IVA support and discussion thread

SecretaryTypeBird

Find_The_Real wrote: »

Hello Secretary and welcome. As each IP seems to have different rules and ideas, it would probably be best to contact your IP to see if this is acceptable and if not what paperwork they require to show you are unable to re-mortgage.

Well done for getting this far and wishing you all the best for the remainder of your IVA.

Thanks for replying. The problem I have it they have given me until 30th January to come back to them, on contacting their office my case handler is now on holiday until 10th Feb, I have tried to contact the supervisor but suprisingly he hasn't come back to me either! I had to write to say I understood what was in the letter, I have emails that I have sent stating that I need clarification and nobody has gotten back to me. Needless to say I have printed these off and added them to my paperwork as evidence of trying to contact them...

Find_The_Real

Well as you have done all you can to contact them to clarify the situation, I would rather think it was up to your case handler/supervisor to be in touch if these are not sufficient. You have obviously done your best and it is a shame that the company are not better at communicating with you, which does seem to be a bit of a problem with some companies. I would email over the print off's and then send the paperwork as a follow up, as you have complied with the request.

I am sure they will be in touch if it is not acceptable!

bigbite72

Hi all,

First post:eek:

I have always spent everything I've ever earn't but never missed any debt payments until around 5 years ago when my business failed (sole trader).

I couldn't pay my credit cards / loans but have never missed any mortgage payments in 18 years!

The day my wife gets out of hospital after being rushed in with heart problems (only 45) we get a letter from Santander letting us know that our discounted tracker deal has come to an end and that we are considered a risk so will default to their variable rate mortgage, with no offer of any alternative.:eek:

This immediately put our mortgage up by £295 and as you can imagine came with a good bit of stress and worry.

We are in the final stages of an IVA arrangement and I assume this has something to do with this as we didn't have this problem 2 years ago when we were in the same financial situation.

We were wandering if we have any other avenues we can go down with another lender etc.

Bigbite

UpToMyNeckInIt

wetweekend wrote: »

Just completed my first review one year into my IVA.

The paperwork came through over Christmas and so got left for a while. I completed it quickly and sent it off leaving the budget as it was and making no changes, assuming that repayments would remain the same.

Received a letter yesterday from Stepchange (formally CCCS) advising that my monthly payments are to increase by £34 to £144. I'm unsure why as my wages are the same as they were a year ago and can only assume they underestimated when I took out the initial agreement.

Anyway, I have 2 questions that hopefully somebody will be able to advise on....

(1) Am I able to amend the budget to increase expenditure now the review is complete or do I have to wait until the next review in a year's time?

(2) I've also noticed and entry on the budget for a TV License payment (£19 per month). This would have been listed when negotiating the original agreement as I was in the middle of moving house and assumed I would have to pay it. I since discovered that my landlord's license covers me so do not pay this. Should I contact my IP to let them know or should I say nothing? I understand they are likely to increase my payments even higher by this amount (making it £163 per month) but my greater concern is, are they likely to request repayment of this amount for the previous year (12x19=£228)

Many thanks for any advice greatfully received!

I don't think you are alone in 'leaving the budget as it was'. But this usually means that IVA repayments will increase.

Personally, I put quite a lot of time reviewing all my expenditure. Well worth you having a look at a recent version of the 'Stepchange Budget Guidelines' here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7LabJy69BP1M0gxeHQ1SDFiN1E/edit?pli=1

(Sorry, have not yet been able to get hold of the latest version that came out in October, but the figures only differ by a couple of quid here and there).

It is well worth a read, as it covers every form of expenditure, right the way down to allowances for hairdressing, kid's school dinners, meals at work, even hobbies etc.

If you are careful to correctly record your income and expenditure, your IVA payment should continue at quite an affordable level. I have come across people who underestimate their expenditure and subsequently have difficulty.

I wouldn't worry too much about the TV license thing, especially as other IVA customers can claim £26pcm for Sky subscriptions. I've also never figured out why stepchange allow up to £26pcm for an annual license costing £145.50 - about £12pcm.

UpToMyNeckInIt

bigbite72 wrote: »

Hi all,

First post:eek:

I have always spent everything I've ever earn't but never missed any debt payments until around 5 years ago when my business failed (sole trader).

I couldn't pay my credit cards / loans but have never missed any mortgage payments in 18 years!

The day my wife gets out of hospital after being rushed in with heart problems (only 45) we get a letter from Santander letting us know that our discounted tracker deal has come to an end and that we are considered a risk so will default to their variable rate mortgage, with no offer of any alternative.:eek:

This immediately put our mortgage up by £295 and as you can imagine came with a good bit of stress and worry.

We are in the final stages of an IVA arrangement and I assume this has something to do with this as we didn't have this problem 2 years ago when we were in the same financial situation.

We were wandering if we have any other avenues we can go down with another lender etc.

Bigbite

Hi,

Sadly, unless you can re-negotiate with Santander, you will have to wait until your credit file restores (should be approx. 6-years after the start of your IVA). Once you have then checked with all 3 credit agencies that all defaults, 'notices of correction' etc. have been removed, it is wise to contact a whole-of-market mortgage broker to search around for the best deal at that time.

I have heard of several accounts from ex-IVA customers who have used this approach quite successfully, being able to secure mortgage products on a par with high-street rates.

All the best, and I wish your Wife a full and speedy recovery.

UpToMyNeckInIt

SecretaryTypeBird wrote: »

Thanks for replying. The problem I have it they have given me until 30th January to come back to them, on contacting their office my case handler is now on holiday until 10th Feb, I have tried to contact the supervisor but suprisingly he hasn't come back to me either! I had to write to say I understood what was in the letter, I have emails that I have sent stating that I need clarification and nobody has gotten back to me. Needless to say I have printed these off and added them to my paperwork as evidence of trying to contact them...

Unfortunately, that is about the level of non-service a lot of us get (who are you with for your IVA? If it's Mitchell Farrar, I totally understand where you are coming from!!!). I think that is all you can do - definitely keep the 'evidence' of your efforts.

Without wanting to jump-the-gun, it is normal in other IVA firms to require the customer to first seek a 'forced sale' property valuation, prior to attempting a remortgage. Have you been required to do this already? If not, it might be worth getting a couple of Estate Agents round (don't tell them about your IVA), provide written estimates, and send these off. This demonstrates that you will not be able to get a remortgage (assuming your existing mortgage exceeds 85%LTV).

Well done on getting this far in your IVA - it's all down hill from there.

SecretaryTypeBird

Nope there is nothing in our paperwork regarding getting a valuation ourselves as they sent the modifications bumph through with the letter. I'm guessing they'll just get a desktop valuation anyway so as not to incur any costs as these are free.

We're with Mazars for our IVA, my ex-employer was worried about me and put me onto them as they are their accountants also and the partner there was a good friend. They sorted us out pretty swiftly and we only ever hear from them at I&E renewal time (i'm of the mindset of no news is good news), out of the 4 1/2 years we've had little contact with them as everything is just plodding along.

Another question I have just thought of, is the 12 month extension from when the re-mortgage has been declined making just another 12 months to go or from when you originally started which makes it another 18?

UpToMyNeckInIt

...it is usually just another 12 Months, ie: your 5-year IVA becomes a 6-year one.

hootsiebootsie

Couple of questions as we are drafting up an iva proposal after two weeks of constant questions, i dont want to be asking iva adviser again:

Iva is for my husband btw, in much same situations as uptomyneckinit, except we have been landed with personal debt through personal guarantees s signed whilst directors of now liquidated company. Big mistake, husband needs to be director of ltd company so we are going down iva route as he will not be able to be employed otherwise.

First question: is the amount of repayment fixed at beginning of 5 years, or can it go up?

Second question: hmrc and a supplier from liquidated company are main creditors, we dispute the amounts due, can we still complain and appeal and if succesful would this lead to a downward revision of amount repayable under iva?

UpToMyNeckInIt

...Your repayment will increase IF your husbands income improves over the course of the IVA. Typically, the fists 10% increase in net income is ignored, then 50% of anything over that goes into the IVA.

HMRC can be a problematic creditor - often imposing special conditions - especially if they have a controlling influence (25% or more of the total debt). This may take the form of extra years added to the IVA, having to lodge a cash guarantee with your IP in case you go BR anyway, and/or more stringent equity release clauses.

speak to 2-3 different IVA companies as well. Some are much more knowledgeable about these sorts of issues than others.