www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

i am currently about 4 months into an iva which is leaving my family just enough to live on but i have a son who is 21 and i split from his mum many years ago but i just got a letter(same one sent to my employer) that the Child Support Agency from this month will be taking £238 a month out of my wages before i get it as they say i owe £8k!
I am on the verge of just stopping my mortgage payments (House worth £70k but my mortgage is £76k) Also thinking of stopping my iva and just declaring myself bankrupt?

I am at my wits end but think the Bankruptcy is only option left?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I would speak to your IP in the first instance to see if anything can be sorted but if you are really struggling that much then bankrupcy may be a way out.

Thanks for your reply!!

The problem is that our iva is £215, Mortgage £353 & CSA payments will be £238 and i get just over £900 a month wages and my wife gets just £160 a month part time!! It is hard to see where any money is left out of that for us to live on!!

It is tight and I think that BR might be an option. If you give your house up then any shortfall can be included.

If you are thinking of this route, I would start looking round now for a rental property, but do speak to your IP.

I spoke to my IP and it seems going BR is my best option!!

They did say that because my house in todays market is worth less than what my mortgage is that i will still get to keep it! Although this is good news to be honest i am ok with having to give it up and go back to renting of the local council because to be honest there is alot of work/repairs need done and i have had to pay out money recently i did not have for work needed done!

Does this make sense?

I SEEM TO HAVE SIGNED IN UNDER 2 NAMES SO SORRY FOR CONFUSION, I AM BOTH JOHN.MC AND KEYSEY2001

It does make sense.

Don't worry about the different names. It does sometimes happen that you can't log in under your original name.

We can help you on here with any BR queries you have.

What is happening with the CSA at the moment? Presumably this is all part of the Dave/Nick plan to recover money towards their spending cuts. It beaggars belief that a claim would be forthcoming now, unless you have avoided the issue and it has finally caught up with you.

I wish they would spend a little more time chasing up absent fathers where the Mums really do need the money.

My son is 21 now and I had not heard from the CSA for about 8 years!

My issue with them is the amount they say is way to high and not that I do not owe some money as I know I do!!

I do not understand why they will not let me pay over say 10 years instead of about 3?

After chatting with my wife we have just stopped both the IVA and MORTGAGE payments with the bank so the way forward no matter how difficult is BR and another home!!

Good luck Keysey. Anything you need to ask and we are here.

It is a shame it has come to this and I am sure your IP will help all they can. It should be possible to protect your home in bankruptcy if that is what you want and the CSA may agree a lower figure if you contact them and supply an income and expenditure account.

If the CSA agreed to about £130 per month you would have the debt cleared in five years anyway which is the length of the original IVA.

I share your frustration, I myself received a demand from the CSA at about this time last year for my 21 year old demanding £17,000 arrears. I wouldn't mind so much but I paid maintenance to my ex religiously for 13 years until my daughter was 18 and had left college, it was just that we did it on an informal relatively friendly basis rather then any other way.

Luckily, they seem to have backed off now but I would not be surprised if they chance their arm again in the not too distant future.

Regards.

You don't look old enough to have a 21 year old daughter Mike!!!

I wonder how CSA found the details? There should have been no reason for them to have anything on file.

I am totally confused by this. If Size5 was paying maintenance to his wife, why did the CSA want money? Do you have to use the CSA for this stuff now?