www.iva.co.uk

i do owe almost £36500 in totoal of debt, i have got 8 creditors in total , 2 loans and 6 credit cards , one store card and one financial company claims,i did see many iva companies website , but in the end i did consult with company called credit consolidation services which is based in aldershot , hampshire, they offered me informal volunatairly agreement, and they asked to stop all my payments which i stopped from this month,they are charging a handsome amount of money in returns of their services, but i am receiving funny letters and calls from creditors , and i advised my creditors that they must contact this company, i am not sure whether i took the right step as this company ccs assured me that with 2 years time i will be out of debt but my credit history will be effected until next 6 years, iva is legally binding contract between me and my creditors, but this informal agreement which ccs offered me , its not legal binding, what i need to know if anyone helps me on this issue as i have to pay them almost 2575 for the one year service, as this is alot of money but on the other hand iva i dont need to pay any money upfront to any company, i will be thankful to anyone who can help me in this regard. thanks

Hi there and welcome to the forum, what I would suggest initially is that you visit www.iva.com for a list of companies and some reviews of these, talk to 2 if not 3 companies to ensure you get free impartial advice that is specific to you. All debt solutions will be discussed and the ideal solution for you sourced.

Hi and welcome.

Are you sure they are offering you an IVA? You will not be free of an IVA in under five years unless you can propose a full and final offer at some point. If it's not legally binding then it is not an IVA.

Visit the link posted by Lesley and get further advice.

well as he said to me that it will be informal agreement which is sure not an iva , as he said that full and final can be offer after 2 years of this agreement , but i am worried as he is charging for this service alot,

I would suggest talking to a couple of professionals, free advice and they can discuss everything with you x

Personally I wouldn't touch this company with a ten foot barge pole!

This will be a debt management plan to start off with and there is no guarantee that interest and charges will be frozen. Where would you find the money from to fund a full and final?

Please seek furter advice as we have suggested on here, otherwise you may well end up thousands out of pocket and back to square one.

I agree with Lesley and Jan, you really do need to take professional advice as this doesn't sound right.

well it really depends on the amount you owe vs the amount you can afford because if you can afford to pay it then the payment plan maybe better for you even though it isn't legally binding it has a lesser effect on your credit rating and with an iva you may find it will be easier to deal with your creditors but more stigma and effects on your credit rating. I think ultimately you will need to find out what is best for you and if there is any other company that can setup a payment plan which will keep creditors happy.

Whilst we do our best to advise on here, the OP is better off taking proffessional advice as suggested.

A two year DMP followed by a full and final IVA will have a damaging effect on a credit rating.

jonb wrote:

well it really depends on the amount you owe vs the amount you can afford because if you can afford to pay it then the payment plan maybe better for you even though it isn't legally binding it has a lesser effect on your credit rating and with an iva you may find it will be easier to deal with your creditors but more stigma and effects on your credit rating. I think ultimately you will need to find out what is best for you and if there is any other company that can setup a payment plan which will keep creditors happy.

A dmp or iva will effect your credit worthyness in the same way,trust be,creditors right now are looking for any excuse to refuse lending so even 1 default on your record will stop you getting further credit.

Paul

How much are you currently paying to this debt management company?

well the person who is incharge of credit consolidation serives, advised me that it will be around lesser then what i am paying £890 per month to my 8 creditors, he advised me that he will charge me £2575 for 7 months , £300 per month , i already paid to him £175 , rest will be instalments of £300 , the payment will be around £185 per month or proposed payment to all my 8 creditors, also he said the plan is not iva or debt management plans, he said that plans called informal volunatairy agreement. my total debts are around £36500 and now as he advised me to stop the payments to all my creditors so i did, he said he gonna write to all my creidtors , but when i received the call from mbna today , they said they did not recieve anything from ccs, i dont know wht to do as i not sure what i am doing , iva is good or this plan , please advised me thanks,

An IVA will give you protection from your creditors and will be based on your monthly disposable income, I would try talking to 2 or 3 companies and hopefully they'll explain everything in detail and you can ask numerous questions to get any reassurance you need. x

Hi, this doesn't sound like good advice. For one thing, the fees are very high compared to the amount you repay your creditors. It is very difficult to know who to trust, but please seek a second opinion before you pay CCS any more money. Melanie comes very highly recommended by other posters on this forum, as do the other professionals in the experts section of this website.

Im no expert but i smell a big rat some where here.

Like everybody else has said do some home work and talk to some different companys before parting with any more money.

Trouble is there are people/companys who will tell you anything you want to hear just to get your buisness.

Be very carefull who you choose, just by spending an hour on this site you get a fairly good idea who are the good companys and who are not.

Good luck mate just dont jump into anything that sounds too good to be true, because it probley isnt!