HI I'm a debt counsellor and would honestly advise that an IVA is better for individuals that rent their property rather than own it. During the 4th year of an IVA the Insolvency practitioner has the right to ask you to try and realise any equity you may have in property, up to 85% of it's value - so if your house is worth £100k and your mortgage is £60k they can ask you to take a further £25k mortgage which will probably pay off your IVA but you'll be left with a far larger mortgage payment afterwards! Also, as far as fees go - even the companies that say they dont charge you any fees actually build their fees into the IVA as mentioned inthe first reply on here. From experience you are looking at a minimum of £7500 in fees over the 5 year term of the IVA. IVA's are all about percentages, and if your Insolvency practitioner can persuade your creditors that they will get more back through an IVA than through Bankruptcy then the creditors will almost always agree to it. There are some exceptions - M&S say 80% return, Paragon always say no etc etc. You should really look at your options in more details before going for something which sounds too good to be true! The first reply to this post was absolutely correct, contact your creditors before they contact you, dont accept what they say, argue until you reach a payment amount that you can afford - and remember -point out that they will get nothing if you go bankrupt, it always has the desired affect. I'll gladly give you a hand if you want to get in touch Hellie