IVA ..who to go with??

Toddy666

Hi all
New to the forum and have woken up to the debt we are in and need to face up to the fact we have been very stupid! We have 66k of debt then an unsecured loan attached to NRAM mortgage. All in all a mess. I think an IVA is the way to go as we do come home with around £3600 a month it's just the interest on all the credit cards is killing us as 34k of the debt is credit cards with 0% running out in January. The question is who are the best to go with for setting up an IVA? There's also so many horror stories out there about literally never socialising or having a little holiday for 5 years is this at all true? I'm ringing up step change on Friday as need to gather all my info together but who would you all recommend?
Thanks

sourcrates

Stepchange is a good call, as the IP’s they use charge the least in fee’s.

All IVA’s attract fee’s.

Just do a realistic budget, that is the most important thing, so it’s sustainable.

Craig1981

agreed with the above - use Stepchange, Nationaldebline CAB etc who will refer you to the better IP

IVA was best thing i ever did, and yes, it was a struggle at times, but we lived very comfortably, after a lot of cut backs.

you need to understand why you got to the debt your in in the first place, and know not to make those mistakes again, and you will be fine.
going out eating and drinking weekly with £2k holiday a year, sorry, but that may not be the case anymore. you want to do these, cut back on your other expenses... cheaper phones, payg phones etc etc, and maybe that can still be done

mwarby

Toddy666 wrote: »

There's also so many horror stories out there about literally never socialising or having a little holiday for 5 years is this at all true?

my IVA was a few years ago (and full and final). My understanding is you don't get explicit budget categories for such things(I didnt), but also how you spend the budget is up to you. I think most get by on the fun side, by for instance choosing to say spend a bit less on food and spending savings on socialising.

On the fees front, unless you end up paying back all the debt, it's a little academic. Providers with higher fees will typically be forced to drop them by creditors at the creditors meeting

Toddy666

Thanks everyone. To be honest we don't go out a lot at all more just football stuff with our little boy. We do love a holiday though but we've got our heads around the fact that may not be possible. Christmas is my biggest worry but then that's one of the reasons we are here now just being far too generous every year

PrettyKittyKat

You need to change your mindset in regards to holidays and christmas. They may still be possible but it will be gifts to only immediate family and UK breaks rather than gifting everyone.

The key is to budget all year for this expense. For example put some of your food budget to one side each month, save your £2 coins, utilise sales all year for gifts etc. You are on the right forum to find out how to do these things on a budget so that's a good start

Also, if you earn additional income you are able to keep a portion of it. I had clients that earned thousands in 'additional monies' each year, that meant they also got to keep thousands each year too (the other half!).

mwarby

One thing which will really help with Christmas and holidays is some sort of segregated savings, made on a regular basis.if you have a realistic goal and can see progress you can do a lot (although not as much as you can with free flowing credit sadly)

foxy-stoat

What was your total debt say a year ago?

How long did you get into £66K of unsecured debt?

Have you done the PPI reclaim thing?

Can you extend 0% interest on the another 2 or 3 years?

How much equity do you have in your home?

And you wont be spending money on non-essential stuff for 5/6 years when you start your IVA.

Toddy666

Hi
It's been going on for around 20 years really just cycles of loans then using cards again etc. Have no equity as got 125% mortgage now with NRAM. Have done all PPI claims and paid our car off at the time. I definitely think the IVA ia the right thing for us as we almost need to be taught a lesson if that's the right wording. Thank you for the advice everyone just need to decide who to go with now

foxy-stoat

Yeah your in far too deep to think about digging out a little.

PrettyKittyKat

If you follow the IVA rules correctly then it can be a very good way of 'learning a lesson' as you say, so that you have the skills to ensure you don't get yourself in the same situation afterwards. The best way to think of it is a change in lifestyle and attitude, rather than a 5 year fix to get debt free and after that you can have the huge holiday, big car, spend £1000 on xmas again etc. Hopefully you will finish with the budgeting skills to live within your means . I had a few clients who said that meant more to them than the fact they were debt free as they felt confident they would never be in the same situation again.