www.iva.co.uk

I am married and jointly have over 50K of debts in UK. We are self employed with a modest income. We are resident in Spain and own a hose there jointly, with a smallish local mortgage and some local borrowing. A present we are coping with repayments but will hit crunch time soonish. What type of arrangement is likely to suit us, and will we be able to keep our spanish credit seperate?

Hey alice, just wanted to welcome you to the forum, I'm sure an expert will be along shortly to help you, Viki X

hi alice - welcome to the forum!

i am not an expert, but i am sure one will be along to answer your question - there will be a solution for you so hang on in there!

love barb x

Thanks for your welcomes. And I meant it is a house we own, though we do have a hose too!

Hi there Alice

Depending on how long you have been living in Spain, it may be difficult for you to propose an IVA in the UK - and as you are saying that your financial difficulties are no that severe, it might be better to look at restructuring your finances, perhaps by a secured loan over your Spanish property, or a consolidation loan if your UK based debt is not that high. A DMP might also be possible, giving you more flexibility than under a formal arrangement.

Thanks for your reply Melanie. Although not severe immediately, we have been borrowing to service existing debt, and will soon not be able to do so anymore, so trying to plan ahead. As our income is low it will be very hard to consolidate. We are also spanish residents. We have had our house on the market for over a year and have twice reduced the price significantly, but the market is currently very weak. Getting more credit secured on the house will be costly as it is hopefully going to be short term. What I would like to be able to do is make some kind of arrangement with the UK creditors, but continue to function in spain as normally as possible without ruining my credit here, where the cost of living is much cheaper.
Mike

Perhaps a Debt Management Programme is a better way forward for you then, whereby you make reduced payments to your creditors until your property is sold.