IVA nearly finished but I need advice!

Gem0833

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can help but I am now coming towards the end of my IVA and have realised that I have been "overpaying" for the last few years.

Bascially I started my IVA in November 2006 and agreed an amount of £325 per month for 60 months, paying back a total of £19,500. When my first year review came around my IP said that my direct debit wasn't set up in time therefore my first payment didn't come out until December 2006 making me 1 payment in arrears, he agreed to put my next 1 years worth of monthly payments up by £27.10 per month to clear the £325 owed which I did, he told me to put my direct debit back down after 1 year, which stupidly I forgot to do (I'd slept a lot since that conversation, lol )

My IVA then got passed to Grant Thornton and I have now maintained the same payments for almost 4 more years (it's been a struggle).

I rang Grant Thornton today to speak to them about what I owe as according to my calculations, because I've been paying £27.10 extra per month for nearly 4 years I have now paid back £19,392.40 meaning that I only owe £107.60 and can pay that back in August then it should all be settled (my last payment was supposed to be October when I was paying £325 per month). The lady informed me that because I have been affording the extra money per month it doesn't matter and I still have to pay back 60 month's worth of payments which means that in total I would have paid back well over £20k. I asked her if she could look into this as it has never been a "formal" agreement with the creditors to pay back over £20k, she is calling me back tomorrow.

To be honest I have struggled to pay back my IVA which has resulted in my partner basically supporting me totally which means that he has now got himself into debt, but I was so scared of asking to change my monthly payment or telling my IP in case the IVA failed and I had to go bankrupt, I was only young when I took out the IVA and still have hopes to buy a house one day and I work in the financial sector which means I could have lost my job if I was made to go bankrupt.

Has anyone got any advice on this at all?? Do I have to pay my IVA for 60 month's regardless of the amount I have paid back?

I don't think it's worth fighting tooth and nail for it now as even if I have to pay 60 month's I only have 3 month's left but I was really hoping I could finish it next month as I want my life to start!

Thanks for reading my post, sorry it's so long, your advice would be much appreciated

FoggyBrain_2

Hi. First of all ... well done on getting this far. You will soon be debt free.

As for the money ... I am afraid the "extra" you paid just goes to make the dividend to the creditors better. The figure agreed at the start of the IVA is what you could pay back over the term, NOT what you owed. Until the IVA completes you still owe the full amount of your debts plus interest and IP's fees. In your eyes you are "overpaying" by around £1300 ... but I imagine, when the IVA is done, the creditors will be writing off far more, so you are still quids in!

Gem0833

Thanks for that. I see what you mean, I suppose I'm just getting to the point now where I just want it over and done with, I can't wait the extra 3 months, haha!!

Do you know what the process is once my final direct debit has come out in October?? Is that defaintely "it", is there any more checks that need to take place or anything else that I need to do/pay??

Unfortunately Grant Thornton have not been very good at keeping me up together with things I need to know, seems like all they are interested in is taking my payments and making me fill in my income and expenditure!

BigTom85

I'd post this over on the IVA forums at IVA.co.uk/forum, and one of the experts will advise.

FoggyBrain_2

From what I can gather you were lucky to get hold of GT at all! They have been difficult to get hold of lately.

Anyway, first thing to do is to agree the last payment date with GT. Once that has been made they will tie things up with the creditors and then issue you with a completion certificate ( which is actually just a letter confirming that all the terms of the IVA have been complied with). They might need to do a final review first.

Gem0833

Yes they have been very difficult to get hold of, my conversation with them was after 2 emails being sent a 3 phone calls, all promising calls back.

So after my last payment in October do I just cancel the Direct Debit from my end in the bank? I wouldn't want to make any extra payments seeing as I won't get them back!

Roll on October, I can't wait to start living my life, it's quite depressing that I've spent most of my twenties in debt :-(

spaceman5

Gem0833 wrote: »

Yes they have been very difficult to get hold of, my conversation with them was after 2 emails being sent a 3 phone calls, all promising calls back.

So after my last payment in October do I just cancel the Direct Debit from my end in the bank? I wouldn't want to make any extra payments seeing as I won't get them back!

Roll on October, I can't wait to start living my life, it's quite depressing that I've spent most of my twenties in debt :-(

I finished my iva in march, and even though i knew my 60 months was up, i did let aprils payment go out of my account into theirs, as I did not want any surprises and them failing my iva at that late a stage because i had not sent them a payment i knew they did not need, to be fair to them, as soon as the extra payment hit their account they did return it to me, and had about 4 telephone conversations with them confirming my iva is now finished, just waiting for the completion certificate now which apparantly :cool:, did not need or have a final review, but from what i have read some companies do differ and do a final review.

Did get a bit of a shock last week though, a letter from my iva company landed on my doorstep, great i thought this must be my completion certificate, opened it to find a letter saying that after my recent review my payments were going up from £270 aa month to £317 a month:eek:, well firstly I had not had a review, and secondly my iva was supposed to be finished, so after phoning them, they yet again confirmed indeed my iva had finished, and the letter was generated by them moving onto a new system so was a mistake, and told me I should have my completion certificate before august:T

FoggyBrain_2

Gem, don't cancel the DD until your IP says so -- any payments after the end date should be returned and not pooled into the IVA.