help! we dont know which way to turn

[tanya]

hi, we are looking at doing an iva.we are heavily in debt,we own our house but are struggling to pay monthly payments ,we have an advisor round thid thursady to see if we can get an intrest only remotgage to lower the payments but we will still be struggling with our other debts ,if we go bankrupt we could lose our house ,

help!we dont know which way to turn we have 8 children our income is about 3000 a month our motgage and secured loan at the moment is 1700 combined ,then theres normal living expensis then debts please help ,tanya

[freelili]

Hi Tanya and welcome

I wanted to reply because you sound so stressed and I wanted you to know you are not alone

If you work out what you pay on secured debts such as your mortgage and living expenses, not including your unsecured debts, ie credit cards, loans etc, what is left over would be your disposable imcome

There is rough correlation between the amount of unsecured debt and your disposible imcome. Which would determine if IVA is the right route for you, it also depends on the creditors ie Northern rock and Hsbc bank.

In an IVA your living expenses would be basic, but must be realistically possible for a 5 year stint, there is usually also an equity release clause at some point.

Firstly you could try phoning some IVA companies to get an idea if this is a possible route for you. Take care not to jump in with the first 'sympathetic ear' who offers a way out and shop around. Some people have had bad experiences with unrelalistic proposals. please do not be ashamed, you are taking steps to solve your debt problems. There are many good experts who post on this site and hopefully will come forward to offer some real advise.

I am not an expert just another person stuggling with a debt problem

Good luck and keep posting

LILY

[finebridge]

Hi Tanya,

That was good advice from Lily. Before looking into an IVA you MUST look at affordability. How much unsecured debt do you have? Do you also have joint debt? As stated previously it is also handy to know who your creditors are as some are tougher than others!

Maybe you can contact one of us experts and go through your income and expenditure to see if an IVA would be suitable, if this is not the right route for you your advisor should also be able to suggest what other options you may have.

I hope this helps!

Kind Regards

Nicola

Finebridge Ltd
22 Laud Street, Croydon, CR0 1SU
0800 180 4212
www.finebridge.co.uk