nobody will question you on your credit card spending.
in your iva proposal there will be a section to explain your current predicament and you will get help with this from your iva company.i was not behind with any of my payments before I started the iva process so don't fret for one minuite that you will be in trouble,trust me its the best thing you could do in sorting out your debt problems.if you have thought it through get a couple iva company to go through things with you(mel giles is a good starting point)and get things rolling.save all you can as it does not matter once you start the ball rolling.best thing I ever did.
cc received 6th January 2014 now upwards and onwards
Mel must be sending u all Christmas cards! Def comes highly recommended. Are you all mel??!! Lol.
Back on track, thank you. Do you live well on IVA? no major holidays i appreciate but you can buy the things you need/want? As in clothes, odd meal out etc? were you able to save any money each month? Our car is old and def wont last 5 years.
Your pre-IVA scenario, paying thoasands each month simply in interest, is similar to our situation, and I expect common. We came to the point where we couldn`t manage the minimum payments so you go into defaults and then we realised the game was up. Getting the IVA has been a godsend. Our outlook on life is so different now for the positive.
When we chose a company at the beginning of the process we stopped all payments to our creditors. When they rang for money I simply said I had none. They`d be quite persistent in trying to get anything they could, even small amounts, but I said it wasn`t possible. I`d simply give them the name of my IP, our case reference number and officer and put the phone down if necessary. Eventually all the calls stopped.
During this time -between preparing the IVA application and the date it is approved- any payments we could have made we put into a contingency fund for use during the IVA, eg new washer or boiler etc. This practice is accepted in the process and indeed advised depending on who you`re with.
Thanks hyperdrive, sounds good. We pay £1400 a month so even one missed payment on each would be a good pot to have. Theres just so many questions this forum is very helpful.
no I cant afford major holidays but we do live a comfortasble life and have no worrys over bills as they are allowed for evey month.im not saying its easy as things can crop up but its a hell of lot easier in an iva than trying to juggle the debts.im with payplan and have nothing but praise for them as far as im concerned.all you have to do is make sure your I@e sheet is right for you.put down every last item that needs to be put down(even the things you don't think are important)get this bit right and your set up for things to go smoothly.im nearing the end now and am looking forward to completing so its easy for me to say these things but I was where you are now once and it is possible to dig yourself out of the debt mire and then start again.good luck and hope you have a good a ride as I have had.
cc received 6th January 2014 now upwards and onwards
Definitley use your credit and make sure you have what you need just dont go too mad cos as you say they may look unfavourably at that. If you can bring yourself to do it, stop paying now. It wont make any difference to your IVA and as you say, that money will make all the difference to you. That was the bit i found hard as like you, i had never missed any payments. Change your numbers if you have to, or unplug the phone. Dont get into conversation with them if you do answer just tell them you are entering into an IVA and they will be contacted shortly and then hang up if you have to. They will try to get you to make a 'token' payment. Dont do it and dont worry if they threaten courts or bailiffs they wont do it. Definitely go direct to Mel, the charities have so many people to deal with you dont get the same service. Im not with Mel but really wish i was. As for the IVF on credit cards, i would have done the same!!!!. We were paying 1100 a month and reduced it to £325. Sounds amazing doesnt it? Dont get me wrong it is but we dont have spare money, holidays e.t.c and we will be glad when its over!
p.s We havent been able to save as all spare monies have to be paid in but if you had a problem you can apply for a payment break and the IVA will allow for everything you need. If you stop paying your debts now before the IVA is set up and save 1400 as you say it might be worth updating your car now, even using a little credit as during the IVA we havent been able to get a new car and ours is 12 years old!!! Thats the first thing we are going to do!!!
My credit was costing me £1,400 per month my Iva is starting at 400 and will reduce to 269 for a while when my salary reduces in August - it will rise again when payments stop but it is manageable at this level and was a relief - I was paying that out on 2 credit cards that were at their limit and therefore payments I couldn't reduce by using the cards. Not proud of any of this but it has made life easier and I feel in control at last.
I know I am a good person, I just need to start believing it
Hi, this is a great post to read for someone considering an iva, my f&f iva was accepted on 28th feb this year.
The same month as I first ever contacted my iva company, I had to do balance transfers on a couple of credit cards mainly because I couldnt afford the monthly payment so transferring the balance when the payments were due meant I didn, t need to pay them that month, I was also using credit up to the day I spoke to the iva company. I'd never missed any payments before but stopped them, I didnt even offer any token payments, it was scarey but I wrote to them advising I
was in financial difficulty and asked them to freeze my account from all charges for 30 days whilst I seek financial help, a few of them wrote back freezing the account and out of 6 different creditors the only one that telephoned me was mbna and I just said I could remember the answers to the security questions, so the advisor couldnt talk to me. I then wrote to them all again about 2-3 weeks later giving them details of my ip and authorisation for them to deal with my account, in total it took about two and half months from set up to creditors meeting and the only call was mbna although we did recieve some letters but I think they were standard. I really do feel that if I hadnt of wrote to them, then they wojld of hounded me by telephone, unless I was just lucky! Good luck in whatever you choose xx
Last edited by dlovesg on Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
hi dlovesg,
can i ask, were you able to save all the money you didnt pay in debt repayments in that two and a half months or did that money have to handed over?
We stopped paying our creditors just after our first phone all in the December and our iva meeting didn't happen until may, so we had 6momths of no payments to creditors and 6 months of savings for a contingency, we didn't have to pay any of this into the iva
font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by Trying2cope
hi dlovesg,
can i ask, were you able to save all the money you didnt pay in debt repayments in that two and a half months or did that money have to handed over?
Hi, we managed to save it although most of it has now been spent on the car tax, car servicing and our toilet broke etc, even though we did a f & f we are paying the money back monthy to family, we do manage to save but this is mainly for car tax, ground rent and MOT'S etc as they are annually, I have got to admit so far its the best thing we did as the stress I used to get when a bill came through the letterbox was unbelievable and it did put a strain on us as a family. Xx
The iva budget planners I have looked at have sections for car tax etc and even contingency in expenditure. Is it the case that u just aren't allowed all these things or was it a case putting zero to make the iva proposal acceptable?
You do need to factor these things into you I&E as the reality is you are going to need it. There is little point putting zero in just to get the IVA accepted as you will struggle when you need to pay your car tax or something breaks down. Make the budget doable from the start and you are more likely to survive it. Things like haircuts, school meals, dental and optical care, clothing can also be budgeted for.
