Do i persue an IVA ?

Desperate_Man

I am currently looking at taking a IVA out with DebtFree Direct ?

I currently owe around £37,000, and with a family of 3, i am one worried dude !

I dont see a way out of this debt, cant give the kids the treats they deserve, but there is something about an IVA that scares me !

I have always believed in the phrase ' there is no such thing as a free lunch'.

And with the IVA, i fail to understand how so much of the debt can be written off.

Can anyone advise on their experiences with an IVA, and is it a wolf in sheeps clothing ?

Kind regards

Foxy-Stoat_3

If you cannot afford to have "a life" and keep up the minimum payments then you will only have a few options, DMP is one but these can last for 10-15 years, going bankrupt or going into an IVA. With an IVA the creditors will end up with more money from you than going BR.

Being in an IVA is not a free lunch, but at the end of it you will breath a massive sign of relief and hopefully would of learned a few lessons which that didnt teach you at school. Its a long road but well worth it if you make it to the other side!

An IVA isnt for everyone so its best to speak to a couple of IP's, the ones that do not charge you for processing the IVA.

It will depend if you have a mortgage, interest only/repayment, how much equity you have, if any. You need to make sure you understand the terms of the IVA. If your renting then you have nothing to lose, and assume that you will unlikely be able to take out a mortgage for the next 10 years, 6 years from when you start the IVA and the other 4 saving up for a deposit.

Good luck

Debsdelight

As someone who has fully completed an IVA I can assure you it is not a free lunch, and can be quite hard at times.

My husband and I had enough to cover our bills and to live on, and it was a relief when it began, was hard in year one and two, then at year three we began to see light at the end of the tunnel. I have learnt a hard and valuable lesson about the value of money, and we will never let ourselves get in that mess again.

Just some things to remember - once you enter this it can be paid off in 5 years (possibly 6 if you have your own home), and it will leave your credit file after 6. During the duration of the IVA you will have adverse credit, and may have to settle for a basic bank account. Your name will also appear on the national insolvency register that is avalable to view online. Any additional income you receive (overtime, bonuses, windfall) has to be declared to your IP and will be split in the region of 50/50. You will have to submit an income and expenditure review every 12 months, with copies of any P60s, payslips, benefit payments (including tax credits and child benefit) to prove what you have coming in. At the end of the IVA, all companies that were included have no right to claim any further money.

It isn't for everyone, but it was the ideal solution for us, and looking back I have no regrets, but I'm glad it's over.

If there was one thing I could change it would be to go straight through an Insolvency Practitioner - we used a company to set it up for us, they pocketed £600 of our money and passed it to someone else - so cut out the middle man.

Good luck, whatever you decide.