Thats brilliant Stewpots, I am really pleased for you. Northern Rock are so difficult, but at least your other creditors managed to outvote them. Yes, with Payplan, you make your monthly payment as proposed for the 5 years, but the creditors agree to forego the first 6 months or so's payments, to cover Payplan's fees. This is much better than having to faulk out upfront costs, or any costs if not accepted/fails. Your monthly payment would then go directly to your creditors for the remainder of your arrangement. The creditors would have been fully informed of your IVA being successful - sometimes the message takes a while to filter down, so you can get some creditors still sending letters, but this would wear off, and at the end of the day, they cannot do anything Good luck and best wishes to your future of being debt free xx

Have you considered doing a DMP through a company rather than on your own? You may find it more successful, and it would relieve a lot of pressure from you

Yes, I agree - best to speak with the company or solicitor, and explain your situation and explain you will be able to make a substantial payment within the next 2-3 weeks and see what they say and if they are willing to accept a smaller payment in the meantime.

In an IVA, if the debt relating to this AOE was included within your proposal, they should not be able to present any legal proceedings, and if they have, your IVA company should contact them directly to find out what has happened. You state that the law firm wasn't informed of the IVA, does this mean the debt has not been included in your IVA? Usually, if someone gets an AOE before the IVA is set up, the AOE is over ridden by the IVA, as the debt is included within the arrangement and you would not need to make both the IVA payment and the AOE payment. IVAs only last 5 years - 6 at the most, so it will not go on for 7 years. I would suggest contacting your IVA company to inform them of this debt, and AOE order, and they will be able to advise you. If the debt has not been included in your IVA up until now, it is at your other creditors discretion as to whether they would want to continue or fail your IVA, dependant on how large the debt is that would need adding into your IVA. Usually, if the debt is more than 15% of your total debt, the IVA would need to be pulled and the debt included and re-proposed to creditors. All the best

Hi there It is your decision at the end of the day, however, I can inform you from personal experience that taking out a consolidation loan in attempt to clear debts only seems to worsen the situation due to high payments and interest charged. You could sit down and write down all of your income and outgoings. The outgoings would need to exclude unsecured creditor repayments, so you would just need to write down bills, rent arrears payment, housekeeping, clothing, vehicle costs etc. Then from this, work out how much surplus income you have if any (income - expenditure). If you have more than £50, a debt management plan would be an option. The advantage of a DMP is that you have someone acting on your behalf making payments each month and applying to freeze interest, however the disadvantage is that it can take years to repay your debt in full if the interest and charges are still put on your accounts. If you have more than £100 surplus, an IVA would be an option for you where you can propose to make a monthly payment for 5 years into the plan, and then after 5 years, the remainder of your debt is written off and you are debt free. The possible disadvantage of this option would be that you would need to stick to a budget for 5 years (although if circs change, this is taken into account). Bankruptcy would be an option for you even with no surplus monies available, however, it does cost £600 to declare yourself bankrupt, so you would need to find this money. Bankruptcy would be a quick option for you to become debt free, however, the possible disadvantages with this is that assets would be at risk (with regards to your car on finance, it depends on the agreement and OR as to whether this would be affected), and also the stigma involved with bankruptcy. I hope this helps. I would be interested to hear what you decide to do, and if I can be of any more help at all, please let me know x

If you are still in bankruptcy, the best thing to do would be to inform the official receiver of any monies you receive, just to be on the safe side, and prevent any unnecessary bother. Just explain to the OR that you have car repairs to do, and they may be understanding and let you keep all or most of this money aside for that. Best to be honest and upfront about any lump sums received x

All of your bank accounts will be closed and any money will be used to pay your creditors. You will only be allowed to open a new bank account with permission from your Trustee. If you have a joint bank account then only half the funds will be taken.

If you have been declared bankrupt it is important for you to know that a bankruptcy order protects you from the creditor contacting you. The creditors are required by law not to contact you regarding your debt once your bankruptcy has come into effect. If you are still being contacted by creditors you should remind them of this fact. If they continue to chase you, they are breaking the law.

http://www.adverse-mortgage-centre.co.uk/mortgage-after-bankruptcy.html Take a look at this link - really useful x

The above information comes from the following link: http://militaryfinance.umuc.edu/bankruptcy/bankruptcy_paperwork.html

To file for bankruptcy, you will need records with the following information: The amounts and type of your debts. Include credit card debts, loans, taxes, and unpaid medical bills. Note whether the debts are secured (backed by something you own, like your car) or unsecured. You'll have to know how much you have left and the payment history. The dates when you incurred your debts. For credit cards and loans, you'll need to know the amount of purchases, cash advances, or balance transfers for the last six months. The value of each of your assets. An asset is anything that you own, have a right to own, or own a part of. Items are valued at what you could sell them for today, not what you paid for them. Sample assets: household items vehicles real estate stocks money in bank accounts retirement accounts insurance your interest as a beneficiary in someone's will lawsuits in which you are a plaintiff Interests in businesses (corporations or partnerships). You'll need to report your monthly income and expenses. If you own real estate, you'll need to know the current fair market value for each property; how each title is held; the current amount owed on each trust deed, mortgage, lien, or liens against it; and the date the property was purchased. If you receive rental income, you'll need to know how much rental income you've received. Whether you have been a party to a lawsuit in the last year and if so, the current status of the case.

Hi there I think that the creditors would be able to trace what you would have done in this situation (transferring debts over to your name only), which may make things more difficult. However, you could speak to the CAB for more advice on this. Although it costs £600 each for bankruptcy, if you are on benefits, you could claim some of this back.

It seems the Money Group deal with a variety of options to help clear debts : link removed I would just check that they do not charge any fees for their DMPs or IVAs. There are a lot of companies out there who have hidden upfront fees, meaning your money paid to them is not going directly to creditors. Free of charge companies that your friend could try with are CCCS and Payplan.

Have you contacted Payplan to explain about your change in circumstances? If not, they will be able to review your income and expenditure again to find a more management and realistic payment for you to pay to your creditors.

OK, yes I understand with the job situation that an IVA isnt the best option as would need to sustain a payment for 5 years, however, yes like you say, get him to call again and ask for a debt management plan. All the best x

Hi I mean to aknowledge the debt, complete the income and expenditure/debt section of the blue form, and offer a token payment where is states offer of payment of whatever you feel you can afford at the moment. Sign, date and then return to the court/solicitors. Aknowledging the debt, and paying them something will keep them at bay for a good while. There is still a chance they can come back and state that they do not want to accept the payment, but in the meantime, you would have got your money together to make a more substantial payment. If you ignored, didnt complete the claim form now, within the 14 days, they would probably go straight for further legal action which obviously is not wanted.

Unfortunately, I am not too sure why they have not contacted you, but see this as a good thing. You can either hold off with any form of communication with them until they contact you - dont forget that if they do not contact you for 6 years, the debt can become statute barred. Or you can contact them and make an offer of payment, however this may set things going again which may not be the best thing for you.

Payplan have a specialised legal team, so I would suggest you continue forwarding all correspondence onto them to deal with. They can complete a redetermination form on your behalf, or take you through it step by step. Your other creditors could do the same, but you have stated that they have accepted your offer. I am with Payplan and MBNA do not go along with many payment plans. They try to get you to do an arrangement with them directly, where they charge you interest. I would concentrate on making the accepted payment to Payplan as normal, who will distribute this to all of your creditors. If MBNA choose to still not go along with the plan or accept the payment, continue to make it - they will cash it in, and it will be taken off your total debt owed to them. You do right by contacting Payplan after each communication or problem with MBNA as they will be able to deal with them on your behalf.

Hiya You state your partner has spoken with Payplan, and they advised of an IVA. They do deal with IVAs, and probably felt that this may be an option for your partner, hence why it was offered. However, if your partner would like to do a DMP with them, he would just need to explain this - he does not have to do an IVA - it is just there as an option now or in the future. Payplan and CCCS are free of charge, and all money paid to them goes directly to creditors. Chase Saunders would have been holding money back to cover their fees.

If your creditors have said that they will accept a partial settlement, just ensure that they update your credit file to state that this has been accepted, and that they are no longer going to chase you for these monies. Demand that they update your credit file before you make any form of payment, and dont forget to keep copies of all correspondence to cover your back I have also come across the following site - dont need to pay attention to company involved - just explains more about partial settlement x http://www.debtfreehaven.com/partial-settlement.php

Usually you would only get 14 days in which to respond to the claim. I would suggest completing the claim form as normal, but just offer a very minimal token payment of around £1-5. You can then always attach a letter explaining you will be able to pay more of a payment within 2-3 weeks. This way, you are keeping them sweet making a payment, to keep further legal action at bay.

i have responded to this on your second post x

A debt management plan is a good way of helping clear your debts, and going through a company certainly takes away a lot of pressure of you having to sort it all yourself. However, ensure that Smooth Financial do not charge any fees for their services - many DMPs do, but there are companies out there that are free of charge.

A DMP would be an option for you whilst considering your options - you can come out of these at anytime. Just make sure that you do not go with a company that charge fees. Some companies have IVAs, and Bankruptcy dealings within the same company, so if you consider one of these options later on down the line, it is just a matter of transferring your information over for the other option.

If you were to consider bankruptcy yourself, without any of this action, you would need to find the upfront cost to make yourself bankrupt. If you do not go bankrupt, you will be left with the shortfall from the respossed property to manage. If you choose to let them make you bankrupt, you would not have anything to lose (with having no property), the shortfall would be included along with all other debts, you would not need to pay for the bankruptcy. The only thing you would need to look into is the clauses in your HP Agreement, which you could call the company about. All the best