What made you realise your debt situation?

[iva experts]

Good Afternoon All,

I read in the newspaper yesterday that Barclays Bank have cut 500,000 limits on credit cards, overdrafts etc with existing client's they believe are struggling to make payments. It even mentioned that they will introduce a new scheme with new customers which will hopefully bring prevention.

I just want to start a bit of a discussion with forum members who have either gone bankrupt or entering an IVA, would something like this have helped you? was there a "wake up call" or a certain situation that brought the realisation of your debts?

[:D][:D]

Best Regards,
IVA Experts
http://www.iva-experts.co.uk/

[jane.l]

was unable to sell our house as it was in negative equity[:0]

That was the point we realised we had problems!

[scaredkez]

mine was when they stopped my tax credits and i realised i didn't have the means to pay my loans and credit cards, plus be able to live, and i realised i was actually using credit to live.
kerri

Please view my blog at: http://scaredkez.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[OPTIMIST12]

Strange as it may sound I am - with hindsight - grateful to a number of my creditors who suddenly massively increased my APR interest rate on credit card cash advances to 24% or even 28% per annum. I had been relying for ages on borrowing on one card to pay off another each month. When it came to the point where the minimum monthly payments no longer even covered the monthly interest even I realised I had to get my head out of the sand and do something. Also I had several creditors who suddenly reduced my credit limits - so they had all obviously realised I was in terminal trouble even if I had not!!!

I read in the paper today that Barclaycard now turn down 50% of new applications for Credit Cards so that must be a positive sign for the future.

And to anyone who has just found this forum - please do something about your debts NOW. The sooner you start the sooner you will be on the way to a solution.

[kandh]

It was my brothers wedding when we realised just how bad things were. I had to juggle the credit cards and withdraw petty amounts (ie £10 here and there) to enable us to buy him and my SIL a wedding present and had to resort to the penny jar and childrens piggy banks just to pay for the petrol on the day.

And the fact that on one credit card, the minimum payment each month only just covered the interest so we weren't actually paying anything off at all.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
My limited research on people involved in heavy debt has shown clearly that the vast majority of people know that they have a major and "terminal"[good word Optomist]problem but carry on struggling for approx another 6 to twelve months before they address it.
I was certainly guilty of this.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

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

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

[aguise]

I knew there was a problem for a long time, but denied it and did everything possible, mainly going without, just to make the minimum payments. One thing which I think worried my husband was that mbna actually rang and reduced the credit limit on our card, the reason being we were using it too much and they thought we were heading for trouble. Hubby was annoyed at the time but on reflection he and i now see it was a sensible thing to do, and showed they were starting to realise that some people were heading for problems. We then knew the credit was running out, overtime was stopping at hubbys works for some and that if that happened we would be in big trouble as we survived on overtime.
Thats when we made the call to our company on recommendation from a friend. The best thing we ever did.

Ang

Please visit my blog at http://aguise.blogs.iva.co.uk/

[iva experts]

Thanks for the replies its great to hear all the different stories, as Andy mentioned alot of people keep on struggling on because they think that by still continuing to pay their minimum payments they are not in trouble.

However what they dont realise (as kerri explained) that they are actually living off credit to do this.

Best Regards,
IVA Experts
http://www.iva-experts.co.uk/

[pixie]

I'd maxed out all credit cards and already had 2 loans a year before it came to the crunch. I was also trading online which meant that I could pay everything cash and make minimum payments. Trade was hit drastically in Jan and minimum payments were more than I earned! Just the interest was more than I'm actually paying now.

Pixie

[sorted]

For me the turning point was when I started skipping the credit card minimum payments. I then realised I needed to do something. I contacted Payplan who arranged a DMP. I still feel a IVA would have been more suitable in my situation. However, my creditors meeting is tomorrow. In less than 24 hours!!!

If the banks had slashed my limits that would have helped but then they did not force me to spend. Anyway. tomorrow is another day and I have the ability to change it.

Power to change is within me

[bagpuss]

Mine was when the bank stopped my already 11k overdraft...each week my partner got paid the overdraft took it and we took it back...then one week they took it and we couldnt take it back cos they had stopped it.

It wasnt really till i sat and actually added up how much we owed that it sunk in...i had about 30k in my head but it was 72k....

[psbmids]

My partner was unfortunate enough to build up a business and then lost it due to signing some papers with two chaps, who didn't pay up. He was left with a personal guarantee for £186K, no job (as he was ousted from his own company), and therefore no means to repay the PG. No choice but to get into an IVA. Hopefully it'll be paid off very soon.

[sps]

The turning point for us was at the beginning of this year - already having to use credit cards for necessities at the end of each month my husband then lost overtime and shift pay which forced us to address our large debt. I remember being horrified when I worked out what we actually owed. If it hadn't been for the reduction in income I dread to think how much longer we would have struggled on for getting deeper in debt before we had to do something.
Sue

[Skippy]

The 0% introductory rate on my Virgin (MBNA) card was up and they put it up to 27.9% apr - I knew then that I couldn't cover the minimum repayments. I sat down and added up what I owed, thinking it would be about £30k and then realised it was actually £65k with nothing to show for it.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is the present - a gift to make the most of.

View my blog at http://skippy13.blogs.iva.co.uk/