IVA - Not what I thought!

toonyrobson

Hi Im a newbie here but would like to explain my position and perhaps someone mayer be able to offer advice.

After many telephone calls and after looking at my debt spiral I decided to take advice via Baines and Ernst. They did an initial interview to ascertain my circumstances and then passed me over to Blair Endersby a solicitor. They arranged for me to have the documents agreed and and a hearing with debtors was arranged and I was delighted that this was accepted. My payments agreed and my debts sorted no further interest added hooray says I!!! In 5 years I should be debt free.

NOT SO!!!

As my wife did not have any debts in her name we did not include her in the arrangement and one of the conditions was that I should also change bank account. After months of applying and being knocked back I finally opened an account with Barclays. Again Hooray says I!

I go back to Abbey and explain that I now wish to close the account and pay back my overdraft via the terms of my IVA. I dont think so says Abbey. Your wife is now liable for your overdraft debt. Gutted!

So basically although my larger debts have been taken care of and are being paid via my IVA(For the next 5 years) the amount of IVA Payment agreed was from my wage and also my wifes wage. Abbey are now asking for us to pay for the overdraft from my wifes wage.(Obviously not possible as the IVA payment is what we agreed we had left at the end of each month so therefore nothing spare above this amount.

a/ Abbey kindly informed me that we could suspend any further charges by them on this account by paying £24 per month for 6 months and then have it reviewed.(Leaving the original O/D amount the same as when we started paying the £24)

b/ We make a token payment but charges and interest will continue to be added. Once we are in such a debt that Abbey pass it to a collections agency they may be able to offer better terms....

c/ We pay off the overdraft!!!!!

Any suggestions as to how I might be able to resolve this most appreciated as Abbey have offered me only help which suits thier pocket but does not help me in the slightest!

Thanks

foreverautumn

toonyrobson wrote: »

Hi Im a newbie here but would like to explain my position and perhaps someone mayer be able to offer advice.

After many telephone calls and after looking at my debt spiral I decided to take advice via Baines and Ernst. They did an initial interview to ascertain my circumstances and then passed me over to Blair Endersby a solicitor. They arranged for me to have the documents agreed and and a hearing with debtors was arranged and I was delighted that this was accepted. My payments agreed and my debts sorted no further interest added hooray says I!!! In 5 years I should be debt free.

NOT SO!!!

As my wife did not have any debts in her name we did not include her in the arrangement and one of the conditions was that I should also change bank account. After months of applying and being knocked back I finally opened an account with Barclays. Again Hooray says I!

I go back to Abbey and explain that I now wish to close the account and pay back my overdraft via the terms of my IVA. I dont think so says Abbey. Your wife is now liable for your overdraft debt. Gutted!

So basically although my larger debts have been taken care of and are being paid via my IVA(For the next 5 years) the amount of IVA Payment agreed was from my wage and also my wifes wage. Abbey are now asking for us to pay for the overdraft from my wifes wage.(Obviously not possible as the IVA payment is what we agreed we had left at the end of each month so therefore nothing spare above this amount.

a/ Abbey kindly informed me that we could suspend any further charges by them on this account by paying £24 per month for 6 months and then have it reviewed.(Leaving the original O/D amount the same as when we started paying the £24)

b/ We make a token payment but charges and interest will continue to be added. Once we are in such a debt that Abbey pass it to a collections agency they may be able to offer better terms....

c/ We pay off the overdraft!!!!!

Any suggestions as to how I might be able to resolve this most appreciated as Abbey have offered me only help which suits thier pocket but does not help me in the slightest!

Thanks

Was the overdraft included in th iva? If so some of your payments will go towards this. Your wife should be able too service her own debts first before any of her salary is included in working out your iva. This need addressing straight away, so i would get in touch with your IP.

toonyrobson

Hi thanks for your reply.
yes the iva included the overdraft. However Abbey are saying they will pursue the wife as she is not included in the iva tried to contact my ip today but have had no reply as yet. She has no debts in her name but her income and my income were used to come up with the amount we can afford to pay. The way I see it this means that I will be paying out of this amount (IVA agreed amount) and she will still be pursued by Abbey.

This cant be right

Thanks Foreverautumn for your comment.:beer:

foreverautumn

toonyrobson wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply.
yes the iva included the overdraft. However Abbey are saying they will pursue the wife as she is not included in the iva tried to contact my ip today but have had no reply as yet. She has no debts in her name but her income and my income were used to come up with the amount we can afford to pay. The way I see it this means that I will be paying out of this amount (IVA agreed amount) and she will still be pursued by Abbey.

This cant be right

Thanks Foreverautumn for your comment.:beer:

Your IP will have to sort something out about this. Did your ip know this was a joint account, if it is included in your iva then they are aware of it. I think there will have to be a variation in your payments while your wife pays it back. I think this is the only fair solution. Very sloppy work of your ip to have not sorted this out before. As i said before your wife has to be left with enough money to be able to service her own debts, and your ip should of gone through this with you when you was doing your I&E. Talk to your ip as soon as you can. I would also presume that if this is included in your iva, then you should be protected from interest and charges.

Charco_2

It's certainly something that should have been explained to you in detail - hard to believe that your IP (or his staff) saw a joint account and didn't think to warn you of the implications.

Give your IP company the benefit of the doubt on this one - see what their customer service is like! Discuss it with them first and see what they say about resolving the problem... if you're not happy there are steps to you can take to air your complaint and possibly keep pushing until you are satisfied!

How much is the overdraft for?
How long is it going to take your wife to repay?

Choo_Choo_4

Forgive me but I cannot see anywhere Toony were you have actually said that this was a Joint Account but I am presuming if Abbey are going to chase your wife that HER NAME WAS ON THE ACCOUNT???

If her name is not on it then they cannot chase her for the remainder!!!
(Abbey could be just chancing their arm)

On the other hand if she is named jointly on this account it is a poor mistake for Blair Endersby to make - as it should have been explained at the time that Creditors would pursue her for joint liabilities and an allowance would have to be made in your Income & Expenditure for this ...

althas

Talk to your IP. If it is a joint account, the legality of it all is you are joint and severably liable for the overdraft (I am in the same situation). If Abbey have a claim in the IVA for part of the overdraft, they will take that then I guess persue your wife for the rest. So if you owed £100 and your IVA was £0.40p to the £, your IVA would repay £40 and they will go to your wife for the £60. You should have an allowance in the UVA for these repayments, I have on mine

Again I will reiterate what others have said, that this should have been explained to you by your IP before you signed to anything