Hi All
I'm very pleased to tell you that, after starting down this road last November, my IVA was approved this morning.
It has been a long slog but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I would like to say huge thanks to the people who have assisted me along the way. Douglas Prior at Thomas Charles for being my initial contact and making me feel a whole lot better about my problems than I had been doing. Taking that first step to speak to somebody is difficult and Doug was brilliant. Plus he passed my case to Melanie!!
I'd also like to thank Tony Parsons (Welshboy) for all his efforts to get me a better mortgage deal. I can honestly say he is one of the nicest men I've met. He drove from Cardiff to Southampton for a one hour meeting with me then drove all the way back again. He is very sincere and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking to change their mortgage.
My biggest thanks goes to Melanie and her team. I met Melanie at the beginning of Feb and she has been excellent. Some people report they can never speak to their IP but I have always been put through whenever I call unless she was in a meeting in which case she would ring me back. Her advice has been welcome, both personally and on the forum. I was a bit worried that she was on holiday for today but Sarah dealt with everything this morning and her calmness helped my nerves. So a big thank you to Sarah too.
My proposal was for a F+F settlement offering a minimum 37p in the £. To do this I have agreed to surrender my endowment policy, provide £10K in the form of a loan from my parents and sell my house and pay the equity. My debts were £87K (still hurts to type).
The reason it has taken so long is all down to me. I didn't get the documents needed to Douglas til the end of Jan and met Melanie at the beginning of Feb. At that time I was desperate to keep my house and make monthly contributions but my situation was complicated as I rent my house out and live in rented accomodation in a different city. The rent received was less than my mortgage and it was pointed out that creditors would see the shortfall I was paying as money that could be paid to them and that they were funding my investment.
Through Tony I attempted to lower my payments with a new mortgage and this is where the delays occurred. Firstly arranging the valuation at a suitable time for my tenant took 3-4 weeks. Then letters of authority to my current mortgage provider were claimed to have not been received so they wouldnt give a lenders reference. Anyway, eventually I received an offer but after further discussion with Melanie it was felt I would be better off selling the house as the creditors might see the equity in my "investment property" and want it now rather than a 4th year equity release.
I looked at my disposable income x 60 and calculated that if I could raise £10K it might work as a F+F so put this to Melanie. She agreed and then came the tricky bit. Telling my parents about my debts and asking if they could lend me the £10K. They were brilliant and agreed to help.
This morning Sarah called to tell me that the person voting on behalf of Egg and Coop wanted 60 payments and had reduced my expenditure of housekeeping from £250 to £200, clothing from £50 to £20 and not allowed £37 for Sky. Sarah felt that they had mis-read the proposal as my disposable income was to be used to repay my parents. She wanted to know if they didn't change their stance was I prepared to accept monthly payments without the loan. My answer was no as I was already giving up my property and endowment so there wasn't anything really stopping me going BR with only 3 years of lower payments. I was only doing the IVA to do the right thing and pay back as much as I could. Anyway an hour later Sarah rang back to say they had now accepted without the modifications. I had been worried about MBNA as they had about 27% of my debt but they said yes. Egg and Coop combined was about 43% so that would have stopped everything.
Sorry for rambling but this has taken a long time to happen and it takes a toll on you mentally. I'm just so grateful and relieved to be on the road to recovery.
My final thanks goes to the forum. I wouldn't have got through this without all your help and support. Particular mentions go to the "Old Skool" of Skippy, Kerri, Lily, Tracy.h and Andy, who have been there from the start for me.
Phew!!
Dave
