I have Credit cards, loans, retail accounts - Argos and Very. I just don't even know where to begin. I contacted debt uk and they told me to get an IVA.
I feel like I am in the middle of a black hole and cannot get out of it!

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CliffEdge wrote:It might be worth looking at Sara Williams' website to give you some ideas of the best solutions that are available.
https://debtcamel.co.uk/about/
GoSeigen wrote:https://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/iva/
Sara Williams was a regular poster on this site and the previous Motley Fool "Dealing with Debt" discussion board. She is very well known to users here and has helped many many people to get out of their debt pit. One notable example was a user called GoStevie who was determined to pay off every penny of his huge debt and received wonderful support from Sara and other posters. He eventually succeeded and became an active investor, earning income from his savings rather than paying banks for their loans.
Lootman wrote:I didn't always agree with her advice however. In particular, as creditable as it might have been for GoStevie to want "to pay off every penny of his huge debt", that is generally not a smart idea when various forms of bankruptcy and default can wipe away at least some of those debts.
swill453 wrote:Lootman wrote:I didn't always agree with her advice however. In particular, as creditable as it might have been for GoStevie to want "to pay off every penny of his huge debt", that is generally not a smart idea when various forms of bankruptcy and default can wipe away at least some of those debts.
It was GoStevie himself who went against the advice of just about everyone who said he should use bankruptcy or some other scheme to get out of debt.
In fact the post where he announced "OK, you win, I'll go bankrupt!" was, I recall, the highest ever recommended post on TMF.
(He subsequently changed his mind, did his own thing and, as said, pulled himself out of debt.)
scrumpyjack wrote:I'm not an expert in this area but I would just caution about these debt management companies. They contact all your creditors and draw up a plan that you make monthly or weekly payments to them, the debt is all paid off in X years and your creditors stop chasing you.
A dear friend of mine got into deep trouble during Covid and ran up large debts on multiple credit cards - she had a low earning husband and 3 teenage children. Bankruptcy was not an option as she had some, but not much, equity left on the mortgaged house. She was a very hard working self employed person hit hard by trying to keep her family afloat during Covid.
Just before signing the debt management agreement she came and talked to me about it. I read the small print and they were taking 20% of each payment. This would be a millstone round her neck for years and the winner was clearly the DM company. Probably it would fail and she would lose the house.
She had been a huge help to my disabled daughter for many years so, as I'm pretty well off and I really didn't want her to lose her house and be ripped off in the process, I paid off her debts then and there, Her husband knew nothing of any of this - they had only got married a few years before, the children weren't his and their finances were totally separate.
Anyway - steer clear of debt management companies if you possibly can!
Gerry557 wrote:You don't say how much this debt is compared to your income or spare income.
How long would you need to pay it back and how much suffering would be needed.
Is it too massive or could a few years with some belt tightening sort it.
If there was previous advice for an IVA I'm assuming things are bad and probably very difficult to get out of. Lots of advice upthread.
Good luck with your endeavours
scrumpyjack wrote:
It was £25k which she could never have paid back but was not a significant amount to me. She now has no credit cards so hopefully won't get in the same position again.
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