www.iva.co.uk

Hi all
A quick rundown of my position;
I work full time, bring home £1500 a month, have mortgage - maybe £1000 equity, partner is disabled [no extra income as used to pay her own debts].
Have a 'together' mortgage with Northern Rock, - includes £5000 secured loan, unsecured loan £13000, mortgage £55000 (cheap terraced house with damp). I presume these are separate agreements and can be arranged via different bank accounts to pay separate to my mortgage.

Transport to work is by motorbike (cheap petrol/tax/insurance) which i owe £4000, Black Horse finance, obtained a copy of agreement and there is NO wording which states it is HP, although phonecalls state they have an 'interest' in the bike.

Total credit card debt is £25000 (9 creditors - Lombard, Nationwide, MBNA (2), Yorkshie Bank, Mint, Egg, Capital One, Tesco) unsecured loan with Lombard and Clydsedale(now Barclays Partners) about £10000, that's about £40000 in all with bike which is essential for work.

Priority outgoings are £1200 per month at a push (food not included as work shifts and live on roasted peanuts as cheap nutrition at work/chips at home as potatoes are cheap). Recent calculation of non priority outgoing is £1100.
Partner has deceased father's car as mom does not drive - mom gives money to keep on road/petrol/tax. I have no ties/interest in the car.

So, do i do an IVA or try to self negotiate?

Hi
NR have a deciding share in your unsecured dets so they will hold the key to a successful IVA or not.
Can you cofirm that your house is worth about 60k ?
Regards

Blackhorse put 90% of motorbike finance on personal loan, although they register an interest with HPI, you just need to include them in your proposal and advise the IP of the asset

You have some difficult creditors in there - in terms of Northern Rock and Black Horse and are probably better off discussing your options directly with an insolvency practitioner.

On balance it looks like an IVA would be possible, but there is no harm in discussing your options directly with creditors and I would certainly suggest a chat with Northern Rock to see what they would prefer you to do. Do make sure that all creditors are treated equally if you consider yourself to be insolvent.

Thanks for those replies, Andy, without having an estimate by an estate agent, i'm pretty sure my house is around £60000 - bought 11 months ago for £58000(minus £3000)deposit.
I will ring Northern Rock and Black Horse (spoke to collections dept recently who were willing to discuss a lower payment and seemed helpful at the time). Apart from doing these two things, i'm going to have to contact an IP by the sound of things - can anyone recommend one please?
Thanks
John

If you have a look at www.iva.com there is a list of IPs and reviews. Its a good idea to speak to 2 or 3 companies to be sure you are given the correct advice

Don't forget that as part of the new protocol

"debtors will be encouraged to try to reach an informal agreement with their creditors before being recommended for an IVA" so no harm in having a direct chat with them.

Hi
This is,for me,the most intersting part of the new protocol.Is it saying that a DMP should always be considered and discussed in the first instance regardless of the circumstances ?
Regards

Thanks for the site info Mrs Skint, there's plenty there.
Valuers are coming round on Monday.
I've spoken to Northern Rock who say my mortgage,secured loan and unsecure loan run together as the 'together' package. These come under one agreement , therefore i can't separate the payments. Where do i stand with putting the unsecured loan in my budget as i have put it as non-priority.
Thanks

Hi there

how they would like you to treat the unsecured loan and how you are legally entitled to treat the loan are completely different.

If it is not secured against the house - i.e. a mortgage registered with the land registry then it is an unsecured loan and has the same standing as the money you owe the paperboy.

if you want to look at an IVA they may have a huge impact on having it accepted but it is definately unsecured.

Northern Rock know perfectly well that you can split the payments and are familiar with customers doing this. You must not believe that you are dealing with one loan at all - the mortgage is secured and the loan is unsecured - that is very differenst in the eyes of the law as Paul has explained above.

Thanks for the above replies. I had a conversation yesterday with NR, they insist that they are unable to split the payments as the mortgage and loans come under one agreement number. I'm wanting to pay the secured loan and mortgage only, whilst offering a reduced payment on the unsecured loan before going IVA. Additionally i want to have the mortgage taken from a different bank account than the loans. NR are unmovable with this as hey won't split the payments. Any advice would be appreciated regarding my next step.
John

I think that the senior management of Northern Rock would be quite concerned to learn of the advice their staff are giving out.

Cancel your direct debit - send them a cheque for the secured element only with a letter making it clear that this is to be attributed directly to your mortgage and no other account. If they persist to deny that you can allocate your payment seperately, drop me an e-mail and I will put you in touch with a decision maker within the bank who can sort this out.

Thankyou very much Melanie,i shall go down this route, next payment is due beginning of April. I'll keep all informed...

Andy, it certainly seems to imply that that should be the case. In practice though, I am sure that different people will have different opinions on it.
The big question for me is whether certain creditors, instead of, for example, using hurdle rates as a barrier to IVA's, may form the opinion that they are against IVA's unless a DMP has been looked at first whether fee paying, non fee paying or self negotiated. Only time will tell I suppose.