In effect Bradford and bingley did go bust. Their debt has been nationalised - and sods law, my mortgage is with them, so I can look out come december when my fixed rate ends!! Their savings books have been taken over by Santander. None of its fair, the only little satisfaction I take in the whole m...

Good point skippy, I must admit you do wonder about the motives of some people who keep having babies. I think it fair it should apply to those who concieve a pregnancy from the date of the budget though as those already on their way (either out of love or financial gain) will suffer the most. The s...

Thank-you for the messages about 'not all on benefits are scroungers', its just that I would truly like to be well enough to get on an work, but life has dealt me health problems and now i have to muddle through and hope for to be fixed. I dont think the financial crisis can be blamed wholly on Labo...

My point was that for the past 9-10 years approx there has been a system of child tax credit (which might have also included a contribution towards chilcare costs for some.) Dont forget for those without children, there is also (as was?) the working tax credit when your income level was below roughl...

I agree if the new government is still in place, then a lot of IVA's will fail.

As too will a large number of the day nurseries which opened during the past 10 years on the back of the tax credit system.

I dislike the term benefit scroungers because there are some of us who really need benefit and dont always get the benefit help we need. For those of you who have never applied for DLA, I would like to explain that on renewal my claim for just £17 a week for lower care was initially denied, and it t...

Yesterday I was braced for bad news when the budget was announced, but it seems today the details are slowly emerging, and it doesnt look good. ITV news have just reported that families with incomes of £24,000 will loose child tax credits in 2012, while some other reports on the internet say this wi...

I was worried about this too, but last year, in the end you have to face up to them, and there didnt turn out to be an overpayment in our case at that time (I was convinced there would be)

Hope it all works out for you
x

Since being in our IVA I have found shopping online for my weekly groceries is better for sticking to our budget! I wish I had done this sooner (might not have run up so much debt!!)

I swap between Asda, Tesco and sainsburys - depends who is offering free delivery!!

Hi Just an idea... Try your local community hospital as they tend to have a hospital dentist who deal with terrified children and adults who have special medical problems. You might need a referal from your current dentist, but in some cases may be able to refer your son yourself under the circumsta...

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if its possible to sell your house while in an IVA and buy a smaller one?

I think there may be £20-£25k equity and we would like to buy a smaller place, which would free up income to go back into the IVA etc.

flowerpot

Hi If the course is a higher education (generally uni level) then you may be eligable to claim a grant. There are student finance websites, I live in Wales and the one here is www.studentfinancewales.co.uk, but there are almost identical sites for england and scotland etc. Not to be confused with Fu...

I forgot to mention maybe now and again I will go to home and bargain, iceland, farmfoods, and b&m, but to be honest there is a catch... Dont you find you stock up on a few things you hadnt really needed because they were cheap? I end up spending a few quid here and there on stuff I could have manag...

Hi, I just wanted to share a tip, lots of you probably already do this anyway. Since having an IVA I have been doing my grocery shopping online and have found this to be an excellent way of keeping to a budget, buying what I need for that week only etc. Sometimes there can even be a little left to m...

Thanks Kallis, it helps to know all of the facts. This all really hangs in the balance of what happens with the bank of england base rate. Then, from a health point of view, weather I can get a job I can cope with. My health has had a massive impact on our finaces, when the IVA was accepted, the doc...