www.iva.co.uk

Hi All,

I'm a newbie but remembered the forum from last year when first considering an IVA.

Any advice on offer would be greatly appreciated. Getting hold of your local CAB is almost impossible!

My IP has advised me to speak to Northern Rock and to transfer my unsecured homeowners loan into a secured one.

In total I have about £55,000 of unsecured debt. The bulk of unsecured debt is £30,000 with Northern Rock.

The IP has told me that Northern Rock would in their view not accept an IVA proposal and should therefore be excluded from the arrangement.

Does this sound like sound advise? It's going to be tough enough to live frugally for five years just to come out of the IVA and still be paying off Northern Rock for another 20 years.

Other considerations are that:
The mortgage is with Northern Rock for £150,000. The property is worth only £140,000
The property is lived in by my father who pays me rent to cover the cost of the mortgage.
For reasons of previous employment I now househare in Swindon, but commute to West London. The travel costs are £600 per month.

I'm not even 100% sure if an IVA is best option or if bankruptcy should be considered.

Many Thanks,

Hi Mike and a warm welcome to the forum.

In a nutshell no, as you woul dbe preferring NR over your other creditors. Northern Rock do actually accept a lot of IVA proposals these days, and it may be sensible to get a second opinion from another IP just to see an alternative view. Out of twenty or so proposals I have sent to NR lately, only one has been rejected, but it does depend upon circumstnaces and you may have to be prepared to pay for six years rather than five.