www.iva.co.uk

IVA recommended to us (other options ?)
during the 90s because me and my wife had secure jobs we were bombarded with loans credit cards. easy money tobuy things that would take years normally. over the years paid the minimum ammount on our credit cards never missed or was late with any payment until this year. when we had a run of bad luck/illneses, its then we went to see CAB it was only then that they told us to only pay half our monthly bills that we defaulted. CAB put us onto a company who mentioned IVA explained everything and it sounded to easy. surfed the internet like you do all of these companies say you can half your payments clear your debts in 5yrs.after filling all paperwork in we had our initial quote £750 month this is for six years this totals everything we owe and more. there is also a stipulation that i change to full repayment mortgage £700 month but i can keep my endowment cash in price currently over £10000. because 0f house prices there is only about £5000 equity in my house. im a proud man and want to pay of all my debts. my credit cards have only been used in dire emergencies for the past six years they were not even upto their limits when i defaulted this year. any advice please on the following.
1. is it correct once i start iva i will not be able to cash my endowment and they could ask me to surrender it at a later date!.
2. my credit rating is through the roof already i beleive even worse on IVA what happens eg boiler goes/car breaksdown
3.they have requested i change to repayment mortgage this is £250 more a month why would they do that.
4.why are iva only max 6yrs
5.is there any other avenue i can explore would DM be better for me.
thanks for listening.
hwg

Hi,

I strongly suggest that you speak to more companies. The experts that post on here come highly recommended.

You would not be able to take out any more credit whilst in an IVA without your IPs permission but if you do have a major expense you can ask for a short payment break.

Not sure about your endowment policy, but I still think the advice about swapping the mortgage over is wrong as most creditors want you to change to interest only to free up more money.

An IVA can be for any length of time, most are five or six years though.

As regards a DMP, there is no guarantee that creditors will freeze interest or charges and it can go on for a very long time.

Jan and myself both still recommend as we did the other day you seek alternative advice as in my opinion it's vital to speak with 2 or 3 companies vas this will ensure you get impartial advice and above all when speaking to a professional all debt solutions can be explored and then the best one can be offered to you. All those questions will be answered by a professional. Make a list before you ring of anything you want to ask. Our professionals who are members of the forum and give advice freely and impartiall are highly recommended IP's. Take a look at www.iva.com for a list of companies and reviews of these.

Totally agree Lesley.

I am suprised that you are being advised that you can exclude your endowment policy and that the IVA has to run over six years. Which company did the CAB refer you to?

Hi
Also unusual to change from an interset only to a repayment mortgage prior to an IVA don't you think Mel ?
Regards

I thought that as well Andy - it's usually the other way round.

I don't really have a problem with that, as if there is no vehicle for eventual repayment of the mortgage then the mortgagors are at risk and creditors do accept repayment mortgages - what I do find strange is that this insolvency practitioner appears to be giving investement advice which they may not be qualified to give. A bit of a dangerous game in my book!

I didn't think that they normally recommended swapping to a repayment though as it lowers the payment the creditors can receive.