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BankruptcyNews
Junior Member
358 Posts |
 Posted - 05 June 2007 : 10:23:22
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Don’t let debt drive you crazy
TRUCKER Stephen Bagshaw is among a growing band of people who have found the older they get, the more they ended up in debt.
Stephen, 48 reached a staggering debt level of £42,000 but now he has taken out an Individual Volountary Arrangement - IVA - to help get his finances back on track.
He is now paying just £264 a month to help pay of his debts instead of the £1,200 a month he had built up.
An IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a legally binding agreement between a debtor and their creditors. It allows someone who is in financial difficulty to make a formal proposal to settle his/her debts within a reasonable and fixed period - normally five years.
The repayment proposal is based on what you can afford to pay. If the proposal is accepted, this single affordable payment is made each month for 60 months and, under the law, all creditors must freeze all further interest and charges.
After the agreed payment period, any outstanding debt will be legally written off by your creditors. In this way, an IVA allows an individual to become debt free in five years.
Stephen is an example of a trend identified by leading debt consultancy Thomas Charles.
According to latest research conducted in conjunction with YouGov, one in four indebted Britons are now struggling to meet repayments.
The increase in financial commitments that comes with age is also reflected in the numbers experiencing regular repayment problems.
The proportion rises steadily from 14 per cent of 18 – 24-year-olds, to almost a quarter of 35 – 44-year-olds, up to almost a third of those aged 55 and over.
Divorced Stephen, of Barton upon Humber near Grimsby, who has three children said: "I got into debt through years and years of trying to give my family what I could not afford. I was really trying to buy love and happiness and thought that the more I spent, the more they would love me. I know that's silly now but I got myself into a right mess.
"I will never go down the spending path again; the IVA definitely helped me get back on track. I let me debts build and build, but when I had my IVA approved at the end of last year, it felt like a hell of a lot of pressure off my shoulders.”
"To people who are getting into debt, it's simple; stop spending. Don't put off going for help and also seek help earlier.
Source: thesun.co.uk
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Dont let debt drive you crazy
