IVA support and discussion thread

Hi,

Personally, I have read too many negative reviews on both of those firms to recommend them, but that is a matter for you.

I like IVA's, they are a fine solution to debt and in 95% of cases are much better than a never ending DMP. However, I would also sound a note of caution in your case.

To enter an IVA you need, as far as is possible, stable domestic circumstances. For those employed, you will need to provide 3 months wage slips, and for those who are self employed, you will (usually) need to provide tax returns and probably a cash flow forecast as well. This may be difficult if you have only recently gone self employed?

Also, consider the £90. Is it truly affordable, without fail, or is it an attractive figure that may be "being made to fit"? If the latter, be careful.

May be worth your while to pop into your local CAB. They can go through a budget with you, and although you will still potentially have an issue with proving your income, once a budget has been done properly, with all the bits and bobs that are so easy to overlook on a day to day basis, it would not surprise me in the slightest if it then transpired that a Debt Relief Order (DRO) may be an option.

You have less than £20k debts, you have no assets, and you may well, with professional help budget wise, come out with a disposable income of less than £50. Could be a perfect match, and a one off fee of £90 is better than 5 years at £90.

Let us know how you get on.

Hello all,

This is my first post here although I've been reading through for forums for quite some time so please be gentle with me!

Basically, I've spent the last ten years or so trying to work my way out of debt but actually just making the situation a whole lot worse by borrowing from one place to pay another. Getting divorced and starting again from scratch all contributed to my situation in the beginning and from there I’ve (wrongly) used credit to manage. This has been (sort of) manageable up until the last few months when the credit simply ran out. Up until last month I hadn’t missed any payments but was constantly worrying about where the next payment due was coming from and knowing there was only so much time left before it all came crashing down around me (which it has).

I currently owe in the region of £62,000 mostly in loans and credit cards. It makes me feel sick just to look at the figure. No one knows how much I owe and I’m ashamed and embarrassed that its come to this point.

Last month I realised that it couldn't go on when my wages went into my bank and promptly disappeared into an overdraft black hole meaning I couldn’t make my repayments. I decided (after reading so many of your brilliant posts) to approach stepchange and consider an IVA. They referred me on to another company and I have now had my initial meeting, provided the documents required and am awaiting more information as to what happens now, today they came back with a list of questions from my bank statements, which I have answered and I now need to wait again and see where it goes from here.

I haven’t had the nerve yet to speak to any of my creditors, I've missed one month’s payment to some but not all of them. Some of the ones set up for the first of the month got their payment last month but as I’ve now moved my bank account over to a new basic account with a different bank it’s all about the hit the fan... I know I need to call them but I am quite honestly terrified to do it. The advisor from the IVA company told me to simply tell them I am considering an IVA agreement, give them her details and leave it at that but still I haven’t made the calls. I’ve had a few missed calls on my mobile and a couple of letters through so far. It’s starting to stress me out. How long does an IVA agreement with creditors take? Does anyone have any advice on how to handle it while its processed?

My advisor is putting forward a low IVA repayment of £90 or so per month as I get profit share payments from my work a couple of times a year. Under the agreement I will hand over this sum each time I get it to repay some of what I owe. When she worked it out they would be getting most of it back over the 5 years so it could be agreeable.

Bankruptcy isn’t an option for me as I am a company director and own my home (with mortgage). From what I’ve read IVA’s have a decent success rate of being approved and I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that mine will be the same and I can post here in five year’s time on the other side of all of this mess.

Thanks so much for that, the timescales are really helpful and It gives me a better idea of what to expect.

During the IVA meeting, it was suggested that I paid a lower monthly sum but agreed to hand over pretty much all of my dividend payment each year. I do recall some mention of being able to keep a small proportion of it though but definitely not 50% so that will be something to look further into.

I haven't had my written proposal through yer but i'll make sure I read it carefully to see what it says.

Again, thank you x

In all honesty, it never occurred to me that it might not be the right way of going about things. I just saw it as a way to pay back as much as I can over the 5 (or potentially 6) years. With approx £10,000 in dividends potentially each year it means that they would receive almost all of the debt back. I hadn't considered the fee...

Again, thank you for your advice its been a eye opener! x