really need advice

rickismith

last year we entered into an iva, at that time we were claiming tax credits and both working. now we've had our tax credits cut as my wife had her hours cut, and the child care element was totally reduced. so we were £500 short each month according to the iva advisor. they told me to petition for bankruptcy by i have a second mortgage deal on our home under a 75/25% scheme for new buyers that means if we went bankrupt we would owe £70k - we only owe £30k. i felt i had no choice but to make up the money in overtime as they wouldnt reduce our iva payments by even a small amount - now they want to see my wage slips. out of the £500 loss i gained £300 each month in overtime are they now gunna want that half back even though according to my fancial statement i'm still short and what are the chances they will make me bankrupt if i tell them i cant afford it. i couldnt afford the £1200 to make myself bankrupt - not that i wanted too, but i need to know that as they wouldn't help me by dropping my iva payments are they now gunna shaft me for trying to survive. someone please help. i've got two young boys and am desperately trying to get things sorted. i've even applied for another job that is double the wage i'm on now but not sure if its right to string this out as i feel i should be up front and honest about this to them.. your advice would be greatly appreciated...

thanks

weary (

Charco_2

Take it back a bit.

Did you mean that you have a negative surplus but you're still trying to make your repayments?

How much are your monthly contributions?
How much can you actually afford?

The IVA proposal is YOUR proposal... it's not up to your IP or his company to tell you that you cant reduce your payments to a more affordable figure - so work out what you can afford to repay and insist that this offer is brought to your creditors (it requires a new meeting of creditors to approve or reject your variation).

NO your IP will have no right to demand more money from you just because you have gone out and earned some more, overall you're still down on what you're expected to pay.

Post some figures up here if you can!

rickismith

when we signed the iva the figures looked like this

wifes income £496
my income £1316
working tax credit £125
child benefit £144
child tax credit childcare £417



a total of £2,498 ever calander month

now are income is

my wife £356
my income £1316
child benefit £144
child tax credit childcare £232


a total income of £2,042



i spoke to them loads on the phone and asked for help and in the end i just turned round and said i would do whatever i could to pay my i.v.a. my wife even left as we found it so hard to survive, but we have survived, the impression i got was that as long as they get their money they are not bothered whether we struggle or not but if i earn more they are gunna want more. also i beg the question that if my basic salary goes up will they try and take that extra too? as it seems pointless trying to earn more to survive if they are going to try to take it all off us. we have four years left go!!!

rickismith

oh and when i worked it out i figured i could afford to pay £115 every 28 days as i'm paid every four weeks but they didnt seem happy with that. they are taking £200 p/m and i did ask that as i'm paid fourweekly could all our figures be worked out four weekly and not monthly but to no avail. so instantly we are short on the figures as i know for one month we dont have to pay anything but for the other 11months we are over our budget!!! why do they work things out that way???

Charco_2

Did they recalculate your I&E when your income was reduced?

Unfortunately, they always work on a calendar month - even for people who collect weekly incomes... to work it out for yourself you should divide the income you receive every four weeks by four and multiply it by 4.33 - this will give you the rough figure you earn on a monthly basis.

Charco_2

If you think you could afford £115 fourweekly then that's only £125 monthly... still short of your £200.

You do have the right to insist that your IVA is amended and the creditors can vote on it but your repayments would be rather low and it is unlikely your creditors would accept. Your IP could insist on a small fee to pay for the variation of your proposal because he doesn't beleive it would be accepted... that would n't mean that the IVA you currently have would fail.

It sounds like your IP is treating you badly and ignoring your problems but in reality he doesn't have a lot of leeway.

rickismith

cheers for your helpwe are just hoping that i get this next job i've applied for - more hours but its enough to cover the shortfall from tax credits and my wifes hours.

i really appreciate knowing that there is some out there.

ricki

Whitetornado

Hi, We were in the same position as yourselves with a reduced monthly income. I phoned our IP and went through a new I & E with him there was another meeting of our creditors and our new payments were accepted . Our payments changed from £275 per month to £100 per month but we had to have an additional 12 months added to length of IVA. Our lives are so much better now. Our IP said creditors would rather get something than nothing at all if you went bankrupt. I made this one phone call and our lives were improved within a couple of weeks, Give them a call.

Charco_2

How long into your IVA were you when you made this change?

Whitetornado

HI, We were 2 1/2 years into our IVA when we changed to lower payments.