What Would You do?

[Pennyless]

Hi all,

Im after some advice. As some of you will know I was made redundant in late Sep this year.

My Annual Review is due now and I've been asked by my IVA Company to advise them of "the proposals I wish to put forward to my creditors given my current circumstances".

My current position is that after being made redundant (and receiving close to £6k redundancy which effectively belongs to my creditors), although not having secured permanent employment, I have had work from 2 differant agencies, which although not a regular wage, has been sufficient to meet my monthly outgoings and allowed me to maintain my IVA payments. This month "may" be a struggle as I had a bad week last week and only received one days work, but in the main I would "hope" to at least be able to pay my bills....less my IVA payment....

however, my Son has agreed that where I come up short, he will assist by paying my IVA payments as long as I have enough to cover my bills, otherwise he will only be able to assist in helping me with any outstanding bills and I would possibly miss my IVA payments as he is not in a position to help with both.

He is well aware of my IVA status and has remained supportive throughout, however, as he is trying to save to buy his own property with his fiancee, he quite rightly has pointed out that he cannot assist me indefinately.

He has said that he is willing to loan me the money to make my creditors a full & final offer, however, I am reluctant to take his money, as he has over the past 4 years helped us out on numerous occassions. On the other hand I cannot afford to fail my IVA and therefore his offer is most welcome....so I either have to "possibly" borrow off him in small bites or basically take his hand off!

I still remain optomistic that I can get a permanent job eventually but the big question mark is when......and I'm fully aware that whilst I am getting assignments from the agency, I have to expect that after the holiday season, assignments "may" be fewer in between.

I currently pay £310 a month and have never failed to make a payment and I do have an equity clause which will mean I will have to remortgage in Apr/May 2014...at the moment my property is valued at around £150k and I owe around £98k.

So any ideas on what I should be requesting/proposing to my creditors would be appreciated.

I think my possible options are:

1) Continue to make payments for as long as I can.
2) Make a full & final offer with funds from my Son.
3) Possibly borrow indefinately from my Son....hopefully obtaining full employment in the short-term.
4) Possibly request a payment break until I get full-time employment.
5) Miss 2/3 months payments and get full employment before I breach my IVA.

Appologies for the ramble but any help would be appreciated as my head is all over the place at the moment and I really dont want to contact my IVA Company without having a direction/proposal to suggest.

My IVA Company really has been supportive over my position and I know its difficult for me to give them definitive figures of a wage in order to progress my Annual Review, therefore I would really like to show them that I actually know what I want and have a proposal they can table.

These past 3 months really have taken their toll on me and my Wife and any ability for "reasonable" thinking honestly seems to be evading me.

Thanks again everyone.

[Pennyless]

Wow I cant believe what a mess my previous post looks like....I'm really sorry but I had to put things into writing......my Wife hasn't been very well lately and its hard to discuss with her this mess I got us into and I cant believe I'm being so self-centred and feeling so sorry for myself!

I think i just need to get a grip.

Appologies again.

[Adam Davies]

Hi

Totally understandable how you are feeling and your post was fine.

I would try for the full and final with help from your son, you can then repay him as and when work allows it

You are so close to the end and deserve to get through it

Good luck

Regards

[Shining]

I would agree with Andy if the F&F is accepted then it's one less pressure. Once you gain full time employment your son will be paid back. By the way what a lovely son you have x

[TheArtist]

Pennyless, cracking son. I would agree with the above. Let your son help you out with a full and final. Once the IVA has, hopefully, been accepted you can properly move on with your life. If you drip feed the IVA, the threat, given your hit and miss agency work, will still be there to fail. Once the IVA has gone, ok you'll still owe your son, but, by the sounds of it, he is totally unlikely to exert the same pressures for repayment as an IP.

Do it Pennyless, let your boy help out. Believe me, he feels for you too and I guess he'll be only too happy to get a 'stressless' parent back.

[Pennyless]

Thanks for your replies everyone.....you cant imagine how it feels to have some kind words at the moment.....and this forum seems to be the only solace in my ever increasing mess.

I'm just so mentally exhausted with everything at the moment and recently my memory has been non-existent.....I worked at a place last week and drove from the North East to Birmingham and back after picking up another trailer on my artic.......when I returned home that morning I couldn't remember if I'd actually wound up the trailer legs for my return journey to the North East. I then sat pondering at home until I drove back the 30 miles to the yard to check I'd wound them up. Common sense would say they had to be wound up before driving otherwise they would of caught on the road but my brain was telling me I may of left them down. After a further 60 mile round trip I found out they were up.

I'm also suffering from a frozen shoulder intermittently at the moment which is making my life very difficult at times, especially at work, but I cant take certain medicines with driving, cant visit my Dr and cant afford not to take work when its on offer....even trying to sleep sometimes can be difficult due to the pain and it all seems to be getting on top of me.

Sorry about the ramble...thanks again for your support.

[Pennyless]

Agree with you all, yes I,m very lucky to have such a thoughtful Son....just sometimes I think he may be backing the wrong horse.

[Pennyless]

Well just picked up the phone to my IVA Company, which I didn't really want to do.

I asked them for a way forward but they said they couldn't advise me. I then told them that I would prefer to make a full & final offer and they said how much?

I then asked how much would be a reasonable offer and again they said that was up to me taking into consideration my remaining 10 payments @ £310 and also that I may possibly have to extend for a further 12 months so effectively meaning I would need to find £6700....which I explained would possibly be a bridge too far.

They then said they would check my latest house valuation and mortgage redemption statement, both of which I had done in early Oct, and ge back me but couldn't locate my house valuation, which I thought I'd emailed weeks ago to them but obviously I hadn't. I then spent time frantically looking for the email copy on my PC from the Company who dne the vauation but was having problems.....luckily my Son managed to find it and sent it for me.

Im now waiting to hear back from the IVA Company but really I could just cry....I know they are helping me but I feel so alone. I know I cant expect them to make decisions for me but I just need to know what my creditors would find a reasonable offer.....something it seems they cant tell me.

Well just had another call from my IVA Company, they have said to write a letter to them explaining my position and what they want me to put forward to my creditors on my behalf.

They cannot advise on what would be a reasonable offer and I cant say what I think is reasonable so its a bit of a stalemate but I have concluded the following offer:

I will give them all the Redundancy money - £5850 (they would be entitled to this anyway under my IVA) plus my remaining 10 months payments £3100 plus an additional £1500 from further extended payments giving a total of £10,350. Obviously it will take another month ortwo to sort a creditors meeting so I would hope to make a further payment of £310 if I get enough work this month.

So thats it.....I'm not hopeful and have no way to gauge creditors response but its the best I can do. I think I expected too much from my IVA Compay as I was hoping they would steer me towards an acceptab;le figure but its all down to me so thats that...it may be succesful it may not.

I really feel like crawling up into a ball and going to sleep forever but i have to clear the mess I made!

[Pennyless]

Well sent off my offer for preperation of submission of F&F.

Been asked if they mind doing a PPI check and agreed. Never ever had PPI insurance but hey anything to try and help.

Fingers crossed....lets see what happens!

[clairemichelle]

Fingers crossed pennyless.
Cm x

[Pennyless]

Well received a missed call from a company about my PPI and an email from same company Clifford Watts which states they have checked my records and can't find any record of PPI, however the email has a different name to mine on it...........they must be someway connected with the same people at HMRC who are sending me daily changes to my tax code. Ah well another roundabout for me to jump on for the ride.

[Skippy]

Good luck Pennyless, I hope this works out for you. Sorry you've been having a rough time x

[luluj]

Good luck with your full and final offer ... It appears to be a very sensible offer and hopefully your creditors will agree. The supoort being offered by your son is amazing and you should take comfort that he wants to help you whilst starting his.own life with his partner.
Let us know how you get on.

[Pennyless]

Thanks Skippy & Luluj I'm not sure I'm doing anything right at the moment but my intentions are for the good. Everything seems a struggle at the moment and the more I do the more I seem to get wrong.

[Skippy]

I think we've all felt like that at some point Pennyless. Hopefully you'll get everything sorted out soon.

I've not been around much recently but I saw you mentioned HMRC. I had problems with them a couple of years ago - they couldn't get my tax code right and I could have wallpapered the living room with all the codes they sent me. It does wear you down though as they are always right!

Keep posting, you've supported a lot of people on here and we're here to support you x