Iva

MEANEY

Hi,

Just wondering if someone can offer me advice please on an IVA matter.

I currently owe £26,000 due to being out of work six years ago due to a knee injury and not being elligible for sick pay. This money was borrowed by me to pay my morgage and bills etc as i couldnt work.

I now currently pay back £250 a month and will be for the next eleven years.

The debt was originally with Natwest but is now with Abacus as im on a DMP.

I have however recently been contacted by a company saying im elligible for an IVA.

I am not struggling to pay the amount per month and im working full time.

Can anyone give me advice about whether to carry on paying the money per month or to go with the IVA.

They have said it will reduce the amount of years i am paying the money back to five years as the interest will be cleared but i am told that it affects your credit history to the point of struggling to take out car insurance etc but will it be worth it to reduce the years down of paying the money back.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Gimpsdad

You have nothing to lose by asking the question, so speak to 2 or 3 firms. Abacus IP arm is Cleardebt, but you can speak to anyone you like. Purely mathematically, 5 years at 250, if the payment turns out to be the same, has to be better than 11 years at 250 surely.

Depth_Charge

MEANEY wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if someone can offer me advice please on an IVA matter.

I currently owe £26,000 due to being out of work six years ago due to a knee injury and not being elligible for sick pay. This money was borrowed by me to pay my morgage and bills etc as i couldnt work.

I now currently pay back £250 a month and will be for the next eleven years.

The debt was originally with Natwest but is now with Abacus as im on a DMP.

I have however recently been contacted by a company saying im elligible for an IVA.

I am not struggling to pay the amount per month and im working full time.

Can anyone give me advice about whether to carry on paying the money per month or to go with the IVA.

They have said it will reduce the amount of years i am paying the money back to five years as the interest will be cleared but i am told that it affects your credit history to the point of struggling to take out car insurance etc but will it be worth it to reduce the years down of paying the money back.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi

Nobody can sensibly advise you to go with an IVA without knowing your full circumstances.

Interesting that this is another home owner contacted by a company regarding an IVA.

PS - sorry Gimpsdad, but I could not help having a chuckle at this........

"Purely mathematically, 5 years at 250, if the payment turns out to be the same, has to be better than 11 years at 250 surely"

milliemonster

If the entire debt is owed to one creditor it will be very difficult to propose an IVA as there normally needs to be a spread of the debt through at least 2 or 3 creditors as a minimum for the best chance of an IVA to be accepted

Gimpsdad

No offence taken.

As Abacus have detailed knowledge of your debts and financial situation, why not ask them to look it over for you? If you can't do one, or it is not in your best interests to pursue that course of action, at least that opinion will have come from someone with more knowledge than we are privy to on here.

Millie, whilst is is preferable to have a spread of creditors, IVA's can and are successfully proposed and accepted for 1 creditor in many cases. Depends on the creditor mind, Link financial will just boot it out, as will 1 or 2 others, but the mainstream lenders do tend to accept them if there is more than 1 account running, e.g. loan, c/c and o/draft.

milliemonster

Can they Gimpsdad? I didn't know that, I stand to be corrected then thank you

Gimpsdad

No probs. As I said, it is still very much preferable to have more than one, and Lloyds can be a bit tricky in one creditor cases as well which I should have mentioned earlier, but if such a situation does crop up then a debtor usually has nothing to lose by proposing if he or she can find an IP to take the case on, subject to no fees upfront of course. If they were to say no then at least you know, but they rarely do once proposed.

MEANEY

Thanks for the help, i really appreciate it.

The fact that applying for an IVA reduces the years soundslike a great incentive but it is the bad credit rating that concerns me – the aftermath. I am not really struggling to pay the amountper month but couldn’t raise the amount per month either and think that due tothis, is it worth going for the IVA when im told it is just slightly behinddeclaring yourself bankrupt. This iswhat worries me. Is saving £13,000 worththe bad credit rating that will follow? I am told that the bad credit ratingwill last for one year after paying the outstanding amount. So five years to pay it off and then anotherin credit crisis. I understand my creditrating isn’t great at the minute as i am already with a DMP but this option coulddestroy all that is left. Has anyonestruggled after going into an IVA with little issues like applying for carinsurance, mobile phone contracts etc. Iam indeed only with one creditor and the IVA (im told) has been proposed foracceptance. The creditor is Natwest. I was the one that was approached by the IVAcompany, Cleardebt. Does anyone haveany suggestions of other IVA companies that are good. Also does anyone have anyexperiences of dealing with Cleardebt?

Many thanks

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. Cleardebt are "one of the good guys" and a respected company. If you wished to compare companies there are comparison sites, with reviews, and you can contact these companies for free advice to see who you prefer ( however I have been "requested" not to mention the site).

Yes, some do have problems getting new phone contracts ( although staying with current providers isn't an issue). Having said that I managed a new contract in my IVA.

Car insurance also can be a bug bear, but, again , I have had no problems so far.

I would imagine the above would be as difficult with a credit record riddled with defaults in a DMP - which, incidentally will stay on your record for up to 6 years after you finish the DMP, rather than a year after the IVA.

All circumstances are different and you have to weight up the pros and cons as they apply to you.

FoggyBrain_2

PS .... there is also another site on which Cleardebt posts as a regular contributor, which would be of assistance to you making up your mind .... but I am afraid I have been banned from mentioning that one to !

However, if you google IVA Forum, it will appear near the top of the list.

Max_Maxwell

Meaney, you have to ask yourself whether you want to trudge on for another 11 years with this millstone round your neck or see an end to your 'debtors tag' in a reasonable timescale of 5/6 years under an IVA. With a DMP you're likely to still be paying or accruing interest on the debt. An IVA freezes all interest and none is accrued.

Yes, your credit rating will be affected but a DMP will have had a negative impact already on your financial standing. That said, it's commendable you're taking a pragmatic approach to the situation.

I couldn't get a mobile contract post-IVA but a friend very kindly put the phone on her contract but we split the financials and I pay the monthly bill for my phone. Alternatively, you continue with your existing contract - they won't carry out a credit check on renewing a contract.

Car insurance I've had no problems with continuing to pay monthly and I change providers almost every year. Perhaps I'm just lucky.

Sometimes we have to grasp the nettle and think about the here and now. Good luck.