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Evening all. This is my first visit to this forum as only recently have we sat down and excepted the position we are in.
My wife and I have over a period of time managed to create a debt pool of £196k. I know it is unbelievable.
Over recent years we have taken loans, credit cards on both a secured and non secured basis.
Our debts are with the following
Loans
Skipton Building Society
AA Financial
Egg
Barclayloan
Credit Cards
Egg
Citi
Monument
HSBC
MBNA [:(]
Finance on Goods [/u]
GE Capital

We have to date never missed any payments on any of the above and both my wife and I have excellent Credit Ratings.
The problem has basically just hit us as a result of an % free period on our MBNA cards lapsing. As a result of this they are now asking for 27% Interest. Due to this we sat down and basically realised that we are now living well beyond our means.We have now realised that we have been taking too much money from our LTD Company in order to offset the amounts we have been paying. This in turn has also caused problems (which can be corrected) although we must now review what we pay ourselves and will then leave us in a position where we cannot meet the payments on a monthly basis.
We have a wonderful family with which are starting to strain from this situation. We now need to consider our options.
We have contacted the CCCS and they have advised us to cancel all Payments (issue) and Direct Debits. We also sent letter to all the creditors advising of the problem and enclosing a £5 token payment and advising that we are awaiting an Interview Call with CCCS.We have drawn up spreadsheets showing all of our Living Expences and Income so that should save time one we commence with some method of clearing the debts.
I have reviewed my figures and have had to re-consider our earlier intention to go an a DMP as this would last in excess of 20 Years. God my eldest Son would be 35 years old by then. Next option and according to my understanding probably the best would be an IVA.
Hopefully a Short IVA of F&F IVA.

So my questions to one of the Experts are
1.According to your records how approachable are the above creditors to F&F Offers
2.I may be able to release circa £40 - 60k against my home or a loan from one of my clients and a further £8-10k via Mortgage Holiday Period which is available and other items with which I can part with. In total this would give a fund for F&F of Min £50k and Max £70k.
3.Is there an option wherein I would issue the larger payment and then make payments for a further 12 months to clear an agreed value.
4.Do we have to go through a local IP or could we use one of the IP's listed on here.

I have put all these figures into a spreadsheet and it looks like a reasonable offer to give the creditors monies with which they can start to recoup there losses.

I am really looking for some guideance as I am lost. We are worried sick as a lot of the threads on forums simply want to address the issue of re-claiming monies from creditors for invalid and unlawful Credit Agreements. I am not looking at this at all. If I could get them to consider a reasonable settlement I will be over the moon. A good nights sleep would be a good start.

PLEASE ---- IF SOMEONE WITH AN UNDERSTANDING COULD REPLY I WOULD BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL.

Hi Dazza and welcome to the forum.

Can I ask first of all how much of your total debt is unsecured?

As you have a business, I think you would need to have a face to face interview with an IP, but you can use one wherever you like.

I recommend that you visit www.iva.com for a list of companies and reviews, or click on the expert link on the left hand side of the page. The professionals who post on here come highly recommended. They will discuss all the options open to you and advise as to the best way forward.

Hang in there, there is a solution out there for you.

Welcome to forum - we are on here to offer support and friendship, not to judge !

Your level of debt is very high and your thoughts of offering a F&F may or may not be acceptable at that level to creditors.

Due to the complexity of your Ltd company status and volume of debt, I would seek a face to face meeting with some IP's to discuss - don't rush and agree to anything on the first meeting !

There are several that post on here that are highly rated (Melanie being one of them) and I would suggest you speak with them in the first instance.

Good luck

Hi Dazza6 and welcome
1; Creditors are very agreeable to Full and Finals as long as it is the best deal on the table
2; 50-70k may be enough to tempt your creditors
3; Hi, yes, but you could also look at a lump sum and five years of payments [ more likely ]
4; You can use any IP that you want to and taking a day out to meet them would be time well spent.

You really need to have a chat with an IP or company that can go through your circumstances and can then advise you accordingly
Regards

Many thanks for your feed back luluj & Kallis3.
The business as it stands pays both of us a wage and then we take a divy at different points throughout the year. The problem has been that we have simply increased the divy to take account of our expences. SHORT SIGHTED IM AFRIAD. Going forward the business is sound and I have a good client base.
Our problem seems to be that because we have never defaulted the creditors do not usually look at any form of settlement until the stage where they are considering sell the debt onto a DCA for even less than they would get from us. We have had calls from 2 of the creditors. HSBC were sad to hear of our problem as they could pick no fault with our history. MBNA listened but we then started to get calls from a company called DMR ?.
We have 2 of the loans that end in 16 months and have held most of the cards for at least 5-10 years. It is all very frustrating.

Thanks for your input Andy.
If I was to put a F&F value circa £50-70k in the pot then the loan would probably be over a period similar to my mortgage and secured. This would then not leave a great deal that could be paid out on a monthly basis. Would the creditors not also consider that they would be making a greater return as the IP fee's would be less.?
Sorry Kallis3..Non of this debt is secured.
How long would a process such as this take.I certainly have no objection to having to travel to meet an IP as long as I am confident of there capabilities. This forum obviously echos the appreciation of certain individuals and as such I would certainly consider making an appointment.

Hi
Yes, but you need to show that it is he best offer and that you do not have any disposible income.
How much equity do you have in your house ?
Regards

Andy
Equity at most would be circa £80k at full loan to value. Based on 75% which seems to be about the highest I could get, this would create the £60k noted above. Problem we have at the moment is not as such being excepted but the affordability as our DD's and Debts are so high.

good luck dazza
this place is amazing and you will receive lots of support and guidance [:)]

You must discuss your case with an IP who can guide you and indicate what is the most appropriate solution for you. Obviously if you have been taking dividends from your limited company presumably it is because your limited company has made profits either in the past (so you can drwa dividends from reserves) or out of current profits. Your chosen IP will also need to establish the position of your limited company as well since this is being used to pay both salary and dividends. A F&F may be posssible but until all of the facts are disclosed and discussed it is difficult to give you definitive advice. Visit www.iva.com for reviews on IP's and select one or two to have a chat. Let us know how you get on.

Dazza, hope you manage to get it sorted out.

Best of luck.

It looks like a good offer to me, depending upon your circumstances, and as other posters have already mentioned creditors do generally accept offers of full and final settlement, so long as it can be demonstrated that you are putting the best offer forward.

The value of your shareholding in the limited company will also need to be taken into consideration.

Melanie. Thank you for coming back to me. I have been watching the post since last night when I posted the Blog. From all the information available here on the forum I will without doubt take on board any comments you have.
In regards to the Limited Company. During the period in which our personnel debt has built up we have been taking a larger than reasonable drawings. Compound this with a Client who has been would up owing £10404.00 and another client which I have handed to my solicitor to close out that owes me £34k incl VAT plus approx £3.5k of Stat. Interest. My initial feelings are to cease the operations of the current Ltd Company and await the outcome of the solicitors actions. If all pans out and the client pays then this would clear the amount owed to the bank, Tax Man and also the Corp Tax which is due for payment on July this year. A small amount would also remain. Currently there is a Directors Loan account that is only owed £450.00. If I cease operating (not Wind Up) the current company and establish a further company then this would leave me with a larger value to take as income and as such enable the Loan which could offer the F & F Offer.My current clients having expressed they are willing to cancel the original service agreements are re-issue to the new company. They have noticed that I seem distracted as I used to be Mr reliable who would work through the night to get things done, but now dont have the will to concentrate at the end of a 9 Hr Day.
I appreciate that every case is different but from the creditors I have noted above, what is your experience as to the willingness to accept F & F Settlements. As I mentioned in my original post we have simply buried our heads in the sand. Only at xmas when I attended an appointment at the hospital due to stomach pains, did I even take on board that stress could be causing my symptoms. Combine this with a Hernia and I started to appreciate that I needed to get things in order. We have 6 children and I need to get this sorted for them.
Everyone's advise since last night is very much appreciated, it helps to feel that you are not alone.

You need to seek professional advice as regards your limited company and stopping one and starting another. You don't want to run foul of transactions at undervalue or any goodwill being eroded by dumping one company and starting the same trade in another. Pleasae seek your Accountants advice. Hope your health problems sort themselves out soon.

Sorry to hear about your health problems Dazza, hope you get them sorted soon.