www.iva.co.uk

I am in the process of applying for an IVA and am still getting to grips with it.I am having to continue using credit cards to live as I cant afford all my outgoings.However as I know that the debt is about to become subject to an IVA I am petrified that every time I use my card it is going to be refused or that the credit card company will review my transactions and complain that I have increased the debt knowing that I was going to do an IVA.Will they do this?

Hi Rochelle and welcome to the forum. If you stop paying your creditors it will free up some disposable income for your to live on. I think it's advisable to stop using credit once you've made the decision and it's your choice if to stop paying the creditors or pay only token payments but cut up those cards is the best advice I can give.

Rochelle - how far into the IVA process are you? are you still paying your creditors?

Welcome from me as well.

I echo gingers post - how far along are you?

Lesley also gives excellent advice which I agree with.

Hello Rochelle - I remember getting a stern warning from the person setting up my IVA when she discovered that I had been continuing to use my credit cards pre-IVA, and I was told to stop using them immediately as continued use of them could have jeopardised the setting up of my IVA and it's acceptance by my creditors, and I would imagine that would still be the case today!

If you stop the payments to creditors then that should give you some money to pay your day to day bills while you sort out your IVA.

I have completed all paperwork with creditor statements etc and have passed that to debt free direct who have now passed it to Varden Nuttall and I am waiting for a phone call from them.At the moment all payments to creditors are up to date and have been paid this month

Once you have recognised that you are insolvent - ie unable to pay your monthly contractual commitments to creditors without relying on further sources of credit - you should then cease using the credit facilities, as it is unlikely that you will be able to pay back the additional sums borrowed.

I am interested to see DFD passing cases to Varden Nuttall. Did they explain to you why they were doing this?

I must admit that I wondered that Mel - I thought DFD did all of their own cases?

Hi - as you have already paid your cards this month then needs must and you will have to use more credit. I would think that next month you will need to stop making payments in order to stop using credit. If you use credit next month when the process has started in earnest, it may affect creditor opinion. In reality, the worst case scenario is that yu slow down the process for a couple of weeks to create more a gap between using credit this month and submitting your proposal. P.S. I'm with VN via DFD and it was a very smooth process. And I have had a good relationship with VN since...very happy with them.

Hi Mel and Jan - it may have been debt free helpline or something. They were introducers who came and do all the paperwork collecting and I&E with you. It's an expensive service by at the time i didn't know any differed and to be honest, probably needed the hand-holding. All these companies have similar names!

I do agree that we will grab at any lifelines thrown to us as most of us don't know any different!

I was just surprised that DFD, being a large company who do their own IVA's would pass people on to another company.

I will check my paperwork when I get home and see who the company was as it may well not be DFD but something that sounds familiar!! LOL.

You're probably right but have to admit that I've not heard of them doing that before.

As others have said you should refrain from using further credit whilst your iva is set up. Stop paying your creditors and this should provide you with sufficient living costs to see you through each month.