First Review

wetweekend

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!

woodformoretrees

I wonder if maybe the change in tax personal allowance has upped your monthly available funds?

wetweekend

Thanks, woodformoretrees. That's certainly likely, in which case, fine.

Anyone able to advise on the other points?

milliemonster

The correct thing to do would be to inform your ip of any change to your income or outgoings, however, in m experience, most people would tend to leave something like this in their favour at least until the following review.

For instance, our electric bill was higher last year due to paying off arrears, they are paid off now so our direct debit has reduced, but I have let this allowance the same as it was and it offsets other areas of our I and e which aren't as generous as they should be (such as car repairs)

You need to be creative with your I and e in an iva sometimes.

milliemonster

On top of this, absolutely you can refute their proposed changes, I successfully did this with our iva review last year as we had asked a for a reduction based on the I and e changes I returned to my ip, but they came back to us saying it was going to go up by £39 a month, the reason for this was they had worked out my net income incorrectly, as I earn extra payments each month for working unsocial hours (which they don't use to base my iva payment on, they go by my basic net salary) the figure they had worked out as my basic pay was a lot higher than when I had it confirmed by my payroll dept after a bit of wrangling. So I did successfully get it processed in our favour.

Of course you can always argue your point, remember your iva relationship is a two way street, you don't always have to roll over and obey.

greenbrucelee

Yes it will be because of your personal tax allowance.

My tax allowance gave me and extra £33 so I have to give my ip an extra £16 on top of what I already pay.