Hi all,
Haven't been on here for a while but was hoping for some advice if anybody could help. We have 2.5 years left of our IVA which if we completed would pay another 12K. We are currently seriously struggling. We have 2 small children and due to the youngest turning 1 our taxt credits have been reduced by £70 per month. My husband has also had to reduce his hours and take a £50 pcm pay cut to look after the kids one day a week as we cannot afford childcare and his parents, who we rely on all other times, are unable to have them for this one day a week.
To top things all off, the car is going up the spout and we have had to borrow money from his parents to get our central heating sorted. We have never had central heating and always relied on coal fires but having 2 children under 4 it's horrible having a cold house.
My in-laws have offered us £3k to try and sort out a f&f but on speaking to DFD who we are with, as I expected they said this would be an unrealistic offer unless on of us were to lose our jobs etc. Our only other serious option is bankruptcy but I would've thought that £3k to the creditors is better than nothing?
Sorry for the long post but I would really appreaciate it if anybody has any experience with this.
May be worth asking them to do the sums on what your creditors would get in BR to help prove your point. DFD can help on other ways...payment breaks and reduced payments. Worth exploring all the options if they haven't been discussed already. Or perhaps your parents could lend the money for heating and wait to be repaid after your iva has concluded.
Hi
Have you asked DFD to look at reducing your payments down to an affordable amount ? you are paying 400 pounds a month at the moment but have reduced your income by 120 pounds a month, so payments of 280 per month would be affordable ?
Regards
You should ask for a review taking into account your current circumstances. It is highly unlikely that your IVAs will run their course so the figure of £12k to be paid is immaterial. If your surplus is now a lot less than before your £3k offer may be accepted.
Thanks for the swift replies. We are actually paying 280 at the moment. When my car HP finishes next april the 'spare' money (if there is such a thing) will then increase our payments to make it up to 12K. I have though about reduced contributions but wouldn't this lead to an extension. We already have an extension of 5 months due to me being on maternity leave last year.
Personally, I would try for a reduction in contributions rather than the lump sum. You can still make reasonable contributions with the £120 reduction, and as you say these will go up when your car HP expires.
Thankyou everyone for your replies. We have been thinking sbout it and have pretty much decided that bankruptcy is the route we are likely to take. Our situation is not likely to improve in the foseeable futureI and I have to put mychildren first and ensure their needs are my top priority.
I know it was us who got ourselves into this situation but things were different then. We didn't have 2 little people relying on us to make sure they have everything they need.
I'm really quite scared about the whole bankruptcy thing. I'm worried about my boss finding out, my landlord finding out and it being in the paper. But all of these things pale into insignificance when I weigh it up against the next 2 1/2 years struggling to find the money to feed my children at the end of each week.
At the end of the day your family come first so if this is the route you need to go down then so be it. I still think it is a shame for the IVA to fail especially when you only have 2.5 years left to go. Could you ask your in-laws for a bit more - maybe offer £5K instead???
If the IVA fails and you do go bankrupt then your credit history is shot for another 6 years
I would phone DFD and talk to them about it, as if they know that you intend to go bankrupt they may be able to do a final funds paid to date offer on your behalf.
I'm sure that Declan will be able to put you in touch with the right person.
I did stipulate that that was our only really viable option. But the girl I spoke to just said all they could really do was see about reduced contributions. Surely if they won't accept 3k they're not going to accept what we've paid to date?
I've known lots of different things to be accepted depending on circumstance, but without all the info I wouldn't second-guess DFD's decision.
As Mel says, an offer of £280 would give a better dividend than a lump sum of £3k, and you may end up paying this in bankruptcy anyway. Have you discussed whether or not you would be subject to an Income Payments Order under bankruptcy?
We are already paying 280 pcm. Our payments will increase when my car hp agreement ends next year. So we are £120 a month down due to tax credit reductions and £50 a month down due to my husband having to cut his hours. There's also the fact that both our children are now needing shoes so thats 20-30 every couple of months each as they are only 1 and 3 so growing quickly. And also there's the ever increasing cost of keeping small children in clothes so realistically things are only going to become more costly. And thats not even mentioning clothes for ourselves. I can't even remember the last time my husband or myself bought any clothes or shoes for ourselves. It just feels like we are living like tramps apart from the roof we are somehow managing to keep over our heads.
Do weigh up your options properly before failing your iva...it would be awful for you to declare br and then find your monthly payment is almost as much as your iva payment and could last for 3 years rather than two and a half in the iva. I think people are talking about reducing your payment to it's current level when the car payments finish - so your havethat money in your pocket to offset the loss of hours and benefit.
It's not the IP's decision - it is the creditors. If you are adament that the £3k is your best offer, then they are duty bound to put it forward for you, but there is no guarantee of acceptance.
Thankyou all for your valuable suggestions. I think in the circumstances we don't really have much to lose. I have decided to call DFD on Monday and ask for a review. Going by my calculations this is going to show little surplus income with the reduction of income and increase of outgoings, ie. childrens shoes,clothes, food etc. I think I'll explain to them that I would like to put forward th eoffer of 3k but if this is not accepted then we will be going down the route of bankruptcy. I do feel really regretful that it has come to this after nearly 3 years but we have done our level best to pay back as much as we could afford over the past (nearly) 3 years (we took an extension due to maternity leave hence still 2.5 years left). I have been lucky enough to arrange a payment break this month to give us time to sort out our car as the windscreen wipers aren't working properly (not good thid time of year!) and as my in laws have offered the 3k they have said if it is rejected they will pay the costs for us to go bankrupt.
So all in all I do consider myself very lucky to have some wonderful people behind me to help and not judge on us getting ourselves into this situation in the first place.
