Mahusive Debt problem, Ideas needed

oblivion_2

Hi all, new here so be gentle.

A long story cut short.....

..I borrowed a loan from my ex-employer (a govt run scheme loan in order to help purchase a house). The loan was for £54.5k. This had no monthly repayments but did accrue interest at a small rate. The idea being to pay it off if I ever move or house prices increase enough to pay it off.

I then got a mortgage of £100k and using the £54.5k as a deposit I moved in and all was fine.

2 years later (and a divorce going through) I breached the contract made with the ex-employer by leaving the property (due to the divorce) and leaving the company.

I then had to basically pay back £54.5k plus interest.

The company knew that I had to sell the property in order to do this but due to problems at the time with living arrangements the ex-wife was still living there and thus had "an interest" in the property and would not move. I must let you know that the property was purely in my name only.

Another long story cut short, the ex-employer who had a charge against the property took me to court for repossession and an order was granted to them to have the house, and the ex-wife to leave withing a month.

The ex-left the house, the property was now vacant, I was renting elsewhere and the ex-employer was now responsible for the sale. Due to housing prices dropping dramatically because the UK banks can't see the woods through the trees, they sold at a low price.... a lot less than I purchased it. Basically negative equity working its best.

In a nutshell I paid £154.5k for the house (100k from the bank) and 54.5k from ex-employer.

With me so far?....and this is the short version !

At the court hearing for repossession the ex-employer had to stipulate on a piece of paper called the "order" as to why I was there. They stated I was there because I owed them £54.5k having breached the contract. The Judge at one point said that the house was to be sold by them, I was to then owe the difference outstanding from the "amount I borrowed" initially. The ex-employee and their solicitors at this point said "With interest too". .....to which the Judge said "But that's not on the order" !! In other words I only had to pay back 54.5k and not 63k which is what they wanted. They basically made a mistake having forgot to include the interest on the order and the Judge said "tough". However, the Judge also said that would not stop them from taking me to Court again just for the interest.

So where am I now ?

The house sold for £131.500......I now have a letter from the ex-employers asking me to propose a way of paying back £41.5k which is the difference from the sale and the money left. .........but if your good at Math you will see this is with the interest added!

I am about to write to them to say I think you will find that the Judge "ordered me to pay back the difference from what I borrowed"...making the bill £31.5k - Then offer some monthly installment with a 6 month review each year.

Either way, its still a huge amount to owe and if you have managed to read and understand this post to this point I suppose I am asking if anyone has any bright ideas as to what I should offer them each month, and whether they have a leg to stand on being cheeky asking me to pay the interest on top of £10k.

By the way, bankruptcy is not an option as I would lose my job (technical reasons I cannot get into).

The other option I have would be to find 31k...or 41k willing people to donate a £1 each and I can move on with my life !!!

PROLIANT

I sympathise with your situation, however I normally stick to my guns regarding people paying back what they have borrowed. However your situation is extreme and my suggestion would be bankruptcy, in 6 years time your credit record will be clear and you can start again.

Sorry to see that you are in this hole and I hope you find a way out ASAP.

immoral_angeluk

If you want to avoid bankruptcy, would an IVA be appropriate?

oblivion_2

I cannot go bankrupt as my job does not allow it. I would lose it and therefore be in even more of a pickle than I currently am.

However, they would consider an IVA but having looked into that I cannot see it being of benefit.

I have 3 credit cards listed bill wise below
1st - Balance £1100
2nd - Balance £1200
3rd - Balance £2400

On top of that I already have a loan of £10k - interest on top amounts to £12k, amount left to pay is £8k. All of which are up to date.
On top of that I have a car on finance with 3 years left to pay it off.

This is how I see an IVA working.

Obviously with an IVA "every" bill is taken into consideration and therefore the above bills will take a further estimated 6 years to pay off in total (at a guess)

Whereas at the moment in the next 3 years all the above bills will be gone at the rate I am currently paying them off.

I was thinking of making the proposal of offering say £100 per month for the large £31k bill (with a 6 monthly review) as 1 credit card goes I can then up the payment to say £150 per month, again with a 6 month review.

At the 3 year mark I can then offer say £300 per month, which if I was to pay £300 per month from the start it would take about 10 years to pay off in total. I get bonus payments each xmas of around £2k and there are other things like pay rises of which I get two a year. My argument would be this: They have three options as I see it,

a) They accept my proposal of £100 each month with a view to raising it to £300 in approx 3 years down the line
b) They don't accept my offer and take me to court with a view to bankruptcy, however this option would leave them out of pocket and makes no sense to choose this route.
c) They decide to take me to court with a view to an IVA, but this route would lessen the amount I pay them each month and I could be looking at payments of say £50 per month for the next......urrrrmmm.....52 years !

I know I said above that bankruptcy is not an option as I would lose my job but having spoken to the CAB they stated that after 6 years there is nothing stopping companies coming back for the money....so whats the point in choosing this option in the first place ? Bankruptcy makes no sense when you look at the finer print.

immoral_angeluk

Once you are discharged from bankruptcy the debts are written off unless you are subject to an IPA/IPO which would be a maximum 3 years... not 6 years.
An IVA would be 5 or 6 years unless settled sooner, after that the debts are wrriten off also.