Should we or shouldn't we?

jp13 · 12 October 2010 at 2:20AM

Sunnylooloo wrote: »

I agree with Confuzzed - please speak to one of the debt charities and get some free impartial advice.

LL

Thanks Sunnylooloo, I already hace spoken to CCCS, they advised me that Barclays is a major backer of theirs and that I should take out an IVA.

They went through the budget with me and suggested I pay £464 a month, but I feel if I take that advice then I may well be setting myself up to fail in the long run and making it very difficult to live in the meantime. That figure was totally unsuitable. The IVA company they passed me onto revised that figure down to £350 but thats taking into account irregular freelance earnings, what happens if I don't get those earnings, I've already dropped a lot of those expected earnings this year which is why I am now on the brink of not being able to meet my repayments. Surely CCCS should have been the first to point that out to me, but they didn't. Their advice has really sparked distrust in this whole process for me. Thats why I'm here and asking the qusetion that I'm asking.

It seems funny to me that any 'charity' backed by a major bank would suggest an IVA and not a DMP as the banks lose more. But then I realised if I go bankrupt the creditors get very little, so it seems obvious why they would suggest I take out an IVA and not bankruptcy. How can they be impartial if they are funded by the banks. How long would the banks back this charity if they advised people to go bankrupt I wonder?

I found an article on another website that suggested 98% of IVA's are misold.

Thing is I feel quite uneasy actually doing it. I really want to believe an IVA is the best solution for me. But before I take that action I have to be totally sure and it the best and the repayment has to be a realistic figure. Neither of the companies I have approached have come close to that.

It would be in the banks interest to give me a low interest, long term loan so they could recover all their money, and I would prefer to do that and pay them back in full. Of course I would expect to be banned from further credit until I've paid it off. I thought that was basically what an IVA would do only with no interest and some debt written off. But of course, the banks are not going to give up 19% interest rates for nothing are they and the IVA companies seem to making a nice profit for offering the service.

I'm now very distrustful of these IVA companies and the 'impartial' bank funded charities.

tigerfeet2006 · 12 October 2010 at 7:24AM

As I suggested earlier ring National Debtline and get a second opinion.

dojoman · 12 October 2010 at 8:11AM

I can only second what Tiger has already suggested, sometimes CCCS advice is slightly biased towards IVA`s due to their funding.

the_bright_side · 2 November 2010 at 11:34AM

Re: Tax code, I had a Nil tax code, once but that is becasue I had over paid on my previous years tax, so HMRC owed me so tell your employee that if they ask

andyf1980 · 2 November 2010 at 11:57AM

I had a similar experience with CCCS. They advised me to make temporary token payments. This in spite of the fact I owed nearly £60k and am unemployed. Even if I went back to my old career I would never be able to pay it back. I went BR last month and while not taken lightly it was certainly the right option for me.

now · 2 November 2010 at 6:25PM

Hi it is not easy and only you can decide if it is the correct route for you, I can say it was for me as I now pay all my bills on time and will never borrow money again. So what if i don't have nice things I have my family and I can sleep at night xx Good luck but it relly is a no brainer why saddle an IVA around your neck when you can be debt free in a year? We weer forced to go BR due to bad debts (company) and pg's which the bank called in. Go and talk to the National Debt line or CAB as they will help. Goodluck