Hi all, confused bloke in need of advice.

[MrPC]

Hi Everyone,

So, like everyone else on here, I'm in debt, and I'm after advice. Apart from those that have beaten debt, to those I say a big well done! It seems a nice polite and pleasant forum so I thought I'd register and maybe get some help with my questions[:)]

First off, my debts are £23000. I earn 44.5k a year. I just checked with my bank about a consolidation loan, and over 7 years for £23000 I would be paying back almost £40000.

That doesn't seem like a good solution to me, it would be almost doubling my debt, and consolidation loans are the reason I've never got out of debt in the first place. Well, apart from living a lifestyle I could never afford. I know thats the real problem, and something I deeply regret.

There is a slight twist to this, as I'm resigning from my job in the next month as I hate my location and life. I won't go into this too much, but it's something I've thought about for over 3 years and my decision is not a sudden thing. It's something I need to do, I need to get back to a normal sort of life for my own health as much as anything.

Unfortunately, the way things are, this is probably going to make me unemployed unless something turns up in the next month or two. Also, when I do find a job, I reckon I'm going to have to take a 20k a year pay cut due to the current jobs climate.

As you can see, this is a very confusing situation, as I'm not going to be able to afford my debt repayments and I only just scrape through with my payments now.

The only cash I could raise is probably about 6k if I cash in company shares and my pension, though I was planning on using this to pay rent and household bills until I find a job.

What are my options here? Apply for IVA now? Wait until I move then go bankrupt?

I really have no idea what to do and I just feel horrible all the time with worry.

If you need any further info, please just ask and I look forward to some replies which will hopefully lift this cloud from my mind and let me see with clarity once more. Thats very dramatic, but a bit of drama is never bad[:D]

Thanks for reading,

Paul

[Nick Payne]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place and many people will offer you lots of brilliant advice.

I would recommend you contact a couple of companies and look at the options that they present to you.

Good luck and let us all know how you get on.

[Foggy]

Hi Paul. pop over to www.iva.com and speak to a couple of the companies there. The advice is free and it will be better to get more specific advice than we can offer in open forum with limited information.

On a more general note, if you enter an IVA now and then resign, there is a strong likelyhood it will subsequently fail, as you will find difficulty in keeping up the payments.

BR is a distinct possibility, if you have no assets (house, shares, pension ) to protect. One benefit of BR over an IVA is, once granted, it cannot fail. However, it might have a bigger impact on future employment prospects, depending upon the area in which you are seeking work.

[kallis3]

Excellent advice from above.

Please take some advice from the experts and I am sure they will help you out.

[lem]

Hello and welcome to the forum, I was in a very similar situation to you just over a year ago, on £40k pa but in a job I hated and was making me ill, had spent a couple of years wanting to go back into nursing (my first love) but knowing the pay cut I would have to take plus a 3 month course at uni to do to be able to practice again which would be without any pay and no guaranteed job at the end of it, took me a LONG time to pluck up the courage to make that leap. Along with my hubby we had £50k worth of debt and needed my salary to pay it, but I couldn't carry on and got to the point where I knew I had to change my life otherwise I would end up ill.

So, I quit my job, and started uni, it was during this time that I then approached Melanie Giles about an IVA as I knew that once I completed my uni course, was re registered as a nurse and got a job I would be on a much reduced salary that would mean we still wouldn't be able to meet our committments, to this end it took almost 6 months to get our IVA through, only because of the waiting for me to get a job!

I wouldn't advise you to start the process of an IVA whilst you are still in your job, it may be that once they worked out your I&E that you could meet your minimum payments on your current salary so therefore an IVA wouldn't be viable. You need to make the decision about what you are going to do with your job and then do it, but I would advise you to start looking for another job out there now, you won't be able to get an IVA proposal put together until you are in work and have a salary coming in, regardless of what this salary is, plus it's a tough climate out there at the moment although we don't know what line of work you are in and what you would be looking for.

Good luck and ask all the questions you want. Above all, don't feel guilty about wanting to give up such a well paid job, your health and happiness are far more important than money, I am bringing home half the salary I was last year, and even in the IVA we are still better off each month than we were struggling last year, above all, I'm a much happier person, wife and mother xx

[ginger3232]

MrPC - i cannot add anything to the above advice - Just a welcome to the forum !

[Shining]

A welcome from me too with an assurance that there will be a solution for you and by talking to 2 or 3 compnaies you will ensure case specific impartial advice. All the best and let us know how you get on. x

[MrPC]

Wow, thanks for all the replies, and kind words of encouragement!

I'll have a look at the websites suggested above, and get further advice.

As for bankruptcy, I have no wife or kids, no house and my only real asset is a car worth about 5 grand, plus the pension and shares mentioned above. My job is basically a mechanic, and isn't the sort of job where bankruptcy would be an issue, though I don't know the full ins and outs of it yet.

It makes me sick looking at all the debt I've been in all my working life, when I realise I really don't have a lot to show for it.

I have a question for Lem.

First off, thanks for the reply that makes me realise I can do this and change my life. When you went to Uni and packed in your job, how did you get the banks or whoever off your back? Was it a case of sending a letter explaining your situation to them? And how did they react if this was the case?

Just to add, I've been looking for work in my hometown for years now, but I've been quite picky. Now I'm not so picky, and I just want to get back there with my friends and family. Hence why I'm prepared to take a massive pay cut. Money isn't everything, and I'm fed up of doing the 'I'm unhappy but I've got a well paid job' thing.

Paul

[MelanieGiles]

I know first hand how difficult it can be for some folks to make that decision to leave a well paid job, to return to a lesser paid but more rewarding job. You will have feelings of guilt, and worry - but also optimism at a new start and new future doing something rewarding that you actually enjoy.

Personally, I would write to your creditors and explain that you need to take three months break from making payments due to this change in circumstances, and that you would appreciate their help in not pursuing you during said period. It may not stop them, but at least you have taken charge of the situation and allowed yourself some breathing space. Try and get yourself sorted with new employment as soon as you can - seek professional advice if that helps in the meanwhile about the implications of all of the debt solutions available to you - and put things back into order of priority and perspective for a change.

Others have followed the same journey as you, and I think I can safely speak for Lem in saying that she and her family are much happier now, having travelled a fairly difficult road over the last year or so. We are only on this planet once - and we have to make the best of it all.

[MelanieGiles]

I know first hand how difficult it can be for some folks to make that decision to leave a well paid job, to return to a lesser paid but more rewarding job. You will have feelings of guilt, and worry - but also optimism at a new start and new future doing something rewarding that you actually enjoy.

Personally, I would write to your creditors and explain that you need to take three months break from making payments due to this change in circumstances, and that you would appreciate their help in not pursuing you during said period. It may not stop them, but at least you have taken charge of the situation and allowed yourself some breathing space. Try and get yourself sorted with new employment as soon as you can - seek professional advice if that helps in the meanwhile about the implications of all of the debt solutions available to you - and put things back into order of priority and perspective for a change.

Others have followed the same journey as you, and I think I can safely speak for Lem in saying that she and her family are much happier now, having travelled a fairly difficult road over the last year or so. We are only on this planet once - and we have to make the best of it all.

[MrPC]

Thanks Melanie,I'll start my letter writing today when I awake after night shift.

It's nice to be getting some sort of plan together,it feels kind of good!!

Paul

[luluj]

Mr PC welcome to the forum - good luck in the steps suggested already. There is always some on here ready to share their experience and give you advice ...think your situation through and then make your decisions ... I have a husband who at the minute hates his job but is paid quite well, but hasn't got the motivation to go and do something about it....at least you have recognised that you want to do something and are prepared to make some life changing decisions....good luck and keep us all informed of your decisions.

[Tina Shortland]

Hi MrPC - welcome to the forum. Hope the letter writing goes ok and the creditors give you the space you need to get things sorted. Its a massive decision to redirect your life and sometimes the step back can give you a much more positive step forward.

When you speak to a couple of companies you can gove an income and expenditure review but seeing as you don't know your income now at least you can work backwards and see what kind of income you would need to earn to generate the disposable income you are looking for - this will then point you in the direction of the types of salary levels you need to be looking at. You can also discuss all the options to see what is the best way forward for you taking everything into account.

Its a scary step but you have lots of great support on here and advise to help you.

Regards,

[lem]

hi Paul

well, when I was at uni, we were still making payments and managing to meet our minimums, I had spent the last 3 months whilst I was in my previous job, putting money aside to get me through the 3 months at uni and enable us to meet out committments.

What went wrong for us was it was while I was at uni, in fact the first week where we were told that due to uni taking so long to verify everything on successful completion, it would be March before we could practice, whereas the course ended in Dec and we had all presumed we would be able to get a job straight away in the december. This meant there was an additional 3 months that I had not accounted for and would not have enough income to sustain our minimum payments.

So during November, I fortunately was offered a job where I had my uni placement, but I of course wouldn't be able to start it until March, with that hurdle over, I then had to start figuring out what to do about our debts. I thought about a DMP and discussed this with my husband, I even approached CCCS about setting one up but it would take 21 years to pay off, so I googled IVA and found this site, read a few of the reviews and spoke to Tina (who has posted above) first on behalf of Mel, Tina was an absolute godsend, totally non pressurising and after spending over an hour blubbering on the phone to her, she left us with the decision in our hands.

We took a few days to think about things as it seemed such a massive step and I was terrified about what would happen, but we called back and said we wanted to go ahead. It was Tina and Mel who both advised us to stop payments to our creditors, up to this point, we had never missed a payment or even paid a reduced payment so the though of this terrified me, I had visions of bailiffs turning up etc etc, but with their reassurance, we took those tentative steps and failed to make any payments in December last year and each subsequent month after that until our IVA was approved in May.

I didn't write to our creditors, Mel told me that it wouldn't probably make any difference anyway, only to make me feel better, but I thought hey, why waste money on postage if it's not going to help? so I didn't bother. But we did get endless calls and letters, We obviously endured 6 months of this at times we would be thick skinned and it wouldn't get to me, but then every so often I would panic again, with the help of Mel, Tina (who even let me call her on weekends and evenings when I was upset over a creditors threats) and the kind people on here, we got through this hard time, I don't know how I would have got through it without everyone.

So, I can honestly say as Mel has stated already, both myself and my hubby are so much more settled and happy now, I made a life changing decision last year to change my job, and we made a further one with the IVA, so it was tough, but I have absolutely no regrets about it, my only regret is that we didn't do it sooner, with hindsight it's easy to say that I guess.

[Gina.gu]

Hiya, a bit back I was in the position of deciding if I should petition for br . I gained a lot of support on this site from jan and skippy and everyone else. Kept me sane really. I can't add anything apart from what's been said , just don't rush into a decision. Mull things over and remember your health comes first you can get another job. If you leave your job and are unemployed before when you decide to go forward with things I think br would be an option as you would have no funds for an iva. If you gain employment before you move things on you would have both options that's what I was told during my time of uncertainity and redundancy threats. Get some professional advce so you have some support and help. This site is great for that too. Saved me a lot of stress and anxiety. Take care