www.iva.co.uk

Hello,

Am in a real quandry so am really hoping someone can give me some advice before I decide how to get myself out of the situation I suddenly find myself in.

In a nutshell:

Basic Income - £3500 per month
Outgoings - £5500 per month

Shortfall £2000.00

A few borrowing details:

Mortgage: Halifax - £125k(16 years to go)
Personal loans: Lloyds - £15k(2.5 years to go), Paragon Finance - £50k(13 years to go)
Car loan: Nissan Finance - £3.5k (1 year to go)
Credit cards: £36k (4 creditors and making little inroads to reduce the overall debt!)

In addition, I have a lease finance agreement with Volkswagen (the type with a final payment / return vehicle option and that has just under 3 years to run)

I am separated from my wife and children so sustain two properties; hers (the mortgaged one) and mine, which is a rented flat, together with all associated utility, council tax and insurance costs.

Until recently. I was able to meet all overheads as my job paid sufficient commissions and I also did some seperate consultancy work. Unfortunately, due to a number of unforeseen business and general economic circumstances, these additional amounts have completely stopped and are unlikely to return, hence the significant shortfall I am now faced with.

I am therefore reviewing my options but they do not look good on paper and I'm extremely worried, especially as I am under pressure right now and don't really know where to turn.

Firstly, since I have some equity in the mortgaged property, I am going to try and increase the borrowing (repayment type) to pay off a large chunk of my credit card debt, the Lloyds loan and Nissan finance, which should save me around £1300 per month, taking in to consideration what the increase in payment will be for the remaining term of the mortgage.

But this is still leaves me considerably short and is based on my application being successful, of which there is absolutely no guarantee based on repayment feasibility and credit checks etc. I'm also loathe to go to another lender and pay an exhorbitant rate.

I definately don't want to go the bankruptcy route so have been reading about the IVA option although, in an ideal world I'd like to avoid this as well but may have no choice.

Any and all advice is therefore welcome.

Thank you.

Hey Lostboy, welcome to the forum. An expert will be along shortly to help. You are definately in the right place for some good advice. Viki X

I think you need to have a full review of your assets and income and expenditure with an IP firm who can then advise you on the best option for you. Certainly until you have taken that advice I couldn't recommend you to pawn the family silver by attempting a remortgage or secured loan, particularly as it won't fully repay the debts and thus you are in grave danger of being back to square 1 in a relatively short space of time.

Things to consider amongst other things are:

Is your wife's home jointly owned? Has she been consulted on your plan to remortgage it? If not, is a remortgage do-able at all?
Is the Paragon loan secured on the property?
Are any of the debts joint with your wife?
How is the income and expenditure made up?

There are I am sure more questions that will emerge during the process. I agree that it is clear that you do need to do something, and sooner rather than later.

HTH

Ian

Ian's advice is good - in that you ought to take professional advice before leaping into a "quick-fix" situation. An insolvency practitioner will be able to fully review your situation and offer suggested solutions, enabling you to understand the advantages, disadvantages and implications of each one - and hopefully assist you to avoid bankruptcy.

You are clearly insolvent, given the monthly shortfall you report, and this is likely to get worse before it is better. Advice costs nothing but could be priceless if you find a way out of your current difficulties with ease.

Hi there. I just wanted to say hello and welcome. I would get advice before doing anything else like trying to remortgage. Best to look at all your options first.
Keep us posted.

Ang

Hi it’s imperative that you seek professional advice and as Melanie points out "The advice is free" borrowing more money will dig a bigger hole.