If we decide to not to go for an IVA and enter a debt management programme we already know it would take 44 years to pay off our debt by whihc time we would not be around any longer due to our age! But if we decided to go down this route and made a proprtionate payment to each of our creditors and kept our payments up but could never increase them, can any of our creditors force us to go bankrupt?
If you are sticking to a payment plan then I doubt one of your creditors who agreed at the beginning would try and make you BR although they can pretty much do what they want. However, 44 years is horrendous, surely there is another way. You have to have a light at the end of the tunnel! X
Please don't enter into that type of agreement. It is not the right option for either you or your creditors, and I am amazed that anyone has recommended this to you. How much are your debts, and how much can you afford to pay to creditors on a monthly basis?
Your creditors could make you bankrupt, but they are unlikely to as Viki has already pointed out.
Our total unsecured debt is approx £85k - our disposable income is approx £170 per month - we have registered with the CCCS and they have reccommended we go bankrupt - we have no assets and I am struggling to deal with this at the moment - I don't want to deal with it and know I have to but cant seem to keep a clear head
I know this is a difficult time charliesbird but you have the chance of a fresh start. Do you have any assets that would be at risk if you were to go BR?
If you have no assets, then BR has to be the way to go. 44 years is just horrendous!
BR is not as bad as it used to be. You can be discharged in 12 months (sometimes sooner), and you may have to pay some money across for three years, but that's it.
Anything has to be better than the Sword of Damocles hanging for all that time!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Bankruptcy seems to me (when I am not crying) to be the sensible option, but we are really fortunate that when we first hit financila difficutly and and sold our house etc we found a wonderful house to rent that is very affordable and as long as we are good tenants (which) we always have been then we could stay here forever (the house cannot be sold it is tied up in a trust) and have a sense of security. But the downside is it is in a very small village, everyone would know that we were bankrupt including our landlords - I could just about cope with this but my husband cannot which I completey understand and for losts of reasons whihc are too personal to go into I will absolutely support him on this. So we are then faced with the propect of finding somewhere else to live and who will rent a house to a bankrupt (that accepts 2 dogs as well) and our rent is only £500 a month at the moment and everywhere I have looked at is more expensive than that - I think we have to be sensible and weigh up the pros and cons but it is hard when you are emotional
Do you really feel that your landlord and neighbours would be very prejudiced about your bankruptcies? I tend to find that most people are very sympathetic and supportive. Some of these people are also probably experiencing financial difficulties of their own, given the current state of the economy and price rises. You could well be pleasantly suprised.
Unfortunately our landlords have connections with banking and my husband really could not handle people knowing. The CCCS said based on our disposable income an IVA would not be open to us - di you think this is correct?
We owe £87,503.00 and have £170 disposable income - about £46k of this is owed to Nat West although it shuld be less because 5 years ago they agreed o freeze the interest and did not. This was a verabl agreement but I have managed to get someone I have spoken to at the bank to admit it is in the notes about is on the system - I am in the process of finding the best way to get all the data they hold in us to prove this, but this is taking time. Anyway I think they have charged about 8-10k interest over the last 5 years but cannot prove this as even though I keep requesting statements they have still not sent them. (this is quite a long story but the point of it is we may not owe quite as much as the £87k)
I don't think an IVA will be an option but perhaps Melanie can advise you on this. Don't forget, not everyone reads that bit of the newspaper and your landlord might be happy to let you keep living there as you have been such good tenants. I've heard that the OR doesn't always inform the landlord anyway. Obviously there is more to it, as you say, you don't want to disclose that, but it seems a shame that you would have to move as you are obviously happy there.
