Hi . . got a phone call coming in a minute

[Debtwitch]

Hi Kazza

Welcome to the forum.

There's alot of information needed to establish what options you have available to you - be prepared to go through a little more pain to feel the gain!

It's difficult to say whether or not your circumstances are more suitable for a DMP or an IVA without knowing more detail. Your circumstances are particular to you and care has to be given in consideration of this and of your ultimate aim to ensure appropriate advice is given to you.

An IVA to settle liabilities of £39k may be unlikely to be supported on £150pcm only, but it may be that increased contributions are possible, maybe other sums can be introduced to an arrangement. Looking at a DMP, £39k @ £150pcm would take 260 months - over 21 years - to repay, even if creditors agreed not to add interest or charges and no fees were paid.

Bankruptcy could be the solution for you, but much more information is needed to consider your options. Ask Payplan about these 3 things - or any other solutions they can suggest. You could always then try another firm or post findings here.

Please try not to worry. Nobody intends to get to a point where they need to consider insolvency options, but ultimately, you can draw a line under it and move on.

Keep posting here - you'll always get someone helpful to respond.

[kallis3]

If the phone call is the same as the one we had from Payplan, they will go through everything anyway and leave you to make the decision as to which way you want to go.

[animaleyes76]

You can be discharged from BR within a year usually but it remains on your credit file for 6 years (as does an IVA) Good luck

[ivas4us]

I would certainly try and speak to some other companies and see who can come up with the best solution for you. It may well be that what Payplan have said to you is as good as you can get but it will be well worth finding out. I used ClearDebt and was looked after very well. BR may well be option but it is worth exploring all avenues first.

[Kazza07]

If you are made BR what happens to you mortgage? For example we have a mortgage of £135000 our house is worth about £115000, what happens to the £20000 that would still be owing on the mortgage

[kallis3]

I agree that you should give one or two other companies a ring to make sure you get the best deal.

As far as BR goes, if your house is in negative equity, then you should be ok. Check on Parkers guide to see how much your car is worth - it could be that there won't be a problem with that either.

[Kazza07]

thanks guys. I've got to try and give my brain a rest from this for bit (if thats possible). Will keep you posted

[kallis3]

Good idea - have a fresh look at things tomorrow.

Any questions, you know where we are.

[mike.s]

Hi Kazza,
definately take a deep breath and try to calm down for tonight. You have lots of things swimming around in your head and I know it all seems hard to take in at the moment, but you have already taken a huge step in trying to sort out your debt problems and this is always the hardest step of all. Talk to other professionals before you do anything, I can only speak from my own personal point of view but Melanie Giles and her team are well worth giving a call. Try not to worry too much about the calls and letters, think about the boot on the other foot if someone owed you money and they stopped paying wouldn't you give them a call? You are now trying to sort out your debt and your creditors will be glad of that, they will want to help, or rather get as much of their money back as possible, but your head is now out of the sand and you are trying to do something about it. Eveyones debt and circumstances are different and the solution to that light at the end of the tunnel will also be different for everyone, but there will be a solution for you. You do need help and advice and as I say you will be in safe hands with Melanie, but whatever path you choose you will get sorted, it may be a long and rockey road, but you will get there so try to be positive. Keep posting and the very best of luck.
Best wishes
Mike

[MelanieGiles]

It seems that some strange things were discussed with you this evening. Northern Rock do not have a policy of pursuing charging orders willy nilly - but that is an option available to all creditors in any case.

There are a lot of myths floating around, and I do not concur with the advice you were given about the car HP. So what if it was only taken out 5 months ago - at least you have now got a reliable car which will last the 5 years of an IVA. Why not see if you can have a chat with one of the IPs at Payplan to discuss your options further.

And as other posters have mentioned, I believe that Cleardebt will consider IVAs for as little as £140 per month, so they could also be worth a call.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
I agree with Mel in that a reasonable car on HP can actually be more cost effective than a cheap runaround. How long does your car HP run for ? the low dividend, based on your DI, can be increased by adding the HP payments to your IVA payments once the car payments have finished.
Speak to several more companies/experts for a second opinion
Regards

[Kazza07]

Thanks for your kind and helpful replies

Melanie - Would you recommend that we try to carry on paying northern rock something (can't really afford the normal payment) to keep them "sweet". Northern Rock do seem to have some bad press about and I'm worried about this particular creditor.

[kallis3]

You should normally pay all creditors pro rata, and not favour any of them.

How much of your debt do NR hold?

[Kazza07]

Well we have £39000 of debt of which £26000 is with NR

[kallis3]

So they own a good proportion of the debt.

You may find that they will just ask for a further twelve months on the IVA. It doesn't normally make any difference whether you make token payments or not, but of course it's up to you.

When Payplan phone back, as them about it. In them meantime though, give another couple of companies a call to see what they say.