Hi. having considered an IVA 18 months ago we decided that with help of family we'll hopefully get through it and be ok. We were dreading the possibility of being made bankrupt as really did and do not want to lose our home. But 18 months down the line, owing another £4k to my mum, having had loads of financial help from my family and having had an unplanned baby in between - unfortunately I am afraid we wont get out of this mess without an IVA and taking the risk of losing everything we have ever worked on for our kids...
At the mo, we are getting more into debt by about a thousand pounds. (I have been made redundant recently, my partner made redundant earlier on in the year, has found a new job now but not paying as much..) anyway to cut a long story short...our fixed rate mortgage doesn't finish until end of october at which point it will drop by a thousand pounds and hopefully by this time i will have found a job so we could enter an IVA then...however, my question is - at the minute we are having to put everything on plastic and hence getting into more debt only to be able to survive until end of October - how will the creditors look at that (the fact that we continuously keep spending on cards prior to IVA)? Aren't they going to think - "hang on, they have been taking the mickey till the last minute"...kind of thing...??
You should not continue to take credit if you know that you will be unable to repay it. And certainly you should not be using one form of credit to meet the repayments on others.
I think you should seek professional advice as a matter of urgency, as there is some risk that you may make the situation worse rather than better.
Hi again Melanie.
I have done the online thing with CCCS today just to get a rough idea of where we stand and it suggested that we write to creditors and do token payments for the time being and as I understand it we could then re-asses once our circumstances change (mortgage goes down) and I know for sure IVA will be an option at that point...do you think that is the right thing to do re: token payments? My other half has spoken to Egg earlier today and they agreed to freeze interest for 6 months on the £19k he owes them and the also agreed to him making only a 1/3 of the payments...i guess this is the start...or should we just flatly tell everyone, no we can only pay you £1 a month for 4 months?
Also, I think I would be fine with my debt on my income etc. but my partner has debt totalling £55k, plus £13k joint loans. is it a better idea for him to do iva only, or would we have to do a joint one?
Hi and sorry to be a pain again - I did phone CCCS afterwards and they basically said to just do the token payments for the time being and re-assess later. I thought they were a professional company or should I speak to others as well?
We definitely cannot manage our debt, we are robbing Peter to pay Paul at the moment which is wrong. but I feel we are stuck until our mortgage comes down...
Sorry - did not mean my post to suggest that CCCS were not a professional company! If you are happy with the advice you have received, then stick with that, but there is no harm in seeking a second or a third opinion at the same time - and it won't cost anything.
Oh and is there anyone else you could recommend? My partner spoke to National Debt Line and they pretty much suggested we do the same thing - token payments for the time being...
So long as you could service the joint debt - as you are both responsible for the whole amount - then your partner could enter into an IVA. You would need to maintain the full contractual repayments to that particular debt, or agree a lower amount directly with the creditor concerned.
What advice have CCCS given you with regard to these specific points?
I didn't even go down that line with CCCS...they weren't really that interested to be fair.
So how to the creditors approach the mortgage repayment / expenses in case it is my partner only entering IVA - do they just halve them? since my partner is the main bread winner at the moment he's paying for most of the bills (other than my own debt)
Your expenditure will be allocated on the same ratio as your income. So if you earn £1,000 per month, and your partner earns £2,000 - you split the expenditure on a 33/67 basis, unless any of it is specifially attributed to one of you.
just thought of another question - i hope you don't mind - would the 4 months worth of token payments adversely effect our possibility of entering into a future IVA?
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Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
