I would second the advice given here about IVA's they are very expensive and there are many cheaper, even free alternatives. companies make big profits from iva's

Your situation all depends on how long your car finance and loan has to run, if its less than 3 months and your less than 3 months behind on your cards, you will just have to alternate between payments and miss a few and just grin and bear the calls.

Personnaly from what ive seen the CAB are not the best at offering advise, altho im not saying they are band, its better to go with payplan or cccs. but dont go with one that charges fees, there is good free advice out there. if you can afford to pay fees why are you not paying it off your debt? (makes no sence at all) and they dont do anything different. The problem with CAB is they see the creditors as the bad guys, and as i will admit some are, a lot will be willing to help if you have a genuine reason for your difficulty and you havent just blitzed the card over its limit in the last few months. the CAB will then just tell you not to speak to your creditors and pay them a £1 for 6 months until you can decide what to do. this doesnt work.

Your situation all depends on how long your car finance and loan has to run, if its less than 3 months and your less than 3 months behind on your cards, you will just have to miss payments on one and pay another and alternat for the few months. if its longer than this you need to contact your creditors for an arrangement.

To be honest nobody needs a 3rd party to do anything as all they do is draw up a financial statement and post it to your credit card company. its exactly the same thing if you do it or they do it, but remember it will show on your credit file for 6 years after you come off an arrangement so initially you will struggle to get credit/get decent rates so like i said above you have to just struggle for a few months if it is a short term problem if you want credit in the near future.

ring your creditors up with these details -

- all income and expenditure details - try to cut expenditure where possible (realistic, dont put lottery tickets or drinking money as seperate figures!)

- balances on other creditors

work the pro rata payments to each creditor and offer this payment as your offer to pay for an arrangement.

Ill quickly write how to work out pro rata using figures if no1 is sure

total outstanding unsecured creditors loans and cards £50000

Total disposable income (income less expenditure) £400

To work out the pro rata on one card for instance - CC balance 15000

work out 15000 as a percentage of 50000 is 30%

then 30% of the total disposable income (400) is £120

Finally, dont offer this straight out, offer lower. each creditor works slightly different with arrangements so start lower as they will start high. Obviously you need to pay the debt off as quick as possible so the higher the better.

anyway that was a lot longer than i intended, hope it helps

Rob

You're welcome. !

thanks

ATM is absolutely correct about other ways of reducing debt and the implication of massive long term fees by any commercial IVA company.

Of a more serious concern is the fact that the OP can not be advised with any degree of safety, accuracy or credibility of a IVA being a suitable product to adequately meet their needs according to his full financial situation. This firstly needs to be fully investigated by a professional licenced debt advisor such as the CAB, CCCS or other user friendly free organisation..... not by someone who just had their life saved and has to rush to post in numerous threads, about their personal experience being a great one for all resolution, that will remedy every other individuals unique debt situation.

thanks

No, I haven't seen your signed and agreed paperwork, but did google your IVA crowd (B Endersby) and read other peoples experiences of massive fees mentioned.

I was in a similar position in 1996 but just contacted my creditors, agreed minimum payments, worked more hours and paid off my debts quickly allocating most spare cash each month to the debt carrying the highest interest rate.

Quite simple really and NO FEES !

ATM has not seen my signed and approved paperwork have you?????????

In this thread as in many other posts, CAB are recommended. Has anyone much experience of National Debtline? For someone like me who finds it almost impossible to get to appointments, eg with CAB, because I care for my disabled husband, phone and email options are a better bet if they are any good!

Good advice from CMK.

Don't bother with IVA's if you can possibly re-budget and make agreement with your creditors.

Buzz obviously forgot to mention in his reply (and others today) that the Debt Management companies charge massive fees on top of the money owed to cerditors. I know of one IVA with £34,000 attracting a fee of over £9.000 and not many IVA's are reduced by the percentage detailed in Buzz's post. (wonder what he does for a living?)

Moderator = He's buzzed off with all but one of his repetitive posts, which was moderated. I was on to him. !

Hi -- You would find it beneficial to have a free chat with a professional advisor at your local CAB whilst there is a good chance of restructuring your payments in the short term, to allow the freeing up of the £600/month without entering any debt management plans or IVA, which will adversely affect your future credit.

Once they can sort through your finances they may be able to prioritise some repayments, which may allow some reduced short term payments, leaving you enough to live on whilst the time comes when your larger loan is cleared. It sounds like you just need some short term breathing space, rather than long term debt management. !

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/cabdir.ihtml

i lost my job last year and left my long term boyfriend, i am struggling to pay my outgoing each month, eventhough i am working two jobs.

i owe 17000 on credit and store cards, plus i have a loan and car fianace. the loan and car finance are neally completed and this would free up 600 a month. however in the meanwhile i am stuggling to live. i don't have good credit rating as when i lost my job i struggled and missed some payments, also i am struggling to keep in my overdraft each month. i am now living in a rented property, so can't borrow against it.

i am considering an iva - however if i take one would i be able to borrow money or get a new car finance during the five years it takes? i feel that i am so close to paying off my car and loan which will then make my life managable.

or am i better trying to get a consoidation loan for the 17000?

any ideas