IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) or Debt Management Solutions
While seeking debt solutions most people are debating between Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) and Debt Management solutions. To learn which of the two options is best suited for you, read ahead and find out for yourself. Though both are capable of preventing you having to resort to bankruptcy.
Individual Voluntary Arrangement commonly known as IVA is a formal agreement between a debtor and his creditors while Debt Management Plan is not.
The main difference between the two is that IVA is legally binding whereas Debt Management is not, which can cause problems if the creditors decide to change the repayment terms. The main idea behind both options is to pay a reduced, affordable amount regularly each month. However in IVA, the interest charges will be frozen. Moreover, the debt will be written off on behalf of the creditor after five years. Under Debt Management, even though you pay an affordable amount, there is no provision for writing off your debt as there is no time limit involved to pay the debt. It can go on for a longer term, or until the full amount is paid.
Since the IVA is legally binding, the creditor cannot pressurize the debtor or change his mind. Thus, it is more secure. The Debt Management Plan does not offer this solution. Since it is not bound by law, the creditor can change the terms and conditions at his convenience.
The cost of administration is lower than IVA, thus enabling higher payments for creditors. It is always advisable to read the terms and conditions of both forms of solutions before making an informed decision. Beware of huge interest charges and other fees involved in the two processes.
One downside on an IVA however, is the credit rating of the debtor is likely to be affected more severely, which is not true with Debt Management.
Which one to choose greatly depends on the amount you owe and your income. By all means, the help of a professional must be sought if you are not completely sure which financial route is best for you
Is Debt Management Right for Me?
If you are having trouble repaying your unsecured loans and can’t see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel then a debt management plan may be the best solution for you. Essentially, a debt management plan is an agreement drafted between a debtor and creditors to make debt repayment more manageable. The process involves combining all your monthly payments into a single debt repayment which often have a lower interest rate than your initial debts. This is usually a better solution that filing for personal bankruptcy.
Eligibility Conditions
To qualify for a debt management plan you need to have at least £8,000 in debt and owe more than two creditors. Debt management plans are only applicable to unsecured loans and credit card debt.
Debt management can be an option for many people in the UK.
Advantages of a Debt Management Plan
The main advantage of a debt management plan is that you will find it easier to pay off all your loans, even if it appears to take longer than the initial debt repayment plan, and your assets will be protected. However, since you have most likely been missing payments and accruing late fees and penalties the schedule may in fact be quicker than if you attempted to ignore the problem and continue as you have until now.
Another advantage to a debt management plan is that creditors will most likely stop calling you as long as you meet the agreed upon payment every month, which will be significantly lower than if you were paying each creditor individually.
Disadvantages
There are two sides of the fence in any situation and a debt management plan also has its drawbacks. For one it will take longer to pay off all your debt and even if the interest rates appear lower your loan will still cost you the same or even more. This is because your repayment plan will be spread out over a higher number of years and since interest rates are calculated per annum you will most likely end up paying a significantly larger amount.
A debt management plan bares no legal implication for either party which means that a lender can withdraw from the agreement any time they see fit and you can end up in the same situation as before. It should also be noted that creditors have no obligation to accept your debt management plan but most will if they see your payments are late or you have been missing them completely.
Money Management as a Debt Management Tool
Even if you do qualify for a debt management plan and successfully negotiate with your creditors, you will still have to employ a money management system to make sure you can make your monthly repayments. Whether you are in this situation because of the harsh economic climate or purely due to bad spending habits you still have to learn how to manage your money to avoid a similar situation in the future.
A good money management system is based on a budget. Yes, the dreaded budget, but if you don’t know what is coming in and what is going out then you will never be able to get out of debt. So, consider drafting a simple budget for the first month and only spend what you allot to each category. Of course, this is easier said than done but practice makes perfect.
Debt Management Plans: The Process
Your best option would be to consult a company that specializes in debt management plans because a professional counsellor will help you analyse your income and expenditure to determine the minimum payment you can make and to draft a customized programme for you.
Your debt management counselor will also negotiate with your creditors on your behalf and they are more likely to succeed as they have much more experience in dealing with lenders and drafting these types of agreements. A good debt advisor may even be able to help you write-off part of your loan and reduce your debt load, depending on your financial situation.
A debt management plan is the best solution as it does not place any of your assets at risk, unlike a debt consolidation programme, because it does not involve taking out another loan. Debt management is one of the best options for you to avoid bankruptcy, clear your debt and eventually repair your credit rating.
5 great places to hear free music
Spending money on CD’s, MP3’s and vinyl when in debt is no longer a problem, as there are now hundreds of new places to hear, share and discover the next big thing. With the age of streaming now well and truely under way, there are plenty of places to get your music fix, without having to get out your wallet. Here are my favourite 5 places to listen to music for free right now:
Myspace
Myspace is still one of the largest sites on the web to find music.
Myspace, the hugely popular social network is still a great place to discover new music, stream preview tracks and get the latest news on your favourite artists. By allowing users to upload music to their own integrated MP3 player, the site quickly became the most popular site in the world to find and share music. While there are still plenty of maniacs, with their, ear piercingly awful screamo/funk/gabba hybrid creations, you can still find some great music on there.
Last.fm
Last.fm, the music streaming portal is a fantastic way to get free music streamed directly to your speakers. The site has a fair amount of niche or unheard of tracks that you may struggle to find anywhere else.
Another cool feature is the site will recommend artists and tracks that match your tastes, which is a great way to find new musical talent with ease. Read more
Tackling Student Debt
As the new student year is on the horizon, many students will soon realise that university life is not cheap. Despite the increasing expense of further education, there are numerous was to stay in the black and enjoy yourself while you are at it!
If you are about to start university this autumn you could graduate with on average £30,000 in personal debt over the course of your studies. With an estimated expenditure of £10,000 per year over the course of a 3 year degree, there are numerous ways to help cut this figure and reduce your overall level of debt.
Being intelligent with your accommodation choice is just one way to save money over the course of your student career - “Consider staying in shared halls during your second year, not just your first year” suggests Amy Holt, a third year student at Birmingham University. The tendency to move into private accommodation may be somewhat appealing during your later university years, but this can often come with added costs.
It is estimated that students spend around £2,900 on accommodation in their first year of university, rising to £3,300 in second and third years. A saving of around £300 over a year may not sound like much but over a 5 year degree this can be a considerable reduction in your student debt levels - which makes the appeal of university subsidised accommodation an attractive prospect.
At some point, you may find yourself contacted by a debt collection agency, but this is not always as intimidating as it is made out to be. Keep in mind there are laws that these companies must adhere to, and they are acting on behalf of whoever your debt is owed to. If you are courteous and professional while speaking to a representative, they should return the favor.
Along with some of our other money saving tips, we will be continuing a series of student debt management ideas to keep your debt levels to a minimum during your student years.
Change your travel arrangements to help ease Debt
When the purse strings are a little tighter, we can often continue with our normal travel routine and expect things to help themselves. However, this is somewhat unrealistic and can often push you further into debt.
Travel costs are on the rise, so consider your options before going to work or even taking a trip down to the shops. A few things you should ask yourself when considering your transport options are:
Trains are a great way to save money on long journies if booked in advance.
1. Are you always taking the cheapest alternative? Many times walking or taking a bus may be more cost effective than a car, and will be suited to those struggling with shrinking bank balance. Perhaps invest in a bicycle for local trips or your journey to work.
2. Can you make your journies more efficient? - If you are able to share car journies with others you can save a good deal on your petrol costs. Why not consider a car share system for work ? Pick up your colleagues who need a ride into work and allow them to contribute towards the petrol bill to help cover the costs of running the car.
3. Could you work nearer to home? - We would all love to spend more time at home whenever possible, so consider your housing or work location in more detail next time you are thinking of a change. A workplace which is a few miles closer to home could save tens or even hundreds of pounds on petrol costs over a year, so factor this into your work or living area.
4. Are you getting the most out of your transport? - Some types of public transport, such as bus, train or tram routes offer discounts for advance booking or season ticket passes. These offers will save you anywhere up to 50% off a journey (especially for advance bookings), so consider these options when looking to travel. Companies reward individuals who book a long time in adavance by offering saving - so take advantage of these where you can!
Although we often need to travel on a regular basis to get to work, there are still numerous way we can save money while doing so. Planning ahead is key to saving money on your travel costs, so have a look for alternatives to your current travel methods- you might be surprised how much you could save.
7 Quick Debt Busting Ideas
7 quick tips to help save you a few pennies
If your finding yourself up against a mountain of debt, there are numerous ways in which to change your spending habits and get back on the right path to financial security. Outlined below are 7 quick debt busting ideas that you can implement today to help tackle your debt:
1. Shop around online for good deals on any potential purchases you make - Although excessive spending is not great for reducing for your, there are some situations when large pruchases must be made. An hour or two crawling the net for the cheapest deals can save you tens or even hundreds of pounds. This is especially true for electronical and hardware purchases - so don’t buy in high street stores unless you cannot avoid it.
2. Consider going on a cash only allowance - Allow yourself a set budget of say £35 a week to spend and leave your credit cards at home. This prevents you going for the impulse purchase that you don’t neccesarily need. You will also be taught to think alot more carefully about where you spend your money.
3. Make your own lunches for work - Saving money by making your own lunches can add up to a great deal over the course of a year. If you imagine £3 per day that equates to:
£3 x 5 days = £15 a week
£15 x 52 weeks in a year = £780 a year!
If you make your own lunches, you could save upwards of around £390 a year - nothing to be sniffed at.
4. Ask your boss for more hours at work - If you work in a job that is paid hourly, why not add a few hours to your working week. An added 5 hours a week work could add over £1,000 an year to your income, which could help pay off some of your debt repayments.
5. Rent out a spare room - If you have a spare room or even a loft, which could be converted, you should consider renting it out to earn a little extra money on the side. In the UK, this is easier than ever, with the government’s ‘Rent a Room’ scheme, you can collect up to £4,250 tax free from becoming your own landlord.
6. Ask your credit card companies for a better interest rate - Often credit card companies are so eager to keep your business that, when pushed, will sometimes lower your APR. You can achieve this by ringing and saying that you are considering cancelling your credit card and would stay if you were offered a lesser rate.
7. Start earning cash back on your old items - Think about renting out some of your electrical equipment or machinery on Zilok, the peer to peer sharing site. Alternatively, why not list some of your items on Gumtree or eBay to earn a few extra pounds (Gumtree is still free to use for most categories).
It’s true that every little helps, which is why following a few of these ideas can be used to bust that debt!
Zilok - Peer 2 Peer Rental
I recently stumbled across a rental site called Zilok, which effectively works as a peer to peer rental portal, where you and I can rent items to others in our local area. The concept works by allowing users to upload items to a specific category for a small fee, then displays these items to people in the area. Users will then pay the lender, depending on the price they set for their item, and return the item once they are done.
This is a great site to use during the economic downturn as it means you can rent out some of the things you no longer use to earn a little extra money per month. I recommend taking a look at the site and familiarising yourself with how it works.
Also do a couple of test searches, Nintendo Wii in London for example yields two results, with one available for £8 a day and one for £20 a day. This shows that a little shopping around can get you some great deals.
Lenders can also request a deposit for their items, so if you plan to rent something of value, ensure your piece of mind by attaching a refundable deposit to the listing. The transactions are secured by a legal agreement provided by Zilok, but you never can tell with some people.
In regards to cost, the listing fees for products is currently set at 10 pence per month, per item. See below for final transction fees:
| Transaction Total Amount (GBP) | Commission (before tax) |
|---|---|
| 0 to £10 | £1 |
| £10 to £50 | 9% + £0.10 |
| £50 to £100 | 8% + £0.60 |
| £100 to £500 | 7% + £1.6 |
| £500 to £2000 | 6% + £6.6 |
| More than £2000 | 5% + £26.6 |
So going by this, it seems for smaller hires you get a decent deal. I’m going to give it a try with some smaller items to see how i get on. It seems this could be a good idea for helping get out of debt, or even just for a little pocket money.
Are your water bills furthering your debt?
Excessive water wastage can increase your debt
Everyday we spend money unneccesarily on utilities, by leaving taps running, leaving that hallway light on or forgetting to turn down your heating during summer. All these things can contribute to a rising level of personal debt.
If you have been keeping up with our recent debt management and budgeting articles, you find various bite size articles which will can help you save money, however utilities seem to be one area that is often overlooked within the household.
Unlike our gas and electric suppliers, who we can change to find a better rate (which we highly recommend), our water supplier is often fixed, so usually stays the same. Because of this, some basic ways to save money on your water bills include:
- Use a shower rather than a bath. Although showers are commonplace nowadays, some people still are bathing rather than using a shower. An average bath uses between 30-50 gallons of water, however a shower uses around half of that. So that’s a considerable saving on your daily water usage!
- Turn off your taps whilst you brush your teeth. Although this may be a little over cautious, you may have a tap running for 2 or 3 minutes whilst you brush. Add up this volume of water over 2-3 brushes per day it soon adds up.
- If you have a garden or plant lfie that requires constant watering, consider rigging up a water trough that collects rain water from your gutter. When the weather is warmer, you will have collected plenty of rainwater for use on your plants, saving you cost on your water bills.
Even small changes in the way you use water can add up to considerable savings during the year which can be used to repay your debt.
Easy Money Management
Kublax allows you to aggregate your financial data into one place.
In my experience with everyday money management, the simplest and easiest way to make sure you don’t end up in debt is to make yourself a budget. I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but if you’re not budgeting, you’re not really keeping a close eye on your spending - and that’s where money problems begin. If you’ve been making excuses not to budget, I’ve found a free tool online that simplifies things.
It’s called Kublax, and it works by aggregating all your bank, credit, and building society accounts together. It’s a free to use program, and once you spend a few minutes tinkering with your settings, you’ll start to see your finances in a whole new light.
What I like about it, is that it takes the parts out of budgeting that people normally trip up on – such as calculations, missing out an expense or forgetting about a direct debit – because it does the calculations for you and categorises your spending into your budget automatically.
I’ve been road testing this financial software for the past six weeks now and have been really pleased with it. Once you’ve uploaded your details, you define your expenses into as many categories as you like. The software then plots your finances for you on an easy to read graph. After you enter in the figures for your budget, your graph will show both your actual spending and your budget visually.
Now I was happy with just those two functions alone in Kublax, and then I noticed the ‘compare me’ tab. The team at Kublax has come up with a way for you to get some perspective on all your finances by allowing you to anonymously compare your finances with others. You can then check out what areas you might be overspending in by seeing what the average amount others spend on that expense.
I’ve been waiting for a decent money management platform like this to launch in the UK for some time now, and would recommend you try it out if you’re not a fan of traditional budgeting and hate spreadsheets. There’s still some room for improvement in the software, but it definitely lives up to it’s promise - ‘Making sense of your money’. If you choose to road test Kublax or know of any other online money management tools, make sure you let us know.
Do hobbies increase your debt?
Often when we attempt to consider why we end up with high levels of debt, we look at the common factors such as rent, mortgages and credit card bills to understand our financial situation. Although these areas are key to understand your personal finances, it is also important to consider your hobbies and whether or not they are adding to your financial worries.
If you have expensive hobbies, such attending sports events, music gigs and theatre trips then you may be living too extravagently when instead, you should be considering putting that money to one side to help clear your debt.
Firstly assess how much your hobbies and leisure activities are costing you. Of course, im not saying stay indoors at all times and never enjoy yourself, but you may need to ease back on the spending for a few months while your finances get back on track. The key to debt management is minimise unneccesary spending when you have more urgent outgoings, such as credit card and mortgage payments.
Although you may be a little tighter on the purse strings for a while, there are thousand of free things you can do that wont involve just staying indoors. Check Time Out for some great suggestions. So get to those free museums, gallerys, fetes and shows and save some money in the process. Your bank balance will thank you in the long run.
