Thinking of iva, need advice

[Hyperdrive]

Hi trying to cope. Don`t get too caught up with the figures. Telephone a few IVA providers up and see what they have to say.
I might be wrong but I have a feeling StonyB was referring to repayments on his "old" debts every month rather than his IVA.
35K isn`t a lot of debt compared to ours but the only way to get a feel for the options is by making those calls. Every IVA is "individual" by definition, and at the start of my journey had no idea how we would stand for possible solutions. On here everyone learns through other people`s experiences and I found it such a valuable resource for making a decision on starting my journey.
Well done for diagnosing your situation and being proactive about finding a remedy.
I go on about this quite a lot on the forum, but if your salary/wages are paid into a bank you have debt with, open a new one and get any of your income paid into it instead. I had my business overdrafts pulled without warning as well as our joint personal account as soon as the banks got whiff of our problems. If we hadn`t arranged Mrs H`s BACS salary switch earlier they would have grabbed it [;)]
Good luck and I look forward to reading more of your progress.

[Trying2cope]

Hi hyperdrive,
Thanks for your post. I'm gonna phone around as soon as I get a chance. Long phone calls not easy with little baby. If u get the chance could u (or someone) let me know whether I need to have missed any payments before I can get an iva? I.e. do I need to demonstrate I can't pay before they will consider it? My creditors wouldn't see this coming, they keep offering me higher credit limits but as I said my debt just grows.

[recovering]

I hadnt missed any payments up until I decided to apply for Iva I stopped paying then to build up a contingency

[12 months to go]

Hi Tryingtocope

youve recognised already that you need to do something and well done on this. I was in the same boat before i commenced my IVA; superb credit rating with every man & his dog throwing higher credit limts at me and i was robbing peter to pay paul, or rather robbing Nat West to mbna , barclaycard , hsbc etc etc etc

You obvioulsy have your hands full with your bundle of joy at the moment and i therefore suppose spare time is somehwat of a rarity for you ( understatement )

Perhaps look to open a new bank account now with a bank or build soc you dont use currently, so that should the need arise as in most cases it does, theres no last minute panic to open an account as you will have already done it

some superb advice above and remember to keep posting to both ask any questions you have and to keep us all updated, as by doing this you could also be helping other people in similar situations, who may view the forum but havnt posted yet

[stoneyB]

hyperdrive, you were wrong my payments are over 1k a month, fact i sI pay what i can afford, no more no, less. IVA's work, trust me

[Trying2cope]

Hey stoneyb,
Thanks for replying, I pay out four figures now but that's the problem. Your faith in the process is reassuring, thanks.

This may sound terribly naive but I feel like I'd be so well off if I got my debt repayment down to £300 or so?!I can't imagine having money for clothes that wasn't from a credit card. And poor hubby works every Sunday to pay off debt but now they'd only take half of it and we'd have half for us. Sounds great. Is it all too good to be true?
It is scary to have no credit to fall back on and I imagine that's why it gets hard? Like if the washing machine breaks? My hubby has a share scheme that he pays into directly from his wage. No point doing that cause they'd take half of the payout? So we should cash it in now before we apply and put it away as a contingency?

[lem]

Hi t2c, we were in the position before our iva that we had never missed a payment on our debts but were using credit to fund just normal life which couldn't go on as realistically I felt we would never be in a position to pay any of it off, I too felt going into an iva that the allowances were generous as I think when you end up using credit for normal everyday things and you are meeting your debt repayments, you cut back so hard to try to spend as little as possible that we found our food and household budget for the 4 of us was fairly extravagant as we were used to sending half that amount before the iva.

In reality it's swings and roundabouts, yes I can manage to live on less than some of our allowances, but then we don't have credit to fal back on now when something goes wrong, we don't have family or friends to help us out either so we are now on our own, also we have kids who we don't want to affect through this so as Xmas and birthdays aren't budgeted for in an iva, you have to try to be savvy with your allowances to save a little from them if you can to fund things like Xmas.

But like you, I earn extra each month through unsocial hours and get to keep a proportion of this which eases things somewhat, we don't feel life is a struggle now like it was but things do sometimes get a bit tight, the plus side is I think about what I spend, I don't feel the guilt trip pulling out the credit card to pay for something anymore, I don't dread the post and its a great feeling buying something that we've saved for and knowing its totally paid for in full at that point,

We have had the odd disaster happen, car repairs for one, and my little boy managed to smash a neighbours windscreen by accident last year which we of ourselves had to pay to replace, but we have a great IP who understands the trials and tribulations of real life and this is why you need to choose an ip who you can build a good working relationship with for when things like this crop up, ours had no problem allowing us to reduce our payments for a couple of months to pay for these things and then repay it as we could.

All in all, I would say that at the start we felt that our budget in the iva was fantastic compared to what we had got used to living on beforehand, but like anything, you soon get used to it so the novelty has worn off a bit now!, but although we can't just go out and do what we want, buy what we want anymore, we know we can comfortably manage within our budget and although we don't have credit to fall back on and little saved for a contingency, we have a great IP who we know is very fair and will help us if something crops up

[josu]

Hi there, your situtaion sounds so familiar to me in so many ways. My husband and i were in more debt than you when we started our IVA, i was expecting and we were drowning. WE had a lovely little house but it was and still is in serious netgative equity. We went into our IVA with our eyes shut, we didnt know about this forum and we didnt research companies but it is still the best thing we have ever done. We are now nine payments away from finishing and our negative equity is now a good thing as it means we wont have to extend for another year. We now have two children and we are planning on renting out out little house as soon as we finish the IVA and renting a bigger one like you do. My advice to you is do the IVA, ask Melanie to look at the figures for you she seems by far the best and very understanding. Do it based on your maternity pay which if i am correct is about £500 per month and then what i did was when i started wrking part time i tried to earn a figure around that amount. I felt that i was contributing and it kept my original IVA figures the same. If your IVA is accepted based on your maternity pay there is no reason why you have to go and work full time. Child care is very expensive and your job as a mummy is very important, you dont want to miss those precious years!! Also, even though your house may seem like a burden because it is in negative equity it is still an investment for your little one so we plan to keep hold of ours and keep renting. Doesnt feel like dead money then paying rent as someone is paying rent to us too!!!

[Trying2cope]

Len and josu,
What great replies, thank u both so much for taking the time to help me.
Sad thing is I put ivf on credit cards and now although I'd love more kids I know that's ill not be able to do that again. But the chance of getting to see my baby grow up sounds amazing. My first child is eleven and I worked full time her whole life so far. But now I'm on maternity she loves it. I'm not sure i could stick the guilt of missing my baby grow up and I also can't do the guilt everytime I buy anything anymore. The debt hasn't been created by extravagant living, trust me. We don't drink, smoke, go out or even have hobbies. I buy second hand furniture and am still wearing my maternity clothes because I can't afford new ones!
Everyone is recommending mel. Is going direct to her better than a debt charity like cccs?

[Foggy]

From an IVA point of view CCCS (now StepChange) is no different from a "fee paying company". They charge fees on an IVA on much the same basis. Their charity status is built upon the fact that they do DMP's for "free", but are, in fact, funded by the creditors themselves.

Bear in mind that the larger firms, including the "charities" will never see you as a person, merely a debtor, whereas smaller firms will regard you as an individual in need of assistance. It speaks volumes that the likes of Andy Davie (Vincent Bond, who won't do the IVA themselves, but do the groundwork), Michael Peoples ( McCambridge Duffy) and Mel (Melanie Giles)come on here at all hours, in their own time and devout a lot of energy to assisting those of us who are not even their clients --- They CARE

[Trying2cope]

U make a good point Foggy.
Now this is a controversial question but does anyone think its wise to use credit this month for everything and try to save a bit of wages as contingency? And/or go to the extent of buying lots of baby clothes etc and things we've been doing without recently on credit before setting the iva in motion?
Im an honest person and feel i should pay back all my debt but i have to be realistic and want to set this process up for success.
i also have a solicitor bill for £1000 which i am going to have to take out of a credit card in cash! Will this matter?

[back on track]

it wont make any difference if you have to use credit this month as I suspect that's what you have been doing for a while as your contemplating a iva.i was told to make a token payment while I was looking into iva but that's a waste of time as it don't make a jot of difference if you go down iva route.
save as much money as you can until iva is in force.
you will find it invaluable when you start to live in a iva.

[Trying2cope]

i was gonna carry on my payments as i dont want to be harassed and i want to do lots of research over next week or two before going ahead. Plus dont want them getting wind of my master plan!
They wont start asking questions in the future about the increase in my use of credit? Although to be fair my wage has significantly dropped due to maternity.

[back on track]

that will happen anyway,dont worry about the calls as they will start as soon as they get wind.i cant stress enough that the more you can save the better off you will be at the start of your iva.even little things that go wrong now is more stressfull in an iva simply becourse you cant put it on plastic.when the calls start just tell them that your entering an iva and give them your iva companys number and hang up.if they persist don't answer the security questins at begging of call and they cant go any further.you will get used to it.i changed my phone number just before going into iva and then you don't any calls as they got your old number.

[Trying2cope]

Not looking forward to calls and letters. Hate being in trouble!!
But beggars cant be choosers!
I shall go buy some basics i think.
If anyone has experience of credit card spending being questioned in their iva negotiations then let me know?