Desperately need help.

Gatesygirl

In the last two and a half years my life was thrown into freefall. To cut a long story short, mum had a major third stroke which has which has left her needing to be in a care home, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time and then 3 weeks later was dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. I took a year out to basically find a care home for my mum and get my dad through cancer. I was already carrying some dead prior to this. I pick up £1130 per month. I owe Northern Rock loan, £7,000. Overdraft £350 with Lloyds, £3750 credit card with Lloyds, £2,000 on barclaycard and £2,400 on MBA and £4500 on an egg card. Total £20K. I am currently paying back £415 per month but the interest free period is due to end and I am at the limit on my cards. I have got myself into a real financial mess.
What are would like advice on is as follows:-
1. How much am I likely to pay back in the £1 if I go for an IVA?
2. How long does the process take from start to finish?
3. Which are the good IVA companies?
4. When do you stop making payments to the lenders/card companies?
To further complicate matters, prior to the the health problems with my parents, I split with up with my ex due to his infidelity and we had a mortgage with Northern Rock, who are one of the companies I have a loan with. I moved out of the house and he paid me £6,000 and I signed a legal document to say I had no further interest in the property although technically I am still on the mortgage until he can afford to transfer me off. There is no equity in that property and I moved into rented accommodation which i still remain in.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated. I just dont know how I got myself into this mess. The last 2.5 years have been gruelling and I have barely coped. I now have my wake up call and need to get things sorted out.
Sorry for this long email.
Kind regards

bernard828

As a really quick rundown of the four questions you have in the middle there:

1 - IVA payments depend entirely on your income - verified, provable income - versus the expenditure you need to get by. If the difference between the two is £200, you pay £200. If it's £300, you pay £300. Without seeing any income or expenditure details from you it really would be impossible to tell.

2 - From start until approved IVA you'll be lucky to beat 6 weeks.

3 - Check out iva.com for a list of decent firms.

4 - Stop making payments more or less as soon as your application form gets sent off to the IVA company and deal with any phone calls for creditors by telling them a 3rd party is ionvolved and you can't pay anything.