www.iva.co.uk

My income has reduced from 1300 net to 450 net due to loss of job and now only work part time , I have just scared the living daylights out of myself because for the first time ever I have added up what I owe ( 33500 )and what I have to pay a month to service this debt to 7 creditors (1234 ) ,I own my own home with no morgage , and I am terrified that I will lose it if I do not keep up with payments , I am interested in an IVA but I am terrified of dealing with something completely alien to me , I have had a look at different sites but my main problem is that I am deaf so cannot use a phone , and every site I try wants my phone number , so I cannot contanct any of them , do you know of anyone who can help me ,
yours hopefully , Mr terrified

Hi
Can I ask you how much your house is worth ?
An IVA will be unsuitable if your equity in your property is greater than your debts.
You may be better looking into a debt management plan and repaying your creditors at a rate that you can afford.Do you think that you will get back into full time work in the near future ?
Regards

Hi Andy thanks for contacting me, yes I do hope to get back to full time employment very shortly which should take our household income up to around £2000 , I am not sure what my total expenditure is as I am still at the denial stage thinking that it will sort itself out , realistically I know that by the end of this month it is about to get very very real , I have never missed payment of a bill in my life ( I am now 50 ) and this is what terrifies me , I own my house outright and it is valued at around £90k

Hi
Well an informal short term arrangement with your creditors for reduced payments should work well.If may be better approaching them directly as they will understand your situation and that it will hopefully only be short term.
You are in a strong position with having the cushion of so much equity,just try to get on top of your unsecured debts,once you are back in full time work,so that you do not have to use any of this equity.
Regards

It could be worth looking into a mortgage for 33k to pay off all your debts. the repayments would probably only be several hundred a month(same as an IVA anyway!).
Mikebdomain and welshboy who post on this site are very good mortgage brokers and will probably advise further. wether they can help you until you go back to full time work Im not sure with an income of £450 a month but have a word with them.

Remortgaging will be difficult without having the income to support the application. It appears that DMP is the best way forward for you in the short-term until your employment is more certain.

What is the best way to approach the companies I owe money to , ie whom do I ask for , do they have a special dept for this , do I have to make them an offer , or can I possibly ask to not pay the interest for a couple of months , it is also going to be difficult for me to contact them as I am deaf and most companies concerning finances will not deal with anyone else ( as my wife has found out in the past ), and I dont believe that this kind of thing can be done by e-mail.
And I am getting confused allready , DMP / IVA / Re-mortgage / Informal short term agreement / Now Mr confused and terrified , but thanks for taking the time to try and help me it is really appriciated

Could you perhaps email them and explain that you are deaf and name somebody to represent you on the telephone?

nearly mrs skint

Sorry to anybody that might have seen that before i edited it LOL. Talk about crawling up my own......

[:I][:I][:I] that could have all gone wrong LOL

Just a thought but you and your wife arrange a meeting at CAB with a welfare officer who may be able to represent you in some way alongside your wife. Surely there has to be provisions in place for circumstances like yours.

The CAB is a very good suggustion as a starting point.

Thanks Mrs skint ,Now that sounds like a good idea I will try and set that up tomorrow

Please keep us all posted on how you get on.