Help needed pls

[jockmc]

Hello

I have just found this site whilst looking for an IVA company to be open on a Sunday..... I have enjoyed the reading very much so far! good to know i am not alone...

A brief overview of my debts

Ohhh dear i have just worked out about £30K.... wow !!

i have got 2 loans and numerous credit cards.... i rent a house as cant get a mortgage due amount of debt... i take home £1600 a month by working very hard and end up paying council tax on my credit card..

i live with my girlfriend who has less money than me and we are really struggling.... by making minumum payments i pay about £550 per month... which should leave me a huge chunk left/.... but then i have rent of £750... it is a shared house with my girlfriend but after she pays her bills she has nothing left for rent... i was living by myself until this month where i was paying £575... the trouble is she has about £17K of debt but £7K is hire purchase and she cant hand it back til the end of the year... she cant get a consolidation loan and neither can i, this is all well and good for now... i can just scrape through each month.... but come june our first baby is due and she will stop work in May and then we are well and truely done, even is she was to try and go back to work how do you cope paying for a child minder and i really am at a loss, given up playing the lottery 2 .... any ideas ????

Krgds Dave

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Jock! Love the name.

You have several options available to you, one of which is an IVA. You should really sit down with your girlfriend and work out a statement of your joint finances as you are now living together. Congratulations on the baby by the way.

It sounds to me as if there will not be much money left in the household budget when she gives up work, but you do really need to sit and work out what your finances are likely to be post June.

I have a form you could use as a template on my website, which you may find useful. Treat your debts as joint debts for now, and try and work out if there will be anything left to offer to creditors once that bundle of joy arrives in June. If not, then as you live in rented accomodation, bankruptcy proceedings may be the best option to give you a proper financial start as a family.

Keep posting if there is anything else we can help with.

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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[jockmc]

Hi Melanie

Thanx for the quick reply

At the moment we earn net of £2900.00 a month

I estimate £1500 a month would cover rent/basic costs/food etc

So when my partner takes materinty pay (433.88 per month) i estimate we would have between 200 - 300 a month to offer creditors, which leaves about £200 a month to look after the baby and for anything else i forgot...

I dont want to go bankrupt as if we did that we would lose our house and end up on the steets.....

What do you think???

[freelili]

Jock

Just a quickie, Have you actually looked at and IVA and bankruptcy. both are huge steps. The creditors may challenge your idea of what you have to live on and many people with children will struggle for 5 years, its not impossible, but really tight. You state that you have no assets, bankrutcy could therefore be an option, their are people who have rented as undischarged bankrupts. I am not trying to sway you one way or the other. I am trying to make a point of going into both options with your eyes wide open before you commit to it. I wish you the very best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

I am not an expert, just another person in debt.

You are not alone, there is lots of support here for you.

LILY

[MelanieGiles]

Hi again

My gut feeling is that that figure of between £200 and £300 will only reduce. There is a lot of unforseen expenditure involved when you have a baby!

Whilst on paper, these figures do look as if an IVA might be possible for you, it may be better for you to do a DMP until the baby arrives, at which time you will know what it is like to manage on one wage and importantly whether these payments are affordable.

What does your girlfriend think? As you will need her support over the next few years as well.


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

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[jockmc]

Hi Lily

I have absolutely no idea what to do as yet, all i know is i need to do something as soon robbing peter to pay paul is going to run out of funds!

You know at the moment eveything is tight and that is paying out £1200 monthly to various credit people.... at the mo i got a water bill/council tax/ bounced direct debit to pay this month on top of evrything else....

So yeah i would consider all options to find the best one. Just so i know will creditors take my partners debts into the same iva/bankruptcy application as mine ???

Is there anyone we can talk to like melanie at an appointment and run through all options and represent us??

[scaredkez]

hi jock welcome to the forum, it does have a number here that you can ring and many of the experts on here are contactable, telephone a number of them and be careful of those asking for up front fees that are non returnable,although iva's are individual i put mine together with my husband, unfortunately it was rejected, BR is my option now and unless you have any assets you have nothing to lose, you say you rent so you have no property, living on a very tight budget for 5 yrs will be very hard and especially with your first child, children are very expensive especially when small, think clearly of all your options and weigh up all the pro's and con's of iva v's br i wish you luck, keep us posted and let us all know how you do.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[jockmc]

Hi Kerri

Thanx for your points.... I dont have anything of value that anyone can take really... I think i will go and speak to the citizens advice bureau with my partner and see what they suggest.... maybe a council house could be an option for a while also as we would be classed as homeless and pregnant i guess! well i just read a lil bit on BR and a little bit made me laugh..... we are all struggling aqlong and use BR as a last resort and they wanna charge you upto £425 !!! lol.... its unreal... hmmmm i just thought would there be any major problems with using up the rest of the available credit on some cards.... i still got about £6K available.....

Will let you all know what we decide and thank you once again.... krgds and keep smiling Dave

[freelili]

Hi again

We know this is stressful, and how tight it is when trying to meet those crodadile creditors every month, first you start robbing peter to pay paul and then you end up with all the disciples joining in (as someone on here once said).

The first step would be to phone around 3 companies, just to get a feel for it. They should run through all options for you and then at least you will have some idea what you are doing. You can do a joint but indvidual IVA that will take both debts into consideration (only unsecured debts though). Be careful of something that sounds too good to be true, it usually is. It might be a good idea to list out your usual expenditure (not including unsecured debts ie loans c/cards etc)as they will go through this on the phone, its a 'no frills' budget ie no full sky package or rolls royce etc. but be sure to include things that dont come up every month like prescriptions, dentist car maintenance etc. It has to be realistic for a 5 year stint. You are also going to have a little extra person to consider, (congratulations). Whats left is your disposable income, this is what will be paid into your IVA. I hope this makes sense.

If bankruptcy is what you choose, you would both have to declare as individuals. Its a formal proceedure of insolvency, (you are insolvent, right?) You are declared bankrupt, you will have to pay around 50 to 70 per cent of your disposible income into an IPA for 3 years but are usually discharged after 12 months.

You are correct in stating that you have to do something about it, thats the first important step and although it does not feel like it at the moment, you are already on the road to a better financial future.

wish you both the best of luck, we are always here if you have questions, need a rant, or just an update.

LILY

[freelili]

ooops, just read the bit about using up the remaining credit. Please dont, it will not look good for BR,if you borrow with no intention of paying back or are considering bankruptcy and could be classed as fraud, not good. If you want the money to go BR, dont pay your creditors for a while.

a council house is a brilliant idea.

good luck

LILY