Confused newbie..

mother_hen_2

Good morning to you all, I've been reading this site over the last few days and think its great, such a supportive community.
We are in debt to the tune of £76,000. After much agonising and loosing sleep we have decided to try and tackle it- we have gone to the CCCS website and completed their form and they recommended an IVA.
However, there is still the second option of a DMP. Thats where I get confused. We don't know what the difference is between the two, as I see it both register you for bad credit, both stops all available credit - and both you have to live within a tight budget (fair enough).
The difference as I see it is the timescale. IVA 5 years but if we independently approach the companies and they agree! to stop their interest rates each month we have worked it out they get all their money in 5 years 6 months as aposed to them receiving a percentage via an IVA. (sorry forgot to mention that is with me working part time, which in fairness when we completed the form I didn't know I had been offered a new job). Have we got it completely wrong? Please help with advice as I am a little confused.
Thankyou..

Lemon_Tree

sorry i can't really help but i'll bump this up so that someone else can.

mother_hen_2

Thanks Lemon Tree I thought I was doing something wrong as nobody replied..
Is there a quick way to view 'my posts' other than going through pages one by one?

RAS

Hi

You need some proper advice from one of the debt charities, not just the web-site. I have copied fermis contact list below.

Major concerns will be whether you are a houseowner or a tenant as you have to release equity in year 3 or 4 of an IVA? Also with the DMP, you record eventually becomes clean but with the IVA, it become clean but you may be asked whether you have ever been bankrupt or entered an IVA for ever.

The Other difference is that you have to pay someone to run the IVA, so some of your money goes to pay their fees, whilst the DMP is free of charge.

The general view here would be that an IVA is better than going BK if that is the only other option but a lot fail and then the only route out is usually bankruptcy. The DMP is more flexible as you can reduce the payment to a very low level if you hit a maor domestic disaster and then increase them later, but the IVA will fail in these circumstances as your creditors are unlikely to accept the reduced payments.

it would be worth posting your statement of Affairs as it may be possible to see ways of managing things better even now.

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable and 'not for profit' organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart. You can contact:

Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor' *** The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111 *** National Debtline - Tel: 0800 808 4000 *** Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823

Scarlett.1974

Hi mother hen and welcome to MSE

If you go back to the CCCS site it will have detailed explinations for you on the differences between a DMP and an IVA. I don't want to start listing the differences here in case I miss anything off or forget something vital!

If you have any other questions do shout up, this place is full of amazing and informative people and I can pretty much promise you - whatever you're going through right now, someone will have been there before

Keep posting

Scarlett xx

mother_hen_2

Thankyou for your kind words of support. My husband felt a DMP would be a better option, however is it possible that we could contact the companies direct and try to get them to reduce/stop the interest as that is what isn't helping....

rayday2

You can run your own DMP which I did using the template letters and budget sheet on the National Debthelpline website (have a look download it see what you think)

The advantages of this are you can be flexible and I have had all the interest suspended on mine for over a year and I am slowly getting rid of the smaller ones as a bit of a moral boast. Also I like to feel in control know what is happening all the way so it suits me.

The disadvantages are that you are responsible for dealing with everything yourself, I set mine up long before coming on this website and now I know I can ask questions and get an answer before then it was quite lonely.

On the whole I am glad I represent myself but its down to your own personality and what would suit you best.

Critical thing is you must get a realistic budget you can stick to, as there will be no more cards to fall back, also you must set up a saving system for everything from the unexpected to the expected. If you owe anyone who you share a bank account with, eg, Lloyds Bank account and credit card you will probably have to change your bank account too as they can take money out your account its in the small print!

mother_hen_2

Thankyou Rayday I will go now and take a look...

Seaxwyn

HI and welcome mother hen,

I don't know about DMPs and IVAs, but to find your previous posts, click on 'User CP' in the menu at the top and it will show you a list of your 'subscribed threads' (ie ones you have posted on).

mother_hen_2

Thanks Seaxwyn. This forum is great, is it just my computer or does it take a long time to work? i.e backwards, next page etc... sometimes is times out..

Seaxwyn

No it is taking absolutely ages to do anything for me too. There were 'technical issues' yesterday so perhaps that's the reason - it isn't always like this.