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I am considering taking out an IVA. I have £56k worth of unsecured debt with 7 creditors. However, I live in a 2 bed flat with my husband and I hope to have children once I finish the term of the IVA.
But I have two major problems:
1. I do not want to tell my husband about my situation because I feel I can cope with the repayments myself, and as this is not his problem (and he is relatively debt free) I do not want to burden him with it. Is it unrealistic to hide this from him for the duration of the IVA?
2. Is there any way to avoid releasing the equity in our flat once the IVA comes to an end. This is because our current property is too small to raise a family in and it is likely that we would need the equity to get a larger property. I make £2800 a month, and my share of the mortgage is £650, so I could afford to pay up to £1000. Would this help me in avoiding the "equity release" problem?

Hi
With a joint property involved it is unrealistic to hide an IVA from your husband as the equity would play a part in your IVA and consequently your husband would have to know.
On the info that you supply it could be that an IVA is not the correct option for you.On a disposible income of £1000 a month you could enter into a debt management plan with your creditors over 5 years and pay your debt in full.This course of action could be done without your husbands knowledge as equity does not come into play.
Speak to a company on this site and discuss your options

Hi husnabn

You will have to face telling your husband if you are going to enter into an IVA, primarily because of the jointly owned property, as he will need to agree to any future equity release. However, it strikes me that perhaps an IVA is not really needed at all if you have disposable income of £1,000 and only owe £56,000.

How much are your contractual repayments to creditors each month? I think you should initially explore whether your could reschedule some of the repayments, as you only have 7 individual creditors and this ought to be fairly easy to manage. A debt management company such as Thomas Charles could assist you with this, and the creditors would probably much rather the benefit of regular ongoing repayments from you.

The downside of doing this is that the creditors will probably continue to charge interest, but if keeping the problem from your partner is paramount then this could work, albeit the repayment period may well extend past the five year limit of an IVA.

A payment of £1,000 would seem unusually high, given your income, and I wonder how realistic this is? Have you made provision for all contingencies in your calculations?

Experience of being both an insolvency practitioner (and a wife) tells me that problems shared with your partner are problems which are well on their way to being solved. Whether you enter into a debt management plan or an IVA, you will need ongoing support and understanding from your partner, which will be difficult to obtain if he does not understand the nature of your problems.

I strongly recommend that you take in a deep breath and find the courage to discuss it with him, as he may well have other solutions to suggest - and you do need to move forward with your lives. Your plans to have children should not be put on hold, simply because you have a few debt problems!

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.
View my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Hi Husnabn, I agree with Melanie - take a deep breath and tell your husband. I dreaded telling my partner, but to be honest I don't think I could live through the next 5 years keeping something like that from him.

Good luck!

Four down, fifty six to go until freedom!

Yes tell your husband, and no it will not be easy but once done then things should get easier.

Try to tell your husband it will help to share the problem and you may be surprised how supportive he may be. It would be worse for him to find this out a few years down the line as he would feel you had not been honest all things good and bad should be shared in a marriage. As said above take a deep breathe pick a quiet time so that you can discuss it fully and be honest. Good luck and have your babies when you want them.