value of house problem

sososilly

I have just been on the phone to the CCCSVA as it has now been over 2 weeks since they sent me a text to say that they will now be drafting our proposal and I have heard nothing from them. The drafter told me that it would be another 1-2 weeks before they drafted our proposal, but that is not the problem, although I am concerned about the length of time it is taking.

The drafter said everything looked fine with our paperwork, but there was a problem in that their on line valuation of our house has come back to show that we have £60k of equity. When I was (stupidly) trying to rob peter to pay paul I tried to get a couple of months payment holiday from our mortgage lender who said no because we only had £19k equity. When I initially spoke to CCCS they said that the valuation they would work on would be the one given to us by our mortgage lender i.e. £19k equity and they therefore recommended an IVA.

Here we are 3 months down the line and they appear to have changed the goal posts in that they do not view the mortgage lenders valuation as a proper valuation and and they say we have £60k of equity. Why didn't they do this valuation some time ago? Why have they waited until now to tell us that our option is to re-mortgage our house? Why didn't they tell us at the initial phone appointment to get our house valued? I will now get a valuation from our local estate agent, but I am disappointed that I could have done this 3 months ago.

They have now passed our details on to a finance company who they think should be able to help us re-mortgage. I do not think that our wages support this, but they say that this finance company work on income and expenditure? (not heard of this before??)

I just feel totally gutted that things have turned on their heads completely. I was looking forward to being debt free in 5-6 years and now we are looking at struggling to pay all our left over funds each month for the next 20+ years, rather than the 6.

Sorry for the long winded post (and moan).

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. CCCSVA aren't the fastest company around, I am afraid. I would also cast strong doubt upon their reliance of online valuations --- which, at best, are a rough average. Even estate agents valuations are optimistic these days, with actual sales values being 10 - 20% lower than asking prices. Many IP's use a "forced sale valuation" which is generally 85% of Full Market Value.

Please pop over to https://www.iva.com (and the sister site at iva.co.uk) and have a word with a few firms there. Even if you decide to go with CCCSVA it's best to get a feel for the info they are giving (which I have my doubts about).

Finally, I am sure they get a nice introducers fee from the finance company.

stressedtothelimit

we used cccsva and they are sloooooooow but good! they took too long in referring us for refinancing and by the time they did out credit rating was messed up because of the defaults so we went down iva route.

sososilly

Thanks Foggy & Stressed.

We have decided to cut our losses and move to another firm. I know that Melanie Giles has got good reviews on here, and I did check out iva.com, so I phoned her office this afternoon and was I really impressed.

We are probably taking a backwards step now, but I think that maybe in the long run we might get to the creditors meeting at either the same time or even before, should we have stayed with CCCSVA. If CCCSVA are having difficulties handling all their workload now, unless they take on significantly more staff in the next 6 years,would I find that every time I contact them, they will take an age to deal with the query/problem???

I have to say that after speaking to Melanie Giles office that I am quite concerned about the way that CCCSVA have handled our case. It's often been said on this forum that we are entering a possible 6 year relationship, and after speaking to Melanie Giles office today, I feel much more at ease with them. I just hope that she 'takes us on' as it were. I get the impression that she cherry picks her IVA's to ensure her high success rate, but even so, I would be happy to speak with a company recommended by them should she not accept us.

FoggyBrain_2

Hi again. Mel is one of the best. She doesn't cherry pick, but tries to ensure that you will be able to manage the IVA over the full term. After all, it's not in your interests to fail halfway through, and Mel will do her best to see that doesn't happen. Mel also posts regularly on https://www.iva.co.uk and is always contactable there for quick replies (though obviously won't go into personal detail on an open forum).

sososilly

Sorry, maybe 'cherry pick' was the wrong term to use. It was just that I was told that currently Melanie is only putting through proposals with around £250 spare each month, and as we can only afford £200, I was told that she might not propose an IVA for us. In that event her office could recommend another IVA company who should be able to help us?

I really, really would like to work with Melanie's office and I hope that she does accept us. Even though we can only pay £200 per month, it equates to 25p/£1, and I hope that she might consider us on that basis.

FoggyBrain_2

No worries. That's basically down to economics. Many companies have minimum guidelines, all different, based upon their own operating costs. As a dividend, 25p / £ isn't too bad. I have seen as low as 9 pence accepted in the last 6 months or so. Let's hope Mel says "Yes" !