My Statement of Affairs...

bobpitbull

MissKJ wrote: »

Tell CCCS you want to do a debt management plan first before considering an IVA. You have very little equity in your home, so I dont think it is right for you. You have the potential to increase your income soon with your part time venture, and your wife may be in a better position after baby is born and settled. But i dont think you are being entirely honest with yourselves over the expenditure budget. Get your self sorted with a DMP and use the months breathing room from paying your creditors to get a little emegrgeny fund. The sit down as a family and discuss how EveryOne can help without being alarmist.

Can you ask your bank to put you on interest only for 2 years until you get sorted?

I've filled in the debt management part on the CCCS website - thanks for the advice everyone, I think this might be the best solution for me. From everything that I've read, IVAs aren't at all nice to go through and should only be a last resort. I actually spoke to an IVA company yesterday... they're sending me the application forms etc tomorrow (I won't use them now)... I got a really bad impression from them, though, as they insisted that I should call them to tell them when the documents arrived and that they'd then get a representative to come over to collect some further documents from me - credit card bills, bank statements, etc... it all just seemed too rushed and heavy handed to me.

Settling the debts with the creditors is something I'm more happy with - I know they're losing a lot in interest but, be fair, they've had plenty of interest off me over the years already...

When you say to ask my bank to put me on interest only... what do you mean?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

heatherks

bobpitbull wrote: »

I've filled in the debt management part on the CCCS website - thanks for the advice everyone, I think this might be the best solution for me.

When you say to ask my bank to put me on interest only... what do you mean?

.

i think they will mean interest only mortgage ...think it works out cheaper per month

i think your doing the best thing going through the CCCS as some of these other places take a "adminstration / service charge before your creditors get any of their money

firesidemaid

i know it may be difficult re. the in-laws - we all like to support our parents, but do you know how much they 'earn' per month?

do they have a state pension each or joint? do they have any occupational pensions or get pension credit? do they have savings?

do either of them need caring for? do they (or should they) claim attendance allowance?

fatbelly

I would also steer you away from an IVA to a debt management plan.

I don't think you genuinely have enough surplus income for an IVA but that may not stop the IVA-pushers from trying it on.

bobpitbull

Yep, I'm definitely going to go for a DMP with CCCS. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I'll also keep an eye on all of our outgoings and see where I can save money. Not spending extra on the side-business until it's making a decent profit will also help.

donkingkong

bobpitbull wrote: »

...it's really the website that costs the most... the reason I need a server-based solution is that my part-time business is in online marketing... email marketing... so, to cut costs, I send the emails from my own server... most people don't know this but most ISPs and online email providers limit the number of emails you can send to around 200 per day. I regularly send 5,000 - 10,000 per week...

Bob. I'm going to drop you a PM with my email and MSN/Google Talk details, I might be able to help you with this. Donkingkong.

bobpitbull

Just wanted to update everyone on this - my DMP starts with CCCS in July so I'm going to finally start paying off my debts..!

Virgin CC managed to lose my token payment last month and added a chunk of interest and a late payment charge onto my account... I received the latest bill this morning and it's gone up by £500 (no spending as I opted out of spending with them a few months ago) ... and it says that the "minimum payment" for next month is around £850..!!! Crazy... not sure what'll happen with that but we'll see...