www.iva.co.uk

Dear Forum

As I am currently considering an IVA and more than likely will have to go down this route (or go bankrupt one way or another), I went to the Natwest and opened a Basic Bank Account. My debts are with:

HSBC
Egg
Cooperative Bank
Student Loan Co.

Do I have to have just a Basic Bank Account with Natwest or can I have an account with a card that can be used in shops e.g. Swith / Maestro???

I don't want an account with overdraft or anything which can get me back into debt, but it would be handy to be able to pay for food shopping etc. on card so as not to have to carry cash all the time!!!

hi

we have a switch card with our account, at tne time of applying our credit rating was good as we still hadnt missed any payments! if the bank approve you for a switch card i dont see any reason why you cannot have one!

barb x

The stupid thing is barb, that we applied for a new bank account just before we did our original DMP. Our credit was good. Went to Nationwide and they would only give us a basic account - went across the road to Barclays and we were given a full account with credit cards! You would have thought we would have learned!

As Barclays was one of our creditors, we have had to revert back to the Nationwide one.

No harm in you applying for a full account though snowman. They may give you one

Hi Snowman, I opened a current account with NatWest last week. There is a debit card and cheque book on the account, but it depended on my credit score which card I was allowed. I ended up with a Solo card (as my score is shot) which I understand can be used in shops (the only difference apparently is that it checks your account has enough funds in to authorise the transaction without going overdrawn). The alternatives were Maestro (ex-Switch) and Electron. I am happy using cash now, it teaches you to be more frugal, and personally when I have money in my pocket, I don't like to see it dwindle and am less likely to spend it. It was the mistake of using cards that made me less aware of what I was spending. Only my opinion, but one that hopefully will work for me. Rgrds Kazzy

I have a Natwest Step Account which I opened when I first applied for an IVA, my credit rating would still have been good at this point and missed a cheque book so much for school things, my daughters school insists on cheques. I applied for a Smile account a couple of weeks later and was accepted, I use this only for school things really and keep a minimal amount in there. This account does come with a £500 o/d, which I had removed and sent confirmation of the removal of the o/d to my IP who is more than happy to have the account. Although this is a current account with Maestro card/cheque book, I find I use the Nat West with Solo card all the time and have never had a problem with this.

Hi Lesley, I haven't received my card yet, but received my chequebook this morning. Can you use Solo in most shops? Kazzy

It was just so easy to put everything on the card wasn't it? Now I use cash for almost everything, although I do have a debit card too which I'm finding more and more I'm only using to draw cash with though.

Hey Guys!

Thanks for all the replies!!!

I just opened the basic 'Step' account today, and will have to wait a week or so for it to be processed before I can upgrade it to an account with a debit card (Switch / Maestro / Solo). I won't be wanting an overdraft facility at all though. That would just be tempting fate!

I reckon I should do this before entering into the IVA while my credit rating should be 'ok' (I have never missed any payments to any of my creditors - yet, but not too sure how long I can keep juggling from one account to another).

That's a point actually - as I have never actually missed any payments to my creditors, should I actually miss a few, say 2 or 3 before entering into the IVA to get a bit of money saved up and make the IVA more 'enticing' to the creditors (they may be thinking "Hey, this guy can afford to pay the full amount), or is this just a stupid idea???!!!

Great news on the bank account.

I think I am right in saying that once you embark oin the IVA route, ie have your meeting with your IP, you should stop paying your creditors.

Good luck Kirsty

Hi Snowman

My advice is, once you have started the ball rolling with an IP then cease any and all payments to your creditors. This is the way to go I think, its what I did but check with your IP if you're worried

Once you agree that your IVA is the way you wish to go then you should stop all payments and cut up all those cards and not use them again. I cancelled all mine the same evening I had my conversation to start the ball rolling.

Up to that point I never missed a payment too. But it was the right thing to do.

The calls will then start but there is nothing you can really do about that. Don't give in to any of their demands for token payments either, tell them to deal with your IP direct or take the phone of the hook and pass all letters to your IP

i started the process for a iva before i had missed any payments, as soon as i had decided to go the iva route, i did not make any more payments to creditors.

it can take a couple of months for a iva to be set up, so in the mean time we saved what we could, so that we have a bit of contingency money once we started the iva.

i would start the ball rolling asap!

barb x

Kazzy, I've had no problem using Solo in shops, didn't get a cheque book with my Solo card though which is why I have a Smile account too. There are a couple of places I've tried to shop online that doesn't accept Solo but most do. I'm more than happy with Natwest and intend to continue to bank with them post IVA, which is a long way off yet but I'll get there!

Wish you all the best with your journey.

Thanks Lesley. They seemed really nice at my branch so hopefully I can form a good relationship with them. Kazzy x

Cheers once again everyone for all your replies!!! It really does make one feel a lot more positive about things knowing that other people have been through or are going through a similar things...

Might go and cut my credit cards up now...they are fully maxed out anyway so no use to anyone...

Oh, it's my 30th birthday today too!!! What a way to spend it eh?!!!