Few Questions

w1ck3d

Morning All,

My first post here, and hopefully somebody somewhere can answer my questions. I currently have enough debt to qualify for an IVA, but before I do down this road, I just wanted to get somebody's hopefully personal experience, as I didn't want to take the companies word as gospel, so if you can advise, that would be excellent, thank you.

1. Would my partner be effected if I was to go into an IVA

2. Nothing is in my name, the house, the family car, so I have no assets. These cannot be linked to me?

3. If we have a joint bank account, would it be advisable to have my name removed.

4. Could my partner pay for my IVA ( I know sounds a daft question but if you could answer this, that would be great )

5. As I don't own anything, would it be better to go for Bankruptcy over IVA.

6. If I have a loan with somebody other than a bank / building society etc etc, is this included in the IVA?

7. Approx how much does an IVA cost ( i have seen so many random figures, and I know its personlised ) but say if I could afford £200 per month, would this then be set?

8. Any recomendations as to which company to use. I googled IVA and :eek:

Again many thanks in advance if somebody or anybody could assist.

Have a nice day

W1ck3d

samace83

Hello :wave:

I can answer some of your questions based on my own experience:
1) No your partner would not be affected - My partner isn't named anywhere on my IVA papers so my IVA doesn't concern him or his credit rating.
2) I have no assets either (we rent, and I can't drive) so that shouldn't be an issue
3) Not sure on the bank account - we have one account but in his name so not sure how that woud work for you (my name has never been on the account)
4) Do you mean could his wages pay? or could he pay over the phone? If you make card payment over the phone then he has to be there to authroise the payment - if you pay DD then it doesn't matter whose money it is as long as it's there AND NOT borrowed
5) I'm not sure on the Bankruptcy issue as it didn't apply to me - someone will be along to explain that though
6) ALL debts must be declared; even small pathetic ones like an outstanding payment to eBay for example, must be declared - that way you know you have included everything and all your debts will be sorted for you
7) My IVA is set at £180 per month. For larger debts I think the figure is higher but as it is personal this could change. If you could afford regular payments of £200 a month this would be better than going bankrupt surely- at least you'll be making an effort to pay back the debt
- I can only recommend the company I used which is McCamridge Duffy - but these were recommended by the National Debt Helpline. No upfront fees; all paperwork sorted and they were very helpful. I think there is a sticky on the IVA board with information about the reputable companies and how to fins them. PLEASE DON'T PAY UPFRONT! You shouldn't have to.

Quite a long response but the answers are all personal to me. If I've missed something then someone will be along to answer this for you but good luck whichever decision you decide to make

Sam

jedi82

Hiya, not much help as am just starting on this road myself but just wanted to let you know I did the debt remedy thing on the CCCS website and I found that really helpful. I am also using them for my IVA and they have been really good so far. Just don't pay anything upfront!

Jx

Charco_2

Not a personal experience, I work in Insolvency but i'll answer anyway (I've no reason to lie) and you can see if this compares with the company you are with...

1. Would my partner be effected if I was to go into an IVA
Yes and no it depends on your situation. Do you have Joint Debts or Joint accounts? (I see from the question below you don't have joint assets). How long have you been with your partner? If you are sharing a home together, your IP will probably want to draw up a joint I&E to show YOUR fair share of the household disposable income but other than that it's an INDIVIDUAL Voluntary Arrangement and your partner wont have anything to do with it!

2. Nothing is in my name, the house, the family car, so I have no assets. These cannot be linked to me?
No. Only YOUR assets and belongings can be considered for your IVA... If your partner happened to own a controlling share in Manchester United (sorry bad example, they're broke) Manchester City then it still wouldn't matter...

3. If we have a joint bank account, would it be advisable to have my name removed.
Yes definitely, try to separate yourselves as much as possible. Is there any debt on this account? You'll not be able to separate yourselves without actually closing this account. Also move you bank account (where your wages etc get paid in) to a bank that you do not owe money too.

4. Could my partner pay for my IVA ( I know sounds a daft question but if you could answer this, that would be great )
Yes IF THEY WANT TO. (NO they can't be forced to).
The IP will draw up an I&E to see how much you can afford to pay in to the IVA. However, if your IP finds that you have £200 and £50,000 debt then it is unlikely that your creditors will accept the proposal as it will not bring in a sufficient dividend (this is up to your creditors, not your IP) BUT if your other half could afford to and was willing to offer a further £100 then it might stand a better chace of success. Whether you partner would want to or not is a different question. Your partner would not be expected to do this, your partner has no duty towards your debts.

5. As I don't own anything, would it be better to go for Bankruptcy over IVA.
Short answer is probably "yes", long answer is "not necessarily". Definitely look into it. (Would your job prohibit Bankruptcy?)
I think this would probably come down to personal choice as it seems you have nothing to lose in BR but BR would certainly seem an option worth considering.

6. If I have a loan with somebody other than a bank / building society etc etc, is this included in the IVA?
Yes, it would be included in both BR and IVA.
In an IVA if you owe money to a friend or family member then yes it is included but then they are expected to stand aside for the purposes of the dividend. It's sort of expected that you'll come to some arrangement with your family and friend to pay them back the full amount at another stage.

7. Approx how much does an IVA cost ( i have seen so many random figures, and I know its personlised ) but say if I could afford £200 per month, would this then be set?
It costs as much or as little as you can afford to pay. When drawing up your I&E your IP will try to be a little lenient but also keep one eye on the end product, the dividend... from a basic outline of your debts, the IP will know the minimum amount you could expect to offer and still have the proposal accepted but it doesn't really work that way. If you can afford £500 then you should offer £500, if you can afford £200 then that's what you should offer.

Charco_2

Your partner has their own life! They have their own debts, bills, interests....

The income and expenditure for a household should be done to include the income of both halves of the couple but the Disposable Income at the end of the calculations should come out with two totals... one for each half of the couple!
(This is to find out how much of the monthly household expenditure each half should be paying - if you only earn 33% of the total houshold income you should only pay 33% of the household bills... not simply a 50/50 split!)

- So if MR earns £1750 (64%) a month and MRS earns £1000 (36%) (coz she's a woman and obviously earns less) and the household bills come to £2250 (which leaves a household surplus of £500).
- MR pays 64% of the houshold bills (2250 x .64 = £1440) and
MRS pays 36% of the household bills (2250 x .36 = £810)
- MR has a surplus of (£1750 - £1440 £310 and
MRS has a surplus of (£1000 - £810 £190

MR's 64% share of the household surplus is all that has to be offered to the creditors! (64% of £500 is actually £320, not £310, but then Mr's percentage of the household income is only 63.6% but roughly the maths works out!)

There are circumstances though where a further contribution from the MRS would be brought in to the IVA - but only with her approval and understanding! And it certainly shouldn't just be taken for granted!

Obviously MRS would also have her own interests to spend her money on (hairdressers and nail bars and the like - a ros! over lunch with the girls!) and she may have debts of her own that need to be paid each month.

Charco_2

Well as i said there are reasons why it might be done that way (but it should be discussed with you BOTH)

If you and your partner were married for a long period of time and she had taken no credit of her own (either by choice or because she was unable to) then in the creditor's eyes it would be deemed (rightly or wrongly) that your partner had benefitted from the debts you had accrued and although they don't have to enter the IVA, they should contribute towards the solution.

Also the the IP may have calculated that a dividend based on your sole contributions would be likely to be rejected by the creditors but with a bit of help from your other half you could achieve a dividend the creditors would deem acceptable.

Again that should be discussed and not simply assumed.