IVA Query

henry_krinkle_2

Our house was repossessed in 2011 (not necessarily our fault -it was thanks to rapid property/phil martin) and a sale was recently agreed at £71k (joke) was recently accepted. We owe 82k at present, but don't know what fees the lender will slap on the total amount. We have not yet been advised of the shortfall or a lump sum offer as yet. Some people have said to not acknowledge the shortfall at all??

We also have a secured loan (balance around £7k) on the property, which have continued to pay throughout and are starting to really resent...would like some advice on whether we should just jack this off! At what point does the loan become unsecured? We have had no contact from the lender on this but if a sale has been agreed surely it is unsecured by default...? What action can the loans company take if we refuse to make any further payments?

If we refuse to pay the shortfall and stop paying the loan, they can both slap a CCJ on us but what other action can they take? They can threaten bankruptcy but that would cost them and they wouldn't recoup anything from us...

In total, we owe an estimated £35,000 including the above and really need to reduce our monthly outgoings. We are spending the bare minimum for a large family at present and are really struggling.

Would an IVA be suitable? If so, at what point could we enter into one? Who should we go to? Is there a better option? Credit rating is already shot and don't want to apply for any in the foreseeable future anyway, so not concerned by that.

We are currently renting, have next to no assets and my wife is in a career that may be adversely affected by a bankruptcy, so we would like to avoid this option if possible.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

FoggyBrain_2

Hi there. On the face of it BR would be the best option, however, this might be ruled out by the job aspect. So, second to that DMP or IVA. A DMP could take forever with that level of debt, but this, of course depends on many factors.

An IVA has at least a foreseeable end point, but you do have to be careful about who you go with. There is a useful comparison site, with reviews, you would be best advised to contact several of these companies for case specific advice, which is at this point, free and without obligation. There is also a useful forum wgere IP's themselves post, so you can get a better idea of how they work.

However, I am not allowed to mention these sites by name, as it seems several posters and admin do not want me giving helpful advice ! However, if you google iva forum you should find it!

Best of luck.