www.iva.co.uk

I was reminded in the early hours of this morning, by my other half, that it is exactly 1 year since I woke him to tell him that we were in big trouble. What a shock for him - still can't believe I ever faced up to it. Here we are, i year down the line, and although I feel really lousy about it most of the time, what a life saver our IVA has been. We have money in the bank, have started to repay our debts and not used a cc since that day. The worst thing for me is the stigma of being insolvent or rather making my husband insolvent when he thought everything was ok. However I am grateful for this chance and pray that the next 4/5 years pass wothout too much grief. Still find it hard to work out how I managed to rack up nearly £130k of debt though - incredible, but one thing I am sure of is that it will NEVER happen again. x

Mine found out on my birthday when Lombard Direct phoned up. Have to say that I've had better ones!!

Oh how horrible!! I was just thinking back to a year ago and remembered that Christmas Day was the only I didn't get calls from creditors - don't think I could face that again x

I'd managed to.put Barclaycard off by paying them.a tenner earlier on the same day but Lombard were very persistent and hubby knew,something was wrong so I had to come clean.

Honestly Jan it does make me wonder how on earth we managed those stress levels for so long - always checking for the postman and making sure I was first to the phone. The amount of time I wasted was incredible. I hope that anyone reading this will take the plunge and own up to their problems sooner rather than later x

Must admit that getting to the postman first didn't bother me as hubby never opens anything addressed to me and joint ones he tended to leave as well. The phone was a problem though as he's at home all day.

My blood pressure must have been through the roof!!!

The thing I don't miss is the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I used to think about our problem.

I do worry if the bank balance goes a bit low but it's not a problem - just have to eat what's in the freezer for a couple of days!

Can't believe it's now nearly 8 months since we have used an overdraft and 9 since we used a credit card. Feels great.

Thats true Kazza but the only thing with that sick feeling is that it used to keep my weight down and now with less stress I'm putting it on big style! Just started doing Zumba workouts with my 11 yr old daughter - such a laugh. Seriously though, it is great not to be using those wretched cards and od x

A lot of people I know are doing Zumba. I am so jealous. I am thinking of getting a Wii and Wii fit when I have left work as I may be able to do some gentle exercise and not hurt too much - won't be attempting Just Dance 3 again just yet like I did with my niece at Xmas!!

The just dance games are brill spent a good 2 hours monday afternoon on it good fun.

Kev and i both knew what mess we were in but it was just facing up to it.Still seems strange having a bank account in the black at the end of the month even if it's not much in it and it beats having the massive overdraft. [:D]Em x

Facing up to our problems and admitting defeat was really hard and just wish we had done it years sooner!!! I know now that we will NEVER be in this position again x

I hated being in the front of the queue at tesco wallet in hand trying to remember which of the 5 credit cards still had any blance left to use!!!

I laugh to myself now when I see others in the same boat but pity them really!!

Paul