www.iva.co.uk

Hi everyone, I have over 40,000 worth of debt and have decided that I cant live with the guilt, stress and sleepless nights any longer. I had virtually no debt up until my partner left me with my daughter (aged then 3 months) five years ago and up till now have managed to make the minimum payments whilst the debt increases even more.
I have a good job and could afford to pay at least £350 per month into an iva but am worried I'll be forced to sell my house instead (have about forty thousand pounds in equity providing it would sell) Can anyone advise me if they have any knowledge of this happening? thanks and sorry for rambling!! ps. sorry if this is posted in the wrong section but the 'ask a question' bit keeps returning an error!

Hi Louise - welcome to the forum. Have a look at some of the posts/links on here speak to a few companies about the best way forward for you.

No debt plan - is easy - it take time/commitment and hard work - but at the end you walk away a stronger person. Read /google and use this forum for any questions or queries you have(there will be loads)[:D]

thanks ginger, such a relief to talk about it as I am too ashamed to tell my friends and family.[:(]

Louise - most of us on here felt/feel like that - but the hardest bit is facing up to the debt problem and dealing with it. You are making the right decision, just take time read /reread and reread again everything the companies send you - so you fully understand what your signing up to - regardless of what route you go down.

Use the forum for support/advice or just a good whinge !

Hi Louise, welcome to the forum. YOu are amongst friends on here who are all in or were in the same boat. We had our IVA approved on 21st June after about 8 weeks going through the process. We haven't told anyone else we are doing this. You don't need to. We will be treating our payments like a 5 year consolidation loan so no-one needs to know. You've taken the 1st step in admitting the problem.
I would suggest contacting 2 or 3 people from www.iva.com and they will be able to give you free impartial advice. We can help you on here by sharing our experiences.
Good luck

thanks kazzafunk. my main worry is how to manage to buy food/petrol whilst an iva application is being progressed. my payments to cc companies so far are all up to date albeit I only pay the minimum payment each month. I am only using one card but really want to cut it up - this will sound mad but it feels like my lifeline at the moment. The only way to free up some cash would be to stop paying the cc bills each month but the thought of the ensuing phone calls make me feel ill.

We stopped paying all creditors at the end of March. Yes it was stressful, but I just unplugged my home phone and changed my mobile number. If you have any on-line creditors, go on now and make up a home number so they cannot contact you. You will get letters, you will get calls. Some people talk to them others don't. Some made nominal £1 payments, we didn't. I don't think anything makes a difference to the meeting outcome.
If you can unplug your home phone it will make life a bit easier. Just plug it in at night to listen to any messages. It's not an easy time, but it gives you a few weeks when you could save a tiny bit as a contingency fund.
Any more Q's just ask away.

can live with unplugging the phone but would I need to be hiding behind the sofa as well??[:o)]

lol - no I think you'll be ok! It takes some time for the heavies to come round. We missed 3 months payments on over 10 creditors and didn't get to the stage where debts were referred on.
I suppose I could have strung it out a bit longer but I wanted to get the IVA approved so I was protected legally. We did take to locking the door though if we were in the garden as we were paranoid someone would go in and take stuff.
If you set the ball rolling over the next week it should be done and dusted in the next few months. Are you employed or self employed?
Take a look at www.beatmydebt.com at the living expenses guide. Please don't assume the amounts are set in stone, but it means you can start to work out what you can claim as an expense and start working out amounts you spend. Put everything down as your IP will tell you what you can claim for and what you cannot.

Louise - there will be load of "threats" - very little they can do - as it all take time.
Look at all you options - so you know the best way forward.
I personally found this phone calls/letters the worse - because no matter what I said /wrote - it did not seem to make any difference, I ended up getting fustrated and being rude (unlike me

Hi Louise
welcome from too. Can I also suggest that you open a new bank account with a bank that is not one of your creditors and arrange to have your salary paid into it.If you then stop payments you can savw what you would have paid as minimum payments as a contingency fund.

kazza, I'm employed full-time 40 hpw and dont have extravagant tastes, will be happy to live simply as I can imagine the relief of having a proposal accepted must be enormous. could cycle the five miles to work if the car conks out as my daughter is only a five minute walk from school so she is easily sorted. I will most definitely be ringing someone for advice come my day off on Friday. thanks for all for your supportive words of advice.

hi nepensioner. Yes that is top of my list too, it appears the co-op basic account would be a good bet.

Glad I can help. As nepensioner suggests open a bank account with someone who isn't a creditor. I was naughty and took some of my overdraft to put in the new account. I bank with the co-op now - cashminder account.
I would say I understand that you want to live simply. 5 years is a long time though so make sure you put all your car costs down on your expenditure. It's not meant to be a punishment (nor will we be living a life of luxury) but you need to think about this as a fresh start and make sure you have covered every expense that crops up for you and your daughter.
Let us know how you get on Friday.

I suspect that you probably don't have £40k of equity in the property with a realistic current valuation, and you will definately not be forced to sell your property as part of an IVA. From the brief facts you have described, it would appear that an IVA could be a very workable solution for you, so why not seek advice directly from an insolvency practitioner who can help you understand all of the debt solutions currently available to you and to suit your circumstances.