www.iva.co.uk

I sold my house about 12 months ago to rent in a different area as I
was very depressed where I lived and saw no future for my young
family there. I would have had about 50k in cash after paying back
all my credit cards and loans (about 80k) with the proceeds of the
sale of he house.

Instead of paying back the debt, I chose to invest the money (total
130k) in the stockmarket, thinking that the 9% APR I was paying on the debt was an easy target to beat. Unfortunately, I was a terrible investor, and began using leverage to increase my holdings of poorly performing investments just in case they came good, not wanting to admit I was wrong.

A year on from when it started, I have had to sell almost all my investments just to meet the minimum payments on the loans and credit cards. My average APR is now 15% and rising as the promotional rates have ended. I've now realised that I've got no hope of ever paying back the 80k debt which has now risen to 100k.

Would an IVA be possible for someone in this situation, or is BRO/BRU the only option? I now realise what I have done is gambling rather than investing, although of course I never intended it to be. I honestly believed that selling a 250k house and putting the 130k leftover in shares would be less risky not more but I just got carried away, how stupid I was. Any advice would be appreciated. I hope I have not ruined my families future as well as mine.

Thanks for your time,
Brad

hi brad and welcome to the forum!

you have come to a great place for support and advice!

i am not a expert , but try not to worry as i am sure a expert will be along to advise you!

barb x

Hi Brad

everyone makes mistakes, i know i have made loads so try not to beat yourself up about them, im sure an expert will be along to give you some advice soon, keep your chin up and try not to worry there will be a way forward for you.

rockbottom

Unfortunately if the stock market was so easy to predict we would all do it(i wish). That said its done now and you have to try and sort things out and hopefully by coming on here you have made a start in the right direction.

hi barb and rb, thanks for the kind words. Great nicknames by the way.

Thanks pd. I agree. The only regular winners are the insiders and the brokers. The rest don't stand a chance, though most do better than me i expect!

Hey Brad, welcome to the forum. There has been a few forum members on here that have had IVAs approved with gambling debts. You just need to demonstrate that you are no longer gambling, which I'm sure you're not.

Please don't worry, you are trying to deal with your problems so you should be proud, and I'm sure your family will support you every step of the way, we are also all here to support you too. Good luck, Viki X

I recently successfully proposed an IVA for a lady who was involved in spreadbetting - and creditors accepted that. It's all about them making a commercial decision at the end of the day, so long as all the facts are laid before them.