Please help!
I currently owe £51K to several creditors, all of which are high-street names. I can only afford to pay around £1000 a month to my creditors, whereas my current monthly payments are in excess of £1700. It is not an option to have equity taken from my house (I could release about £30K) because I want to start a family and need a bigger property to do so, and also my husband doesn't know about my situation and we have a joint mortgage.
I have spoken to several companies and, as I am offering roughly 100p to the pound, it seems that a DMP will be a better option for me, ONLY if the interest on my debt is stopped.
If I go down the DMP route, then find out the interest will not be stopped, will it take another few months to sort out an IVA? I am keen to make the right decision the first time, so I don't waste valuable time and get into more debt.
Are the creditors more likely to stop interest when they see a good offer, knowing that the debt would be paid in its entirety in less than 5 years? If they make the decision to stop the interest, do they tend to stick to it? And would the threat of an IVA make them more inclined to accept a DMP without interest?
In terms of the long-term effect (on your credit rating, new mortgage, legal implications, etc) is a DMP less damaging than an IVA?
And, finally, when I stated that my expenditure will need to account for business expenses (hotels, flights, etc) that would be re-imbursed, both Grant Thornton and CCCS advised that I make reduced payments whilst an agreement is arranged and use the extra to money to build a "pot" that I could dip into for this purpose. But won't I get lots of fines and default charges in the meantime? And what happens to these charges if neither an IVA or DMP is agreed?
Sorry about all the questions, I'm just very confused and worried about making my situation worse! Any advice would be much appreciated especially if you are in a similar situation.
Thanks.
