Still struggling

[cleofigaro]

Hi

My marraige broke down in November and I now live with my Mum & Dad.
My finances have been really stretched and currently pay nothing toward my keep. A situation that cannot continue. They are trying to help and they pay one of my debts for me but, as I said, this cannot continue. I agreed to pay them £350 per month all in before I moved in.
I owe about £36,000 and my take home pay is £1,100 per month and I pay £200 for petrol, £50 car insurance, then there is car tax etc. My total monthly expenditure before creditors is about £760.
I own a small car I bought before my marriage ended for £3000 and is currently worth about £2500. I need a car to get to work.
To muddy the waters, last year I agreed to buy a building plot in France with my two brothers. I paid £3500 and they paid about £20,000 between them. I thought it would be good way to get into the property market. We have an agreement that the land can only be sold with 2 of the owners agreeing. The land is probably worth a lot less now because of the strength of the Euro.
I have no children and no other assets.
Do you think I qualify for an IVA?
Will I have to sell my car?
If I do qualify will it be in the paper? Work colleagues don't know my financial problems.
What about the land in France?
Will I lose my bank account?
I have a savings account with the Nationwide, I only have about £40 in it but will I lose this?

I hope you can help.

[joh71262]

Gosh Cleo - sounds like you need to take a step back for a bit and look at everything all together.

You owe slightly more than I did but I have a mortgage and don't own my own car.

It sounds as though an IVA would be a good idea for you, but ideally you would need to speak to someone in person. If you need your car to get to work, then I can't see that selling it would give anyone an advantage.

There's a lady on here called Melanie Giles who gives great advice - if you look through some of the other posts, she has a web site that you can look at and contact her through.

I would look at all your options, including bankruptcy and DMP's before you decide.

Good luck and there is ALWAYS light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark it may seem right now.

[joh71262]

By the way, the Co-Op do a great cash minder account. It depends who you are with, but you won't be allowed a cheque book.

Oddly enough, I tried to open a savings account with the Co-Op but was refused !! Seemed a bit weird but there you go !!!!

[rollercoaster]

ohh! i'm with co op cashminder, was going to open a savings with them for contingencies, thought it would be easy. [:0]

[Skippy]

I don't think the Co-op will open a savings account for anyone with a bad credit rating. After I opened my Cashminder account I tried to open a savings account and got a letter saying my application was unsuccessful due to my credit rating - not surprising really!

[joh71262]

I don't see what difference it makes to the Co_op though. I wanted to open an account for Christmas savings - it's not as though I would be going overdrawn to fund it or writing cheques from the account.

Surely it should say to them that you are actually trying to get your life back on track by being able to save and actually encouraging it rather than dismissing it.

Not as though the interest rates are whopping is it ?!?

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Cleo

Am I getting deja vous, or have I read your post before over the last week?

If you feel that you can afford to make an ongoing payment to your creditors, and wish to avoid bankruptcy, then it might be sensible to look at an IVA, in which case I suggest that you take advice from an insolvency practitioner. The building plot will need to be dealt with, but would it be possible for your brothers to buy your interest from you?