IVA Advice please help....

[connie]

Hi
i've been looking into IVA's
long story short me and my hubby are in a right mess with money. huge amount of debts that we can't afford we currently have dmp's in place but we know this can't carry on as it'll take us until were dead and besides i don't think the creditors will accept it much longer.
theres so many companies that do iva's i don't know where to start.
i spoke to one company yesterday and went through my debts. he said we could afford to set up an iva of £1000 a month or £500 each. i sat down and tallied up my figures and this would leave us short for some bills (he wouldn't take the full value of some bills into acct) and also what would happen if our mortgage, council tax or anything like that went up? this would mean i can't afford bills and what about if something broke in the house and needed fixing. i don't know much about iva's and my head is scrambled now.
i just don't know what to do now.
please help???

thanks
connie

[aguise]

Hi Connie and welcome to the forum.
You can get reviews on all the companies on iva.com. Dont accept anything that you dont feel you can manage on. Five years is a long time to live to a budget and it is managable if the figures are right in the beginning, but doomed to problems if wrong.
I would ring at least a couple of companies and as I always recommend I would try Melanie on this site, her contact details are under her posts. I know she will give you an honest straightforward opinion.
Ask as many questions as you want, that is what the forum is for. Well done you will sort it out and will be fine.

Ang

[Reviva UK]

Hi Connie and welcome
I agree with aguise. before you rush off and agree to an IVA with company X you need to do some homework - I swear some people spend more time checking out the sugar content in cornflakes than on such an important decision.

Thoughts ;-

1. You need to be very comfortable with your IP so you need to have access to them on the phone.

2. 5 years is a long time to have a relationship so it needs to work for you

3. if the income and expenditure is not realsitic you will probably end up as a potential client for me. It is so so so important to carefully go over all your expenses and really understand your household costs and then make that a budget.

You can tweek this with your IP but I mean tweek not significantly change.

If you are trying to make an effort to pay back some / all of the debt then you need to have some payback.

I often say to people that an IVA should be a little painful but should not be a crucifiction!.

if the expenditure is not right it will probably fail so tack care - check you mortgage out will it increase in the next 5 years.

How would your IP view a change in circumstance - i.e. increased costs or decreased income.

Please review the above before you let an admin assistant tell you what you need to run your household.

You have a couple of great IP's here on the forum who have an online reputation to keep.

Not a bad place to start.

Good luck

[emma_t]

Hi connie and welcome to the forum

Totaly agree with all above comments and feel it is important to be 100% happy with everything before you are in an iva.

In my case I did a lot of research through website and then I found this wonderful forum and I was more informed and clued up about things.
If I had not found the forum I would have gone along with whatever anyone said to me as I did not know any better and had never heard of iva's.

You need to do your own income & expenditure and not have someone do it for you as it needs to be got right from the start.

Have a look on www.iva.com at reviews as that is how their clients rate the service/advice given
Good luck

[MelanieGiles]

Connie

If you read my blog about choosing an adviser, it may give you some additional tips when you next decide to seek some advice. Paul also makes very good points in his post.

[connie]

wow thanks for all your advice. i feel a lot better already.
i just don't have a clue about these things and i would of ended up just doing anything anyone told me.
There is noway i could have stuck to £1000 like the adviser from company x wanted.
i don't have £1000 spare each month like he was saying, i input my expenditure which was taken from my records and he was halving it all saying i couldn't put it in. my bills aren't excessive and its not like i was putting luxaries in, i was just putting straight forward household bills which is the amounts i'm charged.
our mortgage is fixed rate but the fixed rate ends in june this year so i haven't clue what that will change to. it will probably go up though i would have thought. my husband also get bonus work so his wage changes all the time. sometimes its up sometimes its down.

i will check your link out melanie. thank you.

i've buried my head in the sand to long because i'm afraid to admit to people what we actually have debt wise and its always put me off talking to people incase they think i'm a bad person.

i'm just so frightened of being made bankrupt. i know its my fault i'm in this mess and i'm not expecting to get off scot free, i am willing to pay back as much as i can. i just hope i can get something sorted so i can finally see an end to this. i know it would be a tough 5 years but then it would be over with and i won't have to worry anymore.

paul, what do you mean about the expenditure and being a potential client for you?

thanks
connie

[MelanieGiles]

How can someone say that they need to halve your expenditure! It may be that you are spending in excess of recommended guidelines, but that does not mean that you have to live in purgatory for the next few years.

A good insolvency practitioner will carefully explain all of the options available to you, and ensure you are fully aware of the advantages, disadvantages and implications of each one. This will enable you to choose the most sensible route forward and strive towards a debt fee future.

How much do you feel that you could offer to creditors?

[Reviva UK]

Hi Connie

firstly it is great that you are on the site getting some serious advice from the team here.

It is also great to hear that you are looking at ways to clear the debt and make some payments to your creditors.

I am not an IP and while we offer a number of diferent services one of our main services is "Assisted Bankruptcy".

So what I was saying is that if you get the choice of IP wrong or more seriously you have an unrealistic expenditure then ther would be a real risk that the IVA would struggle over time.

One of the consequences of not getting it right is that the IVA may fail and thus my scentence ... ""3. if the income and expenditure is not realsitic you will probably end up as a potential client for me""

Hope that explains what I said .

incidentally you may want to do some research on Bankruptcy - not because it is an option for you - but rather so you are not frightened in making a poor decision by the consequence.

Information is power and the more you know the less frighted you will be and the more control you have of your situation.

Good luck

[connie]

thanks paul i see what you mean now.

to be honest the word bankruptcy just frightens the life out of me. i'd be scared i lost my home not that we have much equity and lost my job.
i'll keep reading up so i understand everything better. this forum has been a godsend so far.

what kind of paperwork do i need to try and put an iva together. its just so i can get things ready so when i choose the right company i have everything ready to go.
and also would my employer be informed of what i'm doing?
thanks

connie

[MelanieGiles]

The sort of things I ask to see are as follows:-

Wageslips for last three months
Bank statements for last three months
Current Council Tax Bill
Photographic ID - passport or driving licence
Property valuation
Mortgage and secured loan redemption statements
Rental agreements
Car hire-purchase agreements
Current creditor statements
Loan account application forms

This is not an exhaustive list, as there may be specific things in your case which would also need to be produced. A rough estimate of your income and expendiure would also be useful.

Don't be scared about any of this process. IPs are not make to judge but to provide advice and support, and you have now also made some forum friends who will be there for you day and night.

[Reviva UK]

Hi Connie

Please remember one thing - the longer you leave the deliberation of "Should I / Shouldn't I " the longer ot will take to have peace of mind and be debt free.

If you are seriously struggling with your finances i would really encourage you to pick up the phone ( there are 2 great IP's here Malanie & Ian ) and have an informal chat with them.

These would be without any obligation ( don't believe you can offer a friendly service without a NO OBLIGATION chat!!) and you would then have some peace of mind and a plan to review.

better to spend tome thinking about a plan rather than thinking about "do I mae a call".

the other think to consider is that a recommendation has so much mor weight that you relying on the yellow pages to find a company.

Good luck

[connie]

i'm so relieved i found this forum.
you see so many adverts on tv from different companies and you just never know what to think.
since coming on here you've all been so helpful and i've now realised i'm not the only person in this mess which makes it easier to get the help we need. at the time you think nobody is in the same situation as you and i have definately been to embarassed to admit to someone what debts we do actually have. i think its that inner pride thing.
hopefully we'll soon be sorted and fingers crossed if our iva is accepted we'll be debt free while still working age instead of 6 feet under age. we might also be able to save our marriage. argueing over money sure takes its toll.
thanks so much.
i'll keep you posted on how i get on
connie

[MelanieGiles]

A precious relationship is not worth risking over a few debts. Hand the debt problem over to a professional, and start spending quality time with each other again rather than worrying about something out of your control.

Good luck in your search.

[Soulgrowth]

Good luck Connie ... thinking of you, and remember that we are all here to support you, so keep in touch [:)]

Debbie

[TREES57]

Hi Connie just wanted to say hi and you've come to the right place xxxxxx