Our Joint IVA has been running for 2 months now of a 6 year term and my wife has been struggling at work and has been diagnosed with early stage Huntington's . We were told to sell our caravan , which we did for £9000 and that this would have to be paid into the IVA within the first 3 months. We own our house but are in slight neg equity. As it looks as if my wife wont be able to carry on with her job because of the Huntington's , I feel we might be better using some of this money to secure a rented property and defaulting on the mortage as on my wages there is no way we could keep up the repayments even though we are paid upto date at the moment. I also feel that possible bankruptcy now for a one year term would then allow us to prepair for the future when I would have to give up work myself to give my wife the care she would need as the Huntington's progesses. Sorry to ramble but as you can see I have quite a lot to sort through and any help/views would be of great help before I contact my IVA provider.[?]
Hi, welcome to the forum. I am sorry I can't give the answers you are looking for but hopefully Melanie, Michael Peoples or David Mond might be around to help shortly. It may be that you will need to seek the advice of your IP.
Hope This helps.
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Hi Big Stew, I am very sorry about your wife's illness & in these circumstances money should become secondary, given all that you have said I think paying this kind of money into an IVA may not be best when it will be needed elsewhere, I am sure other forum members can advise further.
I'm really sorry to hear about your wife's illness. As Fox says money comes second to your wife's health. Hopefully one of the experts will be along soon, but I would advise talking to your own IP. You need to do what's best for you and your wife, not your creditors x
I absolutely agree with the other posters. Your wife is the most precious asset that you have, and you must give her your ultimate priority in terms of attention and money.
It sounds as if bankruptcy may well be the better option for you now, and your IP ought to be able to talk you through the steps that you need to take to prepare for this.
May I wish you the very best of luck and I am so sorry to hear of your wife's illness.
Your own Ip may not be best suited to advise you,as it is in their interest for your IVA to continue. It is perhaps worthwhile having a chat with one of the Ip's who post on here to get their opinion on what the best way forward is.
When you say bankruptcy now for a 1 year term,its actually the official receiver that decides how long any payment order wil be for(up to 3 years),and is based on affordability.
BR may be the best option if in the long term you cannot afford to keep paying the mortgage,but as others have said the health of your wife must come 1st.
Let us know how you get on.
Paul
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
We tried to get Lloyds TSB to let us go onto intress only payments , but were told we would have to have 25% equity before they would + they are my wifes bosses ! ! !
Last edited by Big Stew on Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If you have no equity in the property, it will be unaffected under bankruptcy proceedings (providing you find a friend or family member to acquire your beneficical interest for a nominal sum) so it makes sense for you personally to carry on paying a repayment mortgage.
Hi Big Stew,so sorry to hear about your wife,I work with people with Huntingtons and I know what an awful illness it is.I have also just made myself bankrupt and it is quite a painless process (even though I didn't think it when I was in the middle of it).I agree that your wife is your priority and you do not need the added pressure of money worries.If I can be of any help at all (inexperienced as I am)don't hesitate to ask.
Hi Stew. I can only echo what the other posters have said concerning your wife and her illness. However, what I would add is if you petition and the £9,000 is in the bank you will lose it. If the marital home has gone and you used some of the money to pay a deposit and rent in advance this should be acceptable to the OR.
I would immediately speak to my IP and ask for a couple of months payment break. Make an appointment with your local CAB or disability charity. Your wife will be entitled to various benefits as you will you as full or part time carer and you could then look at whether the IVA would in effect still be viable even at a lower rate. Given your circumstances creditors may well be sympathetic to a reduction in payments but I would also request that the equity release modification is removed if you are to continue with the six years payments.
It may also be worth speaking to the HR department at Lloyds to see what pension entitlement your wife may have. I would not cancel everything immediately and petition until I had investigated the options and entitlements and I am sure your IP will allow a missed payment or two while you find out what will happen in the future.
You may care to contact the Huntingtons Disease Association - they do, I believe have a web page and have a good reputation for giving advice and help on all sorts of issues
