I would like to see lenders go into the same level of detail as IPs when going through what a borrowers disposable income truly is.

There needs to be an increased level of responsibility on both parts in order to reduce the level of unsustainable debt in this country.

Will do Ang, thanks

First and foremost I would speak to your IP about your concerns, he will be able to advise you best. As far as I know, a creditor (or debt agency) will only go down a CCJ route as a last resort - If you are making some form of payment, then what will probably happen is that will hound you for more m...

This is turning into a sort of blog :) Perhpas I'll start one. Anyway, having given the matter a lot of thought (not that I have thought about much else!) I have decided I am going to do a DMP for a period of 3-4 months. Then moving onto an IVA after that time. The reason for doing this is two-fold....

Firstly a Baliff would not even be involved until a CCJ was issued assuming you are talking about unsecured loans. Companies cannot just send the baliffs round when they feel like it. What they can do is send people round to collect monies in person, but you have no obligation to let them in, or eve...

Smile account is all sorted now, it's up and running and I can log into it.

More questions.... Doing some quick maths. Hypothetically under an IVA, I pay £300 per month for 60 months, making a total figure of £18,000. Take off 35% if I go with someone like Melanie rather than the CCCS or such like, which gives £11,700 for creditors - A return of approx 38p in the pound. Doe...

Right, it loks like, fingers crossed, the Smile account is all going through ok. Have a messge that they are offering me the account and they just have some final checks to go through, but not to worry as they are basically formalities. Once I have this account set up I'll change my details with wor...

Melanie, Basically, yes. The fees for an IVA were and initial £2500, (included in the IVA payments) plus 10% per month - Which, if you assume £300 per month throughout the life of the IVA equates to £360 a year. I do no know the name of the IVA comapny, although it is owned by the CCCS apparantly - ...

Ang, To be honest it is nice to have the sort of brain ache thinking about solutions, rather than having brain ache thinking about the problem :) I feel so much better for having started to take some positive action, and being pro-active rather than reactive. Obviously the support here helps immensl...

Hi Tracy, Yes, I had thought this could be a problem. As you say, if creditors do not freeze the interest, then the debt isn't being cleared. However, I guess I will not know whether they will freeze the interest on a DMP until I enter a DMP - But of a catch 22 really. Of course, as far as I underst...

Hi Ang, Yup - Lots to think about! More questions.. If, when in a DMP, a creditor decides to go for a CCJ, preumsably they have to weigh up whether they are going to get more out of me through the courts than I am offering. Now, assuming I have been genuine with my figures, and tried to be fair to t...

Ok - so, just had a long chat with a guy from the CCCS. He agreed with my numbers, of having around £300 available for creditors. He gave me the pros and cons of DMPs and IVAs (to be honest what with the amount of reading I have done on both, there wasn't much I didn't already know ;) ). He didn't h...

An IVA is a binding agreement between debtor and creditors with a defined repayment scheme and final settlement figure. Interest is frozen. A DMP is an informal agreement that either party can drop out of at any time, there is no settlement figure as such, you pay until the debts are repaid, interes...

Many thanks for all the replies. Obviously I will take onboard as much advice as I can before coming to any sort of decision. With regards to evidence of reciepts. I do not have reciepts of payment. What I do have is evidence on bank statements of a transfer of monies from my account to my ex's acco...