www.iva.co.uk

Just about getting by with Paying off loans and minimum on credit cards, though struggling now.

I have about £27000 of debt
Earn £25k
Own no property.

Is an IVA for me?

Hi graham and welcome to the forum

Maybe it is one option for you, but there are others such as bankruptcy proceedings or debt management. How much disposable income do you have on a monthly basis before making your payments to creditors. Also, how obliged do you currently feel towards making an offer of repayment to your creditors?

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

Hi Graham and welcome!

You really need to do quite a lot of work here to see how much you clearly owe and how much it is costing to service.

What you need to do is to list this all out on a spreadsheet because you also need to determine whether your debt is over a good number of people and also who is it with as different creditors take a much differing view of the options put forward ie IVA's. debt management, or sadly bankruptcy.

In addition you must learn from this and this does mean being very hard on yourself by getting rid of the credit cards and going over to a basic bank account.

This means looking at Co Op cash minder, Halifax BOS easy cash, abbey basic accounts, etc The first two do provide a Visa Electron card which helps to make life easier. Think Banking is also very good but is harder but does discipline you. Bread is a new one introduced and is linked to Maestro.

In addition you can also look at Cash Plus Mastercard for a Mastercard which is front loading and means you only spend what you have.

You must be hard to stop the financial drift which you are currently being faced with.

However you will see the benefits and obviously I am always sorry but do please accept that there are so many good financial products available to us which we did not have a few years ago to make dealing with debt a little easier.

Good Luck

Hi Graham

I feel I have to reply to your posting and offer advice, although always take melaine's advice.

I want to offer advice because I was more or less earning the same amount as you and roughly the same debt and no property. I found it hard to decide which route to go for an IVA or BR.

If you go Bankcrupt, you will still have to pay 70% of your disposable income for 3 years, after that you will not have to pay any more - I think i am correct in saying this.

In an IVA you will have to pay 100% of your disposable income per month for 5 years.

Based on the above figures it looks better pound note wise to BR. And this was the case for me.

I am in an IVA and been in it for a year, the reason why i went for and IVA was irrespective how i got in to debt it was my debt and my principles felt that i had to pay back as much as I can, plus also i would like to buy a house in a few years time, and i believe its easier to buy an house whilst in and IVA or after than it would be if I went BR.

If how ever you are not bothered about paying creditors back and dont want a house, BR might be the best option, either way no one in this forumn will think any the less, they will support you what ever you do. The main thing is you do what is right for you.

I have been in an IVA for a year and feel proud of it, i had 60 payments to pay, now i have 48 left, 5 years is along time but it will soon pass as well.

I hope everything i have put down is correct, if not I am sure Melaine or Andy will let us know.

All the best and keep us informed.

Regards

James

no matter how bad money gets, theirs stll alot more important things in life

That's a great post James - I wish that I had written it like you did. And I think that this goes to show that without the benefit of our consumer experts as well as the stuffy technical experts like myself, this forum would not be the very best debt advice forum in existence.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

Hi
Great post James.
Just to clarify that in bankruptcy you may pay UPTO 70% of your disposible income,but quite often it's less than this.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and Website Manager

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp