Hi,

firstly i'm going outline my problem in terms of what I owe.

American express £2100

MBNA £5500

Virgin Money £2100

Norwich and peterborough £2150

Smart Card £2150

Capital One £200

Barclays account overdraft £3000 in the red

Alliance and leicester account £3200 in the red

Alliance and leicester unsecured loan £2500 left

Lloyds account £250 in the red

A grand total of 23150.

I have a mortgage on my own flat, Value 85k-90k not really sure. Currently mortgage left £66500. I am also on another mortgage although I don't pay for it, i helped my sister out by becoming a name on it 2 years ago when she got divorced.

Now the situation I am in is that I run my own small electrical company and while that runs itself and is debt free I am however now struggling.

I've recently had letters from all of my credit card companies stating that effective from x date the rates are going up. Now this leaves me basically just paying the minimum each month (barely) I have missed the occasional payment for these.

I have never missed a mortgage/loan payment. I really just want someone to point me in the right direction, is it even possible for me to get an IVA when I own my own home or will I end up losing it all?

Please help

Peter

Hiya, Wow thats alot of oweing, but hey we all been there!!!

Firstly yes you can have an IVA and a mortgage, business etc whereas with bankrupcy they take the lot.

However there is also some serious downsides to an IVA, like the company who sets it up and runs it for you can charge you thousands, your credit scoring is absolutely shot at etc etc.

do you use one of the bank accounts listed above for your business or is it seperate? and if so is that one also in the red?

Have you approached your lenders and explained the situation? sometimes they can be more understanding than you think.

You said your name is on your sisters mortgage, are you the 2nd name or guarantor?

The citizens advise are excellent with situations like these, if you take along statements etc of everything you owe, bank accounts etc alot of the time they will do draft letters for you to send to your creditors offering them set amount of money each month that you can afford to pay as they do you a budget.

I hope this helps as I found you need all the help and advice you can get at times like these.

Regards,

Paula.

Hi,

thanks for your advice. Both my business accounts are completely separate, both in the black. As for my sisters mortgage i'm on there as a 2nd person, although i have been told I should ask her to remove me now its been going a couple of years.

Will the credit card companies stop adding interest if I got through citizens advice???

Cheers Peter

Hiya,

I would try get your name off her mortgage, as long as she has an income adequate to cover payments they should allow it. It used to cost about £250 but not too sure about the price.

I can't say for sure if they will freeze the interest but theres a good chance they might look more favourably towards you if they see you are trying to sort your debts out.

Keeping your business accounts up to date and totally separate is a good thing though so thats good.

As soon as I entered into my IVA all my creditors put the full term of interest on the debt and I had a fit when I saw the total balance, I'm very anti IVA and soooooo wish I had gone to the citizens advice instead.

I would really go and speak to them and they will talk you through the whole process and their advice is FREE!!!!

Just be totally honest as you have here, you have nothing to lose.

Just ask if you need anything else ( except cash of course lol )

Regards,

Paula.