can I do this??

unsuremom

This is my first time of posting although I have been reading this forum for a while... I am currently a financial advisor (please no laughing) with a big high street bank, but have unsecured debts of approx £31K dating back way before I started this job. My income has always been sufficient to meet my debts, however my husbands income has dropped dramatically and we are starting to struggle to meet our outgoings.
I have spoken to ClearDebt who have recommended an IVA as I have no income in my property. they have suggested paying in £200 to this. Obviously I really want to get my situation under control, but am worried about my job. Does anyone know if I will be allowed to take on an IVA or will I lose my job?

I'm fightened to speak to anyone at work as I do not want them to know the situation I am in, but I have to complete a fit and proper test each year and this is the first year I have had problems

struggler

It really depends if your compliance dept get to kmow of your IVA, when doing the fit and proper checks. I do not believe that the FSA consider an IVA the same as bankruptcy, but some companies will have there own stance on this, as did mine who would not look on an IVA favourably. I retired from my firm and sold my interests to fund a full and final IVA over two years.

I wish you luck in sorting this out, and if you need the name of a good IP firm send me a personal mail

althas

Do a hypothetical question to your HR department will be the best course I would suggest

Some institutions do not name an IVA or bankruptcy, but say something along the lines of "comming to an arangement with your creditors" kind of thing

If you are seriously considering an IVA you MUST get all the information before you decide. Be 100% on this, it is the only way to do one

Talk to a few IP's though, not just ClearDebt. Have a look over at www.iva.com

They have list of all the IPs and IP firms and reviews on them by their customers. Pick up the phone and just call. If ANY of them start talking about a fee upfront to draft the proposal, refer you to an IP etc, say bye bye to them. You can also post on www.iva.co.uk There are a number of IPs who have a VERY active presence on there and could answer your question as well

Good luck on whatever you decide

immoral_angeluk

First things first, ignore Cleardebt. They are a company designed to make money out of you and there are a lot of companies out there selling inappropriate IVAs because they fees they charge are high.
What would be better to do would be to go and speak to a specialist at CAB, or speak to CCCS, or National Debtline over the phone. You should also check any possibility increase in entitlement to benefits, but CAB can do this for you should you wish.

Generally IVAs are designed to protect assets and people where the implications of going BR would be severe, such as people who's jobs would be affected by BR.

You need to get proper advice from a free, impartial charity, not a sales company.

debtinfo

as above, you need to find out for sure from you HR department, it is no good starting an IVA if you then lose your job

never_be_able_to_retire

It's really hard unsuremom to know how your job might be affected.

If your firm check your credit file in detail each year as part of the test they will see an IVA as it is insolvency and it will remain on your file for 6 years from when your start it.

I used to work in financial services (RBS) and wanted to go back to them just before I started my IVA as I had just moved back to my home city. But I was led to believe I could not due to the IVA as they look upon it as 'misconduct'. This was from a low level manager though who didn't know his a** from his elbow though........

I think you may as previously suggested just need to speak to someone in HR in confidence about it.

You do need to get a handle on it though and you should speak to the charities mentioned and if going down the route of an IVA do speak to 2 or 3 firms first and do visit the IVA UK site as it is a wonderful resource (I post regularly on the forums and the place is a godsend of support and advice for me).

You've done one of the hardest things which is acknowleding the problem and looking for help