IVA vrs real cutting back

[Deleted User]

cantfindanamenotin wrote: »

but need to post on a place where people have worked to get out of debt.

Four months ago decided better to work then be on the sick where possible.

Since June I have paid £1,453 in cleared funds towards my 'housing problem' I am now up to date and clear for 6 months. Added £600 in credit but worth it to get rid of frustration as I didn't know how it was going to play out in May when I made a thread on here.

I also repaid £317 back to the state, again cleared funds.

I was largely able to do this due to taking a job on that I could walk to so saved on fuel costs and had proportion of holiday pay accumulated paid out.

cantfindanamenotin

Hi thanks everybody. What a day. Emailed the company last night to say I was not going to take the route and they contacted me this morning. Really hard sell and even asked how I would afford Christmas or to put food on the table. I explained I hadn't used credit in a while and that I had even managed to shop better. But honestly really felt hopeless. So sat with a pen and paper wrote down every bill and debt and minimum payments after all these things are paid I am left with £603 ! That needs to be food , travel etc . I feel this is actually not bad. Could be better but of I value every penny I can do it. Inthe past 2 years I have adopted an appalling attitude to money buying lunch at work not shopping about. That can be my first thing to cut out, my home phone and broadband are expiring and at the moment I pay £33 a month I can definitely get a better deal on that. My mobile contract isn't up until 2020 July but I just won't renew. What are the best threads to follow to keep me motivated.i want to do this. I think I am very lucky to have £603 for food and travel etc and if I'm smart this is plenty am I deluded. (again perhaps I'm now posting in the wrong forum so let me know where I should look). I do agree IVAs have there place but I'm wondering if that was the best option. Now I'm googling I'm seeing people reporting they were given the hard sell and maybe it was the wrong choice. They are good at what they do though because I am back feeling frightened again despite the figures.

Misslayed

Have a read of this thread, see what a difference effective budgeting has made to this MSEer's life in a very short time

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6029271/new-life-pending

sourcrates

Well so far this is all speculation as you have not even told us how much debt you have.
I can tell you in 30 seconds if an IVA is suitable for you or not, by you answering three quick questions.

(1) How much debt do you have ?
(2) are you a homeowner or do you rent ?
(3) what’s your income after tax ?

fatbelly

cantfindanamenotin wrote: »

Hi thanks everybody. What a day. Emailed the company last night to say I was not going to take the route and they contacted me this morning. Really hard sell and even asked how I would afford Christmas or to put food on the table. I explained I hadn't used credit in a while and that I had even managed to shop better. But honestly really felt hopeless. So sat with a pen and paper wrote down every bill and debt and minimum payments after all these things are paid I am left with £603 ! That needs to be food , travel etc . I feel this is actually not bad. Could be better but of I value every penny I can do it. Inthe past 2 years I have adopted an appalling attitude to money buying lunch at work not shopping about. That can be my first thing to cut out, my home phone and broadband are expiring and at the moment I pay £33 a month I can definitely get a better deal on that. My mobile contract isn't up until 2020 July but I just won't renew. What are the best threads to follow to keep me motivated.i want to do this. I think I am very lucky to have £603 for food and travel etc and if I'm smart this is plenty am I deluded. (again perhaps I'm now posting in the wrong forum so let me know where I should look). I do agree IVAs have there place but I'm wondering if that was the best option. Now I'm googling I'm seeing people reporting they were given the hard sell and maybe it was the wrong choice. They are good at what they do though because I am back feeling frightened again despite the figures.

I do hope that wasn't one of the main debt advice organisations...

You have things a bit the wrong way around. You are thinking 'these are my bill payments' and then 'how do I live on the rest'

You should be thinking 'this is what I need to live on' and 'how much can I afford to give to non-priority creditors?'

But we still haven't seen a statement of affairs so it's still difficult to advise what might work for you. For all I know an IVA might be best. Though I doubt it.

Anyway, for now this is the right board. Maybe the diaries section once you get going.

cantfindanamenotin

Sorry I owe 18550
I rent
I take home 1940
What do you think just based on that. I am doing something wrong on the link to work out everything. But will try again tonight.

cantfindanamenotin

It wasn't the debt advisor it was a private / profit IVA firm. I did say I wasn't going to do it and felt o needed more advice. I will sit properly down and do the budget.

sourcrates

cantfindanamenotin wrote: »

Sorry I owe 18550
I rent
I take home 1940
What do you think just based on that. I am doing something wrong on the link to work out everything. But will try again tonight.

You don’t have enough debt for an IVA.
They are mainly designed for homeowners with assets and also massive debts, who cannot go bankrupt.

Although there are no limits where IVA’s are concerned, to be suitable, ideally you need to have over 30k of debt, this is because there are fee’s associated with these arrangements that can be quite large, and the length of the arrangement can be extended up to 7 years at your IP’s discretion, for 18k it’s just not suitable.

Just going on what you have written, I would say debt management may be the way forward.

cantfindanamenotin

sourcrates wrote: »

You don’t have enough debt for an IVA.
They are mainly designed for homeowners with assets and also massive debts, who cannot go bankrupt.

Although there are no limits where IVA’s are concerned, to be suitable, ideally you need to have over 30k of debt, this is because there are fee’s associated with these arrangements that can be quite large, and the length of the arrangement can be extended up to 7 years at your IP’s discretion, for 18k it’s just not suitable.

Just going on what you have written, I would say debt management may be the way forward.

That's what I kept swaying back to. I felt because I have never defaulted I would be better with something informal which just brings payments down (once I work out what exactly I need to live on - but also not being ridiculous).
Just looking at other boards people have managed to even do it themselves. I imagine the companies I owe would prefer it to an IVA anyways as they still get all their money just over a longer period of time (if I've understood it correctly). But when I said what about a DMP they were like it will take you 19 years to pay it (I responded oh that's not that bad) but then they were very IF your circumstances change and you default on it, the creditors can still chase you. People that get DMPs usually end up on IVAs ... Since fatbelly said about them being overly sold / mis sold I have done some googling and it looks like some people have regretted the choice. My goal is to get out of debt first and reform my spending habits, then once the debt is gone to start saving so we can have a mortgage,. I will get everything into order and get reading on all these threads. I can't thank everyone on here enough. This could help so many people , it's ashame there are probably more people like me who are agreeing to IVAs because of the sales techniques. Literally food on the table statement made by the I suppose sales rep was so upsetting (had to remind myself at this moment in time I have been irresponsible with budgeting and house keeping and it's not about not having food it s been about wasting money) . Christmas comments I suppose she was building on from comments I had made but spoke with a few friends and realistically I have spent to much in the past . Anyways thanks everyone. I will keep you posted and let's hope I do this !

enthusiasticsaver

They sound very hard sell and on £18k of debt and a reasonable salary I think 19 years sounds way off the mark. An soa will help so keep trying to get that up. I also question the statement that people on DMPs usually end up on IVAs.

Budgeting and cutting back sounds like the best route for you either with or without a DMP. That depends on what interest rates you are paying. It sounds like you have a surplus but I would be wary of thinking you have £603 spare as the soa may throw up some things you have not thought of. An emergency savings account should be one of the first things you sort out especially if you do go for a DMP.