I hope you can help me I am very worried

[shelbert]

Hi, I hope you can help me.My husband and I have nearly £50,000 debt. At the moment we have not defaulted on any,(although in the past I was in debt management but managed to clear it) they are getting paid on time, but we have to buy food and petrol on our credit cards as we don't have any disposable income a month.

If we do an IVA, would we be able to keep our car? My husband needs it to go to work and take his son to school. It was bought for £8000 but there is £3000 left to pay on it. Also, are Northern Rock, the Co- Op Bank and TSB hard to deal with because thats who most of our debts are with? And would we need to close our bank accounts and open different ones before we started an IVA because I hear that it is difficult to get a bank account once you have an IVA? And lastly, what happens when starting an IVA? Do we continue to pay our monthly payments until the IVA meeting is held? I would really appreciate your help, I am very worried. Thanks

[laleanne1]

Hi

I'll try my best to answer your questions but you will really need to speak to an expert.

If your bank account is with one of your creditors its best to change befor you apply for the iva, dont go for First Direct or HSBC they have a habbit of closing down accounts once thry know you're in an iva. If you do go down the iva route you may be advised not to contine paying your creditors as this may give them the impression you can manage.

If you own your property you need to be aware they will ask you to release some cash in the 4 or 5 year, i'm not too sure what would happent o you car but you should be able to have one they just ask you to downgrade.

As to how hard are the creditors are to deal with, depends. I had two loans and a credit card with tsb and my iva was accepted. Please jsut make sure if you do choose this route use a good company, anyone of them listed on this forum will be a help and they all have good reps.

Hope this helps

l morris

[freelili]

Hello Shelbert and Welcome

Firstly, you are not alone, we know how scary this is and everyone on the forum will do their best to help and advise you. It must be said that you have already taken the first importmant step by realising your problem and wanting to address it, living on credit cards after paying all your debts is only making the problem worse, most of us have been there though.

I would advise that you make a note of all your secured debts (ie mortgage, secured loans car HP etc) and living expenses, ie (food, utilities, phone petrol, presciptions, etc). Do not include your unsecuted credit ie (credit cards, loans, catalogues etc). What is left over is your disposable income and would be used for an IVA. There is rough correlation between Dis income and total unsecured credit to decide if IVA is possible. This will also depend on whether you are actually insolvent, and there will almost always be an equity release clause at some point during the IVA. This can also depend on the actual creditors you have. (some are more equal than others!).

Then phone around three companies start with the ones on this site, I would choose Thomas Charles and see what replies you get. As leanne stated, it can be a mine field out there. Do not be ashamed, this is the start of something new. You are looking for straight answers and all of your options should be discussed.

Caution; It is vital to ensure that you are allowed a realistic budget for a five year stint. Its not meant to be an absolute breeze with luxuries and exotic holidays, but sensible and allowing for the unexpected.

Finally, regarding the bank account and car, a) you will need a basic account with no credit/debit facilities, if you present account is with one of your creditors, there are many high st names that will help you with this. b) Your car will be OK, unless its top of the range rolls or something, if it is on finance ie loan, then it will be included in the IVA, if HP the payments will continue as they are now.

I really hope this helps, if you have any other questions or need to talk or have a rant, feel free. You are amongst people that have felt as you have. Also there are experts on hand to advise you technically.
I am not an expert, just another person in debt.

Good luck

LILY

I asked God for a solution and have to live with his reply.

[neverending]

Hi
Your questions have been answered well.
Just to add that Northern Rock can be difficult in that you will need to return a minimum of 40p dividend to them.
Your car, if on HP, will be allowed but once your HP payments have ceased then this monthly expense will be added to your IVA monthly payments.If the car is on personal finance then this debt will be included in your IVA.Your IP will advise if you need to trade down and release some money into your IVA.
A bank account will not be a problem but its best to open a fresh account prior to entering an IVA with a bank that will not be part of that IVA.
Finally you will normally be advised to stop paying all creditors once your IVA is being processed.Use this time to get upto date with all utility bills etc
Good Luck

[shelbert]

Thank you so much for your replies. I feel so much better knowing that there are people who I can talk to here.
I will keep you updated on our progress. I will call 3 companies including Thomas Charles. Are there any I should stay away from? I've seen in other posts that Synergie are bad.
Also, I have heard that my employers would not find out about the IVA unless I chose to tell them. Is this correct?
Once again, thank you so much for your help.

[neverending]

Yes
Just to confirm that employers are not contacted.
I presume that you or your husband are not in the financial services industry.
Regards