www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

Have found this forum by googling and I am in need of some good solid advice.

I am currently somewhere in the region of £35,000 in debt. I have a debt Management company working with me and have secured monthly payments to all but one of my creditors ... however it will take me 11 years to pay off everything I owe!! and I don't have the peace of mind of a contract like IVA .. I know that any of my creditors can pull out of the agreement and demand full payment.

I'd like to consider an IVA to at least give me some idea of closure and peace of mind, I suppose I'm just a little scared of exactly what is involved with IVA .. will I lose everything of value that I own?

Help please!

Hi Fugazi and welcome.

Firstly, who is the company you are with, and have you spoken to them about an IVA?

If you own your own house, you would not be expected to sell it, but you would be required to release a portion of any equity in the 4th year of the IVA. Your car should be fine unless it is of great value.

You would pay across your disposable income after all your priority bills have been paid.

As you say, you would be protected in an IVA and your creditors would be bound by it and couldn't put on interest or charges.

If your DMP company can't help you, or if you wanted to change companies, visit www.iva.com for a list of companies and reviews. Give one or two a ring and they will give you free and impartial advice about all the options open to you and the best way forward for your circumstances.

Hi Fugazi.
Debt management is fine but 11 years does seem like a long time and may not not be the best option. Even those creditors who are least responsive to IVAs accept that 100 months or eight and a third years is the maximum expected.

As Jan says, speak to an IP and the advice is free and without obligation. At least you will know the whole implications and if an IVA is not for you the DMP is unaffected.

the DMC is Gregory Pennington and I am waiting for them to get back to me about an IVA. My car is an old BMW worth about £500, but I do have a personal number plate which I am trying to sell asap.

The problem I have is that once everything has been paid for my partner and I have nothing left and I do mean nothing.

Due to her having to change jobs recently we have lost nearly £400 / month and even though I have reduced my DM payment to their minimum we are still coming up short by about £100 / month .. to be honest I just feel like saying to them all stuff it and let them take me to court.

It may be that bankruptcy is the best option for you. The sale of the number plate could fund the cost which is currently £495 rising next month to £515. Bankruptcy would give you legal protection from creditors and a chance to restart and if you are stuggling it would be unfair to put forward an IVA.

IVAs and DMPs are not supposed to be punishments and you should certainly seek advice before you make any more payments to creditors.

If you were to decide that you wanted to petition for bankruptcy rather than look at an IVA, then you would probably have to do it yourself as it costs the creditors a lot more than it costs you.

Do you have your own house? If not, or if it is in negative equity then BR could be an option for you. Your car would be fine, although the number plate would not unless it wasn't worth a vast amount. The same with an IVA. I have a personalised number on my car and I was allowed to keep it.

How much would you be able to afford to pay towards an IVA?

Do you own your own home? If yes is there any equity within it? Is there any likelihood of your partners (and yours) income increasing in the foreseeable future.

Dis your creditors in the DMP freeze the interest charges?

Hi Fugazi and welcome.
Well whatever you decided, you are in the right place to ask all the questions you have. We have all been or are in, that situation and personally I have found this to be the best stopping off place to get my head around the options and make a clear and well advised decision.

Take you time to check out the options and the advice to visit www.iva.com is the best starting point.

Best advice I can give you at the moment is to try and step back and take a look at your situation (harder to do when stressed I know) but then keep posting you questions, worries, concerns etc. There are a number of experts here and a lot of people who can offer support.
good luck [:)]

No we don't own our house it is rented from the local authority and my creditors have frozen charges so far, I'd rather not go for bankruptcy if at all avoidable .. but if the payments for IVA are too high then that may be the only option left for me.

As to the increase in wages, I'm currently 3 months into training to be a MCSD which takes about 18 months, course was paid for via finance loan I am hoping that if I qualify I could secure a position that would add 3-5K to my yearly salary.. how would an IVA effect this, would I still be able to continue the course. The only increases we would have would be with normal pay rises once a year (assuming we actual do get a pay rise)

I'm going to see what GP say tomorrow and then check out a couple of other companies (including ClearDebt, as it seems to have good revues.)

No doubt you will all beinf seeing a lot of me over the coming months (or years ) and I'd just like to say thank you now for the quick replies and help.

Well your IVA could have stepped payments to take into account any increase in salary that you'll get after qualifying. Speak as you suggest to GP and I notice you have selected my firm - so have a chat and see what advice is forthcoming. I am sure it will be measured and appropriate to try and accomodate your situation. Good luck.

I am curious why Gregory Pennington have you in a DMP rather than an IVA. Did they ever suggest an IVA as an alternative at all? From the brief information you have described it would seem that at face value an IVA has a number of advantages for you.

Initially they didn't offer an IVA because one of my creditors was basically voting against any IVA put to them and as they are the main creditor GP felt that without their support the IVA would not be accepted by the percentage needed - that stance has since changed and they offered me the alternative of an IVA which at the time I wasn't interested in (more fool me!)

I would definitely recommend speaking to another company to see about an IVA. It sounds as though you will be much better off going down that route.

There are no creditors who have had a block rejection policy - not even the Student Loans company who are probably the worst at rejecting IVAs.

Well I spoke to my current DM company last night and have decided to go with them for the IVA, they will put everything together and present it to my creditors, there is no charge for this and if they do reject the IVA I can just continue with the DM ... so wish me luck, I really need this IVA to work.