a F&F or a D M P?

[Ghostboy]

There is always a deal to be done at the end of the day, no-one will want to go to Court, but you must ensure that you are left with sufficient money to live a reasonable life and therefore have the incentive to carry on making the payments.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

As a practitioner Melanie, what is your take on my stance with continued letters/calls from one creditors' debt collection firm? IVA agreements protect debtors from this. If they continue, can they bring down the creditors side of the agreement. This is one question I have for my solicitor.

One time irresponsible borrower of irresponsible lenders' money!!!

[Ghostboy]

Is the difference your child's educational costs? What are these comprised of, and have they taken out a student loan?

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

She has taken out a Student Loan to cover her fees. She has a small part-time job to help out with living expenses, we help out here with some food, clothes etc. We had to agree to pay her uni accomodation. This runs to £430 per month over 8 months. We prefered her to be on uni property and also did want her leaving education potentially in as much debt as we found ourselves in. That covers her first year only. I explained this to the IP and aggregated a monthly amount to £400 (food, clothes and flat).

One time irresponsible borrower of irresponsible lenders' money!!!

[MelanieGiles]

Hi there

Firstly the irritation of ongoing creditor correspondence - sometimes this cannot be avoided and there is no real way round it apart from being persistent in continuing to advise them of the existence of the IVA. Use your IP for this - at the end of the day it is one of the things that they are being paid to do.

Next the university costs - that rent actually looks quite high for student accomodation - where is she studying? You will need to find some form of compromise for this with your IP, in order to satisfy the terms of the IVA. Did you consider further education costs at the time you entered into the IVA, or ask what would happen if they were needed to be paid. It is commendable that you wish to give your child the best start in life, and to encourage her not to incur unaffordable credit, but at the end of the day I have a lot of clients with children at university who are not paying that sort of support. I guess that you now need to decide what is of higher priority - your daughter's education, or the repayment of debts, in the event that you cannot agree a sensible way forward with your IP.

Personally, I would not be taking this to Court, and would leave it up to creditors to decide whether they felt your payments are justified or not. I would bet that they would be fairly disinterested, and happy to merely receive an enhanced payments of perhaps £600 per month.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Ghostboy]

Hi Melanie,

Her accomodation (Belfast) is uni owned and includes stuff like utilities, security, internet access etc. It is fairly basic but new and I appreciate seems costly, but that is the amount on the invoice. But I accept your point on this. However, I am heartened that you as a professional see that a deal might be done. As I say, we have no problem with an increase - but at "realistic" levels.

Regards

One time irresponsible borrower of irresponsible lenders' money!!!

[MelanieGiles]

Do you live in Northern Ireland and is your IP also based over there? I just ask, because I am aware that the security issue in Belfast is still a little tense (I also have an office in NI) and you may wish to explain your reasoning to the IP for the rather higher accomodation costs.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Ghostboy]

Do you live in Northern Ireland and is your IP also based over there? I just ask, because I am aware that the security issue in Belfast is still a little tense (I also have an office in NI) and you may wish to explain your reasoning to the IP for the rather higher accomodation costs.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

Hi

Yes we live around 80 miles from Belfast in N.I. Our IP is nationwide but we deal with Belfast Office. Security is always a concern but I must admit that Belfast is almost completely transformed and any risk would perhaps be mitigated as being similiar to any large UK city/town.

Great blog by the way - wish I had found this 30 odd months ago.

One time irresponsible borrower of irresponsible lenders' money!!!

[Ghostboy]

Melanie,

One last question if I might - how much per month would you consider reasonable in respect of childs' uni contribution? I am going to call my IP and arrange a meeting with our case worker or Supervisor and try and reason this out.

I will try and press on with the IVA.

Regards

One time irresponsible borrower of irresponsible lenders' money!!!

[MelanieGiles]

It is difficult to say - but you need to base it upon the actual costs incurred, and then see if your IP feels that this is reasonable.

Most IP's of a certain age will have children who they have supported in education, mine nearly tipped me into insolvency!, so I feel that a face to face meeting with your IP is a good idea. Make sure that you take detailed notes of all of the expenditure items, together with details of your daughter's own income so that they can see how you have worked out the figures.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp