www.iva.co.uk

hi all
i am seriously thinking about doing an iva, seems only way out of the debt i'm in. Has anyone been thru it or is going thru it, to tell me how to handle it all? being told the ip people will charge alot in fees and set up costs...any advice greatly appreciated

Hi Nicola iv beeh in an iva for 15 months and can honestly say its the best thing I ever did. for the first time in years I have a small ammount of mohey to put away for emergehcies every month and with 0vertime (i get to keep %50)I can actualy buy my teenage lads the thimgs they need.I didnt have to pay any money upfront and all the fees come out of your agreed monthly payments. The initial set up and waiting for the meeting was the most scarey thing Iv ever done.I was abit of a chickeh and changed my home phone number so I didnt have to deal with phonecalls when I stopped making payments on credit cards and loans so I only had to cope with letters, it was so worth it though ,life is sometimes hard in an Iva, but so much better than it was before.45 months till Im debt free cant wait.

Hey Nicola, welcome to the forum. You are definately in the right place for advice and support, there are lots of members in the same boat as you. An IVA is a great way to handle overwhelming debt, however, there are other options and you need a qualified Insolvency Practitioner to go through these with you. I suggest you approach two or three companies, you can review them on www.iva.com don't worry about fees, as hallway says, they will come out of your monthly payments agreed by creditors so there are no separate fees to cough up. Good luck and keep posting, Viki X

Hi Nicola and welcome to the forum. An iva is a good debt solution in the right circumstances. As said the best thing to do is to speak to an IP and see which debt solution is the best for you.
Do as much research as you can, ask as many questions as you want and understand everything.
You can get an idea of life in an iva by reading some of the blogs as well, just click blogs in the top right hand corner of this page.
All the best.Keep posting.

Ang

Hi Nicola
If you are thinking about doing an IVA you like the rest of us have a bit of a problem !! I first found this site before xmas last year and have only just started the appication for an IVA !! Wished that i had done it months ago as the longer i left it the more debts were adding up and up ££££'s and the problem did'nt go away nor did i win the lottery.....( not yet )
Have been dealing with Melanie Giles who can be contacted thru this site. The girls that work with her at her company who are based in Cardiff are GREAT . As of yet my application has to be accepted by the creditors fingers crossed but the girls that work with Melanie Giles have been really good and have been so very helpful with everthing so far !
Give them a call and i am sure they will be more than happy to help you,
Good luck
x

Hi Nicola.

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum, and well done on making the decision to address your debt situation like many of us have here, either in the past, or currently doing so.

You are certainly in the right place to ask any questions or for a bit of emotional support as you embark on your journey. As others have said you could do a lot worse than to give Melanie's team call in the first instance. You will get lots of good advice.

Debbie

we've been ours 3 months.. best thing ever

thank you all for your advice it has been much appreciated.its great that theres a service like this at times when you can feel really alone dealing with things thanks again

We've all been there Nicola and we know it's not easy at the start.... if an IVA is right for you, it makes an enormous difference and certainly for me was the beginning of a 5 year journey to somewhere I haven't been for years, debt free.... Tisn't always an easy road, but it sure beats the alternatives...

Best of luck with taking your next steps, come back to the forum, you will get lots of support here...

Best wishes

Martin

Hi Nicola
Welcome I have been in an IVA for just over 3 years it is tough but i can can honestly say its the best thing I have done. Just not to have creditors phoning and writing all the time having no money at all robbing Peter to pay Paul worrying all the time is such a relief. Get good advice and read everything and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Good Luck Nicola

Jan

Hi Nicola and welcome.

I'm just coming up to making my 3rd payment so still a long way to go, but it's the best thing I ever did.

I also did what hallway did and got a different number. I also took out a new mobile contract so they couldn't contact me on that.

Good luck with your application

Best advice would be to go straight to a IP and avoid the middlemen, if you ring the 0800 helpline number above you'll end up paying more in up front fees. Believe me you don't want that!

I would not worry too much about IP fees unless you plan to pay it back at 100p in the pound, because these will be paid for by the creditors anyway.

An IVA is an excellent way to be debt free in 5 years if you cannot afford to pay your creditors back compared to a Debt Management Plan which could take you longer to pay back.

Good luck

Have to say it was the best phonecall I made in July 2007! Never looked back, although times have been tough they are also rewarding to know that we have not used credit at all in 12 months! Everything we have done or are doing has been paid for in cash - we have basically lived of one of our wages, while the other has been paid to the IVA for our creditors - in four years time we will be able to proudly say we did it and that we are no longer owing thousands of pounds - over this time we will have paid at least 81% of what we owed if not more - positive thinking, and support of family and friends is helping us get through this period in our lives - but we will get through it, and we will laugh at it in time - right now though it is a priviledge to have been given a second chance by our creditors!

I wish we had started ours sooner. We tried in 2006 but were told we didn't have enough disposable income and so went into DMP with firm which we had to pay. Don't get me wrong, they were great, but not all our money was going to pay back the creditors.

We phoned Payplan with a view to changing and they suggested the IVA which we got.

So now, I am coming up to three months in, when I could have been 18 months in!

Not doing milestones as such, just watching the months tick down in my signature.

Hubby did an IVA and for both of us, it was the best thing he ever did. He had 60k worth of debt.
To make it a success, you have to NOT agree to pay a monthly ammount that is unrealistic. Remember, you then have to carry on paying that unreasonable ammount for the next 5 years.
Some people have agreed to pay such ammounts because at the time they just wanted to be free of the pressure the debts were putting them under. This IS a recipie for disaster, so if thats the route you decide to take, make sure your I&E is realistic and that you are certain you can follow it through for the next 5 years.

Sometimes get tight but you WILL learn to budget and its the best form of rehabilitation you can get.