I am in much need of some reassurance

[onlypassion]

Please help, I am in much need of some reassurance. I am just at the beginning of the process of filing for an iva. We have unsecured debts of about £84k(very embarrasing). We have a 4 year old and 6 month baby and are so worried about losing our home. We can afford to pay about £570 a month into an iva. Our home is worth about £120k with the mortgage being £111k. What will happen with this? Is my IVA proposal likely to be accepted? Any help would be great

[Dominic]

If you have treated your creditors equally and have been totally honest about what you owe and who to and not left anything ouy and have been realistc about what you need to live on you should get your iva approved.

I understand that the equity in the house will be used in the last year of the iVA that is something to bear in mind.

[MAY2006]

Please don't be embarrased mine n hubbys was £98K combined. 75% of that was in my name only.
You have accepted that you have debt problems are now looking to resolve the, BE PROUD OF THAT.
Have you made contact with a company who will help you set up your IVA?
Have you spoken to your local citizens advise debt team, I found their advise so helpful and they recommended Grant Thornton who did my IVA.
Make sure you get sound advise and speak to a few companies before deciding who to use. The companies that post on this forum are probably the best ones to use.
I see TV adverts now all the time for companies and would be wary of using them as they have only been around for a couple of years.
PLEASE PLEASE do not pay any upfront fees, one or two of the regular posters on this forum have been 'ripped off' for want of a better word. They have paid money some up to £2000.00 and the IVA has failed.
There are no guarantees that an IVA will be accepted, but a good IP will put forward a proposal that offers the creditors a better return for their money than if they made you bankcrupt.
Take your time to read through the posts on this site and make some notes, you will find them really helpful.
Keep posting any questions you have and you will get helpful and reassuring answers from the Experts and from those who have been through IVA are in one now or are in your position just starting down the road.

[onlypassion]

I have so far received advice from the cccs who passed my file to their reccomended insolvency practitioner. They rang yesterday and will be calling again a week on Tuesday to discuss things fully. If they do ask for up front fees then we dont have any money to pay anyway so they will have to whistle!! I am hoping as they are reccomended by the cccs then they will be one of the better companies????? I have estimated that our payment can convert to about 41p to be repaid for every £ borrowed.

Our main creditors are
egg £18.5k
natwest £21k
HSBC £18k
alliance and leicester £11k
cahoot £8k

then it is a few thousand here and a few thousand there. I am most worried about HSBC and Natwest saying no as £13k of the natwest debt is very recent (we took yet another loan out thinking this one would sort things realised it had just made things worse so have decided enough is enough so are now trying for th IVA)However because of being fed up of the sheer embarassment of this debt, whilst trying to negotiate with EGG, I never told them the extent of the debt, however I have been 100% honest in what I have declared with the IVA. Will the EGG thing count against me?

Sorry for all the questions but this is causing me so much stress I cant sleep. Seeing you all posting your IVA's have been approved is just like a dream world to me at the min. I know it will be 5 years of being skint, and also will possibly have to re mortgage at the end but I can handle that. As long as my kids have a roof over their heads and are clothed and fed, that is my priority.

Thank you all for listening, I already feel a sigh of relief just posting this.

Thanks again

[onlypassion]

Sorry forgot to ask. Anyone got the names of reccomended companies?I would like to speak to a few before I make my decision on who to go with.

[Skippy]

My IVA is being dealt with by Accuma, and I can't fault them. From the very beginning I have spoken to the same people - firstly to prepare the paperwork, and now the IVA has been approved a different department.

Sorry I can't answer any of your other questions, but someone on here will be able to.

Good luck for the future

Three down, fifty seven to go until freedom!

[MAY2006]

Try to find out the name of the company and post on here and you will get feedback.
I met my IP face to face twice and found that really helpful.
Your offer of 41p in the £ is a good offer, BUT make sure that you have enough to live on and that you have budgeted for everything. You have two small children and they are expensive. Five years is a long time to live on a very very tight budget and can cause an IVA to fail because you cannot live within it.
Also your IP fees will come out of that payment.
My offer worked out at 38p in the £, they ended up getting 39p in the £ because GE Capital, Debenhams did not submit a claim in time so they got nowt
Egg and Alliance and Leicester were creditor of mine and both voted yes.
I'm not sure what you mean with the EGG thing??

As part of the IVA process you have to give a written statement explaining fully why you have got into debt, you can explain the recent loan in that statement.

[onlypassion]

Hi, sorry. "the egg thing". What I meant was because I havent been honest with them when trying to lower my payments, will they co operate when they get the iva proposal. Basically on the last few weeks I have not told them how much debt I had but still offered them a fair payment based on my current budget- they were offered the same percentage as the rest of my creditors. I am just worried that because I lied to them about the total value of my debt they will not accept the iva proposal. With regards to the budget, I have accounted for everything. This is also based on my husbands lowest likely wage. Some months we could have another £200 surplus so I am confident can stick to the budget. (I know if he gets anyhting like overtime, bonuses etc 50% goes into the iva)

I JUST WISH THIS WHOLE THING HAD NEVER HAPPENED I WILL NEVER EVER HAVE ANOTHER LOAN OR CREDIT CARD IN MY LIFE AND I AM ONLY 24!!!!

thanks again

[MAY2006]

I would'nt worry about it too at least you offered to pay something. They got £30.00 off me in 6 months whilst the IVA was being set up One thing with if you are planning to go for an IVA is not to give preference to one creditor over another. Keep up mortgage, rates and utility payments.
DO NOT TELL YOUR CREDITORS THAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT AN IVA.
Also I would change my phone number and go XD that way they cannot ring you up and bother you.
Once we had decided that it was the only way forward for us, we opened new basic bank account with Halifax arranged for my salary to go into that account. Changed over all the necessary direct debits and then cancelled the rest and only ever made the odd £5.00 token payment when we got the nasty letter.
My IVA took 7 months to set up and go through and it was the worst time of my life worrying whether or not it would be approved and what would happen IF so I understand totally how you feel.
I wish I had known about this website then as I would never have been off it. Instead I used to ring my IP's assistant she was fab and really reassuring. I am amazed they did'nt charge double fees the amount of times I called her!!!

Its a hard lesson to learn, but at the end of your IVA you will have lived on a budget, only spent money you have and you will have your monthly IVA money to save or spend as you want.

[onlypassion]

OOOOH thanks "MAY 2006" so so much. I really appreciate your support. The home telephone number thing is a great idea, I am going to do that. Thanks again and I will keep you up to date on how I get on.

take care x

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Onlupassion

Good luck with the IVA process, and remember it is wise to seek a couple of differing opinions before you decide on the right IP firm.

If you are concerned about the equity in your house, make sure that your IP makes an allowance for "notional selling costs" in his calculation of equity. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I am suggesting you sell your property - far from it, simply that if you were to be made bankrupt there would be substantial selling costs involved and that they should be taken into consideration when working out your actual shares of the equity.

Given that you only have £9,000 of equity now, and I would allow at least £5,000 for notional selling costs, I suggest that you ask your IP to extend the IVA by six months to take account of the equity. This means that you would pay an extra six months worth of contributions at the end of the arrangement, but that your house would be completely excluded from the proceedings, negating the worry of having to re-mortgage again in the final year and have a much higher mortgage hanging over you in the future. Somthing it may be worth thinking about now.

Good luck

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk