Re: Advice following termination of IVA

[louisa.s]

Evening all,
I hope you don't mind me posting as it been a good few years since I last posted (sounds like I'm in the confession booth) and this forum was a godsend when we first entered into our iva.

I'll try and give you the brief version of events. Our joint iva commenced in April 2006. In July 2008 we moved home and a month later I found out I was pregnant. Unfortunately our budget was so tight that we had to stop paying our iva to be able to afford essential bits for our baby and with my smp meant that we were also unable to meet the repayments with the intention of restarting when I returned to work effectively adding a year on to our iva. 5 months after our son was born my husband became unemployed and in Jan 2010 a creditors meeting was held, only one creditor voted and our iva was terminated as realistically we were no longer in a situation to meet repayments. Finally in September 2010 we got the termination notice. We then had heard nothing until March when we were contacted by Fairfax Solicitors on behalf of Max Recovery to pursue us for the debt.

My husband now has a job and we have a second child so our budget is still fairly tight and as yet I do not know if I will be able to return to work as childcare for 2 may not be practical.

We have been invited by Fairfax to submit our financial budget and our offer of payment in respect of our debt. My question is what is our best course of action?

[Broke of London]

Hi - it might be a good idea to seek some professional advice as all options are back on the table for you. There are some very good firms at www.iva.com along with client reviews. Congrats on the babies xx

[plasticdaft]

Is the debt at a reduced level?? Have you done anything about the debts since the iva failed? Is bankruptcy an option that you considered to allow a fresh start?

Paul

[MelanieGiles]

You could try another IVA - or enter into an ongoing affordable repayment plan directly with creditors. And there is always bankruptcy, if you have no assets to protect.

Why not take some advice from an insolvency practitioner directly about the options you have available to you, so you can make the right decision for the future. Great to hear you on the forum again by the way!

[louisa.s]

Thanks for your replies.

Plasticdaft - unfortunately nothing was done about the debts after the termination, probably due to the old head in the sand issue that and I suppose because we never received the official notice we were keeping quiet.

So we are back to the drawing board and I keep thinking back to when we first approached GT for advice and we were very much a borderline case for bankruptcy but it certainly might be worth finding out if another IVA would be viable but it certainly wouldn't be through GT again as I really didn't rate them unfortunately.

Bankruptcy is an option as we have no assets to speak of but am concerned as my husband works away alot and has to book accomodation and fill up with a lot of fuel on how bankruptcy would impact that as I am assuming that our current bank account will be no more.

If we were to try and do a repayment plan with our creditors would it be with the ones that have just contacted us or would it be with all of them? I know that sounds daft asking that but I would have thought if the firms really wanted their dosh they would have been in touch by now.

[MelanieGiles]

If you were going to enter into another repayment plan you would need to include all of the creditors Louisa.

[kazzafunk]

Louisa - you can still have a basic bank account if you are BR. I asked the Co-op when I set up my basic account if it would matter if I went BR and they told me no as there is no o/d on the account and no cheque book. It is a cashminder account and you get a debit card. There are other banks that allow you to be a BR but you need to ensure they are not linked to any of your creditors.

[kallis3]

Co-op are very BR friendly and you get a debit card with the basic account. I think Natwest are ok as well.