long wait and much further in debt

[jen.c]

Hi, my partner and I have been in an IVA for the last 8 months now after a year of waiting for the company Synergie to sort it out (our debt went up by tens of thousands because of this). I think we are about to split up because of, amongst other things, the stress of the whole process.

I feel we would have been much better selling up when we first spoke to a debt counsellor rather than taking their advice and going along the route of an ****** IVA (sorry about that, I'm just about ready to crack!). Now because of the long wait for Synergie to get their arses in gear we are much further in debt and having spoken to them they don't seem to want to help us settle the IVA. I just want out...can you help?

[pixie]

Hi Jen
Can you clarify if you are actually in an IVA or are still waiting for the proposal to be sorted and approved by creditors. Once approved all interest and charges are frozen. One of the experts will be along soon to advise.

[aguise]

Hi Jen and welcome to the forum.
I am so sorry to hear of the trouble you are having. Synergie dont have good reports on this forum and are not in my opinion a typical iva company. They charge upfront fees and then dont appear to do anything, I could guess your iva took ages to set up in the first place which is how the debt crept up.
Dont allow this to cause problems between you and your other half, stand strong together. Your relationship is worth much more than this debt.
I am not a technical expert and wont advise any further than maybe to consider speaking to Paul Johns from Reviva. Contact details are on the experts page. He can I think assist in dealing with them and give you options of what to do from here.
Dont let yourself break over this it can be sorted just get the right info on where to go from here.

Ang

[jen.c]

Hi Pixie, We are in and IVA, it was agreed at creditors meeting towards the end of last year. We have been told that they couldn't give us a final settlement figure, if we were to sell up and pay up, because they've not had agreement from some of the creditors??!! And so this means they can't give a figure!! We can't get through to our IP EVER. Every time we call no one is available/out to lunch/will call back etc etc. Does anyone know how the final figure would be calculated? Would we be paying the total figure of our original debt or a percentage and has anyone else had any similar problems with Synergie? At this point if anyone ever asks if I would recommend an IVA I would VERY strongly advise them against and tell them to either sell up quickly (if situation allows) or go bankrupt.

Just another thing to warn anyone off Synergie is that they may lose your paperwork (which lets face it it takes weeks to get together) which will also add to the ridiculous time it takes them to sort the IVA.

I just wish I'd found this site before going ahead with S. We were so desperate at the time that we just (stupidly) sighed a huge sigh of relief when they took us on and let them take over I feel so stupid now but you can't change the past and just have to get on with the mess of the now and future.

Sorry for the rant but I don't have anyone to talk to about all this because none of our family and friends know we have done an IVA.

Jen.

[MelanieGiles]

It is a shame that your treatment by this firm has tarnished your view about IVAs. IVAs are an excellent way of dealing with unaffordable debt, allowing people to rehabilitate back into the financial world hopefully with more forethought about the sense of borrowing monies which cannot be repaid.

It is not clear from your post whether you are in a contributions bawsed IVA or an asset realisation one (or both!). Are you paying monthly contributions, or was the IVA set up with the intention of you selling your property and making a full and final settlement with creditors?

Can you tell us how you found this company in the first place please?

[jen.c]

Hi Melanie,
I'm sorry I shouldn't tar every IVA with the same brush. I'm sure allot of people have been greatly helped by going into an IVA and value the help their IP has given them.

Our IVA is contribution (that word does make me laugh because it doesn't feel like a contribution it feels more like another mortgage!)based plus we will have to release substantial capital from our property in year 5.

We were referred by the Debt counsellors to Synergie all found through the WWW.

Jen.

[Soulgrowth]

Hi Jen ... I just wanted to say don't give up ... there will be a solution.

Taking a step back from the situation ... what would you like to do at this time? You should have the right to ask for an early settlement figure if you feel that you would like to now sell up and move on, either together or separately. What is your total debt and how much in the £ is your IVA offering? ... and would selling your property realise the same return?

If you really can't get through to Synergie one extreme option would be to default on your payments to them which would essantially make them default your IVA and then appoint another IP to offer a full and final settlement ... this is something that I nearly had to do.

Debbie

[jen.c]

Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the advice it has given me things to think about.

Our debt is around £75,000 (£20,000 more that we started off with because of time wasting Synergie).I think I need to go through our Iva paperwork to give all the answers as to how much in the £ etc because I'm not sure.

Another question I wanted to ask everyone is did you all have a visit from your IP? We were told at the beginning that we would have but it never or should I say they never materialised.
Also did anyone else's Iva take that long and increase their debt substantially? Or are we alone in this? I do know they take longer than expected but I didn't expect a year and the added debt because of this. ( of course Synergie losing our original paperwork didn't help either!)

Jen.

[Soulgrowth]

Hi Jen

I had a face to face meeting with a representative from my IP company but I think that was because I was self-employed. I don't think it is the norm for the bigger companies to arrange face to face meetings. I never met, or even spoke to, my IP directly until things started to go wrong with my IVA, and even then, with complications that arose I only ever spoke to my IP on the phone once.

£20,000 is a lot for your debt to have increased in that time ... the creditors will continue to add interest until the IVA is finalised ... but that does seem a heck of a lot of interest!

Keep us posted Jen.

Debbie

[MelanieGiles]

Yes - I agree those debts should not have increased by that much. And could you confirm whether your property was included in the IVA or not?

[jen.c]

Hi Melanie,

Yes the property as far as I can make out was included in the Iva as we will need to release about £20K from it in year 5.

Jen.

[Adam Davies]

Hi Jen
How much are you paying each month ?
Regards

[MelanieGiles]

In view of the situation regarding the property, your offer of early settlement will also need to take this into account - as creditors may feel that they are better off by continuing to get contributions and then a lump sum from your equity at the end.

[jen.c]

Hi Andy,
We are paying £400 a month.

Hi Melanie,
Does that mean we might not be able to do anything about our situation at the moment?

Jen.

[neil277]

Hi Jen
I would try to be calm and think things through with your partner i would look at the + and - of this situation.

Talk to the experts pehaps BR could be an option this will meen starting from fresh again and building your credit rating from scratch. As for your relationship is it worth spoiling everything just because of debt if you have a normal relationships the both of you will pull through this. I feel BR might be an option due to what going on in England 5 or 6 years is a long time.

Regards.

Neil