what is my best course of action

[richard]

Can somebody please help with advise, I have debts of 31.699 with 5 unsecured creditors and have a joint mortgage with my wife who is unaware of the debts what is my best course of action, all the sites I have been on have not recommended an iva, which I thought would be my best course of action.
I earn income of £1310.00 per month after tax and inc board from my daughter and family tax credits my out goings are £1.087.00.

[may07]

I am not an expert but I think you would be eligible for IVA e mail Melanie at her site and ask her advice.
Welcome Richard- you are amongst friends!
May

[MelanieGiles]

An IVA may well be a solution for you on paper, but you will need your wife's support through this and her agreement to raising equity in your house during the final year. So if you do not want to share your financial problems with her, a Debt Management Programme might be a better option.

[angela18]

would it be such a shock to your wife Richard.. me and hubby kept our financial situation from each other and nearly led to the end of our marriage (and hubbys thoughts of suicide he was working 7 days aweek 12 hour shifts)). We are now in an IVA. Once we both faced up to our problems together things have gone from strength to strength.. we are with Melanie and she is fantastic.. knew of hubbys loans etc.. but had no idea of his situation with cards.. was a bit shocked but if you love each other and your marriage is strong surely you can share this with her

[rockbottom]

Hi Richard, Ang is right, if you have a good marriage and love each other then you will get through this together, she may be more hurt if she thinks that you didnt confide in her when you needed to, and im sure there will be a solution for you to sort out your debts, but you need to do this as a couple not on your own.
all the best.

[richard]

Thank you all so much for your advice, it is comforting to know that I am not alone.
You are all right I know I should tell my wife the full situation, although she is aware of most of it, but I have always looked after the household finances (not very well recently) until I was made redundant 2 and half years ago, I got a job straight away with my old firm but obviously It meant a drop in salary, and we weren’t exactly rolling in it at the time.
I am also concerned about the thought of debt collectors knocking on the door, as I have always paid my way and never defaulted on anything it scares me to death to think that they could come calling, as I’m new to all this would this be a possibility if I was to go into either an iva or a dmp, from what I have read I seems likely if I went into a debt management plan.
Any advise will be gratefully received

[Adam Davies]

Hi
How much equity do you have in your property ?
Regards

[facingittogether]

hi richard - just want to say welcome and you have come to a great site, where everyone understands each other as we are all in similar situations and have or have had debt problems!

please try to share your problems with your wife like others have said you will then not being carrying the burden alone and keep on posting as you will find lots of support on here!

i wish you the best of luck

barb x

[richard]

Hi Andy,
We have a mortgage of £35.500 and the house is valued at approx £150.00-£155.00, do you think it would be better in my situation to borrow on my mortgage.

[MelanieGiles]

Assuming that you have equity of approximately £115,000, you are not technically insolvent and therefore an IVA is not really an option for you. I suggest you explore whether you could re-mortgage to pay off your creditors, or whether a Debt Management Plan is a better option.