pari passu principle?

EssexHebridean

OP is this in addition to the business debts your husband has that you posted about previously? Or are you both named on those, rather than just him? it sounds horribly as though you may have been given - and acted on - some incredibly poor advice here. 

sourcrates

You have to be so, so careful when making settlement offers, you must get the creditors agreement, in writing, not to chase the remainder of the debt you have settled, this is not the kind of thing to be done in haste, it requires patience and tact, and should never be rushed into like this.

You say you have a lot of debt, are you sure your available cash will be sufficient to settle everything ?

Because it may not be, I suspect a lump sum IVA was recommended because the available pot of money is shared usually "pro rata" between your creditors, and if they accept that figure the balances are legally written off, you don`t get that legal protection doing this yourself.

Please just slow down, take a deep breath, and try and give us some more detail.

psrlva

Everyone is very helpful. My first port of call in this long journey was Step change. Their advice was to just try and pay everyone small amounts for the next 40 years, when I challenged the sense in this it was because I had a debt to a family member so they thought it was best I didnt cause a family rift by trying to do anything else. I also contacted business debtline and they suggested the IVA. An IVA specialist suggested the lump sum IVA. I also paid another specialist debt restructuring company whose strategy was to delay everything for as long as they could in the hope the creditors would disappear. This has been a long journey!
I understand I have to get an agreement in writing so they cannot persue me in the future. Im not sure what else could be a magic solution here or what I could be doing better than paying everyone as best and as much as I can?

sourcrates

Well you should stop paying "debt restructuring companies" for starters, never pay for debt advice.

Otherwise your strategy seems sound, as long as your available money, is enough to do the job, I assume you have tested the enforceability of your debts, by sending CCA requests to all consumer credit act related accounts ?