what the options are for me for settling the debts

[busheyman]

I owe about 86k to 8 banks (credit cards and loans) and 23k to families. I borrowed money for my business which hasnt paid off. The house we live in now is solely in my name and we have about 190k in home equity, but we have to move house because of my wife's work. Due to my huge debts and lack of income, we decided to go for a new mortgage in my wife's name only. Also we decided to set aside about 50k to settle some of the debts. Since the new house will now be in my wife's name only, I want to know what the options are for me in terms of settling the debts.

[iva experts]

Hi Busheyman and Welcome to the Forum.

The most vital aspect of determining whether an individual can enter into an IVA or bankruptcy is that they are insolvent.

From the information that you have provided you are not insolvent so the above options would not be right for you.

When you sold the house in your name, why did you not pay off all your creditors at that point?

I would be very careful when approaching your creditors (banks), by all means you can offer them the £50,000 that you have set aside. However your creditors could potentially track any major assets that you have sold or gifted in the last 5 years, in your case if they do they will see that you have taken the £190,000 equity from your house sale and gifted the purchase of your wife's home.


Best Regards. IVA Experts

[MelanieGiles]

If you have debt of £109k and equity of £190k you are not insolvent, but you must not give away assets to your wife to avoid paying your creditors. If you are able to get yourself in a position where you can comfortably maintain payments to creditors, by paying off £50,000 then there is no problem with doing so, but do make sure that you are not prejuding any creditor by doing so.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[iva_squirrel]

Hi busheyman,

If you have enough equity to pay your debts you are not insolvent. You can use £50.000 to pay your creditors back but you must be carefull and pay them equally.

Regards,
Michelle P.