Iva

Dotster

Hi
I'm new to the site, I've just caught Martin on GMTV. I have an IVA and I'm just 3 months into my 2nd year, I have accumulated debt over the last 10 years through divorce and children,and I'm paying 929 per month, having just completed a year I was amazed at how little the creditors received from this. I would dearly love to finish it off early but I don't have enough equity at present. I'm just managing to keep my head above water but with a struggle, any suggestions?

scootw1

Out of interest, did Martin say the creditors received less than is on the proposal you put forward? What did he say?

sandralovescats

Out of your initial IVA, some £5K-£8K is the IVA fee. On your repayment of £929 per month, the fee is quite small by comparison.

Have you had a review on your IVA with your IP recently? Have you told your IP that you are struggling?

moxie_2

scootw1 wrote:

Out of interest, did Martin say the creditors received less than is on the proposal you put forward? What did he say?

I caught Martin on GMTV but he wasn't talking about IVAs. He was talking about credit cards and tarting; Lorraine Kelly seemed to find the term amusing (which it is). He said it could be better to be in a long term relationship ie transfer onto a low interest for life card.

Dotster

I've just had a review in October and found that although these people were very nice when setting up the IVA the tone is completely different now and I actually had a letter telling me off for not telling them when I had a payrise. They do know I'm struggling but they say they won't reduce in fact I had my work cut out trying to pursuade them to keep it at the same amount. It's a joint IVA an they allow us 400 to live on for the month. That might sound a lot in theory but in practice it's a nightmare! Fuel, food and unexpected repairs etc.

Debt_Free_Chick

Dotster wrote:

It's a joint IVA an they allow us 400 to live on for the month. That might sound a lot in theory but in practice it's a nightmare! Fuel, food and unexpected repairs etc.

Why not post your budget here as we may be able to find some savings for you

sandralovescats

Dotster wrote:

I've just had a review in October and found that although these people were very nice when setting up the IVA the tone is completely different now and I actually had a letter telling me off for not telling them when I had a payrise. They do know I'm struggling but they say they won't reduce in fact I had my work cut out trying to pursuade them to keep it at the same amount. It's a joint IVA an they allow us 400 to live on for the month. That might sound a lot in theory but in practice it's a nightmare! Fuel, food and unexpected repairs etc.

Something is very wrong with the setup of your IVA!

The idea is that ALL of your outgoings are allowed for before any surplus is left to pay into an IVA.

Have you had a word with your own personal IP, rather than the Company who set up your IVA?

It is pointless posting your SoA here since your IVA is already up and running.

Debt_Free_Chick

sandralovescats wrote:

It is pointless posting your SoA here since your IVA is already up and running.

But Dotster doesn't have to spend up to the limit agreed with the creditors. Taking food as an example, if she could shave £30 a month off her food bill, she can use this as an emergency fund.

sandralovescats

Actually, it sounds as if the IVA payments are set way too high

Dotster

When we set up the IVA there were some things like fuel that we underestimated. When we asked for this to be taken into account in the review we were told no adjustment would be made. I actually regret jumping into this IVA. We weren't behind in any of our payments but I could see trouble ahead and so rang this company for advice, they made this seem so easy that we went for it. We should have gone to the citizens advice or something but too late now. The mortgage interest rates gone up twice and is set to go up again but they couldn't care less. They allow us 2.50 a day for food, that's joint not each and it's amazing how much you can save by adjusting they way you live. £75 food that's per month. So you can imagime, family meals etc don't come round that often.

sandralovescats

The one argument I have against the CAB is that they persuade people into an IVA instead of bankruptcy where bankruptcy would be the far better solution.

Your food should never have been set as low as £75 per month, it should have been around £400.

Now particularly that we have had 3 interest rate hikes in a few months, with more to come, a lot of people are going to be in big trouble with IVA's and will have to go bankrupt.