Im a newbie so please be gentle. I or should I say we have suddenly woken up to the fact that our debt as grown beyond our control (due in part to me losing my job and having been lucky enough to find another position albeit at over 18k pa less), and now we find ourselves in a very uncomfortable place. I have spoken to a number of IVA experts, and must say this site is a god send.
I have 2 questions, which hopefully forum members can answer?
1: I have a credit account(GE Money)on a buy now pay later (1st payment due Apr 2010). This debt equates to around 19% of all outstanding unsecured debt. Is an IVA likely to be refused on this basis due to no payments being made?
2: I would also like to know how people cope with budgeting in an IVA?
Do you find it a struggle making ends meet, or is the answer to this question all about getting your I&E spot on during the IVA proposal stage?
Im not expecting to have a huge slush fund floating around at the end of every month, but I certainly do not expect to be cast back to old Victorian times due to draconian measures forced on me through an IVA plan which was ill conceived.
The first thing is to make sure that you pick the right IP company. You say you have spoken to several which is good.
As regards budgeting, make sure on your I&E that you put down everything that you spend. You won't have much left over, but I love the challenge of budgeting.
As regards your account, it won't make any difference if you have paid them or not. Most posters stop paying before their meetings.
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
like Kallis said finding a good IP is the main priority. I am sure you wil get lots of good suggestions on here.
We have just started our IVA and our struggling a bit but thats mostly down to us not fillinf in our Income and Expenditure form properly. We tried to cut everything down to bare minimum to keep creditors happy but soon realised we coud not get by on our budget. Our IVA company picked up on this and our helping to redo our budget. I also enjoy tryingm to budget. Its so much better to see a plus sign on the bank account at end of month and knowing that debt collectors wont come knocking.
Good luck with whatever path you choose x
I understand it is usual practice to cancel all DDs with creditors.
Do you or forum members think the fact I have not made a single payment to my deferred GE Money account (buy now pay later), have any bearing on my IVA proposal?
Thanks.
kallis3 wrote:
Hi,
The first thing is to make sure that you pick the right IP company. You say you have spoken to several which is good.
As regards budgeting, make sure on your I&E that you put down everything that you spend. You won't have much left over, but I love the challenge of budgeting.
As regards your account, it won't make any difference if you have paid them or not. Most posters stop paying before their meetings.
It should not have any bearing, I had the same creditor, which was also a buy no pay later, and they still voted yes. Dont worry if your IP was worried they would have told you. Good Luck
There is always an answer! You just have to find it!
The budgeting is a bit hard to start with but you will adjust and actually learn to be really proud of yourself for the smallest of savings. I still pretty much stick to my shopping budget 2 years after hubby's IVA was completed.
Just make sure from the start that you dont agree to pay more than you can realistically afford each month. I know people have done that just for the relief of being debt free but it really doesnt work.
Thanks all for your responses. I am in the early stages of proposing an IVA, and am still researching the option of BR. I feel morally obliged to go down the IVA route, but must say am surprised at how quickly the debt mounts up!
Did other forum members feel the same; that the debt quickly spins out of control, and however much you try to keep a lid on it there comes a point when it becomes the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night that you think about?
Hi In 2 Deep, welcome to the forum, finding that IP who you can work with for the next 5 or 6 years is paramount and if you take a look at www.iva.com you can gather some information/reviews and would always suggest you talk to a few and find one you're happy to work with fully.
It can be a hard trek within an IVA but personally for me I do actually enjoy the challenge and find myself pricing everything up 3 times and even then questionning if I do really want/need it before buying things and by this time it's probably sold out in my size if its clothing.
All the best and I hope the right solution is sourced for you.
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
Hello In2deep. I am new on here too and seem to be in a similar situation to yours. I woke up one morning....and...well...you know the rest...
I feel it's too soon for me to add my 2 cents, but just a "Hello to you!" so you know that there are people in a similar situation to yours at this very moment.
ChrisB wrote:
Hello In2deep. I am new on here too and seem to be in a similar situation to yours. I woke up one morning....and...well...you know the rest...
I feel it's too soon for me to add my 2 cents, but just a "Hello to you!" so you know that there are people in a similar situation to yours at this very moment.
It is a challenge to budget in an IVA..well, not so much budget but cope with the unexpected when it occurs as you have no overdraft or credit card to rely on to fix that car, washing machine etc etc. You are given a contingency, but this has to build up over time and not much good if life throws a spanner in the works in month 2 or 3. A payment break is always an option when this sort of thing happens though.
Another challenge is, if you don't tell all your friends and family members about the IVA, how you will address a reduced social life, spending on birthdays and Christmas, family holidays etc etc. It is best to swallow that pride and be honest as you don't want t o struggle more than you have to.
You may find you live differently. I certainly do. For example, Sunday's roast chicken was stripped to make a chicken and rice dish for Monday's dinner..before it would have gone in the bin. I make my own jam, bread, cakes and cook from scratch rather than buying jars or take out. We sold a load of stuff on eBay and bought a caravan so we can still have a holiday..not the hols we used to have, but we love getting away.
We've actually managed perfectly well without telling my parents and our friends. We don't socialise very much anyway, so no problem there.
As far as birthdays and Christmas go, we don't exchange anything other than a token bottle of something. There's nothing we need or want anyway. We had already cut down on the food for Christmas so there wasn't any waste. My parents and the daughter get the same amount spent on them as we did pre IVA.
As regards food, I eat very little now so if we have chicken it's just a chicken breast and I have a slice of it. I eat very little bread so we buy a reduced loaf at Asda and hubby just fetches what slices he wans from the freezer.
He makes jam and chutney, he used to make bread, but no point now. Daughter isn't always here so it got wasted and neither of us are into cakes so I suppose we get to manage quite well.
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
It is very important to have a sustainable budget as five years is a long time. As the others have said some clients try to cut everything way back to make an offer to creditors but realistically they would not maintain this for very long. Your IP will help you achieve a figure that you can afford and that creditors will accept as best offer.
Our meals are cooked from scratch, but everything else is bought (e.g jam etc) - half the time it works out cheaper than buying the ingredients and as we both work full time we don't really have the time.
I buy chicken breasts rather than a roast chicken as there's less waste, and if we do have a roast it makes sandwiches for the next day (I won't reheat anything).
I'm picky about the bread that I eat so I buy it when it's on special offer in Tesco and keep it in the freezer.
I eat a lot of pasta and buy 3 kilo bags from Tesco so it lasts ages and you can have it with most things.
No need to buy ingredients when you grow your own in the garden! That was another point actually, our veg is pretty much all home grown from seed. I keep forgetting I am in the minority here as I don't work so I forget that some of my money saving ideas (growing veg, making bread and jams etc) won't be of much use to you all. Ooops. Sorry about that.
