technically insolvent due to the equity in their property. I suggest that they look to release some of that equity if this is possible, or enter into a DMP which will allow them to make payments at a level they can comfortably afford - albeit this will extend the repayment period.