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Hi

My husband and I have substantial amount of debt equally to £56,000, after selling the house. I have a full time job and run a business from home. Would an IVA be the best option for us, but will this affect my business and will I be able to use a Credit Card still for buisness expenses. We have been coping with the outgoing, but its now getting on top of us, hence why we have decided to sell the house, pay some of the debt and start again. What would you advise?

Hi tsol and welcome to the forum

An IVA is one option for you, but not the only one. did you pay off any of your debts with equity released from the house sale? If so, I hope you paid some to each creditor evently, to avoid effecting preferences in favour of one or more creditors.

Do you feel that you have the ability to make payments on a regular basis into an IVA for the next five years? These would need to be at a level of approximately £350 per month at lease, to ensure you were going to effect a minimum dividend, but of course would be based upon your actual circumstances so they could be higher.

It may be possible for you to retain one credit card for use in the business, but only if your other creditors accept this. This would not be possible under bankruptcy proceedings.

I suggest that you take proper specific advice from an insolvency practitioner as to all of the options which are available to you, who will be able to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk