What happens next?

[kallis3]

I think you need to speak to them as you are so worried. I'm sure Melanie will be on later.

I'm on SVR and do worry about the interest rates going up but I have to carry on with it.

Take a deep breath and speak to Mel's team tomorrow.

[lem]

trouble is we are both in public sector jobs and our salaries are frozen, hubbys indefinitely, mine until 2012 at the earliest. Having said that, I am part time and would have the option of increasing my hours over the course of the IVA if I had to, I could always join a nursing agency for extra shifts if I had to.

I'm sorry, Tina bless her keeps texting me telling me not to worry and that they will look after us and she has some personal stuff going on tonight, I feel awful but my emotions are just all over the place at the moment and I keep feeling panicky, I am so scared of what we are facing

[kallis3]

Don't panic, I am sure they can sort something out for you, but best discuss it on the phone tomorrow.

You could always do a debt management plan in the interim at least, but do wait until you can actually speak to someone.

[MelanieGiles]

If you have given creditors your work telephone numbers, they may choose to contact you at work, so it may be better at this stage to ask them to remove those numbers from their records. Once you have decided to go ahead with the IVA, we can write to them for you and advise them of your intentions.


Take your time to confirm your decision, and when you have it is good to get going on things straight away sxo that your arrangement can be in place as quickly as possible.

[lem]

Thanks Melanie, yes we have made the decision now and just want to get on with the process, I believe Tina is putting an SOA together now for us, there are just queries over what to do with our mortgage deal that is up in March.

My head is all over the place at the moment, I feel I'm in limbo and my life is in someone elses hands and I don't have any control anymore, its not a nice feeling

[nepensioner]

Hi Lem
I can relate to your feeling of not being in control, however now can also see that my finances got into a mess because I did not control them. Having faced that did exactly as you have done and passed the strain over to Mels team, and whilst this was initially very uncomfortable I learnt patience and trust and all was well in the end, be strong and you will get there in the end

[MelanieGiles]

As soon as Tina sends me your details - and I know she is working on them at the moment - we can have a chat about your mortgage.

[Rosepetal]

Hi Lem, we are like you at the very start of this, I can relate so very much with your post and emotions. I found out a few weeks ago that we had huge debts,hubby had been juggling it all,had taken cards and loans out I knew nothing about. Ahuge shock! from reading here I knew we needed to open a basic bank account,we used CO-OP,I felt sitting there in the bank everyone could see IVA written all over us,I kept thinking at some point a cashier was going to tell us "YOU CAN'T HAVE A ACCOUNT WITH US". But, they didn't,they were polite & there were no problems. we also opened a joint "smart saver account" (intrest rate isn't great but that doesn't matter)where i've got £50 in to use as emergency/sort of overdraft net(no overdraft on a basic bank accounts) for us,with online banking set up we can transfer the £50 into the bank account if we need it. I'm so glad we did that&arranged wages etc to be moved to new account,I was terrified our bank account would be frozen leaving no money for fuel&food.

I have a credit card and catalogue which I thought were up to date,but in effect they weren't-they were being paid from a overdraft that I didn't know about! C.A.B told me to stop these payments,like you I found this upsetting& v difficult.

I feel overwhelmed but hopefully things should get better now we've made the call. just wanted you to know you're not alone,we're at the same point as you having spoken to Tina. more tears! hug x

[gzzb]

Hi Lem

We know how you feel, but believe me when I say that feeling will soon pass. It wont feel like it now but you are at the start of a very positive experience.

One that will have a profound impact on your relationship with money for the rest of your life. You will come out at the end of this happy and stronger for the experience that it will bring.

Hang in their it'll be sorted soon

[leaKybrain]

Hi Lem, we are with Mels team and our creditors meeting is in 10 days. Our mortgage fixed rate is up in April and we are going to try and get another fixed rate for 4 years so it will co-incide with the 54 months mortgage equity clause, we've not spoken to our mortgage company as yet which we will do in the new year and see what they say.

Rosepetal, when we went to sort our new banks out we too sat there believing they were going to know we were doing an IVA yet at that time we had only made the call two days before LOL, no way anyone knew.

to both of you though, it is scary and very emotional, I have cried buckets, and as Tamsyn said to me one day, she'd rung and I'd just finished a call with a horrid man, she said that we have to deal with a lot of things when doing an IVA, esp at the start, all emotional, and we reach a point where we can't deal with it as well as normal, it really does overflow and we just cry at everything. It does get better, you will start to feel a bit more calmer as things progress.

I picked up the phone to call IVA on 13th September and as at that point all our payments were up to date, we officially missed our first one on 1st October and all since, we have put the money in our savings, this built up for the first IVA payment, plus we had car, boiler, house bills to pay, and of course christmas is looming. We've only got about half the money in the bank now but its a little bit of something we never had before.

[Rosepetal]

Hi,it does help a little to know it's not just us going through all this. I'm having a tough time tonight,hubby on his Christmas works night out(luckily he'd been paying a bit into the kitty each week or he wouldn't have been able to go!), I suppose too much time alone to think about it all.

I'm so weepy,just when think i've stopped crying,then i'm off again, i feel so sad. my parents live far away so i've no one i feel i can really let it all out to, i have told them what's going on but feel i need to be careful what i say to them as they're worried and they were upset with my husband. i've felt a bit like the meat in the sandwich,him on one side and them telling me what they think on the other,not to mention all my own emotions.

It's been a tough week for me physically(i've got a disability) which doesn't help.my husband is very caring&helps me,i'm very lucky,but i've felt so angry with him. it's difficult NEEDING help from someone you're so upset with! i don't know how he's carried the burden of all of this by himself. it's pushed us to breaking point. i am so exhausted but can't sleep, when i do drop off i'm dreaming,i'm forgetful.

I hope things might be moving a bit by the time Christmas comes as our children are coming home, i don't want them picking up on tensions. 1 is in the forces and the younger 1 is at uni.

Leaky- good luck for your meeting.

[andrea1968]

Please Rosepetal-be strong for you and your husband.He will have his reasons for hiding this from you for so long.Maybe pride,maybe worry about upsetting you because you are ill.Whatever his reasons this has come to a head and hopefully when you come through this you will be as strong a couple as you ever were.The early stages of the iva are so painful,my husband and i were quite happy until i became ill and had to leave work.Suddenly we couldnt afford to keep up with the credit bills-i went from a good income to virtually nothing overnight.The lifestyle we were used to was gone-i was bitter about what was happening to me and became the wife from hell-blaming him for anything and everything.Luckily we got in touch with a really good firm who got us on to a dmp then a few months later an iva.Now the dust has settled we are stronger than ever-but it was the most testing and quite frankly horrendous thing we as a couple have ever been through.I have always been the feisty one in our relationship-my husband very calm and quiet.I do feel like we have been to hell and back-but we will stay together-because our marriage has been tested to the limit and we have come through the pain together.I know how you feel and believe me it will all get better-i promise.

[leaKybrain]

Rose that was exactly how I felt when I first picked up that phone and spoke to tina, I was in so much pain because the nerves in my stomach were bending me double. Once I had got the answer that they thought this was viable I started to feel better.

Lem we cancelled all ours too at the time we made this decision, so far the only calls we have really had were from HSBC and as it said not available for caller ID we didn't answer the calls. They never left messages at all. I've had one text asking me to call them, and one message via the website.

Studio have only just started ringing in the last week and when she asked me if I was Karin R I said yes, she said my address so i said yes, then when she asked me to confirm my date of birth to her I said NO, she said she needed to confirm with me and i said no, I don't know you are really who you say you are, so I'm not confirming, bye...and put the phone down.

I've had letters from them all but thats it. I have to admit I am actually really surprised its got to three months and from MBNA and Tesco we have only had written correspondance, HSBC couldn't be a problem as they don't ring from uk number so I won't answer the phone. Studio have only just started the calls.

You may be surprised that you won't get many, this was one of my panics that we would have loads and we haven't. Any letters I get i scan in and email to the team.

[Kim.70]

Hi Lem, I am in the same situation as you. We have always borrowed and paid back, companies have done well out of us. Unfortunately, now we can't payback and we need help. The Country is in a mess and the full extent of people's borrowing and inability to pay back is yet to show. There's loads of us and many more to follow!

[Kim.70]

Hi,it does help a little to know it's not just us going through all this. I'm having a tough time tonight,hubby on his Christmas works night out(luckily he'd been paying a bit into the kitty each week or he wouldn't have been able to go!), I suppose too much time alone to think about it all.

I'm so weepy,just when think i've stopped crying,then i'm off again, i feel so sad. my parents live far away so i've no one i feel i can really let it all out to, i have told them what's going on but feel i need to be careful what i say to them as they're worried and they were upset with my husband. i've felt a bit like the meat in the sandwich,him on one side and them telling me what they think on the other,not to mention all my own emotions.

It's been a tough week for me physically(i've got a disability) which doesn't help.my husband is very caring&helps me,i'm very lucky,but i've felt so angry with him. it's difficult NEEDING help from someone you're so upset with! i don't know how he's carried the burden of all of this by himself. it's pushed us to breaking point. i am so exhausted but can't sleep, when i do drop off i'm dreaming,i'm forgetful.

I hope things might be moving a bit by the time Christmas comes as our children are coming home, i don't want them picking up on tensions. 1 is in the forces and the younger 1 is at uni.

Leaky- good luck for your meeting.

There are many of us in the same situation. Keep your chin up, we can all support each other!