Stuart – Works as a Customer Services Advisor. He had recently split from his wife of 8 years.
They have three children. Stuart now lives in his parents house and pays maintenance of around £400 a month via the CSA.
Stuart found that he was struggling to meet even the minimum payments to his creditors each month, and had borrowed more and more money to try to get him out of trouble.
This was his financial situation when he first contacted us. His total unsecured debts were £30,000. These were a mixture of credit cards, store cards, catalogues, personal loans and bank overdraft.
His income was £1,300 a month after tax and his living expenses (including the CSA payment) around £1050 a month. This meant he had £250 a month left over to pay all his creditors. This was nowhere near enough to meet his contractual payments but was an amount he felt he could afford.
Stuart found our details on the internet and called us. We carried out a full assessment of his current situation and advised him of all his options. Stuart had considered declaring himself bankrupt but he was not aware of the alternatives. Having considered these he decided to try for an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement). This was because he felt that although he could no longer make the full payments to his creditors, he wanted to make them an offer of as much as possible and also feel that he had done his best to pay back his debts.
We drew up proposals for his creditors advising them of his situation and the offer he could afford to make. After looking at the offers, the majority of his creditors accepted the offer in full and final settlement so long as payments were maintained over the next five years.
Stuart was very pleased to finally have his finances sorted out and to be able to start again.
His offer of £250 a month meant a total payment of £15,000 in full and final settlement of his £30,000 debt. |
