Please help

Simon_M_2

Hi all, first time on here so go gentle

I have been running my business (sole trader) for 5 years this year and in the last 18 months or so things have got worse.

My problem:
My personal debts total £30000, a mix of business and personal.
My current income - £0

My partners debts - £3000
My partners income - £18000

We own our house jointly, the equity is around £40000

I have spoken to business debtline and national debtline and contrary to what I have heard both were very unhelpful when they new about the equity in the property, basically telling me that my debtors would only be interested in taking the house.

I have spoken to a company called Clear Start.org and they suggested going for an IVA but said there was a 50/50 chance of my only creditors Barclays agreeing to it. They said that if they didn't agree my only option would be bankruptcy, which they could help me with but would charge for their advice.

I am currently looking for work and have realised that my realistic take home pay is going to be around £900 per month, the "debt advisor" calculated that after our joint incomings and outgoings were totalled we would be left with £233 per month to pay back to Barclays for the IVA. This is based on us paying a discounted mortgage rate of £624 a month. This discount ends in around 9 months and we will then be paying £933 per month. I explained this and the advisor said that figures can only be based on what our current incomings and outgoings are.

All I want to do is keep the home we have worked so hard on over the last 3 years, and fear that bankruptcy will mean we lose it, but on the other hand how can I commit to an IVA knowing full well that I wil not be able to keep up the payments when the mortgage goes up.


I am so confused I don't know what to do.

Thanks for reading this

Simon

Dez-Titute

Seems like your OH is in a better position and currently covering all the debt. Have you contact CAB or CCCs.
.Contact one or all of the following National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000 | The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111 | local Citizens Advice Bureau.
Have you done your Statement of Affairs (income & expenditure) yet, without payments to debts? If you put this up on here then the someone here will be able give further guidance.

fudge59

Hi,

what Dez has suggested is what you should do - you should steer clear of any companies who offer advice - but charge you for it.

Your local CAB would probably be the best option - if you're lucky like I was our CAB has a dedicated Debt department which you become a client to and they help you every step of the way.

I know I was told by my caseworker that IVA's are becoming more harder to actually get, as the creditors just dont seem to agree to them - I suppose the one good thing is you only have the 1 creditor - but I have a bad view of Barclays so I'm going to be biased!

If you were to go BR then I think your house would be at risk as it's an asset.

debtissoeasytogetinto

Welcome simon

Firstly are you both going br? or just you? there are many "experts" on this site who will be able to advise you better. But that does make a difference how many debts are joint? how many belong to you only? these are all the questions that cccs/cab/national debthelpline will ask. I used CCCS and CAB and they were extremely helpful to me. IVA's are getting harder to do, my creditors refused to accept which in hindsight i'm extremely glad now as i'm debt free and only 49 weeks to AD.

Ask any questions, there are lots of people here with good positive advice.

Nice to see you here on the forum.

Simon_M_2

Hi all, thanks for the replys

I will try to clarify my situation.

All debts are in my name only. I owe the following:

Barclays business loan - £9500
Barclaycard - £5000
Barclays personal loan - £4897
*edit* Barclaycard loan - £2800
Business overdraft - £6000
Income Tax and VAT approx £1500

Total - £29697

We re-mortgaged last year and at that time the house was valued at £175000, we owe £145000. The pupose of the re-mortgage was to improve the property, which we have done. Current house prices are difficult to estimate but we did £22000 of improvements to the house, so I would be very surprised if it is still worth £175000 my guess would be nearer £200000 as the changes we made were substantial.

My current situation is that the business is costing more to run that it is making, my guess would be I am loosing around £500 per month. I sell only eBay and due to the new feedback rules just one neg or neutral within 30 days could see me being suspended. With this in mind I have decided that I cannot afford to take this risk and I am now looking for employment. As I have no formal qualifications I am finding that no employers in my field (computers) are willing to take me on. So as an interim measure I will take whatever I can get, but this is likely top be a low paid job. I am not setting my sights to high and expect to be taking home around £900 per month.

My outgoings:

We share the cost of the household bills equally my share is £500 per month
Fuel expenses for me would probably be around £100 per month
Road tax £20
Food clothing personal hygene around £120 per month

Total - £740

So living off the bear minimum should leave me with £160 per month spare

My partner earns £18k gross

Her outgoings:

Share of household bills - £500
Fuel - £30
Road Tax - £12
Food clothing personal hygene around £120 per month
Loan - £120 (ends next year)

Total - £782

Monthly net pay is around £1100 so she will be left wth £318 per month

So in total we should have around £478 spare.

We have a 2 year mortgage deal, this runs out next June. We currently pay £674 per month to the mortgage, this will increase to £933 next year. This will reduce the spare income to £219.

I hope the anove gives people something more to go on.

Cheers Simon

Dez-Titute

Hi Simon,Have you contacted any of the debt charities yet??
If BR is the only option then you could go it alone.As long as your OH covers 50% of all household bills then I think you will be OK for a DMP or IVA.Why is your business losing you £500 pm??

maxmycardagain

ebay swines just kicked me off for 1 neg strike in 300 plus ratings

sadly i owe them £15 fees which i dont think they will be getting, despite me having 6 other ID's.....

new rules mean sellers cant rate buyers other than positives! i had a guy win a £15 item, didnt pay, i neg rated him, i had to grovel to him to cancel the joint ratings and ebay have still kicked me off

the moral? only ever be a buyer, and feel free to !!!!!! sellers about as much as you like
how mad is that!