Please help if you can !!!

tomace

hi folks

ive just had the worst week of my life. i am in debt to the tune of 48k on unsecured loans and after months of burying my head in the sand i finally told my wife who was unaware of it. she knew of about 1/3 of the debt but i had convinced her that i was on top of it.

anyway i have a secure job and 2 kids and a mortgage and the payments are £800 for next 5 years approx which i cannot afford - ive been able to do so up to now using the loan surplus in my account (how terrible /stupid is that) but very shortly i will not be able to afford.

i have met with a free non profit debt organisation here in belfast who have advised me to go the route of IVA.

im looking for some help with this and if anyone can take me through their own experience of them good and bad i would be much appreciated . things i am looking to find out include

- reputable firms (Grant thornton have been advised but have read a lot of unsatisfactory posts)
- how an iva is monitored (what exactly happens - ie do i put all my earnings into a new account which is fully visible to all)
- how to come up with realistic figures for the financial statement and are these queried if you do not exceed the trigger point limits.
- il be very happy to live a simpler life for the rest of my days but will i be able to save any money in an iva for very small
- my house has some equity in it at the minute - will this be taken off me after year 5 or is it more common to pay for the extra year.


anything else that you can add that may be of help i would be much appreciated. anyway im feeling pretty ashamed of the hurt i have caused to my family and vulnerable so would appreciate any words of wisdom that you may have

thanks

Tom

holz183_2

Hi,
Don't know much about Ivas myself but didn't want to read and run. Just thought I would mention in case you didn't know that there is a separate iva forum alongside the bankruptcy one where you might get the answers you are looking for.
Good luck

debtfree2014

Hiya, I know nothing about IVA but didnt want to read and run either. All I can avise is brilliant for telling your DW that will be a load off your mind. This is a fabulous place to be and if you keep this thread updated daily, you will get fabulous tips and support.

As Holz has advised go to the IVA board and extra support from people who are going through the same thing too.

Keep us updated here, be nice to see how you progress and you will. Hope all is well with you and your wife, may be strained for a while but hope it comes together

subscribed

sourcrates

There is a separate IVA forum, but I can help you out a bit with some of the info you need.
I can only speak of my own experience, I went with DFD (debt free direct) they were no better/worse than any other IP.
If you have debts at your own bank, then you would need to open a new basic account with another bank(who you are not in debt to), basically, once approved, you make 60 agreed monthly payments after which any remaining debt will be wiped out, and you will be debt free.
Recent rule changes mean that it is more likely you will have to re-mortgage in year 5, although this does depend on the available equity, myself I had to pay for an additional 12 months instead.
You must make sure you budget correctly, lots of IVA`s fail when some unexpected expense occurs, so its important to have a good emergency fund.
Apart from the annual review each year, I had very little contact from the IP, and best of all, no creditor hassle, it worked well for me, however, I was not a home owner, and if I knew then what I know now, I would of gone Bankrupt instead, but as you have a house, that's not really an option for you, I would say an IVA would be your best option.

moohound

Sourcrates advice about the emergency fund in the budget is really worth noting, a colleague had an IVA a couple of years ago, and needed urgent house repairs which came to £600 and had not planned for an emergency fund and was tearing his hair out over it.