Is the best thing to take an IVA?

[sc_g]

I have £42,000 approx debt between my wife and I. She has just lost her job, and i am employed, she has interviews and hopefully wil be back in work soon. To make matters worse we have seperated but are coohabiting with our 4 year old son.
Is the best thing to take an IVA.. Do you Ip practitioners rule you with a rod of iron in regards how much money you should live on, and what repayments are generally accepted.
Another factor is - we own half our house bought it at £180, and now is worth about £200,000 - 225,000. We are getting it re valued next week as a option to sell the house and use any profit to pay off the loans...but it would leave me temperarily homeless and looking to rent at london rental prices. She would have to live with her parents, or at another house they own.
Am i kidding myself that by getting rid of the debt by selling the house is a valid option. I have been told by clearstart that i could take an IVA to settle my debt, as she cannot get an IVA because she is unemployed.

Our debts are as follows:
Natwest joint personal loan - £approx £23k - if paid - £32k approx over 7 years, 5 and half lyears left.
Wifes crdet card - 3K APPROX
My cred card Natwest visa - £3800
my egg card (her names is on it) - £8600
CIT Dell finance - £480
Student loan - £940 LEFT
My overdraft limit £1500
he over draft limit £500
Her Mothercare card - ?£600
My Ikea card - £200 approx
My Debenams card - £200 approx
My Monsoon card - £180

My income is £1200 a month plus commission.
Her income is normally £1400 basic salary

[MelanieGiles]

Hi scg and welcome to the forum

First of all the majority of insolvency practitioners will want to ensure that you are paying a fair, but affordable, monthly payment to your creditors.

From my perspective, as a practising IP, there is absolutely no point in leaving a client with a lifestyle of purgatory, as there is then a risk that you will get fed up of the IVA and it will fail. So you will need to carefully calculate your disposable income (your IP will help with this) to find out a realistic and affordable level to offer to creditors, leaving you with sufficient money each month to maintain a modest lifestyle with some provision for unforseen contingencies such as house and car maintenance, medical expenses and miscellaneous expenditure.

How much equity do you have in your house, after taking account of the outstanding mortgage? It is definately possible for you and your wife to propose IVAs based upon an offer of settlement from equity raised in your property - she absolutely does not need to be employed to make that form of offer, as you will not be required to then make ongoing monthly payments. Perhaps your current advisor has not looked at the complete picture?

Please post more details as to the equity available from a potential sale, and I can advise further.



Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk