1yr into IVA - new addition to family?

aj_59

Hi,
I wonder if anyone could offer any advice or help please.
We're just approaching our 1st year in our IVA - all has gone very very well so far.

However, our situation has changed slightly, in the last 2 months, my young sister (18) failed to get a university place despite excellent results and due to an extremely bad relationship between her and her mother she has had to come and stay with us - or have nowhere !

We now pay for all her needs. She is trying to get work but so far has been unable and has already started the process to apply for her uni place next year.

Long winded I'm sorry, but my question is this - are we entitled to add her onto our IVA expenditure as now all our bills have risen due to an extra family member? We have our yearly review soon and I'm a little worried!

Any advice would be much appreciated.
aj

Contracts_Engineer

you need to ring them and ask them rather than worry about it. You may be thinking they are going to say no and your worrying for what could be no reason. You are paying the iva company a substantial fee for your iva, get them to earn their money and ask them. Im sure if shes on the electoral role at your house she will be but check with them.

Charco_2

Unfortunately she would not be considered a dependant so your IP isn't going to be in a position to add her to your I&E in any significant way...

However, you are obviously not simply going to abandon her so there are some things you could do.

1. Make sure you are getting the most out of your allowances! Most IP companies earn a percentage of the amounts they recover, so they may not be inclined to remind you that you have allowances you are not claiming for... usually small amounts but every little helps
2. Speak to your IP and explain the situation. Your IP will have a certain amount of wriggle room to allow a reduction in your contributions for a short period without contacting your creditors for a new vote. You may have to make up the amount later if it affects the dividend too much.

Good luck.

Your IP should be on your side, as long as you're open and honest you can work through most things!

Contracts_Engineer

Charco, if i can just pick up on something you have said please.
You have said make sure you are getting the most out of your allowances! does this mean that you can push to get you allowance higher. e.g. according to the budget of payplan ( please see below ) your housekeeping for a single parson could be £195 but max is £210.

Can you fight to get it upped half way through your budget year? or should you fight for the maximum from the outset? What if you need the maximum but they wont accept it?

Housekeeping £195 £
210 maximum for 1 st adult /£118£
146 maximum for
2 nd adult /£49 per child 013

yrs old/ £87 per child 14 yrs old +

Contracts_Engineer

Charco, if i can just pick up on something you have said please.
You have said make sure you are getting the most out of your allowances! does this mean that you can push to get you allowance higher. e.g. according to the budget of payplan ( please see below ) your housekeeping for a single parson could be £195 but max is £210.

Can you fight to get it upped half way through your budget year? or should you fight for the maximum from the outset? What if you need the maximum but they wont accept it?

Housekeeping £195 £
210 maximum for 1 st adult /£118£
146 maximum for
2 nd adult /£49 per child 013

yrs old/ £87 per child 14 yrs old +

FoggyBrain_2

Contracts_Engineer wrote: »

Charco, if i can just pick up on something you have said please.
You have said make sure you are getting the most out of your allowances! does this mean that you can push to get you allowance higher. e.g. according to the budget of payplan ( please see below ) your housekeeping for a single parson could be £195 but max is £210.

Can you fight to get it upped half way through your budget year? or should you fight for the maximum from the outset? What if you need the maximum but they wont accept it?

Housekeeping £195 £
210 maximum for 1

st adult /£118£
146 maximum for
2 nd adult /£49 per child 013

yrs old/ £87 per child 14 yrs old +

Contracts Engineer ... Can I ask where you got those guideline figures from ?? I am just in the early stages of putting together an I&E and was going to put down £300 for married couple and 4 year old ... but looking at those figures in your post I should be looking at more like £400 !!!!

Charco_2

According to guidelines from two years ago, you could have £392 for a couple with one child MAXIMUM... this has gone up slightly but i would urge you to be realistic too! I do think £300 would be cutting it fine, but that doesn't mean you should automatically take the maximum available in every category...

On the flip side, don't be too hard on yourself either!

FoggyBrain_2

Thank you for the sage advice Charco :beer:
I wasn't planning on claiming the full amount for all allowables, in fact, some I am not claiming at all ( rightly or wrongly -- from different perspectives!). Just concerned that, if I cut it too finely, we will find it difficult ( especially as it seems it's sometime difficult to increase allowances at reviews ... dependant on IP) to carry the IVA through to term.

On the other hand I don't want to claim so much (even if deemed "allowable" ) as to make the proposal seem too unattractive to my creditors. And ... at the end of the day ... I am honour bound (legalities apart) to try to repay as much as I can reasonably afford. I have gone this far on the premise that "I took the money, I spent the money, it is my responsibility to repay the money". However, I didn't reckon on all the credit card interest hikes and my employer renaging on a long standing pay agreement, meaning I get no pay rises (especially a rather large expected one) for a while ( and, indeed, not for the last two years!). C'est La Vie.

Totally off topic -- but I thank the day I discovered this forum :beer: