Post
by
na70 » Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:20 am
never thought i would be posting in the "IVA approved" but here i am thanks to Melanie Giles and her team.
having trawled these forums for months I ignored my problem hoping things would get better somehow but i was ignoring the obvious and digging a deeper hole.i had to admit to myself i was in trouble and that really was the first step to getting help.i was too proud to believe i could be in financial trouble and this caused me to waste 5 or 6 months.
on realising i needed help i went online and read every forum here and found there were lots of people in the same position as myself. i didnt feel just as bad and as i read on one name kept coming to the fore in respect of achieving great results and for having a sympathetic supportive nature - Melanie Giles.
first made contact with Mel late one sunday evening in early August. i wasnt expecting a reply until the next day but to my surprise i got one almost instantly and we went on to exchange emails until midnite and beyond.
by monday morning i had arranged a telephone meeting with Tina who explained how the process worked and took all my details regarding income and expenditure.i was treated with courtesy,respect and sympathy at all times throughout this and future conversations/emails.
the first two weeks were basically about collating and sending off payslips,bills,mortgage statments,house valuations and while quite laborious it is no doubt one of the critical parts of the process.
in between times Mel and her team were always quick to reply to my emails and keep me informed of the next stage in the process.
then the bills and calls from creditors began and this was perhaps the most stressful time of all. it was a real culture shock as up until that month i had always made my payments and never defaulted on payments since i first had a bank account 20yrs ago.
i chose to ignore the phone calls and simply sent letter after letter to the creditors explaing i was entering into iva.if they got them they ignored them initailly but eventually they stopped calling and mailing so much.some still did and were quite aggressive but its a small price to pay.i found northern rock to be very sympathetic,barclays to be very persistent via telephone,alliance/ leicester and nationwide to be very blunt.
i met Melanie in Belfast and we went over my proposal and agreed all was in order. She is such a lovely person and put me at ease immediately. I went away with renewed confidence but theres always a niggle that things mightnt work out for one reason or another.
my proposal came through and the enormity of what i was entering into suddenly hit me. a court document detailing my inability to pay my debts.a very humbling experience for sure and very shameful for me i felt.
my creditors meeting was today (sept 16th).
i was accepted despite my ill-founded pessimism.
a life changing event for sure and Melanie and her team cannot be praised highly enough for there attitude,support,had work and efforts throughout.
to anyone considering going down the avenue of an IVA i really cannot recommend Melanie and her firm highly enough-they really are life changers.
my creditors were as follows:-
Northern Rock Together mortgage,Nationwide overdraft,Abbey Credit Card,Nationwide Gold Card,Alliance and Leicester personal loan,Barclaycard.
i was really very worried ref Northern Rock as i had read about there so called minimum criteria,however the only thing they insisted on was my Iva being for 6 years as opposed to 5.
all voted in favour of my Iva,so it was 100% approved.
only two wanted modifications,Abbey and Alliance/Leicester (both owned by Santander) who wanted £20 extra per month.however i already had 75.8% acceptance with no modifications from the rest of my creditors therefore they were outvoted and i am paying back 30p/£.
i should add there were some modification however these referred to my IP's fees.
i hope this has gone some way to thanking Melanie and co and for anyone condsidering an Iva i hope it gives you confidence to take the first steps to a better future.
Last edited by
na70 on Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
