www.iva.co.uk

Hi all
I think i have read most of the posts on this site and the advice i have read has been of great help to myself and have given me all the information for me to get my finances in order. I started to get into debt about 10 years ago which then was managable about £5000 but over the last 5 years has got worse and unmanageable i knew about a year and a half ago we were heading for disaster!
Fooling myself we can get through this somewhere we will meet in the middle (finish paying one loan / credit card then work on paying off another )but our monthly outgoings were getting out of control budgeting was out of the question we were too far gone our monthly interest alone was about £800 (we earn about £2200 a month)you lose all meaning of the value of money! i have always been one to try and save where ever i could but i started to realise we had no hope.
From reading this forum McCambridge Duffy really stood out for me (michael peoples you are a credit to your company)so i phoned them their derry branch first contact was great and i came away so relieved feeling there is an end to this madness.
I then felt i have to see this through the only other option was take out more credit and looking back now delaying the inevitable a little longer!.
I contacted my creditors who to be fair were very understanding and froze my accounts for a month. By now our debts were about £33000 we had our meeting on 8/1/15 and was accepted paying back £300 a month for 5 years with the condition my wife seeks full time work which i feel having 3 young children not too realistic with the cost of childcare and transport but we will try as i do want to pay back as much as possible as we are the one's who borrowed the money! and if not part time work is something my wife was planing on doing anyway.
I always said to myself if and when i get an IVA i will post my story and here it is!
If you are stuck and have no way out go for it. Its early days for us i know and i dont expect it will be easy but it feels so good to be spending my own money and budgeting takes me back years good luck to everyone and happy new year!
Ps
Thanks to frances and all the team @ McCambridge Duffy

Does anyone have any comments on the condition of seeking fulltime work as i work 42 hours a week and with the creditors suggesting my wife works over 37 hours this doesn't seem workable! part time yes but 37 hours a week not too sure we have no family close to look after our 3 kids and child care is so expensive so not viable

Hello and welcome. First of all you took a great step in recognising the problem, and then another in deciding to deal with it. Then another great choice in company to represent you (and, of course, joining the forum).

Seeking employment isn't such a chore, as you will not be expected to accept anything that will actually reduce your income and a full time job that pays enough to cover child care, after school clubs, pre-school clubs, trips and lunches, as well as the costs associated with the work itself (travel, lunches, clothing)are few and far between.

Thx for the reply foggy added a little more back ground info added to 2nd post

Just wanted to add we switched our bank accounts to a joint coop cashminder which is great no fees!
As soon as we got through the door to apply for a new account they were trying to sell us their great deal on a new credit card then i said we were getting debt advice and the personal banker was great really helpful and i remember her saying her last customer (husband + wife) were applying for a credit card but already had £45000 worth of credit card debt some people would think they must be mad but i know how easy things can spiral out of control!

Cashminder is a good account ... I have two ! I use one for my pay to go in and all DD's and standing orders go out, which covers nearly everything except housekeeping and fuel. The balance I transfer to the other account, from which I spent on housekeeping and food.

Apparently they are in the process of upgrading the online facilities, which I already find good enough.

I am delighted you chose ourselves and everything has been going well so far. I will pass on your kind words when I get back to the office but bear in mind five years is a long time and any problems please give us a call. I often preach about some firms being unapproachable but that will never happen to us.

Best of luck and hopefully the time flies in.

Good luck on your journey the hardest part is over you have accepted the need for help and from what I have read on here Michael and his team have great reviews.

Good luck ! The cashminder with Coop is fab and so is Michael Peoples

With that team your already halfway there