www.iva.co.uk

Hello,

I need advice on wheather i should apply for an IVA or not.

I''m married with a mortgage and got a baby on the way and am really struggling to meet all my bills each month (i haven''t missed any payments yet). With the baby comming and overtime being stopped from work i can''t see how i can manage my payments for the comming months.

I owe the following:

£13,000 Bank Loan Halifax (235 a month - ends in 3.5 years)

£4,250 Bank Credit Card Lloydstsb (£85 a month minimum papyment - I CAN NEVER PAY ABOVE THE MINIMUM SO BALANCE DOESN''T GO DOWN)

£1,500 Bank Overdraft Lloydstsb (£20 a month for overdraft-i have been this much overdrawn for 5 years)

£500 over credit card (£40 a month)

I owe a total of about £20,000 and pay out about £375. (excluding mortgage and other bills) My wife and i don''t earn enough to pay all our bills unless i work overtime which has now been stopped for at least a year.

(we actually have another loan of £20,000 which my mother in law got for us to buy our house but this is in her name so i presume that nothing can be done about this-this is £280 a month) (ALOT OF DEBT, I KNOW-HOW HAVE I GOT IN THIS???)

Sorry for all the info but i have a few questions if anyone can help:

1) My mortage is due for renewal in 10 months, how would an iva affect this as we don''t want to lose our house?Would we ever be able to get a good deal mortage in the future?

2)Would i qualify for an IVA, could my payments be reduced by much?

3)Can you recommend the best IVA Company to use?

4)If i get the opurtunity to work overtime in work and i''m in an iva will my increase in wages have to be paid off the IVA.

5)Would an IVA for me still be for 5 years even though my largest loan (£235 a month) is due to finish in 3.5 years.

I am really worring at the moment what to do.

Thanks for your time and help

Michael

Hello and welcome.

There are lots of questions in there which ultimately you will need to take specialist help on, but can you let us know how much equity, if any, do you have in your property? The picture may be a little clearer then.

Regards.

I am sorry that I cannot recommend an IVA company, as I am an insolvency practitioner and not allowed to advertise on the site - but you can find a list of reviews on all practising insolvency practitioners on www.iva.com.

Whether you are suitable for an IVA, or indeed whether one is appropriate for you, is probably better discussed with an insolvency practitioner who will be able to take time to understand your current financial difficulties and appraise accordingly - delievering the full range of financial solutions available to you.

Your mother-in-law will be a creditor in her own right, but will have to rank side by side with your other creditors for dividend purposes, and could even be asked to step aside and wait until the end of the IVA to start to be repaid. If this would cause her financial hardship, presuming that she would struggle to maintain her loan repayments without your regular contributions which would not be allowed under an IVA, then this is a point for serious consideration given the size of her debt. It is always dangerous to take out loans for other people I am afraid.

An IVA would usually run over a 5 year period, and if you were to earn overtime a proportion of this would also need to be paid into the IVA, and I cannot see you having a problem in arranging another mortgage with your current leder when the existing one expires. The IVA may not affect this greatly, but best to check that out with your lender themselves.

Good luck in your search, and I hope you find the right professional to represent you.

Pick up the phone and have a good down to earth chat with an experienced Insolvency Practitioner. Visit (as other posters have stated) www.iva.com and you'll see reviews on a number of IP's. Pick one or two that you fancy and have that chat now. Good luck.

Thanks for all your answers,

To respond to Size5, I think we could possibly be in negative equity as we bought our house 2 years ago for £150,000 and with the prices going down I would say it is probably worth between £140,000 - £145,000.

Thanks for the links, I will contact an expert and seek advise.

Michael

Let us know how you get on.

I will do thanks.

Michael