www.iva.co.uk

In summary I am £20000 in debt and supporting a wife and two children on a sole income of £1600 net per month.

I've approached an IVA specialist who says I stand a very good chance of being approved.

I am concerned over the longer term impact of having a bad credit history and am considering a consildation loan to pay things off totally and start again with just a single debt.

I've currently got what I feel is a good credit rating having never defaulted on minimum payments.

Your advice please.

Thanks

Hi there needhelp and welcome to the forum.
If you would like to post a few details as in if you own your own property, if there is equity in it and what your disposable income is after paying all that is needed to live. dont include any of the unsecured debts. Then better advice and ideas of solutions can be given.
Personally I went down the consolidation root and just ended up in a worse position. My opinion is to deal with the debt, clear it, and definately for me the thought of no more credit is a reassurance rather than a downside. Credit can repair itself anyway, even mortgages can be obtained in an iva.
All the best

Ang

Hi there

do you own your own house?

If you do then they would probably want to secure the loan against the property. If you don't have a house then the debt would be unsecured and is likely to be around the 450pm over 5 years - obviously less pm over longer but with more interest.

There are several high street lenders that have repayment calculators on the web pages so perhaps you could start here and check that it would be affordable.

Next thing to remember is if you are successful with the loan then cut up the old credit cards otherwise you could actually double your debt.

if the loan is not achievable then all the other solutions will effect your credit file and remain with you for 6 years.

The final solution would really depend upon your disposable income per month but DMP or an IVA would be worth considering and getting some professional advice about.

Do you feel that you would be accepted for a consolidation loan? And have you made any enquiries yet?

Consolidation loans can be a great way of dealing with your debts, and I agree that you may be better to seek this route rather than have a formal insolvency on your record, however you will have to be discliplined to close all of the other accounts and not apply for any other credit. The danger with consolidation loans is that they become just a quick fix and can lead to further indebtedness along the way if the payments are set too high.

Hi
I think many of us have consolidated at one point or another only to rack up the 'consolidated' debts again.The only way to successfully consolidate,as others have said,is to cut up all he credit cards and be very disciplined in not taking out further loans or cards etc
Regards

I took out a loan in the early days of my "credit life", a £1,500 loan, which I cleared my credit card with, but I started using it again. I wasn't disciplined enough - but that's not to say that everyone is like that. If you feel you can do it, then why not? Although like the others have said, it is oh so easy to get in to worse trouble.

An IVA 'only' lasts for 6 years on file - it's down to personal choice whether this is something which is an issue for you.

Thanks for all the advice.

I just feel that it's my fault I'm in the situation and I need to look for resolution myself. I understand that IVA is the right thing for some people but to me it's a last resort (Someone fixing my problem for me).

The stress and anxiety my wife and I have felt over the last few days makes me feel sure that we can pull through this without intervention (Depending on if we can get accepted for a sensible APR loan).

Thanks again, it helps no end to have someone to talk to who understands.