www.iva.co.uk

HI...what a fab find, a website to get genuinely good advice. myself and my husband are in a bit of a sticky situation. we have a fair amount of debt, 17000 unsecured loan with Northern rock, 7500 unsecured loan with natwest, two credit cards totalling 3800 and a 500 pounds overdraft. We also have a Norther rock together mortgage with the unsecured part totalling 20000 and the secured part 105000. as with most our house is now in negative equity and we have just ended our fixed rate deal (which is fine for the moment as rates are so low- however we cannot remortgage due to negative equity and so feel somewhat vulnerable when the rates start to go back up as they surely will!) anyway we have enquired about an iva and are getting the documents together to apply as we really are struggling to live after meeting all our payments. One large question ahnging over us is if the unsecured 20000 part of the mortgagae will be taken into the iva giving us the equity in the house and the ability to stabilise our mortgage by getting another fixed rate? And then the bombshell...I've just discovered im pregnant! We live in a one bedroom house...nightmare! what should we do for the best. do we set up an iva now and risk that as my wages go down during maternity leave we cannot afford the payments (will they consider change in circumstances and lower the payment?) or do we struggle on and wait until the baby is born and then set up an iva with an accurate expenditure report or do we throw in the towel and go bankrupt moving to a bigger rented house? I'm worried about locking us into a financial agreement which means we cant move house and have no room for our family to grow. please help...which way do i turn?

hi bee firstly welcome and congratulations on your good news.
im not a mortgage expert but there are people on here that can help you with that.
what i would say is if youre considering entering an iva on unstable income its probably not a wise move.
Is the ip you have chosen aware of your good news and whats their take on your mortgage.
you are definitely in the right place for sound advice and help.
in the meantime if theres any thing else just post youre amongst friends [:)]

hi thanks for quick reply and the congrats...we are both so chuffed . we havent even told friends and family yet as im only 4 weeks pregnant so not told ip.re the 20000 unsecured part of mortgage we have had a bit of confliciting advice from debt free direct. one advisor said it would probably be taken into the iva and another said it definately wouldnt. my income isnt unsecure in that i know what i would be paid during my maternity leave...does that help my case? im scared of never being able to move house nd all of us living in one bedroom...cosy!! ha ha Bx

you will need to let your ip know your good news as this will affect how much you would have left for your iva.
dont fret for now-an expert will look in and help.
keep posting-youre amongst friends and we will help and support you all we can x [:)]

I don't think that the time is right for you to enter into a major financial commitment until your child is born. Clearly a one bedroomed property is now no longer sufficient for your needs, and personally I would address that issue as a priority.

A temporary DMP will deal with your creditors in the meantime, and an IVA may be possible once you have sorted out your housing needs.

Sorry to hijack your thread Bee, but you got me thinking about what happens if you get pregnant during the course of an IVA? Are there any allowances made for this?

Anyway, best wishes for your pregnancy and as Melanie says, the priority is finding suitable accomodation and perhaps a DMP is the best option in the short-term.

i havent heard of a dmp before. what are the basics and how do i go about setting one of these up? also does anyone have any advice on how to sort out the accomodation predicimant? we are in negative equity so even if we do sell at the reduced price (if we even get a buyer in this market) will we not end up with more debt around our shoulders and no assets to boot? HELP!

DMP stands for Debt Management Plan. This is an informal agreement between you and your creditors to pay back affordable sums over time until the debts are repaid in full.

You might be able to voluntary surrender your property to the mortgagee, and then move into larger rented accomodation, but you will be liable for any shortfall resulting from the house sale.

so that would mean we would be more in debt? if we were to surrender the property do you think it would be a cleaner break to go bankrupt? afetr all we would have no other assets only our household goods. would they be taken away from us?

Yes - bankruptcy is another option worthy of consideration, if you have no assets which would be affected.

your general household goods would be ok and if you have no equity in your home you would keep this also

If you have a car which is worth more than about £1500, you might lose that in bankruptcy.

we could keep our house? how would we be able to do that. sorry dont mean to sound stupid..im just not sure how all this works. what would you guys do in our situation? thanks so much for everyones input it means a lot Bx

hi bee-glad you feel more positive-see what this place does to us ? its a fab site [:p]
i know roughly what i mean but ill let an expert explain keeping the house stuff in case i mess up [:I]
how does it feel to have 8000 new friends [:D]
sooo glad you feel better x fd

hopefully kal will read this shes brilliant and unlike me knows what shes talking about !