Hi,
Well its been very strange and interesting day!
I was advised by Churchwood finance advisors that I was no way elible for consolidation loan and the best way was an IVA. I have found out since that they charge a £350 'advisory fee' but then use Kingsgate IVA - who I could have gone to diectly without paying £350! They also told me to 'max' out my cards before the IVA! I thought this was suspicious and this was confirmed to be right by the helpful people on this forum!
Anyway they told me it was too late to get a refund of the £350 so I decided to stay with them although I was really nervous about them by this point. The courier was booked this afternoon to pick up my statements, identity proof etc today to gather evidence for the proposal. So this am I went up to my bank this am to get my 3 months back statements. When I was there the cashier coincidentally mentioned that I was able to get a 15K loan with them as a 'good' customer. Thinking they were insane and must have made a big mistake I decided to put forward an application there just to see what happened and to my amazement it got accepted and approved formally! That will cover my creditors just about and although it is over 7 years I can afford it and will have a clean credit file at the end. What were Churchwood on about! Thankfully I managed to cancel the courier in time too. I may or may not take the loan but I am happy to have the option available.
The lesson is to really shop around and take time to check out options first. I have been foolish to have listened to them and it will probably cost me £350 now as apparently they won't refund.
Sounds like a lucky escape. It is highly unlikely that you would have an IVA for debts of £15k if you could afford £350. Your credit file would have been severely damaged and for no reason.
I would recommend that regardless of whether you take the loan or not, you should destroy your credit cards or at most keep one for on line shopping or emergencies. What you do not want to happen is for the debts to be run back up again and you find yourself with £15k of debts and a £15k consolidation loan.
Hi,
I cannot afford £350 a month that was just a one off payment for an 'advisory' fee!! My loan repayment if I decide to take it is under £300 and I should be able to manage but things are going to be tight!
Yes I will enjoy cutting up the credit cards! I am going to cut them into guitar picks so that I can use them to play my guitar! [:D]
Others can learn from dododonna, never hand over money up front! I still have my cards they are all cut up & are sitting in a brandy glass as a reminder
I remember the day I cut all of mine up...very scary but now I don't miss them at all, I often look back and think how much money I've wasted over my life but eh ho we live and learn and no matter what age I now I'll never go back to my pre-IVA ways of that I'm sure.
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
My favourite is Comfortably Numb! Just a very classic song by a very classic band. I would remortgage my house 10 times over to watch Waters and Gilmour play a reunion concert.
Yep I agree Melanie & Size 5. Clearly you have good taste in music! I have been in love with Dave Gilmore since I first bought the Animals record at a boot fair for 50p! Very frugal! If only he knew that a financially foolish young lady was strumming his songs on her guitar with her cut up credit cards!!Ha ha.
XX
He is still very sexy isn't he - and I think he is about 62 now! I love Animals too - and that was also the first PF album I bought - have them all now, on vinyl, CD and IPOD.
There is one song on Dark Side of the Moon which me an a colleague call 'The Headache' song. Can't remember the title of it offhand but it is some woman screeching in the background and it drives me insane!
I have DSOTM on my ipod - minus that song![:D]
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
