IPA - Advice needed

cjk1973

Went bankrupt in January and have just had the letter from the OR asking me to pay £76 into a IPA and asking me to sign & return in 14 days.

My partner works part time and her income has been included in the SOA although she has not gone bankrupt. She suffers from CFS/ME and we had to provide proof of this to the OR to back up some of our expenses such as medical health eg gym & holidays. Unfortunately her condition over recent weeks has got worse and she is seriously thinking of giving up working part time. If she does it would mean that we would not be able to pay into the IPA due to the loss of her income approx £300 per month.

My question is should I write and tell the OR this is about to happen and not sign and return the IPA, I was worried that this would look like I am just trying to get out of paying anything, and the the OR might take a dim view and suspend my discharge or worse. Should I sign the IPA and just notify them about the change when it happens although this is likely to be soon, I have read though that once signed the IPA will still run its course of 3 years even if you are unable to pay and if my partner goes back to work at some point the payments would resume.

Unsure what to do here and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

alastairq

an IPA is an Agreement..between you, and the OR.

Therefore, if you foresee loss of overall income, do not sign.

Debt Doctor is the best person to suggest what you do, however.

debt_doctor

Hi,

I agree with Alastair, do not sign, for two reasons;

If your partner has not gone BR then all of her income should not be used, just a contribution should be used. Your partner should potentially be making pro rata payments to the household bills, but she is entitled to her own monies to do as she pleases.

If your circs are about to change then tell them so, and also I wonder what allowances you claimed in the first place?

Personally, with the clients permission, I never say yes to an IPA of less than £100 anyway - there is no law against a bankrupt and their family having a spare £25 per week in their collective pockets.

DD

TheGardener

Hi
I'm stunned that its taken so long for the IPA to be organised - 7 months? Is this normal? I went BR at the end of June and thought I would wait a few weeks - didn't think it would take > 6 months.:eek: I haven't heard anything yet but the OR said the NT would "happen quite quickly"

sorry - I didn't mean to hijack your post cjk1973

cjk1973

Hi Guys, Thanks for the advice.

I assume my partner is paying pro rata, on the SOA I included my earnings (self employed) and when it asked for any other income coming into the household I put my partner's down, we were paying rent arrears but now that has cleared we have a surplus of £45, one of the expenses we put down was £65 for medical health due to my partners condition CFS/ME, this was for regular swimming & pilates which she has been advised to do by her consultant, the OR cut this back to £31 after notifying us that it could be done cheaper elsewhere, that's how they have arrived at the figure of £76 for a IPA.

I guess I will just write to them and say our circumstances are about to change hence the reason why I have not signed the IPA, fingers crossed it doesn't go to badly.

tigerfeet2006

This is your partners expense and not yours so shouldn't have been cut back.

You should have put your income then the amount your partner pays towards the joint house hold bills, not her full income. If this is not 50% of the joint household bills then the OR can ask for evidence of your partners income.

Have you asked for a full breakdown on what he has allowed? Please can you post it up for the likes of debt doctor to look at.

cjk1973

Hi,

Have wrote to the OR and asked them for a detailed breakdown of what expenses and the amounts the OR has allowed, will post it up when I get a response back.

OR already has requested and been sent my partners last 3 wage slips.

Could I write to them when I have found out about the expenses and tell them an error was made on the SOA and I put the wrong amount in the box.

Thanks for all the advice, greatly appreciated, will get back to you when I hear from them

cjk1973

Hi Guys,

Below is the income/expenditure I put on my SOA, based on myself, my partner, my son who is 18 in full time education & not working, plus 1 cat & 1 dog.

My Earnings £2218.00
My Partners £290.00
Total Income £2508.00

Expenditure:

Rent.............................................................. £472.00
Council tax..................................................... £110.00
Gas .................................................................£78.00
Electricity ........................................................£52.00
Telephone (including mobiles) ............................£95.00
Housekeeping .................................................£600.00
Travelling (Petrol) .............................................£300.00 (social & work for myself & partner)
Clothing ..........................................................£120.00
TV Licence .......................................................£12.00
Pet Insurance.................................................... £39.00
House Insurance ...............................................£13.00
Car Insurance ...................................................£45.50
Dry Cleaning .....................................................£34.00 (work clothes for myself & partner)
Dentist .............................................................£12.00
Prescriptions ....................................................£10.00
Opticians ...........................................................£6.00
Vet Bills (yearly booster cat & dog) ......................£8.00
Pet food ..........................................................£100.00
Hairdressers .....................................................£45.00
Holidays........................................................... £60.00
MOT/Tax/AA/Servicing .......................................£44.00
Partners pilates/swimming for condition ME......... £65.00
Partners debt management plan ........................£100.00
Emergency allowance ........................................£30.00

Total Income £2508.00
Total Expenditure £2450.50
Surplus £57.50


Had to provide evidence about 6 weeks ago for some of the expenses to the examiner telephone, pet ins, dry cleaning, vet bills, pet food, partners swimming & pilates which I did and gave a full breakdown. Heard nothing back until I got the letter saying that they had cut the swimming & pilates to £31 and asked me to enter a IPA for £76.

I questioned how they arrived at this figure and asked for a breakdown of what expenses had been allowed, they have since wrote back, this letter is from the OR not the examiner saying they will only allow £74 for the telephone & mobiles, nothing for the pet insurance, £10 for the dry cleaning, £50 for the pet food, £30 for holidays, £31 for swimming & pilates, and have asked me to enter a IPA for £205.00.

My question now is can they do this as I thought they had already agreed the above amounts apart from swimming & pilates as they asked me to enter a IPA for £76?

My partner does not put all her income into the house she pays for her swimming & pilates out of her own money, and keeps £50 for herself and puts £175 into the household bills, I made a mistake on my SOA and thought they meant all other money coming into the house, should I tell them this.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated as this is causing alot of stress for myself & partner and not helping her illness, there is a strong possibilty she will be giving up her part time job
which I guess if she does will throw it all out again.

Thanks guys.

ps sorry for the long post

debt_doctor

Hi,

Putting aside a view that a BR should be allowed spare income, I thought the original SOA was a fair one, which apparently was backed up by receipts and agreed with IPA (£76) offered?

I would write a letter to the IS asking how they can on the one hand agree with your expenses after seeing proof, and then disregard such expenses and proof?

I would indicate that I may make a formal complaint if not satisfied with their response.

DD

cjk1973

Hi DD,

Thanks for replying.

I will defiantly write back to them mentioning what you said and see what they come back with, will let you know what the response is.

Thank you for your help.

CJK1973

cjk1973

Hi all,

Following on, I wrote to the OR and they responded by asking me to fill in IPOQ detailing my partner's wage, what her personal expenses are and what she contributes to the household.

When it arrived there was no where to put the information that they had requested just a box asking what she contributes, so I didn't fill it in but instead wrote a letter back giving them the information they asked for.

I have now had another letter from them saying they still haven't received the IPOQ and have asked me to fill in another one.

Should I now do this although they have the information they asked for as I detailed it in a letter, also I am slightly worried as I am self employed and on the form it asks for the name & address of who you mainly work for. Would they contact the person who I work for to verify anything because as far as I'm aware they do not know about my bankruptcy and would probably not want me working for them if they did.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks