Post-IVA Timeline and Encouragement To Others

thatsthat

Hi all,

Greetings from the newly debt free! I have just completed successfully a five-year IVA and received the Certificate of Compliance letter two days after the completion date. From what I have read on here that is unusually rapid to say the least! As many will have experienced, a huge weight has now been lifted and disposable income has been given a welcome shot in the arm. Having said that, it's truly amazing how instructive living on a strictly controlled budget has been. Never again will I be tempted into debt.

Before I ask for a little post-IVA advice, may I respectfully offer encouragement and hope to anyone reading who is overwhelmed with debt. It's a sickening, worrying, terrifying experience being in severe debt. It eats away at you - I know, I've been there. My credit card and loan debts were horrendously large, built up over many years, never missing payments, always robbing Peter to pay Paul and living on credit until the merry-go-round shuddered to a halt. I never thought I would ever be free. It is said that the hardest part of a long journey is taking the first step and this is so right. Plucking up the courage to talk to my long-time partner and together agreeing to contact an IP (NB. I researched thoroughly) was not easy but having taken that first step and two months later having the IVA agreed was a life-changer. So, to those of you mired in unsustainable debt, if you're thinking that a winning lottery ticket or a sudden inheritance will miraculously appear on the horizon (yes, I've been there too!) and solve your problems, may I respectfully suggest that is unlikely to happen. Don't put it off - take that first big step and if my experience is anything to go by you will always be thankful you did. I hope this won't appear as a lecture but as a sincerely offered "If I did it, so can you" bit of encouragement.

Right, to those who haven't already nodded off , I would be very grateful if someone could please tell me, definitively, the correct order to start cleaning up my credit files. I've spent hours trawling the forum and reading the various posts and stickies but I'm still not certain on the best way to start the ball rolling:
CRA files requested and checked first?
Send copy of Compliance Certificate to CRA's first?
Do either one now or wait a few weeks for information from Insolvency Register to filter down?
If incorrect dates are shown on file can I insist CRA emend these or must creditors do it?

I understand I'll probably have a fair bit of letter writing to do - something I wouldn't have realised before reading on here - but to save myself unnecessary grief I'd like to do things in the most time-effective order. Not that I'll be applying for credit any time soon, oh no, (apart from possibly a Vanquis Card further down the line to get a few "green ticks") but I want to tidy up any loose ends to ensure everything that should drops off in a year's time, ie. six years from the IVA agreement date.

Many thanks for reading and good luck to all.

minitrippers

Hi there! I am in the same boat as you...IVA completed last December. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to clean up my credit file now? And how long it takes for things to drop off my file? Many thanks :-)

muddipaws

Brilliant, I completed mine and Debt Free for a few years, now yesterday I secured my first Mortgage and am more than happy. The debt issue was sickening and I got quite ill with it, but kept plugging away with it. I thought it would never end but it has. I feel liberated at long last

Well done you guys

doelani

well done on getting to the end , feels good doesn't it ?

bit of background for me, started IVA may2005, finished with F&F may 2008 ( money raised through remortgage)

Although our IVA finished May2008 we waited about 6 months on completion certificate as IP had to chase up a few creditors for them to put claims in , in the end one got nothing because they did not put claim in after months so they got nothing !!

Now the order we did it.

Waited a few weeks after completion certificate arrived for the companies to get their money and paperwork through so they could update CRF

Copies of CRF for experian and equifax.

I send copy of Completion certificate to each creditor asked to amend default date if it was not the same as the day we started the IVA and asking them to mark account settled with £0 balance.

We had 10 creditors and most changed this within a few weeks, had to chase after 2 creditors to get it sorted but this was because the debts had been sold on and some confusion as to who would change the default dates. Som creditors had already done this process automatically.

So after about 8 weeks from starting the clean up process everything on CRF showed May 2005 or before as default date and £0 balance.

These all dropped off file 6 years from START date of IVA. After the F&F paid ( but before we got certificate) we opened a normal bank current account, went to branch and told them about teh IVA, it was paid, we did not want overdraft and showed 6 months bank statements, no issues opening it.

We then both applied for Aqua and Vanquis cards, used for small amounts and paid in full each month. We progressed to normal CC and closed the subprime even before our 6 years from start of IVA was up so defaults still showing.

I have seen some people say they sent completion certificate direct to CRA but we did not , we did it the way we were advised at teh time.

Good Luck

thatsthat

Thanks to all who replied and for the good wishes - and just when I thought nobody cared!

Right then, what follows are my own experiences, so far, of post-IVA clean up that may be of interest to others.

A month after completion and with my Certificate of Compliance from my IP safely in hand I ordered online Statutory Credit Reports from the three main agencies, Experian, Equifax and Callcredit (last one free by signing up to Noddle). They were all very different:

Experian

Credit card defaults that were listed (some accounts were not shown at all) all correctly dated and marked as "Partial Settlement". IVA start date correct but no end date (showing 00/00/00). I had to send two emails and a copy of Certificate of Compliance but they then emailed me with the a promise to correctly date the IVA, showing me the revised entry, together with the offer of a hard copy letter if required.

Equifax

One credit card showing as still in default and another with the wrong default date (two months after IVA agreed date). Again, as with Experian, some accounts not listed at all. I complained to Equifax who, as expected, told me to contact the lenders direct. I sent formal, recorded delivery letters to both parties requesting my credit file be updated correctly and quoted the Data Protection Act and the ICO etc. etc. One third party, Eversheds for Max Recovery, replied very quickly and promised to amend my file within seven days. Equifax issued me with a (free) refreshed online report showing it had indeed been corrected. The second wrong entry, a major bank credit card, sold on to TIX IVA Management a few months before my IVA ended, took a little longer. This was the bank's fault - they were legally required to ensure CRA records were accurate and up to date before disposing of the debt (and this applies to any lender) to a third party - but eventually TIX updated the default for me with the correct date.

And finally...

Callcredit

Probably the least important of the three but still necessary if you want to clean up your records completely. As I said earlier, you can access your file free by signing up to Noddle and you will get a refreshed online report every month provided you sign in to their site periodically.

Only one credit card default listed and that not updated correctly. Raised a complaint online and received a prompt reply suggesting I wait until next month's report was issued as that would probably be marked correctly. This proved to be the case so no further action necessary. The only other default showing was the IVA itself and that was correctly marked.

So, all good then. Everything marked as satisfied and all defaults dated no later than the IVA agreed date. It took a few weeks, a couple of recorded delivery letters and a few emails but everything now seems in order. In my experience, polite but firm correspondence, whether by email or letter (always send recorded delivery) quoting the Data Protection Act and the ICO will soon have any errors on your credit file corrected.

I shall be ordering new Statutory Credit Reports next year, a few weeks after the sixth anniversary of my IVA agreed date, to make sure all the "nasties" have dropped off and everything looks pristine and as pure as the driven snow.

After more years than I care to admit to I have finally learnt my lesson. I absolutely will not be getting back in debt again. Never! Ever!!