On Iva but built up massive phone bill due to poker

Pleasehelp321

Hi

Ive messed up big time, i have a monthly phone bill of £35 but I have have built up a bill of £800 by playing poker on my phone with a site that allows payment by phone bill! Stupid I know and I feel awful, I have since banned myself from the site but dont know how to approach it! I have 12 months left on phone contract and have no way of catching up the money owed meaning being unable to use phone for the remaining term. I dont know what to do, if I stop paying what will happen ad im on iva or could the ammount be transfered to the iva? Again I know how stupid this was but I really need help!

UpToMyNeckInIt

Hi,

Sorry to hear that you have messed up - but hey, we are all human.

I believe that you will have to pay this debt back in full as it is a debt that you have built up since your IVA (as opposed to an unknown pre-existing debt).

You might want to have a chat with your IP to discuss the possibility of taking a payment break, and come clean.

Without wishing to sound personal or rude: Have you considered the possibility that you have a gambling addiction? Have you thought about seeking help for it accordingly?

Gambling is a mug's game - the only people that win are the bookie's and the casinos. Please DON'T DO IT any more!!!

Good luck sorting this out.

babylon83

You live and learn, I know it is easy to say but with gambling there is really only one winner. I work in a newsagent that sells scratch cards and witness people who buy them daily who truelly believe they are making money on them. However that is never the case!

cheesedoffwithdebt

You can only approach the phone company, explain your situation and ask to repay the debt by instalment.
However it might be wise to let your IP know- there is a kind of expectation that when in an IVA you don't take any more debts on, usually that's another credit card or loan but your other creditors might object if this ended up as a default on your credit file- there may be other implications here you've not touched on I am afraid.

And as the others have said- you are human- we all make mistakes. Is there an issue with gambling though? Do you need to also tackle an addiction here?

The kindest thing you can do for yourself is make sure this doesn't happen again.