help quick please on phone..

sourcrates

gawebb99 wrote: »

thank you. so that should see me accepted then hopefully.

bankruptcy- im trying to talk my husband into this. he's dead against it, but i think it could be the right thing for us? we dont own a home or have a high value car.

is it as bad as its perceived to be?

Never been bankrupt, but I have had a 6 year IVA, and given the choice again, I would opt for Bankrupcy instead, simply because it's over quicker.

An IVA is run very similar to Bankrupcy, only difference is you have an OR dealing with your case as a pose to an IP, and the restrictions are a bit more severe.

My position was similar to yours, except my debt was £57,000, mine ended in 2013.

Have thought long and hard since then, and if the same situation arose again, I would opt for Bankrupcy every time.

gawebb99

sourcrates wrote: »

Never been bankrupt, but I have had a 6 year IVA, and given the choice again, I would opt for Bankrupcy instead, simply because it's over quicker.

An IVA is run very similar to Bankrupcy, only difference is you have an OR dealing with your case as a pose to an IP, and the restrictions are a bit more severe.

My position was similar to yours, except my debt was £57,000, mine ended in 2013.

Have thought long and hard since then, and if the same situation arose again, I would opt for Bankrupcy every time.

thank you-would be keen to hear your experience of an ipa if you wouldnt mind?

sourcrates

gawebb99 wrote: »

thank you-would be keen to hear your experience of an ipa if you wouldnt mind?

Was fine, approved with one modification, you just start making your monthly payments, and forget about it to be honest.
Once a year your income/expenditure is reviewed, if your income stays the same, so do your payments.

You only hear from your IP once a year, or if they need anything from you, you would need to pay for 6 years as you are a non homeowner so can't release funds from a remortgage.

That's all I can say really, mine was running great, it's just the time involved, 6 years is a long time, I got made redundant in year 5, so I made an offer of all payments to date as full and final settlement, and it was accepted.

I got another job, but only part time, so IVA payments would not of been affordable.
All in all, it went well, you have legal protection from your creditors, so no hassle there, it's just a case of making the payments, and waiting for it to end, but the one thing I must stress is to budget correctly, that's were most people fall down, and one of the most common reasons an IVA fails.

Sazzie23

gawebb99 wrote: »

Wow a couple of years !? My husband is worrying we won't speak to everyone on the phone to explain the situation before the next payment is due - some this week .

When I realised I couldn't pay (about 3 years ago now) I managed to talk to one creditor to tell them (after all it's what all the paperwork says to do) and the call centre person kindly suggested I contact SC, which I managed to do, but then couldn't face any other creditors, so I just hid, didn't answer the phone, (or the door in case of the bailiffs - I didn't know better), I didn't answer any letters, I just let SC deal with it, and nothing bad happened. 3 years on, I'm still on the DMP as IVA and bankruptcy not an option due to job.

So I'm a nutshell, call them or don't, the world won't cave in either way. Write to them can be less confronting.

gawebb99 wrote: »

i have another question (sorry) we would really like to not start a dmp/iva anything for 3 months to build up some cash - is this ok to do? what should we do in those 3 months with regards to creditors?

Remember the DMP is an informal arrangement and can be reversed at anytime. The other options do not have this flexibility. For the DMP it's certainly fine to run for a few months in £1 token payments per month to each creditor before it starts. You might get told you don't need to do the tokens but it's thought it shows commitment to pay and that you haven't run away thereby reducing the likelihood of any recovery action.

gawebb99 wrote: »

fingers crossed i can get a DRO . Would it be ludicrous / wrong to add on things like dry cleaning... school dinner monies etc to the budget?

Don't know about a DRO but on a DMP we suggest you make the budget realistic as possible, even if means making 'adjustments' to the figures to ensure its manageable in the long term.

Good luck with whatever you do. I had a friend who went bankrupt in 2005, several years later they were unable to work due to ill health, I suspect the bankruptcy made things easier than had they have been in a DMP.

gawebb99

Sazzie23 wrote: »

When I realised I couldn't pay (about 3 years ago now) I managed to talk to one creditor to tell them (after all it's what all the paperwork says to do) and the call centre person kindly suggested I contact SC, which I managed to do, but then couldn't face any other creditors, so I just hid, didn't answer the phone, (or the door in case of the bailiffs - I didn't know better), I didn't answer any letters, I just let SC deal with it, and nothing bad happened. 3 years on, I'm still on the DMP as IVA and bankruptcy not an option due to job.

So I'm a nutshell, call them or don't, the world won't cave in either way. Write to them can be less confronting.
07967 370625


Remember the DMP is an informal arrangement and can be reversed at anytime. The other options do not have this flexibility. For the DMP it's certainly fine to run for a few months in £1 token payments per month to each creditor before it starts. You might get told you don't need to do the tokens but it's thought it shows commitment to pay and that you haven't run away thereby reducing the likelihood of any recovery action.



Don't know about a DRO but on a DMP we suggest you make the budget realistic as possible, even if means making 'adjustments' to the figures to ensure its manageable in the long term.

Good luck with whatever you do. I had a friend who went bankrupt in 2005, several years later they were unable to work due to ill health, I suspect the bankruptcy made things easier than had they have been in a DMP.

Thank you we certainly need a few months to pay token payments it's just a case of offering those to each creditor - letters would work but I need to find out all the account numbers of those we owe to as some I have no idea now

I'm busy after work tonight but will call stepchange tomorrow to get the budget adjusted and make a plan of how to move forwards

If when speaking to them we decide on an option - would they support us in not starting anything for three months or would they expect us to start now ?

Thank you and sourcrates. An IVA with a fixed payment seems good as hopefully our jobs are both stable . How much were you paying back per month - I know it'll not be the same as us but just keen to hear of the figures sound manageable . If we could get one for £200 per month everything would be ok 🙏

sourcrates

Have a read here :

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/debt-solutions/individual-voluntary-arrangements/individual-voluntary-arrangements-explained/

fishfinger1

Sorry to jump in on this thread but can anybody tell me what I need to write in a letter to creditors asking them to freeze interest for 12 months whilst I get myself back on track. Thanks

sourcrates

fishfinger1 wrote: »

Sorry to jump in on this thread but can anybody tell me what I need to write in a letter to creditors asking them to freeze interest for 12 months whilst I get myself back on track. Thanks

Template here:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Freeze-interest-(sole-name).aspx

fishfinger1

Thanks for that. I'm already 4 months in arrears with Barclay card. Do you think this approach is likely to work

dancingfairy

Hi gawebb, personally I would avoid ivas. They are only really suitable for a small proportion of the population, mainly if you have equity in a property. In an iva you are fairly well bound to pay the payments for approximately 5 years. If the iva fails you are back where you started ( but it may in fact be worse as a lot of the fees are taken out before money goes to your creditors). You would then end up probably looking at bankruptcy anyway.
Dmps are great for informal solutions. Bear in mind that part way through you may be able to offer settlement figures or hopefully over that time you may get a pay rise so that 9 years should hopefully come down ( obviously if you struggle or lose your job the opposite is true and it can drag out longer).
With bankruptcy its pretty much done and dusted on the day you go to court and pay your money. Yes there an interview with the or and you may have to make pYments for 3 years towards your bankruptcy but the debts are wiped instantly.
Don't forget you can start off on a DMP and then, if after say 6 months you can still go bankrupt. Obviously if bankruptcy is the right option its best to do it sooner rather than later but there's nothing to stop you doing a DMP and seeing how you get on and possibly changing tack.
Have a look at the debt camel website, it should go r you the pros and co s of a DMP vs bankruptcy. Also have a look on the bankruptcy y board, they can tell you all about it and you can make a decision as to what will suit you best.
There are no wrong answers, some people go bankrupt when others would have done a DMP and others, despite owing 1000's of thousands can't go bankrupt due to their job or choose not to for personal reasons.
Best of luck
Df