I am a great believer in weighing up the facts, once established, before concluding on my course of action. The forthcoming 2019 LC is obviously very worrying for us all and it is abundantly clear from the contributions to this site that there are a lot of rabbits staring into the HMRC headlights unsure of where to run too. So rather than immediately join you all in wondering what the f**k to do I have taken time to sit down with various tax advisers (who had nothing to do with creating this mess in the first place) and financial advisors. Given that we are all in this together, so to speak, my contribution to the debate is hopefully a bit of clear thinking.

Firstly the 2019 LC is UK legislation whether we like it or not. It will apply to all loan balances that arose between 1999 and March 2016 unless either there is a settlement with HMRC or the loans are repaid by 5 April 2019. To somehow hope that an action group can post 5 April 2019 successfully challenge the legitimacy of the2019 LC legislation is quite frankly pie in the sky. We can all see how successful a similar attempt on the legitimacy of APNs has proved to be.

So having sat down with a cold towel and a room full of advisers the options, in order of urgency, boil down to:

1. Settle with HMRC; I have registered already as I can see no downside to this.
2. Repay the loans.
3. Pay the 2019 LC (but where does this get me?)
4. Go bankrupt

Looking at the reality of these options settling with HMRC on their quoted terms is as far as I can see the only deal HMRC are offering. Some firms are suggesting they can get better terms, but Webberg and others have told me that its take it or leave it.. A crude calculation shows that my tax and interest liability alone would amount to approx 46% of the outstanding loan. On any analysis of a likely time to pay agreement with HMRC up to say 5 years the monthly repayments are unaffordable. I can’t be alone in this this situation! Maybe the HMRC terms would be better if I was able to repay the loan at an acceptable cost? If they haven’t got anything to blackmail me with, surely my position must be better?!

Some of my loans are with AML, some with Hansard Trust and some with K2 and so I have watched from the sidelines the offering and commentaries about refinancing loan solutions. There seems to be a lot of hysteria in this space ranging from any such refinancing is bordering on the criminal to it sounds too good to be true. I have to say that I think the only way to find out is to look at it in detail by reference to what the LC legislation actually says you can do. I have read with almost disbelief the pronouncements of Matt Hall with regard to the Hansard Trust. He would seem to have positioned himself as an expert and capable of independently advising both the trustees and the beneficiaries at the same time. I am not sure that our respective interests are aligned. Further just to cap it off he is one of those on the band wagon of suggesting that the legitimacy of the LC legislation can be challenged after we have allowed ourselves to fall into it; and of course all for a modest annual subscription; catch yourself on Matt!

Like many of you I am suspicious as hell with regard to AML and their referral to Vanquish Options. However there is no harm in having a look at their offering and I intend to do that with the aid of my financial adviser. Hopefully I will have further to report; the current comments are extremely vague in their detail and as I understand it lending to people like us does come with a body of regulation called the Consumer Credit Act that is there to stop us from being exploited (again!).

Im also wary about being forced into settling by the defence company pulling the defence while sitting on huge amounts of money. Why can’t we have our day in court? If there is no defence, do I have any choice but to settle? I don’t know but I’m exploring options for continuing the defence myself just so I know what my options really are.

Bankruptcy is not an option for my line of business and so I will have to be driven there kicking and screaming.

So, as you can see, I haven’t come to any conclusions yet, but I’m making sure I get as much information as I can so I can make a decision for myself as to what is best for me. Maybe if I’d done more research for myself all those years ago, I wouldn’t be in this mess now. Time for a beer I think…