Really worried my husband being pushed into IVA

Kittykat74

My husband and I are not happily married but stayed together as financially difficult to split. I was unable to work as our son has special needs and the ongoing medical appointments/fights with the schools made it impossible. He is an IT contractor working through his own Ltd company. His work stopped when Covid hit. He unbeknown to me racked up his credit cards paying people to help him build a website which he kept saying had huge potential ..no marketing budget and website was awful but he did not listen. 
As our son is no older I returned to full time work in November 2021 and earn the maximum I can earn. Early last year he was diagnosed with stage 3 prostate cancer, he also needs heart surgery and he has severe degeneration in the nerves at the top of his spine, he has had treatment for the cancer but still waiting on the outcome, although no actual prognosis it seems unlikely especially due to his spine issues he will ever work properly again. He was signed off sick by the GP last March and receives Universal Credits and is awaiting a PIP decision. He was referred to Step Change by the bank and they are pushing him into IVAs for the credit card debts .. I think around £20-30k. I am really concerned about how this affects me and will I still be able to get insurance etc for car and home.. and where it puts us with our house. We are currently in an arrangement with the mortgage company and I am paying that when I get paid. (We do have life insurance but no we did not have critical illness insurance) 
Do I just let him go with the IVAs .. please be gentle as I am already pretty stressed by all of this.. thank you 

SusieT

Until one of the people who knows more about them answers, please relax, if he has contacted Stepchange the charity (and not one that sounds like them) as advised by the bank, then from the little I know and with a house to protect plus debts that could be around the £30k k mark and his health problems, then it could well be the correct thing for him to do.
Please try to sleep and hopefully by tomorrow you will get answers from more experienced people 

RAS

Hi, I'm not an IVA specialist, nor a fan of them.

My first thought is that consumer debt is a long way down the list priorities at the moment. So the decision on the solution can be delayed for some time.

I'd stop paying anything towards the consumer debt, get the mortgage sorted out and Council Tax. After that it's food and utilities.

Send a letter to all the creditors listing his health issues, some may even write the debt off.

sourcrates

For any debt solution, other than bankruptcy, you are required to have an income of some sort.

IVA `s are designed for homeowners who cannot go bankrupt, as your assets are protected in an IVA.

You should not have any issues with insurance of any kind, if he goes down that route.

However, it looks like he may not be returning to work, in which case an IVA is not really suitable, as you need a regular, steady income, as an IVA will last 60 months, and has a forced re-mortgage clause in year 5.

Best bet is to to write to his creditors and ask them to write off the balances due to his health condition, that is a more sensible approach, I would not be pushed into anything too soon.

See how that pans out first, then re-assess the situation.

enthusiasticsaver

An IVA is one option. It is usually for people who have an asset to protect like a house but high unsecured debt. Stepchange are the best people to advise as a free debt charity. Tell him to be wary of the IVA providers who charge fees. You should not be affected although as you are financially linked through the mortgage it may affect your ability to borrow. 

RAS

Even Stepchange "charge fees", AFAIK. Just they decided that for the few people it was good for, they might as well offer a responsible and fairly priced service, rather than charging high introducer fees and "profits."

Though judging by the number of IVA providers closing down, the halcyon days are over.

BDeluxe

sourcrates said:

For any debt solution, other than bankruptcy, you are required to have an income of some sort.

IVA `s are designed for homeowners who cannot go bankrupt, as your assets are protected in an IVA.

You should not have any issues with insurance of any kind, if he goes down that route.

However, it looks like he may not be returning to work, in which case an IVA is not really suitable, as you need a regular, steady income, as an IVA will last 60 months, and has a forced re-mortgage clause in year 5.

Best bet is to to write to his creditors and ask them to write off the balances due to his health condition, that is a more sensible approach, I would not be pushed into anything too soon.

See how that pans out first, then re-assess the situation.

How does that forced remortgage clause work because my mortgage company wouldn't give me a remortgage which has put me in crappy position of just being able to afford minimum payments but at sky high interest.

Just wondering how they can enforce that when a mortgage company can just refuse?

sourcrates

BDeluxe said:

sourcrates said:

For any debt solution, other than bankruptcy, you are required to have an income of some sort.

IVA `s are designed for homeowners who cannot go bankrupt, as your assets are protected in an IVA.

You should not have any issues with insurance of any kind, if he goes down that route.

However, it looks like he may not be returning to work, in which case an IVA is not really suitable, as you need a regular, steady income, as an IVA will last 60 months, and has a forced re-mortgage clause in year 5.

Best bet is to to write to his creditors and ask them to write off the balances due to his health condition, that is a more sensible approach, I would not be pushed into anything too soon.

See how that pans out first, then re-assess the situation.

How does that forced remortgage clause work because my mortgage company wouldn't give me a remortgage which has put me in crappy position of just being able to afford minimum payments but at sky high interest.

Just wondering how they can enforce that when a mortgage company can just refuse?

You are asked to "try" and re-mortgage.

If you can`t, then another 12-18 months of payments is the norm.