SOA - Can I Be Saved from Bankruptcy??

Jaelor

peterg1965 - nope, house hasn't fallen in value since taking out the FirstPlus loan. It was such an error on my part - it didn't even make sense to me at the time...god knows what I was thinking.

We could keep on muddling through, but I really resent paying FirstPlus back this huge amount. Also, the most pressing thing at the moment is I return to work 4 days a week in April and family are helping out with childcare at the minute, but I can't rely on this until he's at school, so I really need to get him into nursery at least 2 days a week which works out at £106 a week. Not sure where I'm finding this!

We are a family of 3.

Angchris - I have been ebaying and keeping it in Paypal, but TBH, with this huge bloody secured loan, I'm not really making any railroad.

When/if I ever get out of this mess I'm going to do everything I can to stop people getting into a similar mess - FirstPlus are immoral.

lovelybirchtrees

Dear Jaelor

We thought we'd have to go the bankruptcy route (at over 60) as DH had 2 years of trying to flog his dead horse of a consultancy business (it closed owing us :eek: ) and then retraining - 3 years of university - with no help from the government - no student loan, etc. It was all on the dreaded credit cards - I make just too much to qualify for any assistance! We owed over £40K with DH starting new business - totally different area – and my monthly income being £638 takehome from 2 days employment plus c£750 fairly guaranteed from self-employment. Payplan helped us sort out the payments and we will be debtfree in Jan 2012. I will be 67 at that point and we have no house - we work for our accommodation at the moment but it is tied so... The time to being debtfree will be shorter when DH's business starts making some money but getting set up (started last July) takes time as tools needed to be purchased and stock built up. He does furniture conservation and restoration. He was a computer consultant! He says this is more satisfying. I tell people I'm in training for the Olympics! It is just as hard work as the physical stuff the athletes are doing but I will get there. :j

Squawk_2

Hi Jaelor,
Just having had an IVA accepted myself this route is definitely worth looking into, even if you decide not to go through with it. The final vote depends on a yes from creditors of 75% value wise of non secured loans, but as the FirstPlus loan is secured I do not know how this will be handled. If FirstPlus is included then if they say no, as their part is more than 25% (not including your mortgage) the IVA wouldn't be accepted anyway.
My debt started ages ago when my wife was seriously ill and had to give up work. Because of her illness I stupidly, really, really stupidly, kept the financial problems from her by "borrowing" then "borrowing" more to pay off the original "borrowing". After 8 years this became untenable and I finally had a breakdown which is when it all came out.
I will be paying back between 45p and 75p in the £ depending on the best offer of remortgage of my part of the house equity at the end of the 5 year term, (note that this is the best offer I can get, not the actual equity), this is on top of the £400 per month IVA payment. Bankruptcy gave them 30p in the £ so at least I'm trying to repay back what I can.
The only difference, personally, that I can see at the moment is that I get to keep my house, which is a big difference although it looks at the moment to cost me about twice what bankruptcy would. The financial institutions seem to regard IVA's as the same as bankruptcy and I was basically told to "go away" by Abbey after over 20 years of banking with them. I haven't got and can't get, at the moment, a current account to have my salary paid into and direct debits out of, so I'd recommend you open a current account at another bank and just leave some money in it to use after the IVA/bankruptcy.
Your debts are solveable, believe me, if only I had "just" £75k. Just for starters go for say 60p in the £ so that'll be £45k which gives about £750 a month for 5 years without including any remortgage in 5 years. So it's definitely worth talking to someone about an IVA just so you know all of your options. The best thing about an IVA is that all interest is frozen so you are just paying back the capital, a big, big difference.
Hope this helps and good luck.

Jaelor

Hi Squawk - many thanks for your response and I'm sorry to hear of your particular situation. Unfortunately, an IVA is not an option for me as the majority of the debt is secured. Secured lenders don't want to know - they will just sit tight and wait to take your house.

That's why I am selling up - I cannot afford to stay in this situation and want to be able to be debt free in 10 years, not 20. Once I sell up and we're in rented accommodation, then I'll be in a better position to negotiate with FirstPlus as they no longer have a hold over me.

I tried CCCS & PayPlan back last summer when I realised what I had gotten myself into but no one can help as its secured - I have been told by them and the National Debtline that my best option is bankruptcy but it just sounds so dramatic and I really want to avoid it.

tyllwyd

About the childcare - if you are working more than 16 hours a week you should be able to get a bit of help with childcare tax credits. And you don't say how old your child is, but after the age of three (at least in my area) they are entitled to five free nursery sessions per week in termtime.

Jaelor

Our combined income is £40k pa, so we don't qualify for any help with childcare costs. DS is 6 months old and to put him in nursery for four full days a week will cost £780!!! I reckon I can rely on family 2 days a week, but still need to find over £500 a month.

tyllwyd

Jaelor wrote:

Our combined income is £40k pa, so we don't qualify for any help with childcare costs.

Ours is similar, and we did get about £40 per month - not much compared to what you are spending out, but as they say every little helps!

tyllwyd

I'm a bit confused now about the income figures you posted at the start of the thread - is your income your SMP? Does that mean your income will go down when you go back to work 4 days a week?

Tr@cker

I think an IVA is the best solution looking at the that lot rather than keep juggling finances. My understanding is you WILL need an insolvency practitioner for this and they'll charge a fee for but this can be added to the cost of the IVA but you'd get something like a new start with one payment into the courts. The main creditors have to agree to the proposals but they usually do because they'd get far less if you made yourself bankrupt. I'd go down the IVA route if i were you, a date with your local CAB for more expert advice on this should be your starting point.

cefynbach

I would get rid of the pet insurance, I have always had pets and never had insurance, neither have I ever had expensive vets bills, don't know whether that's just luck in my animals never getting ill or just good husbandery. Also cut the phone bill by emailing whenever possible as this costs nothing, my BT bill is usually around £14 per month as I only ring if absolutely necessary. Try to avoid bankruptcy at all costs as this means no accounts for anything and if, as I suspect it would be both of you, it will make life extremely difficult.