IVA with Baines & Ernst

Krasnoludek

Hi everyone,

Just after some advice really, we owe 18,500 in unsecured cards, catalogue and overdraft with about 5 companies.

We both work and our joint income is about 24k, we have two kids age 5 and 19 months and own a shed of a car. We owe 105k on our mortgage and the house is worth approx 125k.

We have discussed an IVA with Baines and Ernst and they seem quite helpful, they advised us that that our payments will be in line with what we can afford and will be reviewed every 6-12 months, they will do all paperwork and deal with all creditors, we have to pay an upfront fee of 300 quid but nothing else.

I also have a form for Payplan to consider an IVA too. Baines and Ernst seem quite on the ball though.

We accept that we wont be having any more credit for 5 years and can live with this, we want to pay our debts but we cant afford to meet all our payments indefinately.

We expect our circumstances to change within the next few years as husband will qualify as a nurse and youngest child will go to school, so not as much childcare cost.

I read some horror stories on the net about creditors forcing you to remortgage your house in the last year of the IVA to pay up the remainder you owe, I asked Baines and Ernst about this and was told it was very unlikely, as we would only owe 10k in any case so it wouldnt really be worth it. Realistically we are hoping to be able to pay as much as comfortable towards are debts, and its taught us a lesson we wont forget. As I say things should improve and we are willing to pay more when we can, I appreciate that our lifestyle will have to change a bit and we will try to be more careful in future but an IVA seems like the only way out and its only 5 years.

Can I have honest opinions please

Krasnoludek

RAS

Hi

Please can you have a word with the other debt charities before you commit to an IVA as there are other options? See here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

The only ways out of an IVA are complete or go bankrupt, so it is essential you sure how things will be for the next five years.

You also need to be very clear about the fees that Baines and Ernst will charge over that time and consider whether putting that money against you debts could clear them sooner.

if you do want to do an IVA, you could also check with CCCS as they offer them in-house. Not sure how much there fees are.

supersavershal

Go with payplan, baines and ernst are rubbish, they charge a fee which could be going towards your debt and when we used them we ended up in a worse state than when we started.
I wouldnt touch baines and ernst with a bargepole.They are theives and do nothing to help your finances.

lewt

i second this...

supersavershal wrote: »

Go with payplan, baines and ernst are rubbish, they charge a fee which could be going towards your debt and when we used them we ended up in a worse state than when we started.
I wouldnt touch baines and ernst with a bargepole.They are theives and do nothing to help your finances.

RAS

maybe do a little search on them on this forum and see what other posters think?

10past6

We are on a DMP with Payplan, although we are in the process of applying for an IVA.

Having done extensive research both on this board, and externally, the best organisation I found for dealing with IVA's was CCCS, for numerous reasons.

In view of that, we have applied for our IVA through CCCS.

skintmummy

I would do not touch baines and ernst i was with them once and they do nothing for you but set the payments up initially, and charge a fee every month so this just adds to your debts. I am no expert but i would see what other options there are out there like cccs etc.