Do they usually go after equity from your house with an IVA?

FloFlo

I have hopefully had my LBM and need to repay £33k of credit card debt. I have contacted cccs to look at options perhaps DMP but am wondering because I owe such a high amount would I be better placed to look at an IVA.

I have equity in my home and have an appointment with the bank to look at a remotgage to clear my debts but reading Martin's advice it says you shouldn't consolidate unsecured debts against your home.

But then when I read about IVAs it says the creditors can ask for equity to be released from your home, if there is a risk of this surely I would be better to remortgage now and pay some debt off without the IVA?

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. Invariably, with the best will in the world, the chances are that if you manage to remortgage and pay off some of the debts, you will still start running them up again ( it's a hard habit to break!). And, in a short time, you will have the debts back again, plus a bigger mortgage over the next 10 - 20 years !!

CCCS should explore all of your options and leave it to you to decide. I would also suggest you pop over to https://www.iva.com, where you will find lists of companies, with reviews. It's a good idea to have a chat with a couple of those, even if you do end up using CCCS. This way you can compare advice and see who you feel comfortable with. The advice at this stage is free and without obligation.

If you have equity in your home you will be expected to release some of it towards the end of your IVA ( if you chose that solution). At the moment this is proving impossible and is usually dealt with by extending the IVA by another year ( which generally works out cheaper for you in the long run).

FloFlo

We have about £80000 equity in our house, if we can release equity I assume we would be better placed to do that instead of the IVA and just pay off our unsecured debts. perhaps I should bring the appoinment with the bank forward to asap.

FoggyBrain_2

Ah, right. With that sort of equity, if you went for an IVA, the creditors might prefer a forced sale instead, or even bankruptcy. See what the bank says, if "the computer says no" try a whole of market broker to see if there is a better way forward.