Any advice for OR interview next week...

lisa.89

Hello all and thank you for all the advice so far.

I have my OR interview on Weds (will be talking to OR on behalf of myself and my husband as OR doesn't think seperate ones will be needed.)

I have made some notes on the SOA form as OR wanted some more background info on what happened with 2 properties we gave up.. I have written down as much info an I know/can remember.. hope that is enough!!

I was wondering how much OR will focus on our spending leading up to BR after IVA failed.. we have had some disposible income left but have been using for new baby stuff mainly and some for xmas - do I need to detail expenses over past 6 months as this will take a while to go back through receipts etc..

I am hoping that we get our outgoings agreed..... fingers crossed.

Does anyone know if I will be told about an IPA at the end of interview and if so how quick are these set up - is it ever as soon as a couple of weeks as I need to buy some more baby bits this month... so need to work out our budget.

We got pack through from OR - Can we each witness each others NTB2 forms? No-one else knows about our BR. OR said not to post anything back til after interview as he may want me to send other stuff with this.. I assume bank statements...

Thanks in advance for any advice

dojoman

Try not to worry (easier said than done, I know) but you will be fine. Just be totally honest and if you are asked a question you don`t know the answer to, just say so. There will be times when the OR is quiet, this is normal as they will be writing things down, just wait for them to start talking again. You will not be expected to know everything, as long as you have not been buying extravagant things you will be fine. The OR does this type of thing day in and day out and will have seen similar cases to yourself. I was dreading the interview more than anything but it was totally painless, my OR was lovely and put me at ease straight away. My Or did not tell me whether an IPA would be asked for at the interview, but said she would get back to me. This she did 2 weeks later and yes I did get an IPA, this took nearly 3 months to actually set up and I am just coming to the end of it now. Any money you save between the time it takes to set up is yours to keep.

Hope this helps? and good luck with your interview:)

arcon5

I had my interview last week....

The interviewer was lovely and calm.. She didn't want to know exactly what every bit of money was spent on, but it seemed to me she wanted an understanding of why you spent the money and establish whether you had a plan to pay it back at the time. For example, if you used the money for baby stuff tell the interviewer this and explain you wished to pay it back over 6 months leading to the birth for example. Even if your plan was unveasable in hindsight that's fine, just be honest

They want to understand what lead to the situation, that's all. So if you took out a £10k loan, gave the money to a friend then declared insolvency the interviewer will be looking to deal with this as dishonest.

That's just my opinion though based on my experience.

lisa.89

thanks.

We haven't used credit to buy baby stuff, been using what has been left over from wages once we have paid rent and bills. IVA failed so we have used what we would have been using to pay IVA so not been paying our debts off. We last used credit back in early 2011, just before we started IVA.. we always had intention of paying back debts but had baby no. 1 etc.. so things changed..

The OR seemed very nice when we spoke the other day but just scared of saying the wrong thing.... nothing to hide but it is scary!!

arcon5

Wouldn't worry about having not paid the IVA or debt for a while. Most people stop paying these to use the money to save for bankruptcy anyway. Just tell her exactly what you put here, that circumstances changed as you fell pregnant and with all the additional expenses couldn't afford to maintain the IVA anymore.

Try not to worry too much though, the OR won't be there trying to trap certain answers out of you or anything like that.

The 10 minutes leading up to the phone call was the worst! (They rung dead on the stated time as well). I felt an instant relief after the interview, hopefully you will too. Especially since based on what you've put here you've tried to pay it.

whichwhydoIturn

Hello,Can I ask about IPA , if you have surplus does the payment take all or a percent of what you have .
I'm filling out my forms today , for help with fees from my union hopefully.
I saw some family yesterday who commented how tired and thinner I looked , I just said it was my busy time right now , they really don't know what's going on and I sat there with them ready to burst.

arcon5

Do you have an SOA by any chance?

I can't answer your question, but I can tell you the OR will be reasonable when assessing your outgoings.

tiggerbodhi

whichwhydoIturn wrote: »

Hello,Can I ask about IPA , if you have surplus does the payment take all or a percent of what you have .
I'm filling out my forms today , for help with fees from my union hopefully.
I saw some family yesterday who commented hoe tired and thinner I looked , I just said it was my busy time right now , they really don't know what's going on and I sat there with them ready to burst.

Hi you are taking the right steps, beleive me when I say the feeling of relief once its done is good..

As for the IPA, yes you have to pay all the surplus over to the OR after all your living expenses are taking into account, unless it is less than £20.

What you have to do is get you SOA as correct as possible and err on the side of caution for some things, if you put down to much the OR will say so and negoitate down (remember it is an agreement between you and the OR , not an imposition by them) if you put to little it is doubtful they will question it (although mine did as I had not put anything down to save for a holiday!)

Make sure you have everything on the SOA that you have to spend out for and things you may not at the moment but would be considered to be reasonable living expenses, for example you are allowed to cost in haircuts, but you can DIY and save this etc, as an aside if you do put down haircuts wounder if they check you are not bald?

Good luck

lisa.89

I have just spent an hour writing down the key dates/events which lead us to BR... I need them in front of me on the phone as I know I may go blank otherwise!! Thinking back and writing all this down has made me realise even more how crappy things were less than a year ago.. problem tenants, debts mounting up, IVA failing due to reduction in salary.... I am already now starting to feel a little relief.. well will do after I have had the interview

Looking foward to a fresh start x