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Hi, my wife and I have racked up approximately £70k (£40k & £30k respectively)in debt consistion of loans ,cards and overdrafts.
Our home is worth aprox £135k with on outstanding mortgage of £111k which is a "one account" with Nat West. We both work full time for a Council.

My questions really are:- where to start? Can you do a joint IVA? and how will the house be affected? I've browsed the forums on here and I'm at information overload! I feel better for reading other peoples experiences and I'm determined to start to climb out of this hole. Can anyone recommend an IP in the merseyside are I can talk to??

thanks for taking the time to read this .

Hi and welcome

You will need to work out what you need to live on, include essential debts ie gas/mortgage food etc, exclude unecured debts, ie loans credit cards etc. A no frills budget that is realistically affordable. (5 years is a long time on a budget) If you have more than around 300 (this may be higher given a 70K debt)left over an IVA might be your way forward. Some creditors require a higher return than others, there is usually an equity release clause in the final year. I have no experience of joint IVA myself but my belief is that they are 'individual' but 'dependant' on each other for success.
You could phone several IVA companies, areas are not important, just to check this out. Please do not go with the first sympathetic ear who offers you a way out, shop around and check out this site for good and bad experiences. Dont be ashamed, IVA companies will earn from it and should be working for/with you. There are several other things you will need to do, if you have debts with your current bank you will need to open a basic account without credit/overdraft facilities attached, with a bank that is neither a creditor or an associate of a creditor.

It is a stressful time so make sure you take time to make the right decisions, people on this forum, will not only offer advice, answer questions but offer support on the way. You are already on the right track in trying to address your debt problem. I am not an expert, just another person in debt.

Good luck and please keep posting.

LILY

Hi grazmo

You and your wife will need to propose individual voluntary arrangements, but they will be "mutual and interlocking" in that you will offer one joint contribution per month (and perhaps an equity release at some stage as well), and all creditors regardless of whether they are yours, your wife's or joint creditors will receive an equal return.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Grazmo, I am not an expert. All the above is good advice. I will add however,make 100% sure you can live on an IVA for 60 months. It's a long period of time that you must survive on. DO NOT allow the IP to jig the figures to were you can't afford the IVA. The IVA will fail and you will be petitioning for bankruptcy.

Be honest and stand your ground because at the end of the day YOU and your family have to succeed. An IVA requires the co-operation of the whole family.

An IVA is a serious undertaking my friend-in-debt.

All I have left is my humour.

Thanks for the honest, feet on the ground advice, particularly from DebtDummy. Just in the process of compiling a list of IP's to contact and getting together the financial information. We are both agreed and 100% comitted to making this work. I'll keep you upto date with our progress.
Thanks again

Hi Graham

Information overload can be one of the problems when you are trying to get to the best solution for resolving your debt. I suggest that you speak to 2-3 different debt advisory companies. I do not know anyone I can recommend in the Merseyside area but look at some of the web sites of the experts on this forum. Choose 2-3 companies and then call them (I know this is going to be hard - it always is). Go through your situation with them and then work with the one you feel most comfortable with.

James Falla

Expert in IVA, Bankruptcy and informal Debt Management solutions, with extensive experience of solving personal debt problems over the past 10 years. I am regularly featured on BBC News, Finance Programs and Radio.

Visit my blog at: http://jamesfalla.blogs.iva.co.uk

Great advice from debtdummy.......this is the area that will result in a succesful IVA or not.Yes you can jig figures to get the IVA approved but is simply pointless if you cannot "live" for five years on the disposible income left over.Your IVA will fail and all the money that you manage to pay in will ,more than likely,go to the IP and zero to your creditors.

This is absolutely essential advice from neverending - and is particularly apt as this person is living through an IVA at present. A lot of creditors at the moment are forcing clients into unmanageable IVA's with nonsensical uplifts on expenditure. If this happens to you, be brave enough to say enough is enough.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Well its been a while, and we're 9 months into our IVA with Accuma. After all of the advice and a lot of soulsearching and belt tightening we're not doing too bad financially. to any one else out there in a similar position, you've taken the first step in the right direction to sorting out your mess. Good luck and be HONEST with yourself!

blimey, didnt even recognise my old self.

Good news grahamkn, I am so glad you got sorted, must be good for stressed out newcomers to see the light in this post.

lily