BR / IVA - I don't even know anymore

evherkes

Hi all,
I am getting in such a mess, a bit like my finances really. I've added my story and SOA below. 

I had an awful phone call with StepChange where the IVA team couldn't have been any less empathic, helpful or reasonable. I then had two really helpful calls from people at PayPlan and CreditFix but now I don't know whether I should consider BR instead of IVA. My only worry is the "grilling" for an IPA but it depends how they play it, especially given my odd predicament with living and bills at the moment.

I currently live with my daughter and my ex. My ex is in, I believe, a similar predicament financially having taken a 65% pay cut due to COVID, it sounds like he might have already entered an IVA but things are not great between us. Neither of us can afford to move out so we are being amicable for my daughter and to keep our heads above water, financially... 

My spending toward groceries is slightly higher (around £100 p/m more than I would pay for myself and my daughter) as I pay for his food and cook, in exchange for this, he pays my road tax (£49.43 p/m), my car insurance (£81.29), TV licence (£13.20), Sky (£73.00) and my phone bill (£70.86). He also pays half the rent (£800). I have two cats, I don't currently pay pet insurance but thinking that if I go for BR I should take this out before applying as it is £46.31 due to one cat having a pre-existing condition.

If I were to pay for my car tax, car insurance, part of the TV licence and my phone bill (£308.48) and split the Council Tax, Dual Fuel, Water with him paying his third (£109.87) and me paying two thirds (a third for me and a third for my daughter) I would be financially worse off by around £198.61 p/m.

He told me to *ahem* off when I asked for his help in my applying for an IVA as they are saying it should be joint but he is unwilling to co-operate on any level with me around this. All of the debt is in my sole name but most of it is jointly "created" from when we had money and were together!

My ex is the registered owner and keeper of the car, but the finance is in my name. The last finance payment of £254 is due at the end Nov 2021. The car is worth around £5410 as a private sale according to auto-trader. I need the car for work and it is in my job description. I'd be sad to lose it as I have never missed a payment on it and I spend so much time travelling and commuting. He has offered to pay off the finance and let me use it so I can then just pay the road tax and insurance, or I could use my savings and buy a cheap car for £300, if they even exsist?

The SOA below is for me, I haven't included my exes car on finance or his bills but given our situation I don't even know if I should or can?

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2278.24
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 91.22
Other income............................ 800 (rent from ex)  & 486 (child maintenance)
Total monthly income.................... 3655.46

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 254
Rent.................................... 1600
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 164
Electricity............................. 88.63
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22
Internet Services....................... 74
Groceries etc. ......................... 630
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 282
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 28
Other child related expenses............ 25
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 43
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 55
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 42
Total monthly expenses.................. 3557.63

Assets
Cash.................................... 325 (savings)
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0[b]
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
(Unnamed debt).................61243.....0.........0[b]
Total unsecured debts..........61243.....0.........

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3655.46
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3557.63
Available for debt repayments........... 97.83
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0[b]
Amount left after debt repayments....... 97.83

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. 0
Total Unsecured debt.................... 61243
Net Assets.............................. 0

fatbelly

To start with let's not put stepchange and payplan in the same bracket as creditfix. The latter are the biggest provider of IVAs in the country and that's all they do. If you ask them what strategy you should follow, the answer is likely to be an IVA.

I'm sorry you did not have a good experience with stepchange. I have said before on this site that you can have a bad time with anyone but of those two I do prefer Payplan.

A good source of impartial advice is National Debtline but you have to be careful to contact the real one and not one of the many that have soundalike names.

Now with 60k of debt and £100 per month available, no assets (car discussion coming) it's a no-brainer - bankruptcy with its £680 fee is going to be the most cost-effective even if you get an IPA of maybe £100 per month

Is the car on HP? Can you check? If it's a unsecured loan then you own it already. If it's HP then it's not yours until the payments complete though as you are so near the end of the agreement you do appear to have equity in it.

I'm thinking - don't rush this. Get the car situation sorted first (I can give further info if you can find out the agreement details)

Can you break down the 60k debts into its component bits and say when you last made a payment to each and whether any have or are threatening a ccj

I've bookmarked the thread

If your ex is offering to pay off your finance then it sounds like he isn't in an iva - but you can check at https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

evherkes

Thank you. I felt so disempowered and having taken 14 months to build up the courage, that really hit me hard, so I don't trust StepChange now in case of further knockback.

The car is on finance, I am not the registered owner and keeper but finance is in my name as a HP arrangement. He has offered to pay off the finance so I can use the car and not have to "pay" for it but I know he would want me to pay tax and insurance which does seem fair. I have checked and he is on an IVA for over a year now, I hadn't realised I could check. He might be getting a friend to pay for it I assume, in that case, I am not sure.

Its credit cards, a few loans and store type accounts such as Very and Next, also an overdraft. One has recently started sending out paperwork to assess my finances with the threat of a CCJ but not heard further yet. Last payment I made to any of them were about a year ago now.

Thanks again for your help so far.

evherkes

Just to update that my ex has said that if I plan on taking IVA or BR he expects me to pay 66.6% and he will pay 33.3% of the bills as there is two of us (i.e. my daughter and I) and only one of him but as he refuses to provide any income/information I assume that an OR or IP would only assess on 50:50 split so I will be even worse off. I feel like this situation just keeps getting worse.
Further update: my current degree and future career based on said degree will most likely be significantly impacted by BR so, IVA it has to be...
 

fatbelly

Ok - a car worth 5k isn't a problem with an IVA

I hope you can get one sorted with that level of surplus income.

If you're now looking for an IP then consider this:

https://debtcamel.co.uk/choose-iva-firm/

I don't really understand why one form of insolvency would be viewed differently from another in your job but if that's the advice you've had from your professional body then I guess you have to go with it.

evherkes

Thank you, it is within Law and they are very "outdated" and appears BR is still quite a stigma - not something I am willing to risk - I'd rather be unhappy for 5 years than the rest of my adult life!
I'll consider the IVA firms on the link. I'm not sure I have ever felt so low and out of control as I do now, so I really appreciate your time and patience with me. Thank you so much.

kimwp

Once you have done your Iva, there looks to be quite a bit you could shave off your SOA, worth coming back then with that question, particularly if you do end up splitting bills 50/50.

fatbelly

Let us know how you get on