Hi everyone, its good to see I am not alone in this! I do feel incredibly ashamed that we are in this position through our stupidity and spending money, we have both had good jobs, never been out of work and it's just shameful that we have just spent and spent, I am disgusted with myself over it really.
no phone calls yet, although we have only missed one payment on friday so far, I am expecting the phone to start this week when the others are missed, so much for a contingency though, have got the cambelt done on the car that was £200, spent £100 in fuelling the cars for work this week aswell, that's what comes of living in the sticks
Well done lem - your doing the right thing and using any contingency fund sensibly. The calls may not start as quick as you think. I had missed payments for over a month before i received my first call. You have different options of ignoring calls or sending the creditors a letter but I faced them head on and returned or answered every call - I didn't want them phoning me at work or their automated computer systems to go into overdrive so I informed every creditor that I was entering an IVA. It certainly has proven to be good for me in that calls stopped. You can get those call centre staff to put your account on hold for 10 days at at time so that buys you time.
Three days for me with barclaycard and they were on the phone! I refused to speak to them as they were downright rude and intimidating. We ended up changing the phone number.
I never got calls at work as nobody had the number - plus I had moved locations after taking out all of the loans.
I wrote to my creditors but it made no difference.
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
Hello Lem,
I am in the early stages of an IVA, thankfully I found this forum before making the first step.
5 months ago I admitted that we were not managing and I jumped into a DMP with a company in Manchester without doing much research other than a quick google.
When I stopped my payments I was not clear about the process as it was not explained to me. The calls from creditors were persistent and sometimes rude. Barclaycard's robot dialler freaked my wife out. MBNA were demanding at first but I was assertive yet polite with them and they stopped calling and just sent letters. Capital One called but were polite and were the first to agree to the reduced payment.
I checked my credit report with Experian and Barclaycard have not recorded anything, Capital One show 2 missed payments but MBNA show 4 missed payments even though I only "missed" 2 and give them 2 50% payments. My beautiful 19year credit history has been spoiled.
Since starting the IVA process and sending out letters in advance, to date I've not had any calls. I've had some letters but they have been polite and positive towards an IVA so I am definitely sure now that I am doing the right thing.
I am with Melanie's team and they have done more for me without any payment than our debt management co did and they bled us for £993 in the 4 months we've been with them. I am actually worse off now than when I started the DMP.
The people on this forum are excellent. They are friendly, supportive and most importantly they are (or have been) in the same situation as us. The experts ARE experts and not ambulance chasers and are genuinely happy to help. This is obvious when you see them posting at 12am, 1am after a hard days work sorting out peoples debt and getting their lives back on track.
I am glad to see that there a few newbies on the forum within a month of me as I'm sure it'll be reassuring that we're not the only ones on this long, tough journey.
1st call 3rd Nov 2010.
Creditors meeting 21st Feb 2011.
IVA approved 22nd Feb 2011.
Will all be over 21st Feb 2016.
I found that once we had a precise date for the creditors meeting we were more assertive with speaking to creditors(nothing up in the air)and once they had this information they in general did stop the calls and letters.When we did decide to go for the iva we were already on a debt management plan with the same group of companies so everything ie paperwork was very straightforward as most of the information required was in place.
The scariest thing we had to do though was to clear out our bank account-we lived in overdraft so as soon as my husband got paid I had to withdraw all the cash immediately and put this into the new account ready for the direct debits(which were due out within days) it all ran so smoothly but I felt like I was such a fraud-yet if we hadnt have taken the money we would have had nothing at all to live on for the month and essential bills had to be paid.My iva company reassured me but I was so scared at the thought that I was willingly taking the overdraft-not our money and putting it into the new account. Actually barclays (our bank)didnt realise for a fortnight-when the personal loan was due to come out!!even though it was a bit obvious when i had cancelled all the direct debits and basically scarpered with their money.I did answer the phone to them when they called and they were very good to me-they knew what I had done was essential to our survival-took the name of our iva company and left us alone after that.
Please everyone who is new to the forum-have faith in the companies who are working for you-they are experts at what they do and wouldnt waste their time and effort if they thought you didnt have a very good case to put forward.Try not to read into the horror stories that are banded about by misinformed individuals who have a grudge against iva companies. The insolvency practitioners are well educated professionals who know what they are doing-mine are a godsend.Remember your iva is a legal document-bound by rules same as any loan you may have had in the past-I never questioned any company when i was borrowing their money and I trust the iva company 110 per cent.
Good luck to all of us and remember there is nothing to be ashamed of -look on it as a business transaction and a small hiccup in lifes journey-we will all be stronger for this experience in the whole scheme of things.
This is very harrowing and those of us who have gone the iva route seem in general very ashamed of the decisions we have made-but also remember the majority have tried to keep their head above water and paid our dues-we should all be proud that we have the guts to admit we need help-burying our heads in the sand only makes the ordeal of juggling debt so much harder.Family and health are the most important things in life-money worries shouldnt compromise either of these.
Last edited by andrea1968 on Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
full and final accepted January 2015
iva agreed; August 2010
iva would have completed; August 2017
extra year thank's to NRAM
Some fantastic posts on here which I must admit are making me feel emotionally a little stronger and able to cope with all this.
Although I feel guilty about the money we have spent and that we are no longer in a position to realistically pay this back within a reasonable timeframe, to some degree, I am not ashmed of what gets written off, the amount of money our creditors have made out of us over the years must have paid what we borrowed twice over anyway.
I just want my life back, our lives back and be able to concentrate on life, love and happiness rather than spreadsheets and budgets 24/7 which is how I seem to have lived these last few years juggling everything to ensure everyone gets paid what is due.
Thanks Lesley, I am touched by how friendly this forum is.
Still no creditor calls so I'm doing ok at the moment. I have a quesiton regarding my salary, as I am a nurse and work unsocial hrs, I get paid unsocial hours payments on top of my wage, I know what my basic wage is which I have told Tina, but also that my net pay will always be more than this (even when on annual leave or sick leave because of agenda for change) as I have to work unsocial hrs. However, my salary will be different each and every month, how will this be taken into account with the IVA? Tina has told me that they will only go on my basic salary, but what will I do then with the additional money that I will earn above this every month? this could vary from a few ££'s to around £300 extra.
I am worried that at the end of year 1 they will take an average of what i have earned over the year and assess my new IVA payments on that, but what happens then if I earn less than this average? I will still have to find the extra funds for increased IVA payments?
Also, having given Tina my initial SOA which we discussed as not 'fixed in stone' on my first phone call, we have not gone through this again since and I know she is putting the final SOA together for Melanie now. Some of our outgoings are going to change over the next few months, Council Tax, Water rates, Electricity will all go up (esp with added VAT increase from Jan aswell) but as yet I don't know what these will be. I am also concerned that our joint petrol bills per month come to around £300, as we both live so far away from work, will the creditors accept this sum? we do keep our receipts to prove this!
I also missed off a couple of items in our expenditure that haven't been taken into account, these being Gas bottles for our cooker (we don't have mains gas) and annual service costs for our gas cooker and central heating boiler, will I get the opportunity again to go over our SOA with melanie?
Last edited by lem on Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Lem
My experiecne with the same co that you are using was that just prior to the proposal going to Mel that I was asked to review the expenditure to see if anything was missing, Mel also asked me the same question at my final tel meeting with her, so they are not set in stone at this stage and can be updated at anytime before you sign off the final proposal (I had missed off Boiler service and car breakdown cover!!)
Hi lem,
As has already been posted, you`ve chosen well in Melanie`s team to represent you in your IVA proposal.
once I decided upon proposing an IVA, I wrote to and phoned all my creditors to explain the situation and asked them to contact my IP with any future correspondence. Most of my creditors made little attempt at contact but Barclaycard were extremely prolific in their pursuit via phone and mail and they started one day after the missed payment!!! I didn`t answer any calls as I work nights and have my phone on silent, but awoke to many messages every afternoon from them. I never got any calls at work, possibly because I informed them through my initial phone call and letter, that I worked a 10-6 nightshift(the call centres seem to work up to 9 ish), and was only allowed emergency calls through my mobile - which number they didn`t have.
I chose to stop paying my creditors and it proved to by a wise decision, as I`ve had a few repairs and replacements to fund, and obviously no credit cards to fall back on...
Good luck with your proposal, I know it doesn`t seem like it right now, but You`ve made the right decision.
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea".
thanks goosed I am wavering slightly at the moment, wondering what one earth I am doing and should I just try to battle on instead? I'm really worried about being on a tight budget for the next 5 possibly 6 years at which time my daughter will be 17/18, my son 13/14 and my husband 51 at which time we will still be looking at trying to pay off a £150k mortgage, bankruptcy is starting to look like an option, for me anyway, and an IVA for hubby, I just can't imagine being on a strict budget for 6 years, it seems an eternity
lem wrote:
thanks goosed I am wavering slightly at the moment, wondering what one earth I am doing and should I just try to battle on instead? I'm really worried about being on a tight budget for the next 5 possibly 6 years at which time my daughter will be 17/18, my son 13/14 and my husband 51 at which time we will still be looking at trying to pay off a £150k mortgage, bankruptcy is starting to look like an option, for me anyway, and an IVA for hubby, I just can't imagine being on a strict budget for 6 years, it seems an eternity
I tried to battle on for years lem, ignoring the fact that I was just getting deeper into debt, paying less of it off every month as my creditors kept on upping the interest...In reality I wasn`t just on a tight budget, I had nothing spare as I was just servicing my debts then re-using my cards to get by...I would have been a hundred years old and still paying my debts.
As for your petrol usage, it is what it is - you`ve got the receipts to prove it so Melanie`s team will factor it into your I&E along with everything else.
We all know the anxiety you`re feeling lem, we`ve all been where you are now, just keep posting and using the forum...You`ll find the help and advice a Godsend.
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea".
I actually find that I like budgeting now, love to see a plus balance at the end of the month even if it is only a few pennies!
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
Don't worry Lem - I will not let you enter into anything which is going to be unaffordable, and we will definately go over the income and expenditure before your commit to any repayment plan - which will be based on your basic wages only.
Lem,just wanted to say,my hubby has said he first realised several months ago that he couldn't manage,he was struggling. I'm sure if he'd told me then,or spoken to Tina earlier it wouldn't have got as bad. I can relate to your panic/fear but if you leave it,debt does grow, you end up using credit to deal with it. Melanie will help you. hang on in there x
Nothing stays the same...everything changes..hang on in there!
