Meeting planned for 29th and a few questions

[t_bird]

Waited and waited for my husband to arrange but as usual he has his head in the sand. Made the appointment myself and now he seems relieved...think ive just got to mother him a bit.
Anyway a few questions:

We currently rely on an overdraft and use an Amex charge card for petrol and food shopping which is paid the following month. Obviously this means that once these facilities stop we are going to be 'down' about £1000 the 1st month (providing we get accepted). Do the payments start straight away or are you given a grace period?
Does an IVA stand a better chance if there are less creditors? My husband appears to have been collecting credit cards....0% balnce transfers seeming a good idea at the time.
Also despite my begging him not to he took out a 1st plus loan against the house 18months ago for £100000, does this mean we have no equity now?
Sorry so many questions but want to be prepared and Hubby is stressing that we will loose the house if not accepted.

Just wanted to add that this site has been a god send to me....you guys are so supportive and its nice to know that Im not alone in this.

[aguise]

Hi t bird and hello from me.
I will have a try to answer some of your questions. The number of creditors does not matter if too few they can have a deciding vote. We had 17 so dont worry about that.
If you apply for an iva and it is a viable solution, then usually your Ip company will advise you not to make any more payments on the unsecured debts. This is where you would find the money to live whilst things are being set up and you await your meeting.
As for anything to do with equity I will not attempt to answer as I am useless.( I rent)
The main thing is you are doing something about it and heads including hubby's hopefully are out of the proverbial sand. Ask all the questions you want and make sure you get your I and E right and manageable.
Wait for other answers as I am not a technical expert.

Ang

[aguise]

Hi again do you have your meeting on the 29th.(should learn to read ) Silly me. You are further along than I thought. The first payment to your iva is usually due within a month of acceptance, so this would give you a little space.

Ang

[MelanieGiles]

It does not matter how many credit cards you have - if you cannot pay them on time you are insolvency and therefore qualify for an IVA.

IVA payments generally start at the time that your proposals are finalised, and this can take two to three months, so during this period if you are not paying your creditors you will be able to save a little to supplement the loss of your charge card, and put you in a stronger position financially to enter into the IVA.

With regard to your house, I cannot tell whether you have equity or not - how much is it worth and how much do you owe on your mortgage?

[t_bird]

Thanks everyone. The meeting is just an initial meeting with an IP.

Melanie...the house is worth £175,000 with £69,000 left on the mortgage.
Such a relief knowing that the amount of creditors doesnt matter that was one of my main concerns. No idea what husbands debts are but mine are around 40K his probably (I hope) no more than 60K. We really are sinking here once min payments are made we have no option but to then use the cards to pay for other things as no free cash.

Fingers crossed that we get this sorted so we can breathe.

One thing i have found though is that I quite like the challenge of beig frugal, food shopping is particularily fun and Ive found that smart price/own brand food is just as good and the food bills have come right down. My daughter has been on at me for ages to take a packed lunch to school instead of having school dinners so she happy now too. with another child starting school in September there was no way we could afford for them both to have school dinners.

[kallis3]

It is quite good seeing if you can get your food bills down every week. I have to disagree with the smartprice/basics/value foods. Some of them, like tinned tomatoes for example, are fine and we buy them every time. Don't like the very cheap baked beans though. I think it is swings and roundabouts with those sort of foods. We do try to buy normal own brand when possible.

[t_bird]

Absolutely. The only baked beans are HEINZ....kids wouldnt eat anything else. Brought Smart price tissues today 1/3 of the price of the othes....after all your only going to blow your nose and then chuck them arent you! Love Asda 'whoops'ies. Buy the meat and freeze it or use the good old slow cooker and you can never tell if its fillet steak or sell by date braising. Got a nice curry bubbling away as we speak!

[maxdebt]

Hello t bird and welcome to the forum. My debts were very similar to yours and yes, the frugal life can be very satisfying!! ( elbowing your way through the old ladies to get at discounted food etc ))

I am presuming your creditors are unaware of your difficulties at present. Before they do be sure to open a new bank account with a bank which is not connected in any way to any of your creditors ( co-op cashminder comes recommended) and make sure your wages are paid into it. If I may be so bold to also mention that choosing the right IP is vital. Initially we went to a local IP company and got some wishy washy advice which almost took us to bankruptcy! We came to this website and carefully read the reviews here www.iva.com before selecting an IP who knew exactly what she was doing. Good luck and keep posting with any concerns/worries questions you have the people on this site are great

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Is the first plus loan for 100k or 10k ?
Regards

[t_bird]

Andy
the 1st plus (cant type it without clenching my jaw) is for 100K.

[Jinx]

Sorry to ask this but what the hell did you do with £100k?

[t_bird]

I wish I knew. He paid off some of his credit cards and a loan but then the overtime dried up and the interest rate on the 1st plus added another £200 to the repayments every month. On top of all this he had his head in the sand and an expensive scuba diving habit. I asked him to cut up the cards and he said he had but didn’t cancel them. Can’t believe he was so irresponsible. Of course when the expiry date passed they sent him new cards which brings us up to date. I’ve taken charge now…feel like his mother!! He was even looking at converting our American express reward points to air miles so he can go away again but put my foot very firmly down and we’ve got a new telly with them instead. Feel like wringing his neck sometimes.

[aguise]

No matter t bird. The future and dealing with it is more important than how we get here.
You will get there. All the very best for your meeting with the Ip.
You will get there.

Ang x

An

[MelanieGiles]

Well it does seem that you have brought him back to reality, and now you clearly need to get him to take some proper advice about options. Although the history is not good, there is no point in beating him up about that now, best look to the future - and being debt free. As you clearly have no equity in the property, there are a number of options available to you, and it is important that you know the advantages, disadvantages and implications of each one before deciding what to do.

[t_bird]

Oh God Melanie that sounds really ominous. Was feeling quite positive but not so sure now.