www.iva.co.uk

hi,
we have over £140,000 pound of unsecured debt, and need help in which way to go. My husband is about to lose his job and as we have a small limited company need guidance in that aspect too, his industry is construction say no more.
Would we qualify for an iva or bankruptcy we are worried sick and would appreciate any help you can give.

Hi CMJ

An expert will be along shortly to give you advice. Keep posting it is an invaluable site and everyone is great.

Good luck X

Hi cmj - welcome and I hope one of the experts can help you soon. keep smiling the support and knowledge you will receive from this site will be excellent. Good luck

Hi cmj. Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your oh's job - I know first hand about the impact the credit crunch is having on the construction industry, luckily the company I work for is holding our own at the mo. I am sure one of the experts will be along to help you soon. Keep reading and posting and have a look at some of the blogs. You may get some help from those. Chin up, Kazzy x

Hi cmj and welcome to the forum

I was saddened to hear in the news today that there are so many people stuggling within the construction industry, and the trouble with that sector is it generally takes longer to recover out of a depression. I am dealing with a lot of liquidation work in this particular area at the moment, and I fear that things are going to get tighter before they improve.

Does your husband work in the limited company, or is his employed job separate? It sounds to me as if you do need to take advice from an insolvency practitioner who specialises in both corporate and personal insolvency, to enable them to fully review your circumstances.

Hi Melanie
Yes my husband is an employee of the company, so as from 1st Sept he will no longer have work and therefore be unemployed. I work for a locally PCT so am employed , but as we have such debt we will literally go under within 1 month of no main income coming in, as so many we have enjoyed a decent salary from his employment and also lived to our means we have no savings.We need professional advice , but think I am correct in believing he needs a steady job to enable us to apply for an IVA?
The other thing is if the company goes under , the only debt it has is an overdraft, laptop but their will be tax bill which we wont be able to pay. Sorry for all the questions but as you can imagine am very worried.

Hi cmj,
Welcome to the forum. I'm sure Melanie will point you in the right direction. Stay strong, we are all here to support each other.
Thinking of you,
Hugs,
Chardonnay

With your personal situation and given the level of debt it would be worth seeing an insolvency practitioner so that all your options could be discussed. I would suggest considering a debt management plan in the short term(and I don’t recommend these often) until your husband obtains employment, albeit it may be on a lower salary and at that point you could review your options as it may be that you can pay your debts as and when they fall due or consider an IVA or bankruptcy.

With the Company, does it have any future or has it already ceased trading, what does it do? and what are the total value of its creditors

How long do you feel it would take your husband to find replacement employment? Presumably with no income from the limited company at the moment, you would have nothing to offer creditors be it in a DMP or an IVA.

The first priority is for your hubby to find a new job. The limited company can look after itself for a bit, as you say the only debt is a bank overdraft and HMRC. I suggest that you contact both parties and let them know that the company has ceased trading and there are insufficient assets to even pay for a liquidation. When your hubby has found work, you can then address the right way forward with regard to the company.

Once things settle down with regard to his employment, you will see things more clearer with regard to being able to deal with your personal debts. Do you have any assets which would be at risk under bankruptcy proceedings?

Thanks for replies.
1] Alan the company hasn't stopped trading yet but will have to at end of August, debts fro the company would be about £5000 overdraft, £400.00 hp and around £5000 HMRC for personal and corporation tax . His company is basically an umbrella under which he freelances his services out in the construction industry....say no more.

Melanie can you please explain what assets are, we currently have about £5000 equity in our property due to present climate. We have 2 cars but we really need to keep these for work purposes , we have just cut down costs by drastically de-sizing on these. The only other things are household goods but with 4 children I would hate to loose furniture etc.? With regards to him getting another job he would take anything we know it is very unrealistic to believe he will achieve another job in building, he has CVs out all over at present.

Assets are items that you own which could be sold and used to pay creditors. This does not include personal items - such as basic furniture or household items, or items you require to carry out your trade or profession, however it does include any equity you have in your property - albeit in your case this is rather low.

I think you are absolutely correct to start planning for when your husband finishes his job.

Given the level of debt, is it managable on your husbands current income? If it is not you may benefit from taking advice from an insolvency practitioner now even if you hold from taking any action for the next month while your husband seeks employment.

I am fully aware of the umbrella companies used for construction. The level of debt in this company is not paticularly high and is unlikely to warrent a liquidation. The company will come to an end from 1 Sept when your husband finishes work and the company has no assets. Once the company ceases to trade in Sept you could write to all the company's creditors and explain that the company has no assets or an income and that you propose to apply to stike off the company in three months time (you have to cease trading for three months before you can apply to have the company stuck off), if you receive no objections then you need to file form 652a at companies house with a cheque for £10. I am finding that this is a good solution for companies with debts at approx £10,000 and it works. The worse case is that one of the creditors and more likely to be HMR&C may issue a petition to wind the company up in which case it willbring the company to a formal end with no further costs to you.

Thankyou everyone for your advice already I feel a little easier knowing we have shared this nightmare we will assesss our situation over the week end and most probably take direct advice from an expert.
Again many thanks
Have a good weekend xxx

Hi
Great info and advice from the professional experts
Regards