Rich
It all depends on how much debt you have to how many creditors and how much you can afford to pay towards your debts each month.
If you can't pay them at their normal rate, your options are basically 1. Debt management - pay them off over a longer period, if you're really lucky you'll get interest stopped while you're doing it, but the fees of the debt management company will be taken off your payments increasing the time taken to pay, 2. Bankruptcy, this is throwing in the towel and can actually be the cheapest way to sort out your debt problems, but your credit rating will be shot for 6 years and there are some restrictions which I can't go into here, or 3. IVA. IVAs are expensive to set up and run so are only suitable for people with a minimum level of debt who can afford to set aside a certain amoutn each month to meet their debts, they run over 5 years and if you stick to them than at the end any remaining unpaid debt will be wiped out. Howeve, like bankruptcy, your credit rating will also be nil for 6 years and you won't be able to take you any further credit during the IVA period.
Do some searching on the internet to see which is the most suitable for you.
Philip Beck
Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and IVA specialist
