DOnt want IVA! - but dont know what to do next?

GhostHunter_3

I have finally used up all my savings and so can no longer meet the minimum repayments on my credit cards and loans. I was signed off work back in January on long term Incapacity Benefits, my husband is self employed on a very low income so dont get any help from him paying for household bills or anything (well he buys his own fat food as I am on a 'diet')!!

I have now started to get phonecalls and letters from the various companies to chase my payments and I have said I will try to pay them by end of the month when I get my benefits, making it clear and them aware that they are not the only ones I owe money to and the household bills will have to be paid first before I can see how much I have left (if any) to divide between them all.

I havent tried to apply for payment protection even though I have it on credit cards because I am sure I would not be protested. On the basis at the time it was miss-sold to me because I was self employed on a low income and had a pre-existing health complaine, the same as the one I am signed off and now receiving IB for, which I was not consulted about either.

Is it sensible of me to now call the credit card and loan companies myself and speak to them saying I am not playing ostrich and ignoring my debts and want to do something about them before I get into further trouble? Will they actually help or just make matters worse?

If I write to them what do I say? Do I enclose an SOA / income & expenditure (which will clearly show I have no spare money anywhere)? Will they force me into an IVA? I really dont want one of these, I would rather come to some mutual agreement to pay a minimum (and top up more whenever I can afford to) than end up in a pile of trouble and have no credit score and no chance of applying for credit for 5 - 7 years as an IVA will give me. Cant go bankrupt a I am just a 'partner' of my husbands business.

My credit score is bad already (not sure why always been 1 to pay on time and not ignore, maybe my husbands lack of financial control for his own?) but the last thing I want is to make it worse I am trying to repair it.

I really dont know which way to turn, it seems honesty and wanting to help myself out of debts may not help me at all.


:eek:

jmhgibson123

hi there dont despair you will get loads of great advice on here, but firstly if you are falling behind with payments your credit rating will already be bad, i had loads of different debts and tried to contact them all and make arrangements it works fine to start but if you miss one it spirals and turns into a nightmare, plus when you contact these companys they are trained to try and up whatever you offer them they want more and as your on the phone you tend to agree as they often use scare tactics.
if you want to deal with it all yourself i suggest writing-not phoning and they will need a list of income outgoing and creditors whilst you are doing this make a token payment even if it is a £1 then you are at least trying
i eventually gave up myself and went with consumer credit council services (c.c.c.s) they are a free service and they deal with the payments you pay them one payment and they split it between creditors which takes the pressure of you
good luck

GhostHunter_3

Hi

Thanks for the advice. I have a few Q though hope you dont mind me asking? Sorry if you do.

Did CCCS make you have an IVA or anything similar or did they simply deal with your debts to avoid getting one?

Thanks for telling me about their scare tactics and their tricks to up your offers, I now know I have already had this in the past 2 weeks they keep giving me deadlines to pay more and more money by and asking if I can make an immediate payment by credit or debit card! Obviously I can't and I have cut up my credit cards anyway back in January.

I refused to answer questionairs reguarding income and expenditure over the phone. They have offered to send me forms but still waiting for all of them, in the meantime calls keep coming, I stopped answering phone almost!

Daft as this may seem will CCCS tell me to 'get rid of things' like Sky or Broadband? Sad as it may sound but its our only past-time. Cant afford to go out, dont smoke or drink alcohol so have to have some 'distractions'.

Anyway thanks so much will try them Monday look at website over weekend.

Any more advice??

:eek:

ald65

Hi Ghosthunter

Payplan are also really helpful and also your local CAB may be able to give you some advice.
You will probably get advice to cut back on sky etc,however you may be able to save from another part of you allowance i.e food or haircuts to allow you to budget for them.
good luck

fermi

CCCS and the other free advice services in the link below will advise you on what may be best for you and how to deal with your creditors.

See the link: Debt Problems - Where to start, what to do, where to get help

They won't force you to do anything you don't want to, although sometimes they will advise you to cut out non-essentials. Whether you do is up to you.

Krasnoludek

Hi luv

Hugs to you - what a crappy old time your having.
We are now in a position where we cant meet all the minimum payments on our 19K debts, I called CCCS and they were fantastic and are setting us up on a DMP.

We too have Sky, but like you we dont smoke drink or go out much (2 small children) so its pretty much most of our entertainment.

The budget they set you is reasonable and you could perhaps negotiate a cut back somewhere else.

I nearly agreed to an IVA this week through a debt management agency, I am glad I didnt when the CCCS told me what it really meant, the agency had neglected to tell me a lot about it probably because of the dollar signs lighting up in front of their eyes when they spoke to me.

I would definately give CCCS a call I cant praise them enough, they are so non judgemental and informative.

Good luck

K xx

GhostHunter_3

MIL pays for haircuts once every 6 months. Go to a good salon who does a proffessional cut so it lasts.

Food wise unless I dump my healthy eating diet (I am overweight and unfit due to medical problems but improvement in last month when I started RC online) and eat high fat value and convenience meals not sure where I can cut down on that. Husband pays for his own as he wont eat rabbit food (dont have a garden to grow our own).

On lowest package for Sky although we upgraded in November to Sky+ with Multiroom also just downgraded our BroadBand so both have automatically entered into a new contract

Will post an SOA over weekend then draw curtains shut, take phone off hook and hide behind computerdesk for vultures to come pick it appart hopefully leaving me unshredded and intact emotionally :rotfl:


Thanks I will take a look at CCCS & Payplan, already been to CAB late last year wernt very helpful in my honest opinion because tried to force husband to ditch his self employment and business and go on JSA so we could get benefit. His business has been going for almost 7 years and although its tough going he works very hard to keep afloat each month. He has no valid qualifications and learning difficulties so stubbourn as he is not to give in its better to let him get along as he is even though we struggle most winters and scrape by between spring and autumn. I know that may not make a lot of sense to most and is probably the root of all our troubles but its not for want of trying to get him to change but not even bank manager or anyone can change his tunnel vision. He does work hard and the cash in hand often keeps us fed and with petrol in the 1 vehicle we have (his works van).

Thanks
:eek:

GhostHunter_3

Hi glad to see your sorting yourself out Krasnoludek. :T

Whats the difference between an IVA and a DMP?

Thanks

:eek:

Krasnoludek

Hi Ghosthunter

Forgive my novice info but this is the info I was given ..

DMP is a plan where you repay your creditors a mutually agreed amount over a certain amount of time and review it once a year say or if something drastic changes. It doesnt mean your debt is written off or cancelled, its just an agreement between you and them, this way hopefully gets charges and interest frozen because they realise you want to pay (this is what I am hoping anyway!!!!) I will pay the agreed full amount to be split up between my creditors to CCCS and they will divvy it up and pay accordingly on my behalf.

An IVA is a five year agreement drawn up by an Insolvency Practititioner and is legally binding, again the amounts etc have to be mutually agreed and usually in both IVA and DMP a budget for household stuff will be agreed thats reasonable.
The myth I was told is that I could make repayments for 5 years then the rest would be written off, this may be the case if your not a homeowner but apparently it is common for a creditor (s) to insist you remortgage in the 4th to release equity in your property to pay more or all of the debt off, obviously if you have an IVA your credit isnt going to be good so you will end up going to a non high street lender and possibly paying a high rate of interest. The other thing with an IVA is because its legally binding if something drastic happens and you cant pay they can force you into bankrupty and you would lose your home.
The CCCS told me today that usually IVAs are for over 20k

I would definately talk to CCCS its been a weight off my mind, wish I had talked to them first not money grabbing agency grrrr

Good luck

K

Undersized_Rascal

There's great satisfaction in sorting your life out GOOD LUCK:beer:

Make your husband listen. It's his problem too. From the tone of your writing i get the impression he's unconcerned. It may not be his fault, as alot of people here know it 's very easy to let stuff slip by....
x

jmhgibson123

GhostHunter wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for the advice. I have a few Q though hope you dont mind me asking? Sorry if you do.

Did CCCS make you have an IVA or anything similar or did they simply deal with your debts to avoid getting one?

Thanks for telling me about their scare tactics and their tricks to up your offers, I now know I have already had this in the past 2 weeks they keep giving me deadlines to pay more and more money by and asking if I can make an immediate payment by credit or debit card! Obviously I can't and I have cut up my credit cards anyway back in January.

I refused to answer questionairs reguarding income and expenditure over the phone. They have offered to send me forms but still waiting for all of them, in the meantime calls keep coming, I stopped answering phone almost!

Daft as this may seem will CCCS tell me to 'get rid of things' like Sky or Broadband? Sad as it may sound but its our only past-time. Cant afford to go out, dont smoke or drink alcohol so have to have some 'distractions'.

Anyway thanks so much will try them Monday look at website over weekend.

Any more advice??

:eek:

c c c s dont make you give up sky and stuff and to be fair they make sure you have enough to live on before you pay the creditors
i understand they are very busy and if you want to start ball rolling nip into c a b office and get a letter from them and a booklet about dealing with debt it gives you a template letter and a budget sheet they dont ask for proof of what you pay out each month so bear that in mind when filling out your expenditure sheet
hope this helps you