When I sorted my IVA I chose to fix my mortgage for the five years. If you can afford it, it means that it is one less thing to worry about. A lot can change in five years.
I think it is fair to say that with interest rates at 0.5 % the only way they are going to go is up. Bear in mind that once you are in an iva, you wont be able to do anything with your mortgage. You also need to decide on what you are going to do before you start to default/make token payments as your creditors will report your non payment to the credit ref agencies which will affect your ability to get a new mortgage now.
This whole process might be a bit intimidating but it is worth it. 3 1/2 years ago I was 100k in debt. I have just had a full and final offer accepted and am know debt free. Stick with it, its hard but more than possible.
There is a lot going on for you guys at the moment, Lem, and it is important to fully consider all aspects - and not just those which are obvious right now, but those that will affect your future - you have already identified changes with your mortgage as an example.
We will work with you to try and identify a solution that suits all of the issues you have going on. Sometimes there has to be a lttle give and take, but we usually get there in the end. I shall look forward to speaking to you personally very soon.
Thanks Melanie. hubby spoke again with Tina last night, we still don't have an absolute answer on the mortgage as yet, we have the offer on the table and have 14 days to decide if we want to take the fixed deal, they have offered a 2 and 3 yr fix aswell which are bnoth still more costly than just going on the SVR so lots to consider.
I am not concerned as yet about HSBC freezing our account as we have just paid the credit card payment on time a couple of days ago to them and that was the only debt we have with them.
We still have a few more repayments due later this month, Barclaycard is due next on 4th dec, I can afford to pay this (well, the overdraft can!) but am considering now just reducing this to £1, I had thought about suspending altogether but am concerned that the creditors will all start to take action swiftly before we have chance to get the IVA going and I don't at this stage want to let them know of our plans so I think if I just pay something, it will show willing for the time being.
We went to Tesco yesterday and I paid for my shopping in cash, to be honest I was nearly in tears all the way round as I felt like I had a big fat IVA written across my forehead and everyone knows we are in this mess, which i know is ridiculous.
We have decided that this is what we want to do, albeit I think we just need a few days to get used to the idea before we give the final go ahead to Tina, 5 years of our lives committing to this is such a long time (funny how 5 years never seemed that long when we were taken loans outover that time in the past) but I know that if we choose to try and pay off every penny of what we owe, it is going to take us at least 10 years, probably much more, and that would be with a much tighter budget than we would have on the IVA.
I guess I am just incredibly scared of having the 'credit' safety net completely removed from us, I know that may make me sound weak but we have got into such bad habits over the years of always having credit to fall back on when we have seen a bargain or had a large bill crop up and for the first time in our lives we are going to have to save for these things, it's going to teach us a good lesson and make us learn to face the harsh reality.
I've never known the Co-op freeze a bank account for anyone in an IVA, they won't even be informed about it!
They must be getting confused with bankruptcy where they would probably freeze it.
Your creditors will not be able to take action against you that quickly, they may hassle you but that's all.
I think we all know where you are coming from with being scared of having no credit to fall back on.
You will get used to it, and the feeling of relief when you don't worry about the phone ringing, or the postman calling, and being in credit with the bank at the end of the month is priceless!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Thanks Jan, that's good to know, was wondeirng how we would get around that!
hubby is wondering if any of our creditors would try to contact him at work once we stop payments? we have had these credit cards for so long now I can't remember if they have our works telephone numbers but as he is a prison officer, the last thing he needs is his employer finding out that we are in financial difficulty as that could jeopardise his job.
Hi Lem, in our letters to our creditors where we told them of our intention to enter an IVA and to make token payments to them we asked them if they could please not call us at work because it would have a negative impact on our employment. We gave them our new home phone number and said that we would never ignore their calls. Every creditor with the exception of Vanquis removed our works number from their systems as a result of the letter they recieved. Vanquis called me once at work because they had called my mobile and I wasn't able to answer it. I told them that I had asked not to be called at work and they apologised and removed the number there and then. My advice would be to write to your creditors asking them not to call you at work, or always answer the home or mobile calls. If you ignore the calls (which is fine, many people choose not to)the chances are if they have your work number and they can't get hold of you any other way they will call your work.
If you have online access to your creditors then get in there now and remove any numbers you don't wish to be contacted on.
Also contact the creditors and tell them that he cannot accept any personal calls at work but will either speak via mobile or home telephone.
Do not let them bully you into anything.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I would certainly tell them that due to his job he cannot accept any calls at work at all otherwise his job is in jeopardy which means bankruptcy and they will get nothing.
Usually works!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Well, spoken to Tina, taken a deep breath and have now cancelled all the remaining direct debits due out for the rest of this month, first one is Egg tomorrow, wonder how long it will be before the phone calls start?
I feel sick to the pit of my stomach if I'm honest, I have never even missed a payment before and the thought of all the phone calls starting/threats etc and damage to my credit rating terrifies me if I'm honest, I don't know why I am so worried about my credit rating though as due to the level of debt we have, it's not that great anyway.
Has anyone got any tips on how to handle the next few weeks now we've made this decision? I am terrified.
lem - we've all been there. The calls are awful, I won't lie to you about that, but be strong and don't let them bully you. The call centres have no say over anything that happens to you.
The forum is here 24/7 for you and if you want to speak to me off forum, let me know.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Thank you Jan that's very kind of you. I had to call the bank to cancel the Egg Direct debit due out tomorrow as I couldn't stop it online but its done now. We will have to be prepared for the onslaught I guess.
Stll undecided what to do about the mortgage, I am tempted to stay on the SVR come March as the payments will only change once a year anyway and it will go up to £623 which is an increase of £140 from what we are paying now, if we fix for five years, it's going to go up to £774 which is going to reduce the dividend massively and I don't know if that will be feasible. I have 14 days to decide so need a decision from Tina really
Hopefully Tina will get back to you soon. You will get the phone calls, just stand firm.
You have picked an excellent team.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I am absolutely distraught and wondering what the hell I have done, after waiting for Tina to get back to me regarding the mortgage options, she has texted me tonight to tell me that she thinks if we go for the 5 year fix our mortgage repayments will be too high to leave enough dispoable income for the IVA and has suggested we stay on the SVR. However, there is every likelihood that the mortgage repayments will go up to that level over the next 5 years anyway as interest rates are only going to increase aren't they?
I now feel completely trapped, I have cancelled all my DD's today and am going to have loads of missed payments, yet am feeling that an IVA is no longer going to be viable for us, I am too scared to go onto the SVR as our mortgage repayments will rise over the next 5 years and then if the IVA payments can't be altered we are going to end up in extreme poverty with every likelihood of it failing.
I am now in a right state and don't know what the hell to do
Hi Lem, try not to panic, none of us know what the future will hold and although you say the interest rates may likely rise your income may do too, who knows what will happen. Do take the advice of Melanie and her wonderful team as they do know the insolvency business very well.
It's a worrying time and I'm almost 50 and on an interest only mortgage and if I think about it too much I'd drive myself mad but I tend to think let's get the 60 month IVA out of the way and then think what I'm going to do.
Creditors will ring as Jan says that is a fact but you can refer them to Melanie's office. I did this and they always agreed to ring after a set period i.e maybe one or two week period so in effect it buys you time. xx
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
