Help Needed!!! IVA???

snowman365

Dear Members

Hello! I am new to the site. I have looked at it a few times and everyone seems very helpful and supportive! I hope someone may be able to help me with some advice?!

I am aged 29 and I am in a fairly bad situation with unsecured debt. I am single and live in a rented property. I currently owe approximately: £20,500 Cooperative Bank Personal Loan (settlement figure), £5,500 HSBC Credit Card. £2,000 HSBC Overdraft. £3,500 Egg Credit Card. £5,000 Student Loan Company.

My minimum monthly payments for these debts come to approximately £650 per month. I am currently making all of my payments and have never missed a payment at all, but am constantly getting a lot of bank charges for going overdrawn and am always skint due to paying off all my debts!!!

I am in a steady job which pays about £25,000 per annum (before deducations), which works out at around £1,450 per month after deductions. I have never really let my debt bother me too much up until recently, as I have always managed to make my monthly payments and like I said I have never actually missed any payments, but I feel that soon I will be really struggling to make all the payments and still have a reasonable standard of living, and as I rapidly approach 30 I really want to get my finances back on track and sort this whole mess out!!!

I tried speaking to 2 of my crditors about the possibility of re-financing my debts and consolidating my overdraft and credit cards into a single loan but neither would consider it at all.

I recently contacted a Debt Advice Service who visited me at home and suggested an IVA. They worked out my total debts to be in the region of £37,000 (based on my current payments) and that I could afford to pay £264.00 per month into an IVA.

I am seriously considering this as an option, but have a few concerns which hopefully someone may be able to help me with?!!!

1. Would an IVA be right for me?

2. What if my creditors do not accept the IVA proposal? The Debt Advisor who came to visit me 'tinkered' with some of my income / outgoings to make it look like I had less MDI (which I feel a bit nervous about and would prefer to be totally honest).

3. What if my current personal situation changes e.g. change of job? Change of income? Change of rent? Change of MDI? (I am considering taking some time out of work to go to Canada, with the intention of possibly moving there to live on a permanent basis. My partner is Canadian and she is moving back there to live permanently.)

4. Are there usually any additional fees associated with an IVA which the Debt Advisor may not have told me about? (It all seemed to be good to be true).

5. What would be the implications of an IVA on the rest of my life e.g. would I still be able to get a Mortgage during or after an IVA? Would I be able to emmigrate to Canada during or after an IVA?

6. Can anyone recommend a good IVA provider / Debt Advisory Company in the Manchester Area to go through?

Sorry for so many questions!!! Any advice or information would be very much appreciated!!!!

10past6

Hi Snowman

Welcome to the forum, in answer to this question:

snowman365 wrote: »

I recently contacted a Debt Advice Service who visited me at home and suggested an IVA

NO, AN IVA WOULD NOT BE RIGHT FOR YOU.

Whoever gave you this information, imo, was WRONG, an IVA is only applicable to a very small % of people, the reason an IVA is not applicable to you, the main reason, YOU HAVE NO ASSETS TO PROTECT.

Either one of the following two situations would be applicable to you

a) Settimg up a DMP, via one of the many DEBT FREE CHARITIES, they DO NOT CHARGE for their services.

If you apply and are accepted onto a DMP, your contibutions are divided between all your creditors, also, the DMP runs until all creditors are paid.

The downside of this, creditors / DCA's have the option if they wish to take legal action at anytime during the life of your DMP.

b) consider BR,

This is something that requires VERY CAREFUL CONSIDERATION, and I believe you should do sufficent research before considering this option.

At this stage, I will say this, THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO USE A FEE PAYING DEBT MANAGEMENT COMPANY, all the help and advice you require you can obtain from the debt charities.

You can find all the details of debt free charities by clicking here

boredofbeingathome

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Agree with all of the above.
Please contact one of the debt charities and see what they have to say.

doelani

I also agree with above, if you have no home to protect you do not need an IVA. WE are 3 years into and IVA for 2 reason.

1. We have a house we did not want to lose but have to release equity from it as a condition of the IVA.

2. When we entered it I worked for a bank and could not go bankrupt as I would have lost my job.

You really need to speak to a Debt Charity like CCCS or Payplan and see what they advise. A DMP or Bankruptsy may be suitable for you if you have no assets to protect. Whatever you decide think carefully about the condition or whatever you do and do not be rushed into making any decissions. Ask plenty of questions and find out as much as possible about your choice.

There are also big fees with IVA I think from memory ours are about £10k which is deducted from the money we pay over the 5 years of teh IVA.

The company that came to visit you that you say " seems to good to be true" probally are lol I have read a number of posts here and on another forum of people who where told IVA was suitable for them and then afterwords relised it was wrong , it is restrictive for 5 years, it is not suitable for everyone and I DO NOT THINK IT IS FOR YOU......only my opinion.

You have takent he first step by asking for advise and please keep asking and look up the debt charities, they will help and advise.

Deep_In_Debt

As others have said, do contact CCCS, Payplan, National Debt Line, CAB who will give you advice that will be in your interests as they are not out to make money from you.

From what you have posted, an IVA may not be suitable for you. My ex OH was talked into an IVA 3 years ago. He had 40k debt and had absolutely no assets whatsoever, not even a car and a low paid job. His IVA failed after a year as he couldn't afford the IVA payments and he went bankrupt. His creditors had received very little if anything at all in the months he had paid his IVA as his payments were going towards fees.

Strongly suggest you contact one of the debt organisations already mentioned for best advice.