Newbie considering Bankruptcy & Iva or both! Help needed!

Dancingdebs

Hi,After lurking for a few weeks and reading how helpful everyone is, I've decided to post.The situation basically my partner and I are in is that he has roughly £65,000 and I have £30,000 worth of unsecured debt..(we will both be sitting down over weekend to do our I&E and then going to give CCCS a call). Up until the last 3 months or so we have managed to make the minimum payments on CC's but with also drawing cash on CC's to pay Peter will Paul etc.. so now we are at the stage where all cards are up to their limits and now not making the due repayments and starting to get all the phonecalls and letters.We have both realised we cant go on like this and have woken up to the fact we need to sort this out and quick. We rent our home and have 2 cars, one an MPV worth about £5000 and a small Ka worth about £1000, a moped worth about £500, not many other assets apart from a laptop which was bought for about £700 and a 42inch plasma tv bought about a year ago for £800. I have been looking into the pros & cons of both but is it feasible for say my OH to go bankrupt for his debts and for me to go down the IVA route? I dont really want to lose my car, which I would if I went bankrupt. The MPV is in my name and need it for my self employed work I do some evenings (partyplan) as well as my full time day job as an Accounts Manager. I also suffer with Rheumatoid Arthritis and the MPV is so much easier to get in and out of than a "normal" car. I recieve £68 per month Disablity Allowance. I take home about £1360.00 a month from my day job and can earn up to £300 per month with second job, but this varies as is commission based and it has gone really quiet at the moment with the parties hence us struggling more with the debt repayments.My OH works full time also and his wage varies between £380 and £550 per week take home depending on bonuses and nights away etc (hgv lorry driver), but if we didnt have the debts we did we would both have a fairly large surplus each month.What is really worrying my OH about taking the bankrupt route is that he has been bankrupt before about 10 years ago for a company he used to run which failed due to his baby son dying, ex wife leaving him and him being left with nothing apart from the clothes he was wearing and a couple of black sacks, everything was taken from him.I just cant see a way out with the amount of money we owe and cannot see an alternative route to bankruptcy for OH as stupidly he took out a consolidation loan with a high street bank and his debts are tied up in that one loan and 2 credit cards so an IVA for him wouldnt work would it?Sorry for the really long post, I will post our SOA over the weekend for you all to have a look at if you could?Thanks for reading this xx

betterlatethannever

Dancingdebs wrote: »

Hi,After lurking for a few weeks and reading how helpful everyone is, I've decided to post.The situation basically my partner and I are in is that he has roughly £65,000 and I have £30,000 worth of unsecured debt..(we will both be sitting down over weekend to do our I&E and then going to give CCCS a call). Up until the last 3 months or so we have managed to make the minimum payments on CC's but with also drawing cash on CC's to pay Peter will Paul etc.. so now we are at the stage where all cards are up to their limits and now not making the due repayments and starting to get all the phonecalls and letters.We have both realised we cant go on like this and have woken up to the fact we need to sort this out and quick. We rent our home and have 2 cars, one an MPV worth about £5000 and a small Ka worth about £1000, a moped worth about £500, not many other assets apart from a laptop which was bought for about £700 and a 42inch plasma tv bought about a year ago for £800. I have been looking into the pros & cons of both but is it feasible for say my OH to go bankrupt for his debts and for me to go down the IVA route? I dont really want to lose my car, which I would if I went bankrupt. The MPV is in my name and need it for my self employed work I do some evenings (partyplan) as well as my full time day job as an Accounts Manager. I take home about £1360.00 a month from my day job and can earn up to £300 per month with second job, but this varies as is commission based and it has gone really quiet at the moment with the parties hence us struggling more with the debt repayments.My OH works full time also and his wage varies between £380 and £550 per week take home depending on bonuses and nights away etc (hgv lorry driver), but if we didnt have the debts we did we would both have a fairly large surplus each month.What is really worrying my OH about taking the bankrupt route is that he has been bankrupt before about 10 years ago for a company he used to run which failed due to his baby son dying, ex wife leaving him and him being left with nothing apart from the clothes he was wearing and a couple of black sacks, everything was taken from him.I just cant see a way out with the amount of money we owe and cannot see an alternative route to bankruptcy for OH as stupidly he took out a consolidation loan with a high street bank and his debts are tied up in that one loan and 2 credit cards so an IVA for him wouldnt work would it?Sorry for the really long post, I will post our SOA over the weekend for you all to have a look at if you could?Thanks for reading this xx

hello Debs and welcome:T

Your doing all the right things at the moment, taking advice from the CCCS and here.
I'm no expert but (as i think you already guessed) there not much chance of keeping the MPV, even if you need it for work.
As for the second BR i have found this info for you which maybe useful.
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/techmanvol1/Ch13-24/Chapter21/part1/part1.htm
Sorry i can't be of much help, but someone will be along soon with more and better advice.
mean time, good luck and keep posting any questions you may have.
x

Dancingdebs

Thankyou betterlatethannever for the info you posted, its good to know there is lots of support on here. x

fiveyearplan

I don't have any better advice but just want to wish you well. Its not an easy decision I know. Is your car on motability by any chance?

Dancingdebs

fiveyearplan wrote: »

I don't have any better advice but just want to wish you well. Its not an easy decision I know. Is your car on motability by any chance?

No, unfortunately its not, I get the minimum DLA but because I havent the arthritis in my back yet (thank god) I'm not entitled to one.

Dancingdebs

How long does it generally take for an IVA to be set up? I just dont know if I go down this route for my debts should I still be trying to pay my creditors something or stop paying them and ignore the calls? Also because my bank is one of my biggest creditors I am still paying my loan to them in full, yet not paying some credit cards the minmum payment. Should I open up a basic bank account now? I was thinknig the co-op one but there isnt any local branches to me..

fiveyearplan

You can open a coop account online and pay money in at the post office. I'm sure someone will be along to offer better advice.