Clear debt with an IVA

Debt Solution - IVA

Every day ClearDebt are helping people beat debt problems they thought insurmountable. Below are the stories of some of the people we have helped clear debt and become debt free by offering free IVA help and IVA advice and free bankruptcy advice. They are all real. Please contact ClearDebt now to discuss a debt solution.

When you've read these case studies we hope you will agree that a ClearDebt IVA can stop sleepless nights for people who owe relatively little or relatively lots, at all ages and in all walks of life.

IVA Help
ClearDebt recommends IVA.co.uk as a great resource for people wanting to find out more about IVAs.

More information:

Debts cut by 61% - saving £600 a month with an IVA
IVA cut £211,000 debt to £113,000 over five years
Divorce/separation can change your financial life
IVA after wage drop and debts spiralling.
IVA prevented business failure
Bankruptcy avoided, 75% debt write-off, but after a struggle
IVA is not always the right choice
IVA slashed monthly payments to £300 - from more than £2,000
Clear debt with an IVA - and starting life again
Taking responsibility - credit card debt dropped by more than 40%
Your money or your job

Debts cut by 61% - saving £600 a month with an IVA

Debt Solution - IVA: Cut debt with an IVA

Mrs A, aged 60, is supporting a husband with ill health and has been the sole income earner for more than 20 years. She got her ClearDebt IVA in May, slashing her monthly payments by nearly two-thirds.

Trying to make ends meet, she took out a personal loan. She found getting credit was easy and soon had £53,000 debt spread over 10 credit cards, a bank loan, three store cards and council tax. She got her ClearDebt IVA in late May. Interest was frozen and we persuaded creditors to accept £350 per month over 60 months. They agreed to write off £32,000 of her debt, dropping her monthly payment by more than £600.

Debt Solution - IVA: Cut debt with an IVA

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

IVA cut £211,000 debt to £113,000 over five years

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA cut debt

Most people become over indebted because of a big life change: Losing a job, getting married; having a child or, in this case divorce. Thanks to a ClearDebt IVA, Mr C now only has to repay 60% of what he owed.

Mr C’s acrimonious divorce left him with big debts, even though the matrimonial home had been sold. He took on more debt to pay the original debt. He came to us with debts of £211,000 – he could no longer make the minimum payments. Mr C has a well paid job and other assets to help clear his debts.

His former wife will contribute some and he’ll sell a second car for £4,000. At the end of the five year IVA
he will raise £30,000 from re-mortgaging his home. His job means he can afford the £1,350 monthly repayments.

But, his creditors will still have written off more than 40% of what he owes.

Mr C is on his way to becoming debt free.

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA cut debt

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

Divorce/separation can change your financial life

Ms L knows it only too well as her debts spiralled after her marriage broke up. Her husband said he would contribute towards accommodation and maintenance for their son aged 7. However he never kept his side of the agreement. Ms L is unemployed and has to claim benefits which meanr her debts just spiralled.

She contacted her bank to get a loan in the hope of clearing her existing debts but this did made matters even worse. When Ms L contacted us she owed over £46k, Ms L explained that she had some shares and that her friend would give her some money to help. We proposed a lump sum IVA, which was accepted so the creditors received a once and for all final payment. However, Ms L now needs to budget carefully to ensure she stays in the black.

IVA after wage drop and debts spiralling.

Mr P had a full time job and no debt, he never had a credit card or purchased from a catalogue until 2 Christmas’s ago he suffered a wage drop; his financial situation was never the same. Desperate with Yuletide guild, Mr P got credit cards and bought from catalogues to ensure his two children had the Christmas they’d always had. Before he knew it, his debt spiralled out of control. He contacted his creditors (wise man!) and they reduced some of his monthly payments. He also tried to borrow money from the bank to consolidate his debts, but interest and other charges still were accruing and only worsened the problem.

That’s when he contacted ClearDebt and got our free, objective advice: We explained that an IVA would freeze interest on all his debts from the time his IVA proposal was agreed. For an IVA to work, however, the debtor must be confident they can keep up the regular monthly payments agreed in the IVA. Mr P was desperate and determined to pay back his creditors as much as he could. We arranged an IVA with a realistic monthly payment of £200: His creditors will get 71p/£ over a 5 year period. We also helped Mr P create a budget to ensure that the payments could be met throughout the IVA and beyond - reducing the chance of him getting in such a situation again.

“Thank you very much for all you have done over the last few weeks, you have made it a lot less stressful. It has been wonderful to have someone to explain everything in detail as it has happened”

IVA prevented business failure

Building a business can be tough: Miss H, a director of her own business, taking no salary found herself in £43,000 of debt within 3 years.

Miss H did not want to become bankrupt because it would cause the failure of her business. Miss H did not have a property, so re-mortgage was not an option: her family were, however, prepared to help. Recommended to ClearDebt by a friend, our IVA gave Miss H another chance to get her business off the ground.

In an IVA generally, a fixed payment is paid each month by the debtor but, as Miss H’s family were willing to give her £15,000, ClearDebt proposed a lump sum IVA. This meant that 30p in every £1 could be repaid (a lot more than would be available to the creditors in bankruptcy).

The creditors accepted the proposal, the money was distributed between them, and Miss H was debt free within 6 months and could continue trying to build her business.

Bankruptcy avoided, 75% debt write-off, but after a struggle

Debt Solution - IVA: Avoid Bankruptcy

We helped a retired minister of religion reduce his debt by more than £40,000. But, we had to struggle against a major creditor who seemed to be unprepared to get less money back - and to see Rev. A pushed into bankrupt.

Lots of people will tell you your best route to clear debt and become debt free (do our debt analyser and you'll find ClearDebt tries hard to give you the best debt advice). However, at the end of the day, it's your choice - or it should be.

Rev. A could have gone bankrupt: But he didn't want to - he really wanted to do the best he could to deal with his debts. But, a major creditor disagreed and wanted him to go bankrupt instead.

This is a case where the ClearDebt way of working really paid off. Because the relationship adviser who talks to you is the same person who talks to your creditors we have better information - and we feel a little more involved. It's probable that this would have failed - but for the effort put in by our RM to ensure the creditor and debtor understood each other.

75% of Rev. A's debt has been written off. He's happy he's doing his best and knows he can afford to make the payments. The creditors? well, they are getting more back than they would through bankruptcy - even though one of them didn't want to.

Debt Solution - IVA: Avoid Bankruptcy

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

IVA is not always the right choice

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA Advice

We were all set to offer a ClearDebt IVA to Miss D - all the documents had been done and we set her up to meet one of our network of insolvency professionals to make sure she understood her rights and responsibilities. All IVA firms are supposed to do this, but we know many don't. In this case, it meant we lost an IVA - but it was a financial lifesaver for Miss D.

It transpired she was about to move back into her very elderly parents' home - they are frail and need full time care. She's an only child and stands to inherit the house. This meant that, in the event of her parents' sad demise, the house would almost certainly have become an asset to be paid into the IVA - she'd lose her inheritance. We advised her to opt for bankruptcy instead.

We would not have known if the meeting had not happened - we are very concerned because a government consultation issued on July 14 suggests the requirement for this meeting should be removed: ClearDebt thinks this means debtors won't get the best advice and that creditors will lose out too: This meeting makes sure the debtor knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are under the IVA - and how they will be affected by it (both during the IVA and after it has been completed).

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA Advice

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

IVA slashed monthly payments to £300 - from more than £2,000

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA Reduce payments

Mr B came to us with debts of £116,000. His debt had built up when a relationship failed and he’d taken loans to buy his partner’s interest in the home they had shared. Now he's got a ClearDebt IVA and will only need to repay half of what he owed.

His mother became terminally ill as well – and supporting her involved more expense for Mr B. He wound up taking out more credit to pay the original debts: When he came to ClearDebt he needed to make payments of roughly £2,300 per month on pay of just over £2,000. We’ve got his creditors to agree to a payment of £300 per month. He will, however need to put money from an inheritance into his IVA and will need to re-mortgage to release equity right at the end of the arrangement. But, he can afford the payments now, and he only needs, in total, to repay half of what he owes. Without our IVA, he'd have been made bankrupt - and lost his home for certain

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA Reduce payments

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

Clear debt with an IVA - and starting life again

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA help to clear debt

Mr H, a senior professional, had suffered severe depression and other mental health problems. Now well on the road to recovery, he still cannot remember how he incurred some of his £112,000 debts. His ClearDebt IVA has seen these reduced by 78%.

Creditors constantly threatening legal action had done nothing to help his recovery: Now he knows, as long as he keeps up his £371 monthly payments, they cannot threaten him again.

Mr H's IVA is part of the process of rebuilding his life. Creditors accepted what he could afford even though he had moved to a less well-paid, but less stressful, job.

He is only paying 22p in the pound to his creditors - usually IVAs with returns this low are difficult to achieve - and most creditors won't fall for any old sob story. But, they are sympathetic to those who have had genuine difficulties and hardships (and they respect people who pick themselves up and start again.)

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA help to clear debt

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

Taking responsibility - credit card debt dropped by more than 40%

Debt Solution - IVA: Credit Card Debt

Miss E, 27, had just found easy credit too attractive. She built up £76,000 of credit card debt and had no way to repay it. She could have gone bankrupt and her creditors would have got nothing (she had no assets). Instead she chose a ClearDebt IVA.

Her creditors will get back just over 60% of what they are owed, Miss E pays more than £600 less every month. True, an IVA means her credit record is less than perfect - but it's nowhere near as black as it would have been had she done nothing - or opted for bankruptcy. She might pay a little more, but there's a good chance some lenders would even offer her a mortgage - even whilst she is in the IVA.

Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) aren't always the easiest solution - but the easiest solutions are often more damaging to your financial future.

Debt Solution - IVA: Credit Card Debt

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

Your money or your job

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA or bankruptcy

Some people can't go bankrupt without losing their job as well. Mr F, 29, was a banker whose contract of employment would have meant dismissal - had he sought bankruptcy.

A failed relationship had left Mr F with debts of £122,000 in his name.

We negotiated a ClearDebt IVA
where his creditors forgave 68% of what he owed. Over five years, he will only need to repay 32 pence of every pound he owed. Not everyone can get a deal this good - but it does show that creditors can be persuaded by personal circumstances and will accept realistic proposals.

Debt Solution - IVA: IVA or bankruptcy

For free bankruptcy advice to help you avoid bankruptcy please contact ClearDebt to discuss a
debt solution and for IVA advice.

Links to related ClearDebt articles:

IVA cut £211,000 debt to £113,000 over five years

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