www.iva.co.uk

i currently have approx £24000 of debt,all with debt agencies and am paying minimal payments every month. The original debtor repayment agreements were made approx 3 years ago after many months of abuse from the debt companies. i have made these payments regularly since then and every 6 months or so am asked to increase the payment amounts. i am not even making a dent in my debt and constantly have the worry of the debt companies badgering me. student loans havn''t contacted me for some years since my last letter to them making an offer. i have been a self employed electrician for about 4 years until recently. Due to the current recession i am no longer self employed but working as an alarm engineer, and have taken a drastic drop in wages. I now have no money left for myself after paying general bills and debts each month let alone to be able to increase these payments when requested.
The debt is my fault and am not looking for sympathy just a way out of this hell.
i desperately need advice as to whether an iva/bankruptcy is a valid option as i am getting nowhere.

If you have no assets to protect from bankruptcy, this may be the best option for you - but why not take advice directly from an insolvency practitioner to see what options there are available to you. Clearly the current arrangements are getting you nowhere.

Hi rock

As Melanie says bankruptcy may well be a good option for you, especially if you don't own a property or you have low or even negative equity.

Any ongoing payments you have to make last for three years and not five and are a lot less onerous than in an IVA.

Try posting your story on the bankruptcy forum as well and see what sort of response you get.

Best Regards

I recommend that you speak with an Insolvency Practitioner. You can either visit www.iva.com for a list of companies with reviews, or click on the expert link on the left hand side of the page. All the professional experts on there come highly recommended. They will go through all the options available to you and advise as to the best way forward.