I have to say, some of you ladies and gents are pretty b***** inspiring!!
I've spent the afternoon writing my letters so I'll get them posted in the morning. I asked the bank if they would accept £1000 to settle a loan as I'm almost in the last year of a 7 year agreement and I've never missed a payment. My settlement figure is £7000 though, so I don't think they'll go for it. You have to ask I suppose, or you'll never know. It's my biggest monthly outgoing apart from rent. £383 a month I've been forking out on that alone. Scary stuff.
Tomorrow I'm going to find out what my company shares are worth and get a removals quote, so I can have an idea of how much I'm going to need to actually move and pay a few months rent etc, and also work out how much I can save between now and then. I'll also ring a few IVA companies for advice.
So, it seems my best solution is to keep looking for work, but resign anyway. Then once I'm back down home I can adjust to whatever circumstances I find myself in and react to it from there.
For the first time in ages I actually feel pretty excited, I'm crapping myself, but very excited. I feel like I'm letting people down at work, someone is going to get shafted for my Xmas shifts and their shifts will go haywire to cover mine too. It can't be helped though.
This is turning into my own personal blog, so for that I apologise haha!
The site is self censoring most of the time - there are some things it does which can be a bit silly!!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
As long as you are happy the rest will follow and you will make the right decisions for you. We had an iva couldn't afford the repayments and all the secured debt and the mortgage .we were working 9 till 10pm between us like ships in the night. We gave our house back to the mortgage company. Went for br after a lot of chatting and thinkng on here and between us.! We got turned away for br as we had too much in spare cash after income and expenditure. We were advised to try 4 another iva which we got at a lower divided and with affordable payments. We are renting but looking to move on soon and buy again as we have decided to take the money for a settlement to end the iva early from family. . We did 3 years in the last iva and are 4 months into this iva. So yep, I know all about being happy and having to work in a job you aren't happy in . The stress of too many debts and unhappiness can make you ill. Do what's best for you Giving up the house was hard but so glad we did now. The relief was massive. Hope it all works out. Well done for writing the letters. That's the hard part.
Paul you are sounding so much more positive which is great! the trouble with being debt ridden is you feel that it completely removes your freedom and the choices you have in life, although noone knew about our debts, people commented on how brave I was changing my career last year, but I guess I just got to the point where I thought life was becoming unbearable and I couldn't go on.
I am now a great believer in grabbing opportunities and not letting anything hold you back, it's definitely a good idea if you are planning this in a few months time to try and save as much as you can to try and tide you over, but don't let the debt hold you back anymore, life really is too short
Yeah you're totally right. I'm nearly 35, and I'm not messing about being a bag of nerves and worry just because I've made some silly money decisions in the past. My debt has always been a sort of dirty little secret, I'm always pretending I'm financially secure when I speak to people when inside I'm crumbling.
Its time to face reality and do something about it, and in the process of sorting my debts out, I'm getting the benefit of moving back home after almost 17 years away. It's been my dream since the day I left, but debt has always stopped me doing what my heart desires.
Gina:
Your situation is a real inspiration to me, and thanks for taking the time to share it. I really like your attitude to life, and your outlook is so positive. Just from those two things I can learn a lot, and in 6 months time maybe I'll be saying similar things to some poor soul who joins these forums;-)
Paul, no worries. It was the forum that saw me through my tough times on here so its nice to be able to help someone else I had high and lows. You just have to try and keep a sense of humour. No one needs to know. Its your business. I remember ending the last iva or it was failed actually for many reasons, but mainly lack of cash..thinking about your question about creditors hassling you if you stop paying , We took advice from an expert to tell creditors we were applying for br. They were ok about it and just asked to be kept in the loop. That went on for two months really and then we didn't get it in the end anyway. The creditors were then told we were going into an iva and who with and they were fine. Just so you know if you decide to do br that you will get a chance to breathe and sort it out. Same goes if you get another job and go for an iva. Just keep them informed until you no longer have to and either your ip takes over or you enter into br. Having said that we still get the odd demands for payment and we send them on to our ip but they should dry up soon. Glad you are feeling more positive and happier. like u say u get one life. Live it sure it will all be ok.
When I left the RAF I took a 40% paycut which I knew would ultimately push us into insolvency.
And as for consolidation loans,we had one,then used the cards we had consolidated,so got another loan,then when we got desperate and went into our bank to say "help" we were offered ANOTHER LOAN!!!!!
They dont work unless you change what you are doing with your spending and that trip to the bank was enough to force our heads out the sand!!
Paul
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
Yep. That's how we ended up oin an iva in the first place. Our business failed ,job hours were cut, a sick newborn baby and mortgage went up. We were offered loan after loan and took out loans to pay loans off. Used cards to pay cards off. Robbing peter to pay paul I suppose. At least I have learned how to budget now and hope that stays with me forever. They say mistakes aren't all bad if you learn from them......
Yeah I've had a bout 4 consolidation loans over the years, I've no idea how going into the bank with money problems always seemed to end up with me getting in more debt? I guess I should have realised but when the bank throws money at you it seems like a quick fix simply because your monthly outgoings reduce. My last one was for £27000 and that was the equivalent of a small mortgage at the time. Thats not great financial advice, and it's still my largest none household outgoing.
But at the end of the day, if you don't budget and live a life you can't afford you get yourself into trouble and I know it was all my own fault. Thats it for me, no more credit.
Paul: I was in the RAF too, I'd like to know what you did and where you were posted etc, however the internet is a shady place for personal stuff so drop me an email if you fancy. Also, do you think the RAF 'lifestyle' contributed to your money issues?
I think Op Telic(gulf) added to our money troubles as I was out of pocket due to an increase in childcare costs back home as the wife was a student at the time!!!
I think the fact that creditors love the forces and throw money hand over fist at you,added to that the cheap housing meant plenty money to blow on whatever you wanted!!
I was an armourer by the way.
Paul
Discharged today the 8th feb 2012. View is much brighter now.
Continuing to rebuild our credit worthiness.
I had high and lows. You just have to try and keep a sense of humour. No one needs to know. Its your business. I remember ending the last iva or it was failed actually for many reasons, but mainly lack of cash..thinking about your question about creditors hassling you if you stop paying , We took advice from an expert to tell creditors we were applying for br. They were ok about it and just asked to be kept in the loop. That went on for two months really and then we didn't get it in the end anyway. The creditors were then told we were going into an iva and who with and they were fine. Just so you know if you decide to do br that you will get a chance to breathe and sort it out. Same goes if you get another job and go for an iva. Just keep them informed until you no longer have to and either your ip takes over or you enter into br. Having said that we still get the odd demands for payment and we send them on to our ip but they should dry up soon. Glad you are feeling more positive and happier. like u say u get one life. Live it 
