Debt Care Taker

If there is one thing that is a big worry for business insurance customers it is getting into business debt.

In the current economic climate times are hard for businesses and if you are in debt it can seem like there is no way out. But there are options for debt consolidation that you can follow. The first step is to try and restructure your borrowing and consolidate it into reduced monthly payments but if doesn’t work you may have to try:

Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA)

A CVA is a lot like an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) in personal insolvency law. Basically it is an agreement between a company and its creditors.

The main feature of this plan is that it is a voluntary arrangement, the company tasks for extra time to pay off the debt as well asking them to write off a proportion of the debt. The creditors may then accept the deal especially if they think that they will get more money back in the long run compared to the company going into liquidation.

While the CVA is arranged through an insolvency practitioner it is primarily a deal between the creditor and company.

The idea of the plan is that the business sets up an affordable monthly payment which can help reduce costs and increase cash flow. Therefore, the company can continue trading and ultimately reduce down their debt.

It is important to note that a CVA can’t be forced on creditors as it has to be agreed by at least 75 per cent by value.

However, if a CVA isn’t for you there are other options available.

Creditor Voluntary Liquidations (CVL)

This is simply the process of realizing assets and distributing it to the people who are legally entitled to them and in this way the company can be dissolved.

There are a variety of forms of liquidation; sometimes it can come through a court order which is generally made at the request of an unpaid creditor. However, if liquidation is voluntary it has been instigated by the passing of a resolution by the shareholders.

A CVL basically means that the directors cannot make the Statutory Declaration of Solvency necessary for a Member’s Voluntary Liquidation. This means that the company is insolvent and can no longer pay off its debtors.

Because of the economic situation in Europe, many companies are having difficulties paying bank interest or suppliers’ taxes. If a company accumulates too much debt and cannot continue, then the company usually applies for a form of insolvency or liquidation. Liquidation means that a qualified insolvency practitioner called a liquidator will sell all of the assets of the company. The liquidator is appointed by law. During the liquidation procedure, the company cannot trade.

Order of Payment

Under the law, there is an order that specifies what types of creditors are paid first when the company’s assets are sold. First are the secured creditors – usually these are banks or shareholders that hold a fixed charge over the assets. The next creditors are preferential creditors that are often the government and tax authorities. The creditors that hold a charge on the assets of the company are called floating charge creditors and they are the third type of creditors that are paid. The fourth types are general creditors who are the suppliers that provided the necessary materials for the company. The last are the shareholders.

Types of Liquidation

Creditors’ voluntary liquidation – here, the decision is made by the company shareholders or directors. In this case, the company stops trading and the employees are dismissed.

Compulsory liquidation – in this case, the liquidation procedure is called on behalf of the creditors or by the government. This type of liquidation is obtained by court order.

Members’ voluntary liquidation – this type of liquidation is the type of liquidation that is taken into consideration when a company has the assets to cover debts, but the business itself is no longer viable or the company may sustain losses. This type of liquidation can be also called upon when the shareholders disagree with the company’s future plans.

Endsleigh Insurance is an insurance intermediary based in Cheltenham, UK. The company specializes in both graduate and student markets. For many years now, Endsleigh has been the preferred insurance company by many professional associations, as well as several unions. Some of the types of insurance policies offered by the company include student insurance, tenant’s cover and public liability insurance.

Student Insurance
Endsleigh insurance takes pride in being the only company commended by NUS (National Union of Students) when it comes to student insurance policies. The company has been offering student insurance since 1965. This insurance policy covers a student against loss, accidental damage and theft. The policy can also replace a student’s laptop and mobile phone within 24 hours in case it becomes accidentally damaged.

Tenant’s Cover
A tenant’s cover refers to the “Rented Property Insurance for Tenants.” A tenant getting this kind of policy from Endsleigh will be assured that he and his rented property will have financial protection in case flooding, fire or theft happens. Any household damage will be covered by this type of insurance. One of the benefits this policy offers is the “new for old” replacement, where stolen or damaged goods will be replaced by new ones delivered directly to the tenant.

Insurance for Public Liability
Insurance for public liability covers for the injury, or death, of a member of the general public wherein the policyholder is responsible for the cause of injury or death. It also covers for a person’s damaged property (one who is a member of the general public) in cases where the policyholder is responsible for the damage. This type of insurance offered by Endsleigh is ideal for business owners, providing them with financial support in the event they are responsible for any injury, death or property damage to the public.

We’d all like to make a little extra money now and again but with everything moving online it seems that there are more and more ways to do this. If you have some old stuff you’d like to get rid of then there’s certainly no end of sites that will help you to do this. Here are 5 of the best:

eBay
The original and considered by many to be the best even today. Marketed as the world’s local marketplace, you can buy and sell all kinds of weird and wonderful things. Set yourself up as an eBay seller and sell all of your unwanted or unused items. The only downside are the seller’s fees which can be pricey, and always make sure you charge enough postage, otherwise you’ll have to cover the costs.

Amazon
Amazon has branched out in the past few years; now they sell books, DVDs, games, gadgets galore and even clothing. You can sell your stuff here too, from the books that you’ve read to the games that you’ve played, the Amazon Marketplace is one of the safest and easiest ways to sell your old stuff.

iStock
Are you a budding photographer? If you’ve taken some happy snaps and are happy for them to be used by others then you can sell them to renowned photo site iStock. It’s easy to become a contributor on the site and you can earn between 15% and 45% in royalties when other people buy your photos.

Sell Your Mobile
Surely you’ve seen the rising number of adverts encouraging you to sell your old mobile? There’s plenty of them so shop around and see how much you can get for getting rid of an old bit of technology. Of course, the newer the mobile, the more money you will get. Make sure you wipe any personal details off of your phone before you send it away though.

Sell Your Driveway!
This is a bit of a less obvious one but you if you don’t used your driveway or parking space during the day then you can make some money by renting it out. Of course, this is only really applicable to those of you that live in or close to city centres, where busy commuters will be happy to pay to use your free space. Check out Parkatmyhouse for more details.

We all know it is important to have insurance, it covers you in case of accidents and damages not only to you but also to your possessions as well as helping you to keep afloat if you lose your job or are too ill to work. While many people feel there are too many different types of insurances out there, there are modern celebrities who have parts of their bodies insured after all! But there are 3 main types of insurance everyone should have.

One of the most important types of insurance out there is house insurance. Our houses are one of the most valuable things we own not to mention the contents we store in them. We all like to think it will never happen to us but the truth is 1 in 3 of us will be burgled within our life time and so it’s important to make sure our homes are covered. Click here for more information on house insurance and to get a quote.

Next to our homes our cars are the most valued positions we own. While it is a legal requirement for all car owners to have insurance there are many reasons why car insurance is important, not only are we protecting ourselves against over drivers and the damage we cause to their cars if the worst should happen we are also protecting them against any accidental damage we may cause to them. Click here for more information on car insurance and to get a quote.

Health insurance is one of the more modern types of insurance offered and its benefits are beginning to show through. While we all know the NHS is slaving away for us there are some ailments and illnesses we get that need treating straight away and the NHS just cannot cope. With health insurance you can be seen by a private doctor and ailments fixed sooner, you get a choice of which hospital and consultant you go to. Click here for more info on health insurance and for quotes.

Income protection insurance is a type of cover available to anybody who is worried about loss of earnings due to illness or injury.Investing in this type of insurance will ensure that if something unfortunate does happen you will be able to claim a monthly income as though you were still working – it does not however enable you to cheat and make more money than you genuinely earn from work.

This type of cover is particularly appealing to parents, with large families for whom it would impact if they were to suddenly lose a monthly wage.

On average the claimant usually gets between 50 – 60% of their earnings before tax from their Income Protection Cover.

There are many different types of policy out there, and it is always best to thoroughly read the small print before signing – you need to be sure that the provider will pay out when you want them to.

The two main types of Income Protection Insurance are:

General Long-Term:
This covers illness or injury after your employer has stopped paying you sick pay and until you are eligible to collect your pension.

This cover does not include un-employment or redundancy.

General Short- Term:
These policies can be designed to protect repayments for outgoings such as a mortgage or a bank loans. The cover often has a delayed start date, and usually ends after 12-24 months.

Short – term policies can also include cover for un-employment or redundancy.

Some people get in debt and take on repayment plans that they actually cannot afford to make with the current salary.

A debt solution is an attempt to negotiate an alternative form of repayment which satisfies the debtor and creditor. Here is Tower gate insurance’s guide to debt solution companies.

It is important to seek help sooner rather than later when you are in debt. If you leave it the problem will only get worse.

The first port of call should always to be to a free debt advice charity who can advise you of your options without taking a penny. Citizens Advice, The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, National Debtline and the Debt Advice Foundation can all help provide free debt advice when you are struggling to pay your bills alongside a number of charities who can help you.

However, if you do go to a debt solution here is a rundown of some of the most well known ones.

Payplan:

Payplan are the largest provider of free debt solutions, including free debt management plans and Individual Voluntary Arrangements or IVAs. They have been going for 19 years and have helped more than a million people with their debt problems.

Debt Free Direct:

Debt Free Direct is probably one of the most well known debt solution companies and is currently the biggest of all of the IVA companies in the UK.

They don’t charge to propose an IVA to your creditors. They make their money by taking a percentage of the monthly fee you can afford to pay so essentially the IVA is free to you and funded by the people you owe money to.

Clearstart:

They give out advice and can help people with debt solutions for people with debts over £1,000.

Ocean Finance:

They are one of the UK’s largest secured loan providers which means if your take a loan with them it will be secured on your home so you will have to be a homeowner.

Gregory Pennington:

They are a debt management specialist and claim to have helped over 100,000 people. However, they do charge for debt management plans.

In the current economic climate we could all do with a little extra cash at the end of the month. However, short of winning the lottery it can sometimes seem hard to know how to boost your income, but it can be done with a little time and money. Here are five ways of boosting your incomes:

Work from home:
If you have commitments which mean you need to stay near home or simply want to escape the daily commute to work then working from home could be the answer.

Setting up a business in your home can be a great way to save on the costs of setting up an office and can be the perfect way to get a business off the ground.

It works particularly well if you are a freelancer. Put simply you sell your skills to other companies. So for example if you are a writer you could earn a bit of extra cash by writing website content for a company. Or if you are a dab hand at web design you can get paid to design other people’s webpages.

You could also make money off other skills you have. So if you are great at crafts you could make and sell crafts. So if you are a dab hand at jewellery making or can design your own clothes you could make them at home and sell them on sites such as Esty and Redbubble.

Whatever, your business it is also important to consider business insurance so that your business is covered for any problems or disasters.

Sell your stuff:
If your house is bulging at the seams with clutter you could make a bit of extra cash on it. As the old saying goes one man’s junk is another man’s treasure so have a clear out and sell what you don’t want at car boot fairs and on internet sites such as eBay to earn a bit of extra cash.

Rent out your home or your car:
If you have a parking space that you don’t use you could rent that out for extra cash. This is especially useful in city centres and commuter belts where workers need decent places to park their cars. However, with some councils you may need planning permission to do so, so best to check with them.

You could even rent advertising space on your car providing you don’t mind having a big advert on it, or – what about looking at renting your home out as film location? Film and TV production companies are always on the lookout for places they can shoot in.

Get a lodger:
If you have a spare bedroom then you could rent it out to a lodger for spare cash. And what’s more you won’t have to pay tax on the first £4,200 you earn a year.

Become a mystery shopper:
You can literally be paid to shop as some market research companies hire people to access hotels, shops, restaurants, pubs, health spas and even trains. The pay isn’t particularly high but you do get expenses.

Working from home can have a number benefits, especially if you are setting up a new business. By setting up your business in your home you can save on the costs of renting office space and if you are an employee you can save on the cost of getting to work. But those are not the only benefits to working from home turning part of your home into work space can have many benefits.

Working from home saves paying out for new expensive office space which can be a drain on a new business; it also saves times searching for the right property and when you are starting out one thing you don’t have a lot of is time. What’s more you are not going to be tied into a restrictive tenancy agreement at a time when you need to be as flexible as you can in your business.

Working from home is extremely flexible as you can fit it round your family commitments. So if you need to pick your kids up from school but can fit in work once they have gone to bed you can do this as you don’t have to travel far to the office.

Working from home also saves the daily commute; while the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that for most people it takes less than 15 minutes to get into work each day 56 per cent of people in Central London need to commute for more than 30 minutes each day and 20 per cent in the rest of the UK. By working from your total commute time is zero and even if you only save half an hour each day that’s an extra half an hour to put into your business which all adds up. What’s more with the cost of petrol soaring as well as high public transport costs by working at home you are going to save a lot in travel costs which is a big help in a tough economic climate.

It has also been proven that working from home can actually be more productive as you won’t be distracted by the noise and commotion of an office. Instead you make your workspace a haven of peace and quiet and hopefully get more done in the process.

However, if you are going to set up a business in your home it is important to contact your mortgage provider or landlord to check that you are not in breach of the terms of your tenancy or mortgage agreement. You will also have to inform your household insurer and you may need to take out specialist business insurance to cover your business -tower gate insurance offer a variety of cover all in one place.

With more and more consumers seeking bankruptcy today due to financial woes, the British government has taken measures to combat this problem. A new form of bankruptcy known as a debt relief order was created. This form was designed to streamline the process for those individuals who did not have large incomes or a great deal of asset. Not just anyone can obtain a debt relief order. Certain requirements must be satisfied for an individual to obtain one.

Qualified individuals must be citizens on the United Kingdom and provide verification of such. The individual must meet certain requirements regarding their assets. The total value of all assets owned must not exceed 300 pounds. One of the assets owned cannot be a home. Separate from that 300 pound ceiling, the individual may maintain ownership of their vehicle provided that its current value does not exceed 1000 pounds.

Income is another condition that must be satisfied in order to get a debt relief order. The individual has to show that their remaining income after paying normal and expected household expenditures is less than 50 pounds. Documentation is required to establish proof for this stipulation.

Inability to repay debt must also be established to qualify for a debt relief order. Another condition pertains to the total amount of debt a qualifying individual can hold. Currently, the limit on debt is 15,000 pounds. Should the individual’s debt exceed this amount, they are not eligible for a debt relief order even if they meet all other requirements.

In order to obtain a debt relief order, no other solution can be in effect. These would include individual voluntary arrangements, trust deeds, bankruptcy and other similar measures. Debt relief orders cannot be sought if the individual was already granted one up to six years previously.

With all of these restrictions, many wonder how many individuals qualify for a debt relief order. Keep in mind the measure was specifically designed to aid low income individuals. Also, given the restrictions, people without many debts or assets, have a simpler filing to complete. Therefore, the expenses associated with a debt relief order are quite low with most individuals paying 90 pounds for its completion.